Food Revolution Day…My friend Kirsten’s impressions of what i am doing..

 

Today I am providing what my good friend Kirsten wrote about the Food revolution…you can and should follow her blog http://runningforautism.com/

 

Today’s story starts with Megan, the 15-year-old daughter of my friend Michelle.

In many respects, Megan is a typical teenage girl. There are celebrities she loves and those she cannot bear the thought of. She enjoys going to the movies, has dreams about the future, and when the time comes, she would like to wear a pretty dress to her senior prom.

Except that if things don’t change for Megan soon, there may not be a senior prom. Because in order to go to senior prom, you have to go to high school. And Megan is too sick to go to school.

When Megan started experiencing severe dizziness a couple of years ago, her mom took her to a string of doctors who were not able to identify the cause. Even a week of tests in hospital did not reveal why this young girl was so off-kilter that she had to rely on a wheelchair.

The dizziness was not Megan’s only problem. She had a prolonged bout of respiratory illness, her periods were problematic from the very first day, and she became unable to sleep for more than two or three hours a night, in spite of being constantly exhausted.

Eventually, doctors were able to determine that Megan had Fatty Liver Disease. It became clear to her mom, Michelle, that poor nutritional choices had led to this outcome.

But Michelle, who has endured a lot of hardship in her life, is not one to be beaten down. Instead of simply accepting Megan’s condition, she decided to do something about it, not only for her own family, but for her entire community. She started by setting up a Facebook group for people suffering from Fatty Liver Disease.

Then she started making radical changes to her own and her daughter’s lifestyles.

While Michelle acknowledges her role in making less-than-ideal food choices for Megan, she points out that many parents simply do not understand the implications of the foods that they and their families consume. As a society, we are so caught-up in healthy-sounding labels like sugar-free this-thing or low-fatthat-thing.

There is no denying the fact that food manufacturers hire very smart marketing companies who can successfully deceive entire segments of the population into believing that something is good for you when it’s actually leading you to an earlier grave.

Michelle decided that it was time for this to change, and so she has spearheaded the organization of an event in her community that will teach children and adults about healthy eating habits in a fun and engaging way. The Jamie Oliver Food Revolution Day is a global event being held in communities everywhere on Saturday, May 19th.

Michelle is organizing the event in London, Ontario. This day promises to provide entertainment and enlightenment for the whole family. Kids will enjoy such activities as making fruit or vegetable characters , while adults will learn how to make sense of those confusing nutrition labels and how to easily incorporate healthy eating into our busy lifestyles.

If you live anywhere near London, Ontario,  it is well worth attending this event. For details give Michelle a call at +1 226 234 4006.

And if you don’t live in London? Check out the Food Revolution website to see if there’s an event near you. It is going to be a global phenomenon on May 19th, with hundreds of public events and dinner parties in more than 300 cities worldwide.

Today’s children are the first generation who, on average, will have a shorter life expectancy than their parents. Michelle is determined to do what she can to turn the tide not only for Megan, but for other kids in the community.

Let’s all support the Food Revolution on May 19th. Together, we can truly change the world for our children.

Food Revolution Day May 19 2012 Covent Garden Market London Ontario

A very good friend of mine who runs this awesome blog http://runningforautism.wordpress.com/ is going to write a blog about the Food Revolution Day that I am coordinating in London Ontario! Kirsten is an amazing mother with 2 amazing kids and a cool hubby! I was her maid of honour in her wedding last year and I commuted with Kirsten for work at Canadian tire in 2010! 

So Kirsten sent me an email with her questions about the event and I thought this was a perfect way to write my blog today!

1. Date , time, place

This event will be hosted May 19, 2012 at Covent Gardens Market on King Street in London Ontario. Events start at 10am and continue through the day until 4pm.

2. A brief description of what it is including , what are the key events of the day.

The entire day will be focussed on trying to get people to cook in their kitchens, eating fresh local foods and not relying on quick convenient boxes of processed foods.

