Kiki Maple Sweet Water – Amazing new natural sweet beverage!

Come on out to Ignite Health Ontario I on October 24th to sample this amazing new sweet beverage from nature!!!

 

KiKi Maple Sweet Water,

 

A traditional rural spring beverage has been released to the whole/health food market for year round enjoyment!

 

KiKi Maple Sweet Water, which is produced by Troll Bridge Creek Inc., Arthur, Ontario, is a one ingredient drink and that ingredient is pure maple sap drawn directly from the tree.  For those of you who don’t know about the maple sap, it is the clear sweet liquid that is harvested from the maple tree each spring of the year.  This liquid is then boiled until it becomes maple syrup.  To make 1 litre of syrup approximately 40 litres of sap is used.

 

Tree sap has been used in traditional folk medicine  in North America, Korea and Northern Europe for 1000′s of years.  Troll Bridge Creek Inc. has been able to bottle this beneficial liquid so that it can be enjoyed year round. 

 

Not only is this a refreshing drink, to be enjoyed on those hot summer days, KiKi Maple Sweet Water has many nutritional benefits. Maple sap, with over 80 nutrients, is a natural way to replenish the body’s electrolytes after the morning jog, bike marathon or hot yoga session. There are many essential minerals in maple sap including calcium, potassium, magnesium, iron and zinc. 

 

Some other Nutritional information:

• 64 Anti-oxidants, Anti -radical, Anti-inflammatories, Anti-mutagens, Anti-carcinogens
• Therapeutic levels of Abscisic Acid, which will improves the symptoms of Type 2 Diabetes

 

Senior Citizens understand all about maple sap and when they take that first sip their smiles and the look in their eyes make all this effort worthwhile.  Another interesting reaction is from the youth, who have embraced KiKi Maple Sweet Water like no other generation.  Memories of their school’s field trips to the sugar bush are triggered by the subtle maple taste.  Sweet memories…

 

Unfortunately many of the family sugar bushes are falling into disuse.  The ageing farm population can no longer keep up to the physical and economical demands of the boiling process (sugaring off).  The maple sap is very unstable and must be boiled down almost immediately to syrup, this means that the process goes on non-stop for 24 hours a day for days.  The typical season is a six week of harvest.  Bottling the maple sap bypasses this expensive, labour intensive work.  It is hoped that more sugar bushes will be brought back on line to meet the demand for this refreshing drink. Once again providing the first harvest income of the season.  Although maple syrup is also very good for you, 75% of the Anti-oxidants are denatured by the boiling process.

 

Currently there are 6  maple sap based beverages available, the original KiKi Maple Sweet Water, KiKi Lemon Ginger, KiKi Lemon Mint, KiKi Blueberry, KiKi Cranberry, KiKi Strawberry and New yet to be released KiKi Lemon!

 

Smoothies, herbal teas and rice all made with KiKi beverages retain the goodness that has been provided by nature.

 

Visit the Troll Bridge Creek Inc. Website www.trollbridgecreek.ca to learn more about this product and the nearest location where you can purchase these amazing beverages.

Check out our YouTube Videos as well

 www.youtube.com/watch?v=0vOG-NYsUhU&feature=autofb

 

 

 

Keith and Lorraine Harris,

Owners of Troll Bridge Creek Inc.

 

Inspired by Ignite Culture and Ignite London …Ignite Health!?

I am so impressed that one of my contacts on Twitter created Ignite Culture. She did it by word of mouth and it was hosted successfully in Toronto last month. Now it is getting a headline in London Ontario and being presented April 3, 2012.

I tried to think of something I could add to an Ignite Culture presentation and really came up with a blank. I don’t have any artistic talents, I am the product of a very dysfunctional family and can’t really look back in my family tree to point out any interesting cultural stories.

 My daughter is far more well versed in Culture topics. She is history fanatic, she loves classic movies, she loves the theatre, she sings, she loves to act. All of the things I may have been if my childhood had been remotely normal.

So as I realized that I could not create a topic that was specific to Ignite Culture I had a lightbulb moment.

What if I created Ignite Health! Same format 5 minute topics related to health and wellness. A focussed session that you can attend to learn about the body, alternative medicine and healthy living.