The Day starts off at 10:am upstairs in the Labbatt Room where Growing Chef’s will be engaging our children ages 3 -12 in creating their own Veggie or Fruit Character. They will also have colouring sheets for those who want to show their artistic talents. While the kids are learning and having fun, Britown Music will showcase some of their students to sing and entertain the kids and parents in the room! I am also please to announce that we are adding local recording artist Denis Gauthier to the artists who will be providing entertainment in the Labbatt Room while the kids are creating their masterpieces! The kids event will run continously until 12pm.

At 10:30 am we will be inviting parents and registered attendees to come next door while our volunteers and growing chefs keep your kids happy!

Parents will learn from Tracey Platero and Carole Persaud about how to keep your kids healthy and happy in the kitchen. How to deal with the peer pressure of other kids snacks at school! How to read and interpret the tricky labels on processed foods that are making our kids sick! What is the impact of those processed foods on our childrens bodies? This will be a valuable hour of information for parents!

At 12:00 pm families and registered attendees can join registered dietician Melissa Brionnes for a walk through Covent Market talking about the local products that are available and highlighting the vendors who have taken a challenge to create a Revolutionary Meal! The revolutionary meal is an idea for restaurants and vendors to create a meal that you know will have real food ingredients and will not be laden with extra additives that our bodies do not know how to process.

After being inspired in the Market come back upstairs !!

At 1pm come and listen to Dr. Kresimir Jug talk about Life By Design. “Life By Design is an essential part of transforming the world’s health. It is based on powerful principles that are scientific, logical and easy to follow. Health is your birthright. It is that natural, normal expression of living your Life By Design.”

At 3pm We are targeting young adults coming into their first apartments or people who want to start over with creating a healthy kitchen and staying healthy when you are shopping on a tight budget! Listen to Registered Dietician Melissa Brionnes and Organizational guru Margarita Ibbott share their secrets and tips!

This will wrap up our event! I am so looking forward to sharing all this information with you!

3. Website Link and or contact information.

https://gidsy.com/activities/london/7517/food-revolution-day-london-ontario - to register for events go here!

www.foodrevolutionday.com – to see if their are events in your local area go to this site! If you would like to host a dinner party, or create an event this page will also provide all the information you need!

For other questions about this event in London Ontario I am the coordinator Michelle Clermont and I can be reached at 226-234-4006.

4. Is there anyway for non-local people to be involved (example if someone wants to organize this in their own community, how do they do it.)

Go to www.foodrevolutionday.com there are lots of ideas from hosting a simple dinner party in your neighbourhood, a grocery store tour, a big event like ours or visit a farm! There are a ton of ways to participate on May 19 globally! There are over 313 cities participating, 193 public events and over 300 dinner parties!  Make this Food revolution grow!!

Personal Questions

1. What inspired you to do this?

My key inspiration is my daughter Megan,  Megan has been sick for 4 years. She is chronically ill. No doctors in the medical field can find specific reasons for the fact that she sleeps 3 hours a day, that her menstruation cycle is not a cycle its actually a constant flow. she is 15 years old and home schooled. Kids as young as 2 are being diagnosed with Fatty Liver Disease and that is NOT acceptable. Doctors were able to find that she has Mild Fatty Liver Disease which I also created a support group for on Facebook 4 years ago. I have over 215 members in that group who share their symptoms and challenges with dealing with Fatty Liver Disease. They are a small representation of the 30% of the world population that are currently afflicted by Fatty Liver Disease.  I have watched 8 people die in this circle of support in the last 4 years. This enrages me and also makes me passionate about raising awareness of the damage that processed foods are doing in our bodies.

Combining these factors means that my target audience is Parents, young adults and children. Awareness is key! The liver is an exceptional organ in your body and it can regenerate healthy cells as long as you are willing to give your liver a break!

2) What are you hoping to gain for you and your family through this?

Honestly for me this is about making a difference in the community. I want people to know who I am and know that I am here to help! I will be starting Ignite Health in the fall and I hope to make amazing contacts in London through this event! For Megan, I am finding volunteer opportunities for her that she can believe in and thats a win too!!

3) What are your thoughts about the fact that todays children are the first generation that on average will have  shorter life expectancy than their parents. Do you believe this event is a step towards reversing that trend?

This is exactly WHY I am creating this event at the root! I am scared for Megan, I see chronic illness in my child and not in myself? This is not logical! Parents and Children and those who are entering adulthood need to understand the risks they are taking in the grocery store, in the drive thru and know that every decision to buy sugary or diet beverages, every decision to have that drive thru meal for dinner is damaging you and your children and is shortening your life span. I KNOW that my bad decisions have created this for my daughter and I have also seen 2 men in their 30′s die of Fatty Liver Disease in the last 6 months! I am sorry but Megan is going to live longer than that and dammit i will make sure she outlives me if its the last thing i do! Please do not take your childrens health for granted like i did!!

 

 

 

Starting a Food Revolution in London Ontario

I have been so very busy for the last couple weeks, not really much time to breathe let alone write a blog about what I am doing! Today I want to take a moment out of everything and share with you the incredible Jamie Oliver Food Revolution Day that will take place in London Ontario on Saturday, May 19,2012! 

I was asked if I would host the Food Revolution Day in London Ontario about 3 weeks ago. I knew this was a big deal and if I make a great event happen then other amazing things are sure to follow!

My basic reason for doing this revolves around my 15 year old daughter Megan who has been chronically ill since she was 12 years old.  I am a 43 year old overweight mother who is healthy. This makes no sense to me, I have earned a chronic illness by abusing my body for the last 25 years. I would completely understand if my liver yelled at me or if Diabetes caught up with me.  But I am extremely angry that our processed foods are now so processed with so many bad ingredients that our children’s bodies are overwhelmed and unable to cope before they become adults. I am extremely passionate about this and about protecting future generations from this damage. The only way this will change is if we approach it from a grass root level.  This event is the 1st of many I will be hosting!

I am thrilled, proud, excited about the amazing volunteers that I have been able to find in London Ontario to make this day happen. All of the events and seminars are free! So there is no excuse not to come out and become part of the revolution!

I thank Jill Wilcox of Jill’s Table for suggesting we host this at the Covent Gardens Market! Our host site is so perfect for this event and Amy Shackelton at the Market has gone above and beyond in arranging sponsorship from her boss so that our base expenses to run the event are covered!

Jill Wilcox also pointed me to Andrew Fleet who runs Growing Chefs in London Ontario! I love what Andrew does!! They go into schools and teach kids about growing vegetables, making salad dressing , making salads and just having fun learning about nutrition!

Growing Chefs will start our day in the Labatt Room at 10:00 am -12pm  Kids will be welcome to come in and make a fruit or vegetable character! Kinda like there own live mr potato head!  Kids will also have the opportunity to do colouring sheets and have fun! Growing Chef’s will also be showcased at the Grickle Grass festival at the Children’s Museum on May 26th in a full day of events that you should consider with your kids!

Britown Music will be doing 2 performances 1 starting at 10:15 and the next at 11am. My own daughter Megan is enjoying awesome singing lessons with Britown Music and she will be singing as one of their students during the kids event on May 19th!! I highly recommend Britown Music and love that they are starting RockBand Day Camps for this summer! If you have a pre-teen who will be restless this summer consider this choice!!

At 10:30 - 11:30  in the morning Parents are invited next door to learn about nutrition for children. Tracey Platero and Carole Persaud will teach you how to read labels, understand ingredient lists and give you tips on keeping your children healthy and strong. We will also warn you about the potential impact of high fructose corn syrup, and extremely high levels of sodium on their young organs.

At 12 pm registered dietician Melissa Briones will meet registered attendees upstairs and bring you on a tour of the market , highlighting where you can get Revolutionary Meals that support real food concepts of the food revolution and also where you can get organics.  Melissa will have some awesome tips for you!!