I know it would be popular, I know I have a number of contacts in London already that have dealt with illness in their families or illness in their lives. I know I am meeting incrediible people like Kresimer Jug who would be a great speaker on the benefits of Chiropractory. What if we combined all those skills and all that knowledge to improve everyone’s knowledge of their own bodies and the impacts we inadvertantly have on our bodies with the choices we make in everyday life.

I am inspired and wondering where to start…I will sit down with Jenn Nelson soon to understand how she created Ignite Culture. I will talk to Jennifer Murray and Gavin Blair about Ignite London and see how that was started too.

I think that having 8 – 10 speakers talking for 5 minutes each on an aspect of Healthy living can only improve the health of our community!

 

Do you agree or do you think this is overkill for another separate Ignite??

Easter Food Drive Challenge to You!

I sent the following email to my company today and I challenge you to do the same in your business:

A reminder that I would love to see us make an effort to focus on bringing in healthy foods for the food bank this Easter. The patrons at the food bank are at extremely high risk of chronic illness due to the chemicals and additives in processed foods. Sadly processed foods are also much cheaper for them to buy on their own and most of what is given to them at the Food Bank. I would suggest the following foods for our contributions.

.

Gluten Free packaged items. – Generally they are lower in chemicals and you can understand the ingredient list.

Organic

PC Blue Menu items

Low or No sodium chicken, Beef, Vegetable broth

Brown Rice Pasta

Whole wheat Pasta

Brown Rice

Organic peanut butter

Unsalted almonds, Pecans, Walnuts

Green  and Herbal Teas

Organic Pancake mix

Flax Seed

 Ensure that items do NOT contain Glucose/Fructose. This is now proven to be a dangerous addiction in our society and many manufacturers are putting it into products that you would never expect to find it.  It is proven to be contributing factor to Metabolic Syndrome which causes Insulin resistance and leads to diabetes, Fatty Liver Disease, Heart Disease, Kidney disease, Thyroid Disease, and Poly cystic Ovarian Syndrome. Currently these disease are impacting 1 in 3 north Americans and it is not only obese citizens being crippled with chronic illness.

I know of 2 men in their 30’s who died in December due to Fatty Liver disease. My own daughter was diagnosed with Fatty Liver Disease in 2008 and it is impacting kids as young as 2. Women who have this damage to their liver are advised by their doctors not to get pregnant, this can cause your baby to be born with the disease, you actually run the risk of Acute Fatty Liver disease in last trimester which could kill the mother and the baby.

The issue is serious and the lower the amount families spend on groceries the more they have to rely on cheap processed foods. I know a single dad who can only spend 100 a month on groceries for him and his 2.5 year old daughter. I am helping him to figure out ways to improve the groceries that he is buying for them but at 25 a week that is not easy to do.  I personally spend 100 a week for my daughter and I. Even we get stuck buying some of the cheaper items when things are tight

If we start here, I hope to build this momentum and get more in the business community to start donating the right foods.

Carbs ruling my life

I have been researching fatty liver disease and its causes and ways to improve symptoms for almost 4 years. In that time I have written many blogs with new ideas and concepts that catch my interest. I don’t want to discount the concepts of Low Glycemic eating, or lots of fruits and veggies, but I have learned that it is best for those with Fatty Liver Disease to limit grains and fruit.

2 weeks ago I would have told you that it was good for the liver to eat brown rice, brown rice pasta, spelt bread and steel oats. I would have told you to enjoy your fruit and a bowl of steel oats with a side of berries with a glass of lemon water would have been a perfect breakfast. Then I saw the videos on Youtube from Merritt Wellness and a lightbulb went off. Every Carbohydrate we eat is converted to a sugar. This has been just on the edge of my mind poking me to pay attention and I have ignored it knowing how drastically it would change my thinking.

http://www.merrittwellness.com/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1RE4cXeX7Po

So if every 4 carbohydrate = 1 teaspoon of sugar then reducing carbs makes a lot of sense!

But looking at my life with my daughter this will be a huge shift in our eating.

She eats rye toast with peanut butter for breakfast

She eats a wrap filled with lean meat and veggies for lunch.

We eat brown rice, brown pasta or potatoes with dinner every night. Lean Meat and veggies to balance the plate.

Snacks are organic or gluten free.

She is allergic to Egg  – eliminates many breakfast choices

Fruit needs to be limited due to the sugar content.

No grain for breakfast . Wow what is left that she will actually eat!