At 1pm come and listen to Dr. Kresimir Jug talk about Life By Design. “Life By Design is an essential part of transforming the world’s health. It is based on powerful principles that are scientific, logical and easy to follow. Health is your birthright. It is that natural, normal expression of living your Life By Design.” He has an amazing clinic in London called  Gainsborough Family Chiropractor with his lovely wife Rachel and I am now a member of their client family!

 

At 3 pm come and listen to Margarita Ibbott and Melissa Briones talk about Healthy Eating on A budget and Organizing your Kitchen! this session  is targeted to young adults starting out or anyone struggling to make ends meet that still want to eat healthy, we will have tips and suggestions for planning your meals. We will also teach you how to organize a kitchen to make cooking easy and convenient.

I can’t forget to name some of the other volunteers that are helping me to make this event amazing!

Tracey Platero has been my right hand girl, chasing down vendors trying to convince them to create Revolutionary Meals!

Denise Testa of JD Communications and Design has volunteered her talents to design our Posters and Vendor Signs! If you need Graphic, branding, web design work in London Ontario I highly recommend Denise!!

Erin Neely  has been working tirelessly to find a printer who can produce our Posters and signs for a good price and quickly!!

Trevor Johnson – working for the City of London and always providing ideas and trying to get support for our event from the city!

Dallas Rocheleau – is planning a big move to Halifax in June but is making time to help us make this event awesome!

Margarita Ibbott – Will be presenting and talking about Organizing your Kitchen! She is also an amazing Social Media trainer and if you are looking to make sure your company is doing this right with Linked In, Pinterst, Tumblr, Facebook and Twitter give her a call!

I will write another blog shortly talking about the rest of my amazing volunteers but for today I will leave you with the link to the register for free events in London!

https://gidsy.com/activities/london/7517/food-revolution-day-london-ontario

for more information about the global movement go to www.foodrevolutionday.com!

Tell the Truth to Yourself About Yourself! Iylana Vanzant

I loved the energy of Iylana…dancing and clapping her way from the back of the auditorium this must have taken her almost 10 minutes due to the 8500 people in the room trying to get her attention! Once she got to the stage she commanded our attention. Her voice so powerful her spirit so strong!

She called us Golden , demanded we be golden! I felt golden in her presence! She told us about how her older brother called her ugly as a child and because she looked up to him she believed him. Until she was 30 and then she decided she was going to be beautiful on her terms and this is something I can relate to so strongly.

She kept telling us that we need to tell ourselves the truth about ourselves. Only when we accept our weaknesses as being human can we really be complete. Ego prevents us from facing the truth about ourselves.

I had only heard about Ilyana Vanzant for the first time when I saw the lifeclass.  I may have seen her on Oprah 10 years ago but I know my ego was running my life 10 years ago and I could not have truly heard her . She has been to hell and back like me with tragedies and losses throughout life.

I had a mother who called me bitch, slut, liar, worthless more times than I ever heard a positive. I still carry that belief somewhere inside me and that is a truth I have to tell myself.

I had a father who judges women based on appearance and he judged me for being overweight. I carry that inside me and I am overweight despite him, probably wanting him to love me and accept me regardless of my external size.  That is a truth that just bubbled to surface and is bringing tears to my eyes at work.

I need to explore that truth more. That it generated emotion where my mothers words generate nothing, it is worth pursuing.

I am not in touch with my mother who has deteriorated into mental illness and has not wanted to talk to anyone in family in over 12 years.  She tried to kill me at 17 years old and flew into rages regularily. I have not talked to her since 1999.

I am not in touch with my father who chose to testify against my sister in a custody case which dropped the hammer on my sister having little or no access to her own children. I need to forgive him. I had bottled up years of abuse and lack of boundaries with my father and wrote him a letter in 2006 indicating that I could no longer see him as my father, he brought nothing positive into my life and was bringing pain to my sister and I.  I told him I would always love him. We have not spoken since 2006.

I have a tentative relationship with my sister. I feel for her and she lives with chronic illness and personality issues that make it difficult to manage. I always feel that my sister takes energy from me. I never feel that she deposits anything into my life. I know she would say the same about me.  We are the product of 2 parents that should never have had children. We were played against each other growing up , we were rarely on the same side. She was the good girl with the good grades I was the bad girl always testing boundaries.

I treat myself terribly. I pick at my skin and have since I was a little girl. Always trying to cause more pain to myself than anyone around me could cause. It is a soothing to me and a compulsion that I have told family doctor I want to address.

I am lazy with housework it drives my daughter crazy. She wants a perfect mom who cooks, and cleans. I am a far from perfect person who finds it difficult to generate energy to go clean the kitchen after I cook a meal. It is something I have to work on for her happiness. No excuses for this I just don’t like cleaning! I don’t mind that there is a bit of a mess in my home. I am far from a hoarder, but it hurts her that I do not seem to care that it bothers her so much.

I know a ton about nutrition and I know exactly how foods negatively hurt the body and I am getting better at avoiding the things that hurt me but its not easy as the feeling of hurting myself is comforting.

I am afraid my bubble of accomplishments will always burst. I expect people to find out I am false. I expect people will all eventually reject me or I will always reject them.  I need to get rid of this wall that prevents me from being the best me possible.

What truth about yourself are you willing to tell yourself publicly?

Thank you Ilyana for stirring this pot!

 

 

 

 

The day the universe knocked my door down!

I have always been considered lucky, I tend to win a lot of contests and in the last year I have won at least 6 of them. I have also always had a sense that something bigger than me wanted me to succeed even if I didn’t believe that I was worthy of that success. I have never been religious after a minister exposed himself to me as a little girl, but I do believe in God and I do believe he keeps an eye on my life. No matter how black and dark things have looked I have always had hope and always believed things would improve. I always knew if I could just survive that dark period in my life something better would be waiting for me.

It was a Thursday, it was April 5, 2012. I was having an average day at work, busy on phones with client issues, I was worrying about finances and the sounds my car was making that I knew was going to cost more money than I had. I was thinking about my daughter and my son, thinking about my sister who is in the hospital with another mysterious illness. I would say overall it was a bleak looking day in my mind.

I checked my email around 10 am and found an email from the Jamie Oliver Food Revolution telling me that they would love it if I would host a Food Revolution day in London Ontario on May 19 , 2012. I had to read it twice. Did this really come from the Jamie Oliver Food Revolution? Did they really want to work with me on creating this event? This was the universe knocking on my door pretty loudly. I have been advocating for 4 years trying to raise awareness about Fatty Liver Disease which impacts 30% of the population. The message that Jamie Oliver preaches about home cooking and teaching kids about cooking fits so perfectly with what I have been passionate about for the last 4 years. I was in shock and realized this was a big deal. I told a co worker about it and felt excitement in myself as I thought about what I could accomplish with this.

I refocussed on my day and on my work …the day was progressing along when I noticed I had missed a call on my cell phone. I do not get a lot of calls on there so I checked and noticed a Toronto phone number. I figured it must be a wrong number but wondered why they would leave a voice mail for me. I put the phone down to deal with a clients issue and when things got quiet i decided to pick up the message. It was from Canadian Tire and they were telling me that I had won a prize in the Oprah Winfrey Life Class contest they had the day before. I thought back and remembered I saw the contest on Facebook and all I had to do was email Canadian Tire my favorite Oprah moment… I had sent that I loved that she faced her fears and walked on hot coals with Anthony Robbins! The emails had to be sent in within a 12 hour period so i figured that my odds were pretty good and entered the contest. I really truly had been hoping to go to the Life Class in Toronto knowing that I seem to stop myself from being successful. I know that is old messages from my parents and my ex husband trying to keep me down and I have allowed them to accomplish that.

 

The message said I had to call by end of business day or I would forfeit my prize. I called back immediately. My head told me I had likely won general admission seats and I would be grateful even to be in attendance at this once in a lifetime event in Toronto. She thanked me for calling back and proceeded to tell me I had won the Grand Prize. I had no idea what the grand prize was and she told me I had won front row tickets to the Oprah Lifeclass in Toronto. She told me that if I lived 300 kms away they would have flown me in to Toronto. I was thrilled regardless to be in the front row for this event was clearly a dream come true for me!