She doesn’t like breakfast as a rule due to her limitations.  When we want it to be special I will make Spelt pancakes with organic maple syrup. Maybe some peameal bacon or fruit on the side. This is clearly a disaster even though I thought I was doing a good thing for her!

Lunch I guess she will need to stick with salads or veggie soups.  with a side of protein. This will not be easy for her!

Dinner Protein and Veggies and forgo the rice , pasta or potatoes. This will take some doing!

Snacks need to be unsalted nuts, veggies and a few fruits trying to limit fructose to 15g a day even from natural sources.

How do I explain this requirement to my 15 year old who takes comfort in the carbs. Gluten free cookies have been her saving grace.

For me I know it will also be a challenge but explaining this to her in reference to helping her health and reducing her weight is going to be my biggest challenge here!

Reminder to those with programs that can help, I am single mom with limited income and it would be almost impossible for me to invest in a program for Megan and I right now.

I need natural ideas that will allow a small level of  healthy carbs in the daily plan and 15g of  natural source fructose.  Sodium also needs to be reduced to protect her liver. So ideas please and thanks!!

 

Food banks need more than processed foods!

Last night I was watching the local news in London Ontario and one of the top stories is that the Food Bank serviced more than 3500 families last month and that is a new record. The demand for these services is increasing due to the 9.8% current level of unemployment in my city. My daughter and I watched a high school proudly showcase enough kraft dinner boxes to fill their gymnasium as dominoes. We looked at each other and rolled our eyes as they were packing them into boxes to give to the food bank and yes it should be a feel good story. Well lets look at the ingredients in Kraft Dinner.

PASTA (FROM WHEAT), CHEESE SAUCE [CHEESE (MILK, BACTERIAL CULTURE, SALT, CREAM, LIPASE, MICROBIAL ENZYMES, CALCIUM CHLORIDE, COLOUR), MODIFIED MILK INGREDIENTS, SALT, SODIUM PHOSPHATES, COLOUR (CONTAINS TARTRAZINE), FLAVOUR, CITRIC ACID]. (M001J)

This product will is processed by your liver like all foods and beverages are… Your liver does not accept manufactured ingredients, or chemicals as good things. Your liver sees them as a poison and will do its best to destroy them and expel them from your body. Every time you eat a processed food you are forcing your liver to work in overdrive to deal with the chemicals you have ingested.

So this makes me feel sick to my stomach when I see these stories. I KNOW and I Understand that the processed foods are easier to store and that many food banks do not even have refrigerated sections to hold fruits and veggies! 

As the next story showed the London Food banks and the cameras scanned the boxes full of soups, and crackers, and juice boxes and peanut butter I shuddered.

The huge number of people that are relying on the food banks are growing every month, but what if I told you that if these families are relying on these products to provide nutrition to their families they are very sadly mistaken.

The chemicals in these foods especially high fructose corn syrup are now proven to cause liver damage. There are lots of studies that prove that if you search through my blogs I point to them and you can search on google for Fatty liver disease and the impact of HFCS.

Fatty liver disease or NAFLD is now an epidemic, 6 million children and 30% of North Americans have fatty livers. These are the numbers that we KNOW ABOUT. My guess is its closer to 50% and in lower income families regardless of weight or obesity its probably closer to 75%.

Why should you care? There is NO CURE for NAFLD, once your liver is compromised it can take a long time for you to become aware of it. Initial symptoms of the disease are stomach aches and exhaustion. Those symptoms are too generic and can be mistaken for laziness. If you do not stop eating processed foods your long term outlook is needing a liver transplant or dying of liver disease.

My own 15 year old daughter is dealing with this disease and her quality of life is extremely poor. She is too exhausted and vulnerable to colds and flus to attend school and due to that she is home schooled. She has no friends in London, Ontario because its hard to make friends when you are not in the school system.

We eat fresh meals  90% of the time. Its not easy on a single mothers income to constantly buy organic. I do have to buy the vegetables that are covered in pesticides and wash them knowing I am not doing her liver a favour but there is only so much I can do with a limited income.

I have a reasonable job, I can get overtime, She has been diagnosed, I KNOW the impacts, and I do NOT rely on the food bank and EVEN I find it difficult to avoid hurting her liver.

So for families that are forced to use the food bank I am scared. I want to warn you and jump up and down and say PLEASE find a way to add fruits and vegetables.

COMPANIES IN LONDON I challenge you to find ways to donate refrigerated trucks to food banks, Grocery Stores I challenge you to donate MORE fruits and vegetables! If you are going to BUY packaged foods PLEASE look for organic products and products that do not contain chemicals you can’t pronounce or that you know are unhealthy.

PEOPLE WHO DONATE to FOOD BANK I challenge you to Avoid MSG, SODIUM in LARGE quantities, Artificial sugars, Fructose, Dextrose, Aspartame, trans fats, all of these things are hard on your liver and I know we don’t want to be poisoning the lower class and increasing the number of children and adults who are being diagnosed with this disease with no medical cures?

Organic peanut butters, gluten free products, organic Chicken broth low sodium are some products that you can find in every grocery store. Next time you are considering what to donate to the food bank please chose them!
 

 

Are you tired and have stomach aches a lot?

There was no way I thought liver disease when my child was complaining of stomach aches, all kids complain of stomach aches. What a great way to get out of going to school. Sometimes she would throw up and I would think it was a stomach flu, she ate something bad or had heat stroke. Never once did I think Liver disease.

She complained she was too tired to help out around the house, I thought she was just being stubborn or lazy. I never thought Liver disease.

She would take forever to get over any cold or flu bug, I thought her immune system was just weak, I filled her with vitamin C, supplements and chicken soup. I never thought liver disease.

She would have trouble sleeping at night, she would toss and turn, never able to get into a restful spot, I tried sleepy music, I tried calming her with words, I tried melatonin and gravol because she always had a tummy ache. I never thought liver disease.

In Fall 2008 ,When the pediatrician finally did an ultrasound of her stomach and had the blood test results he turned to us and said…you have a disease called NASH, go home exercise.and eat better.

I went home happy, I finally had a diagnosis for my daughter, the name of a real disease, she was not making it up!

I went to the internet and typed in NASH. I got a lot of Steve nash sites. Then i found one site that talked about it as liver disease.

I started reading and see that it can be fatal, that there is no cure and that its the 2nd stage of fatty liver disease.

Now I was angry, how could the doctor just turn to us and casually say this, no real direction no real help!

She could have cirrohsis next how close was she to that , I had no idea.

I then started searching for a diet for fatty liver disease. There was nothing. Out of desperation I started a support group on Facebook. Slowly I started getting people joining the group from all over the world. Some old, some young, some skinny , most overweight. Now I know how to deal with living with the disease and thats why I am doing this blog. I want everyone to know about and to start respecting this disease.

This is a global disease, with global ramifications. This is not going away, you cannot hide from it. Doctors are only now starting to research it and most know less than I do after dealing with over 200 people in my group with the disease over the last 3 years. I know the pains, I know the challenges with doctors, I know the ways to alleviate symptoms.

Stomach aches and fatigue are the symptoms of Fatty Liver Disease. 2 years ago it was estimated that 25% of the north american population has this disease. Now in 2011 that estimate is at 30%. Most people are completely unaware that they have the disease or that their child may have the disease.

With the increase in Sodium, preservatives, pesticides, High Fructose Corn Syrup, and other chemicals in our foods our poor liver has no way to break everything down and it starts to give up. It takes this odd unnatural item and it stores it within itself as a fat cell. It doesn’t want to make the other organs try to deal with this intruder in your body. The liver is a martyr , the liver is the hardest working organ in your body. When its compromised the rest of your body has to work harder. When its comprimised you have no choice but to change the way you eat!

The next time you are at the doctors office, the next time you take your child to the pediatrician, ask them to run a blood test to check your liver levels. You need to know if you have this disease as early as possible to avoid the later stages and to avoid more complications.

So do yourself a favor get tested,  join my group on facebook to find people that understand and please share this blog with everyone you love.

Your liver will thank you

Michelle Clermont

Fatty Liver Disease Consultant

The Truth about Supplements

My friend and personal holistic coach put this article together to help me guide the fatty liver patients in their search for the perfect supplement.

Thank you Brandon!

There are hundreds of supplement companies and millions of supplements out in the market now. How can you decide what a valuable supplement for your body is? How do you know if you are using them correctly?  People are into supplements for two reasons:

1)      The person has a health concern that they have been educated that a supplement will help.

2)     The person is trying to make money selling supplements. They are a salesperson at heart and that is what you always have to remember. They will say what you need to hear about the supplement and promise it will help.