I am going to this event with my 18 year old son Alex who is at a crossroads in his life. He is going off to university in September and I know this class will inspire great things for him at an important stage of his life.

For me this is about helping me get past the demons of my mother, my father and my ex husband who are preventing me from taking the huge steps forward that my life keeps asking me to do. They do not do it in my life today, they just continue to control me from the past. I started writing 2 books and neither is complete. I want to start a charity but I always stop myself thinking I don’t have enough money or the knowledge to create one. I always find a roadblock and I always put it in front of me.

In the last few days I have also learned that my son and I will be staying at a hotel in Toronto the night before and we will be getting a Meet and Greet with Oprah and all of her fabulous speakers in Toronto!

The Universe didn’t just knock on my door, the universe is trying to knock my door down by sending these 2 things to me on April 5, what happens next in my life is yet to be seen..but I know my life changed forever on April 5, 2012.

 

Thank you Universe!

 

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??

Risks of Pregnancy with a Fatty Liver!

I am a strong advocate for people to go to their doctors and have an annual blood test to ensure your liver enzymes are within reasonable levels. I believe in prevention and becoming aware of this epidemic.

Recently in the support group I run on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/groups/fattyliversupport/ someone asked  if anyone had gotten pregnant with the fatty liver disease. A few woman had but almost all of them had been warned by their hepatologist that this was a very dangerous thing to do.

1. The risk of giving your baby a fatty liver while in your womb is high. The risk that a healthy baby will also grow up to have a fatty liver is also high.

2. Acute Fatty Liver occurs rarely but it can happen http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acute_fatty_liver_of_pregnancy.  This is killing women and baby in childbirth and is very scary.

So wow this makes this quiet disease even more important for you to pay attention too. If you are considering getting pregnant , please get a full physical with a test for liver disease. If your result is that you have a fatty liver , you need to take advantage of this organ which can regenerate cells and you can reverse the disease.  here are my suggestions:

1. Reverse the disease by eating lots of green vegetables, lean proteins, a few fruits, a few low glycemic grains, and unsalted nuts for fats.

2. Stop eating processed or fast food.

3. Drink lots of Water, and herbal teas, do not drink soda pop or sugar based juices.

4. Use high quality supplements that are based in scientific proof.

Go for the blood test every 6 months until your liver enzymes are low.

Once your liver enzymes have  been clean for 1 year i would consider risking pregnancy.

It is critical for you and your developing baby that you eat healthy throughout the pregnancy and throughout the time you breastfeed your baby.

You do not want to risk giving your  baby this disease through your body or your breastmilk.

Once you have this baby commit to protecting your child from this disease by staying away from processed foods make your own baby foods or at least buying organic foods from a trusted source. Do not let them eat chicken nuggets, kraft dinner or any other convenient foods. Foods need to be homemade and full of healthy goodness for life!

Please consider this information and share with anyone who might be considering pregnancy. This is important and we need to stop this epidemic now!

Family Day and A Day of Gratitude!

I am just bubbling over with feelings of gratitude and well being this morning! Today is Family Day in Ontario and I am grateful that Ontario decided to put a holiday in the middle of February when so many people are feeling down about the weather!

I was on call this weekend. My job is managing critical technical problems that are negatively impacting customers for my company. I deal with only the most serious problems. I started working at 10pm Friday Night and I worked until Sunday night at 10pm. It was extremely busy and I only managed about 6 hours sleep in that 48 hours. I worked 28 hours in that period of time. I am responsible for gathering the right technicians, keeping them focussed on resolving the problem, and then providing updates to the management group within the organization. I received numerous accolades over this weekend from Directors, Managers and technicians for my ability to communicate, my ability to keep things focussed, my patience and my grace was also noted.

When you are running on 6 hours of sleep comments and accolades like this truly make it worth it. I do love my job. I love helping a client get an issue resolved. I love inserting a bit of humour into conference calls when things are getting too serious. I love the feeling the technician has when they have resolved a problem and I love that I facilitated that process. I am grateful to Davis and Henderson for allowing me to make an impact on this! I am grateful for the 28 hours of overtime that will allow me to pay off some bills in March!

I am grateful for my 10 month old Labradoodle Toby…he was so patient with me this weekend waiting for me to play. He licked the laptop and would paw the keyboard trying to get my attention. Taking him to the Dog park this morning so he could run free for an hour was awesome. He is a speed demon and ran with his tail high in the air wagging and greeting every dog he passed! Toby brings laughs and happiness to my life!

I am grateful to my son Alex who has decided to go to university to study physcology. He is evolving at 18 years old into a man who I know learned a lot from me and makes me prouder every day!  He will be an amazing man and I can’t wait to see more!

I am grateful to my Stepdad Stan, My Aunt Pat, My Aunt Edwina who are strong wonderful people in my family that keep me grounded, that understand me and love me unconditonally. I cannot put into words how much they all mean to me.

I am grateful to my generous daughter Megan, She is chronically ill and deals with a life that I don’t wish on anyone. But she donates her hair for kids with Cancer because she knows those sick kids are worse off than she is, and she can;t imagine not having hair.

I am grateful to EZ rock 97.5 and Sheryl  Rooth who cared about Megans happiness enough to give her tickets to go see Simple Plan, Marianas Trench, All Time Low and These Kids Wear Crowns at the JLC tonight. Her face will be glowing, she will be singing along to every song from every band playing and this will be a night she will never forget! I will never be able to explain how grateful I am to Sheryl but I will be paying it forward.

I am grateful to all my new friends in London Ontario who support my causes and my efforts in creating awareness for Fatty Liver Disease and now my new path of doing the same for The Metabolic Disorder!

I am  grateful to all my old friends who still stay in my heart and are always there to provide a smile, support, or a laugh when I need them!

I am simply grateful for being Michelle Clermont today!

What are you grateful for?

Hugs!!

How do I fix my Fatty Liver disease?

I have 200 members in a group on facebook who are dealing with non alcoholic fatty liver disease. They range in stages of the disease from very minor with few to no symptoms, to the extreme of swelling (ascites), and constantly being in the hospital.

There are a lot of recommendations for coping with the disease and helping the liver by avoiding certain things: High Fructose Corn Syrup, other sugars, MSG, Trans fats, excess sodium, and deep fried foods. These are the fun foods, they are the social foods, they are comfort foods and everyone has a fond memory associated with one of these no-no’s.

People in the group talk a lot about wanting to get a liver transplant and I understand that desire. This sounds like the perfect answer and relief to serious pain and late stage liver disease. They go through lots of tests and analysis to determine if they are a good candidate for the liver transplant and when they make the list it is a celebration! We are all happy for them and know they are getting a fresh chance at life!

I think the fresh chance at life is really the key message here for liver transplant patients. You can’t go back to the same habits that destroyed your liver in the first place. You can’t go out and celebrate with a beer, chicken wings and nachos and expect that this new liver will be any happier with your choices than your old liver. Those foods and beverages are still toxic. This new liver is vulnerable as it tries to fit in with all of your other organs that have been there the whole time. Those other organs have had to take the extra workload from the compromised liver for all these years and are also going through a bit of a shock!

So here is the point. Those banned foods do not change after a transplant. They are still hurting your liver and your other organs. A transplant is not an invitation to party. Think about driving home your first child. Do you remember how careful that drive home was? I remember bringing home my son Alex and my ex husband driving so incredibly slow, we were both so afraid we would hurt this new baby. Giving the baby the first bath, the first nail clipping. We are super careful and we would never take a newborn baby in an Indy 500 race! Think of your new liver like a new baby. Treat it with the respect and care you would give your child.  

For people who are dealing with Early or Mid stage liver disease my message to you is different. I don’t want you planning your road to your transplant. I want you focussed on helping the liver you were born with. Your goal is not a new liver.