Let’s first talk about what supplements are, supplements are vitamin and/or minerals extracted from whole food, plants and/or another sources. They are made to supplement for a person who is not eating the natural source and make it more convenient for people to consume. This also can be because a doctor or health professional recommended a specific dosage to help with health concerns.

I personally believe supplements are needed when someone has a health challenge and can’t get access to the natural source. This should only be taken for a short period of time to help heal. People can over consume supplements and cause food sensitivities and digestion issues they can essentially become allergic to the supplement. This is the same supplement that was intended to help heal and resolve the health challenge in the first place.

If you have a health issue I always recommend you go to the root, eat the natural foods which contain complex nutrients in the right combination. Remember Mother Nature is not stupid and neither is our body.

The natural foods we consume have the correct amount of nutrients in the right dosages that we need. Our body is intelligent enough to metabolize exactly what we need through what we consume as long as we are eating healthy.

If the body doesn’t use the nutrients it either stores it for later or eliminates it. Nutrients in supplements will be used secondary to the nutrients through natural foods. So if you are getting enough naturally the supplement will be eliminated from your body unused.

Here are some recommendations if you have a health issue and are looking into supplementation:

1) Take the time to do the research, see if you can find a natural source of the supplement that you are being recommended

2) If you determine that you can’t get the nutrients naturally and you actually need to take a supplement

Don’t take it for long periods of time (no more than 30 days in a row). At this point you need to give your body a break from the supplement.

You need to give your body enough time to consume and metabolize the nutrients in the supplement.  Once this initial metabolizing has occurred, you can keep adding to the storage tank for 30 Days. After 30 days your body will start rejecting the supplement, and treat like an irritant. This can result in digestive issues, headaches, allergic reactions, or a whole host of other problems you do not need if you have health issues in the first place.

3) Ensure you work with a holistic coach who can coach you through the process of healing your unique body. Everyone is different and your needs will not be the same as the person next to you who is buying the same supplement. This is not easy and you shouldn’t try to do it alone.

For more information you can reach me at info@ultimatesportstherapy.com or call me at 905-290-1584

Love and Chi
Brandon Krieger
Holistic Lifestyle Coach, Reiki Practitioner and Professional Speaker

 

We are being killed by sodium!

I am in shock! Truly shocked. My 14 year old daughter has been tracking the foods we eat in http://caloriecount.about.com/ and she is noticing the outrageous numbers in the sodium counts of any processed or prepared meals we purchase.

We all naturally and correctly think that going to the drive thru at mcdonalds is a bad choice for our health. Do you think the same thing when you are eating the garden salad at East Side Mario’s? Of course not, its a Salad with a oil and vinegar type dressing. Of course its healthy. What about a family restaurant chain like Kelseys in Canada?

Well here is your reality lets compare 3 meals

Mcdonalds drive thru:

Big Mac, medium fries and bottle of water – 900 calories, 46 grams of fat, 1290 grams of sodium

East Side Marios:

Garden salad, Kids cheese pizza  water – 830 calories, 62 grams of fat, 2120 grams of sodium.

Kelseys

2 pieces balsamic chicken, Yukon Gold Mashed potatoes ,green and yellow beans – 790 calories, 35 grams of fat and 2015 grams of sodium.

Kelseys wins for Calories but look at that sodium number. you are supposed to have between 1000 – 1500 grams of sodium per day. If you have liver damage it should be at the lower end. Once your liver is damaged it cannot handle sodium correctly anymore. This is also very dangerous for your blood pressure, kidney and heart health!

If you have too much salt in your diet, that excess sodium won’t cause liver damage, according to the National Library of Medicine. But if you have liver damage due to another reason–perhaps a virus such as hepatitis or damage due to excessive alcohol consumption–your doctor may ask you to limit your sodium intake in an effort to reduce stress on your liver.

Read more: http://www.livestrong.com/article/278961-sodium-and-liver-damage/#ixzz1NqaxGkIV

You need to be drinking tons of water if you are going over that number, and for your livers sake add some lemon or lime to help detox it.

East Side Marios wins the worst meal award in all areas! Calories ok we can excuse the 830 calories but if you are getting 62 grams of fat and 2120 grams of sodium there is no way you can consider this a healthy meal

Then Mcdonalds our villain! 900 Calories at the highest in our group. 46 grams of fat and yes more of these fat grams will be unhealthy fats! but only 1020 grams of sodium so they get the Sodium award!!