Eating healthy , exercise, use supplements that work for you, that have been approved by your doctor or health care professional. Do everything you can to eat low carb(20 G per day), low sugar (15 g per day), low sodium(1000 mg per day)  with lots of veggies preferably raw!, good healthy proteins, and healthy fats.

Reading labels is something you need to do forever, everyone needs to do this. Everyone needs to wake up to the sad truth that the fun we were having with food is not without a price to pay in our bodies. Short term flushes and detox will not do the trick, quick weightloss will not do the trick, Those things will shock the liver and cause more damage even if they appear to be helping.

I want everyone in their yearly physical to ask to have your liver function tested in your blood test. If your AST or ALT numbers are higher than recommended levels you need to demand a stomach ultrasound to confirm that your liver is compromised.  You may not be dealing with symptoms but this is a huge wake up call that your liver is waving a white flag and begging you to stop what you are doing. Drive away from the drive thru, Back away from the nachos and wings, and just say no to alcohol. Give your liver the break it needs it desperately. Be gentle to your liver, treat is with the respect it deserves.

A liver transplant is meant for people who despite eating properly and following all the guidelines are still not able to get the original liver to function. You have to be healthy and fit, the rest of your organs have to be strong enough to deal with the surgery and the aftercare of preventing rejection of the new liver. Very few of us will make that list and be that strong and healthy. Your goal is to get that way without requiring a transplant.

Taking care of your liver is a life long journey not a short term fix!

Depression and Dermatillomania

After watching Darkness and Hope I now recognize a condition that is part of my life long depression battle. I am a fighter but this is a clear sign of the damage done to me in my childhood that has long term consequences no matter how well adjusted i seem!

I have a confession while I am clearing out emotions that need to be shared. This is the deepest darkest most painful thing to admit and I will use as many words as I can to avoid saying it and admitting it to you. As a little girl i was not given love from my mother or father. I was told i was rotten, that i was a mistake , that i was bad, that i ruined lives.

Somewhere deep in my pysche I flipped a switch and decided that I would self punish myself for ruining lives. I had excema as a little girl due to food allergies. I loved the feeling of scratching it raw. It made me feel alive and it made me feel power. It soothed me to know that I controled this level of pain in my life. While my mother yelled at me, my father screamed at her…I could hide in my room and focus on scratching my skin. It was less painful then listening to my parents.

This habit never left my side. When life overwhelms me it soothes me , when I am bored it give me something to do, when i am tired, it wakes me up, when i am anxious i can distract myself, when I am angry i can take it out on my skin! this is and always has been there for me.

Its a compulsion. One I am not aware of doing 90% of the time. I found online support so I know I can get it under control now. Its far more common than I thought it was. I have covered my skin when I go out , I have avoided wearing bathing suits, I have hesitated to explain when people ask what is on my skin. Its my deepest shame and I do this to myself.

Its a form of perfectionism, I think as a teen I was so lucky I did not get acne. So every time I find a flaw on my skin with my hands I feel an overwhelming need to get it out of me. If I tell myself not to scratch or pick my skin I get incredibly anxious, I feel like there are ants crawling all over my sin begging me to scratch.

I have so many scars from this practice in my life. I can’t change that, I accept this as a coping mechanism from my childhood that I have the ability to control now as an adult. I am not the rotten, mistake of a child I was told I was, I am not responsible for the behaviour of my parents. I have created 2 incredible children, I have incredible friends and I am loved by so many.

When I get the urge to scratch I have to fight through it like an alcoholic or drug addict has to fight through that urge to get a fix.

Its my deepest shame , its my deepest secret and now I have shared it all. I am scared to publish this post. Will you all hate me and judge me for this. Will you ever look at me the same once you know I do this? somewhere in me this was my way of proving to myself I am the rotten mistake of a child that ruined my parents lives by coming into it. Do you see the risk I am taking by admitting this? There are tears in my eyes. There is so much fear in me. I know my children hate that I do this and don’t understand why I haven’t stopped. Until now I have not truly seen that this was self mutilation, like cutting, or bulimia for others , this is destroying my body.

One day at a time depression is a life long condition and this is how it manifests in me!