Read the labels low fat products! You will be very sad to see that they have added more salt and or more sugar to make up for that! I have a friend with fatty liver that was proud that she was using 98% fat free Campbells soup as her base for soup recipes during week and its great on calories at only 70 for 1/2 cup, and fat at 2.5 grams, but watch out for the sodium at 790 grams for 1/2 cup.!!

It goes on and on and on. You start reading the labels and you will see why you need to stick to the outside aisles in your grocery store, the fruits,veggies, the lean proteins, even the dairy can be dangerous….but read your labels pay attention to the sugars, calories, fats, fibre and salt and you will find your health will improve!

Be gentle to your liver!

Michelle

Megan taking control and leading us to healthier lifestyle!

I am so very proud of my 14 year old daughter Megan. In the last week she has lost 6 lbs. She has set herself a goal of losing 20 lbs to get herself a product at Bath and Bodyworks as a reward for her hardwork. She is checking the scale everyday which is not the best idea but other than that I could not be more impressed by this.

She is entering every food into an internet program which breaks down all the nutrients and grades foods as A – D’s. She takes every container we use and she painstakingly adds them to the database. She is averaging A days and making sure I do as well. She is noticing how much salt and sugar manufacturers are using with the labels screaming lowfat! She is not letting us buy yogurts with too much sugar, We are checking every label for Salt , fats, sugars and fibre to make sure we eat balanced.

We are spending 90% of our time in the fruit and veggie aisle and we are back to cutting up all the fruit and veggies on Sunday to make the rest of the week easy.

We found a quickprep oatmeal that is for weight control by quakers that was surprisingly a Grade A product and not too high in sugar or salts.

We found that basic Cheerios are also a better choice than the multigrain Cheerios which has a lot more sugar.

She is running everyday not for long periods of time but she enters the time she runs into the program and it gets her a few more calories to spend on foods.

She is setting a NON FOOD related reward for her mini goals! This is perfect and the right way to do it!

We made guacamole last night for her to dip her new favorite veggie Celery into.. Celery being less than zero calories!

We have a meal plan for the week and she is excited about this change!

This came out of Megan totally and completely. I was working us toward healthier eating, but she has taken the bull by the horns! She is getting me excited with her enthusiasm and I will be getting healthier alongside her.

Megan will not be a teen that turns to silly diet plans, she is learning the right things to look for, she is insisting we target grade A meals everyday.

Her liver will thank her, her body will thank her, her self esteem will thank her. and so will I.

Thank you Megan I love you.

Junk Food Addiction

  My name is Michelle and I am junk food addict.

Back in June once Megan was able to walk again, we started treating ourselves with food.  Then I got lost in emotions of, now what? Now I have half of my autobiography written and I have a job and income stability again. The past has come knocking on my door and I am doing a great job of drawing lines in the sand and saying no to people who drain me of positive energy.  I am rebuilding my life successfully but there is a monster at my door!

Junk Food addiction is controlling my world, it has been for months. I feel it in my clothes; I feel it walking up the stairs, I see it in my skin and hair. I know it is the worst thing possible for my life and for my daughter. I am overly tired due to the lack of quality in my diet. Getting home at 7pm at night it’s far too easy to stop at the drive through and pick up the ready made junk food.

Junk food is anything processed. All of that processed food has the nasty effect of spiking my blood sugar levels short term. The subsequent drop of those blood sugar levels causes my body to scream for more junk food. It is a vicious cycle and one that I understand totally. I have been guiding people to understand this for a year. Now I face the music and claim my problem. This is an addiction like any other, once you fall off the wagon it’s easy to get lost in the enjoyment of getting away with it.

My personal coach Brandon will be so disappointed in me; I have made a point of not talking about food for months. I skirt the discussions about exercise. Maybe if I don’t talk about it, then it isn’t really a problem. Of course it’s a problem. To be fair I have been pretty busy accomplishing other goals but this one has to become priority one again before my daughter gets sick again and before I end up in the hospital fighting my own health battles.

So how do I begin, how do I get away from this before something terrible happens. I know this is step 1. Admitting you have a problem is always step 1. Next step will be working with Brandon, to get me back on track on food and exercise.  Accountability to Brandon and to my blog readers will keep me on track as I fight to regain control.