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!!

 

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.

Angels in my life Brandon Krieger

I found Brandon on a Blog post. He was looking for one person to test his method of holistic coaching. I had replied that I was a single mother on limited income but that I wanted to lose weight to be a healthy role model for my daughter and he agreed to try his system on me.

He sent me about 20 pages of questionairres to fill out before we met. Some of the questions around sexuality and sleep patterns made me scratch my head. What on earth does that have to do with losing weight?

The office was a 30 minute drive west of where I live. but i decided that it was worth the drive if i was really going to see a difference.

So here I am a year and a bit later and I am the same weight! So how can I call Brandon an angel? How can I call his program a success?

Brandon is about holistic coaching…that means ensuring all areas of life are balanced. He taught me about chakras, about becoming selfish instead of giving all of myself to everyone else around me. 

We started working on my core muscles, exercises to build the centre so that it could support the rest of my body.

I was using using low glycemic eating as my food plan and he taught me that I am a protein based eater, my body requires 50% protein, 25% carb, 25% veggie. This made sense for me and I started incorporating that into my eating.

We had some successes, I was losing inches and had lost some weight. My core exercises were progressing but my balance was always off and Brandon knew i was too distracted by issues in my life.

Megans health crisis was weighing so heavily on me, I had lost my job, I was struggling financially again and I did not feel safe.

Our focus moved from weight loss to getting me to a safe place again.

Megan needed to get healthy that was on the critical path, Brandon worked with her food and finding exercises that she could do with the extreme vertigo. Jason worked on her organs to get them working correctly for her and ensure things were flowing through her system correctly.

I needed to find a new job asap and i was told to focus on getting resumes out and networking.

I was lost , I was scared, I felt hopeless. Brandon kept me moving forward despite myself. I would have been very happy to just roll up into a little ball and feel sorry for myself. This was not an option.

Brandon didn’t let me give up on me. After a couple months of not finding a new job, he made me write out my life goals, I wanted to help people be the best they can be. I wanted to instill in others the resilience i carry.

I broke down my goals into Financial, Learning, and relationships. Within each of these areas they were further broken down into 3 week goals, 3 month goals, 6 month, 12 month and 5 years.

It was not easy to see my life 5 years down the road when i couldn’t figure out how to put food on my table the next day! I decided to amuse Brandon and write them all out. I didn’t really think they would work but what did I have to loose?

I was to find a coaching client

I was to get 5 resumes out

I was to start my autobiography

I was to find a job within 3 weeks

I am very proud to say that I accomplished every item within the 3 weeks.

Debbie was my first coaching client. I found her at a networking meeting 2 days after I set the goal.

I started writing my autobiography and I am almost finished that now.

I got the job offer right at the 3 week mark!

Was it magic, nope it was having specific goals that were time sensitive and an awesome coach to keep me moving forward.

Here I am 5 months later, I am one month away from feeling completely safe with my new job. My daughter is struggling again but I am confident she will be doing better very soon.  I also no longer rescue people, this is a huge for me as I have done that all my life. Brandon helped me see how much energy that was sapping out of my life. I have shelved the coaching until I am past the 6 month mark at work but I am very excited about starting some new goals with Brandon once April 20, 2011 is under my belt. Safety and security is so close I can taste it. its all i really need to  take steps towards an even better life.

Brandon thank you from the bottom of my heart for being flexible enough to adjust my goals as the life challenges changed. Thank you for beleiving in me and always supporting me and pushing me forward when i wanted to give up. You are an angel in my life and I will always be thankful for you!

A February New Years Resolution

This year my daughter and I both really want to focus on getting healthy and leaner. We could have started this as a January resolution like the rest of the world, but we chose to forgo that tradition.

My daughter was experiencing her very first exams and also provincial testing at school in January. This was extremely stressful for her and food does provide comfort for her in stressful moments. YES we know that eating food to resolve stress in turn creates its own stress and guilt as we try to squeeze into clothes that are too tight and think ahead to summer and bathing suits!

You can’t discount the pressure of wanting to be able to wear fashionable clothes and look great on a teenage girl! For her this is the key motivation. She wants to feel pretty and she has every right to feel that special after 2 years of nasty illness stole her social life.

For me the motivations are all health related. I am very comfie with my curves and do feel pretty! However, climbing the stairs to work everyday makes my chest tighten, a night of dancing makes my body ache. I want to fully enjoy life and all it has to offer.

I do not want to feel too big to go into a regular bathroom stall, sit in an airplane seat, go on a rollercoaster, or hundreds of other examples. I don’t want to be that person that is walking down the aisle on the bus or plane that makes people cringe and pray I don’t sit beside them and take some of their personal space in the process.

I am at a good spot in my life to make these changes. I love my new job, my kids are healthy and successful, I have a new sweetheart , and I have lots of people that will love me and cheer me on.

WII Fit will be our choice of exercise for now and it will monitor our progress. Making a list, checking out recipes and then grocery shopping tonight to arm us with lots of healthy snacks and make them fun.

February will be our starting point, just as others are giving up on their resolutions we will be charging up ours!

Wish us luck and deterimination!

Shiny and New at 42!

What an interesting birthday it was, Sun shining in the morning telling me not to give up, then rainy in the afternoon and evening to wash away all the bad things in the last year! Certainly seemed fitting for my life.  Part of the sunshine in the morning was an unexpected phone call for a job interview. The call was from Michigan and this had me confused on my birthday…who do I know in Michigan who would be calling to wish me a happy birthday. As i listened to the voice talking to me about a job I had applied for my confusion grew even more….I did not remember applying for a role in the states!

Eventually it all came together , the role is a Client Manager position in Richmond Hill for a large software company. This role reads exactly like it was tailored for me. What a perfect surprise birthday present. Today a week later I was happy to meet with the hiring manager and a long term employee for a 1 hour interview where I felt very confident and was pleasantly surprised by people saying hi to me in the lobby, parking lot and elevator like I already belonged there. The hiring manager is a wonderful lady who clearly is dedicated to her work and passionate about what she does. The long term employee was so down to earth and friendly and I know things went very well indeed!

This was after a weekend where I was feeling quite down about things financially, I could not put gas in my car to visit Brandon Saturday or my grandparents as I had planned. I had to forgo a prescription for my blood pressure as well . We gathered coins in order to get a few groceries for this weekend and I had a hard look at where the money is going.

Clearly Organic shopping is key for my daughters health, the problem is that it is on average 50% more expensive then its chemical laden neighbour. I am spending about 100 every 4 days in order to keep us stocked up with organic meat and fruits and veggies and household supplies. I have to accept that for the time being I have to put organic eating on the back burner and just buy the healthiest normal groceries I can unless organic products are on sale for the same price. Unfortunately, the market place ensures that eating unhealthy food is far cheaper than eating healthy foods.  I watched Food Inc with my kids this past weekend and had tears in my eyes listening to the mexican family who can’t afford the veggies in the grocery store but can afford the chips and pop.   That is my life while I am on unemployment. There are compromises that have to be made in order to survive right now. I wish there was a way for us to make the organic foods cheaper than the unhealthy ones…maybe a new tax like they have on alcohol and cigarettes. Help people see and understand that they are consuming food that is extremely expensive to their health.

Well thats all for now, I am looking forward to making the short list for this job and getting my life back on track again!

Hugs

Michelle Clermont

CHFI Blogger

The Yeast Connection

So much is going on in my life, since the last time I wrote to you.

I am writing a book about Fatty Liver Disease based on the stories in my facebook group.  I am researching the start of A charitable foundation for Fatty Liver Disease as well . The goal of that foundation will be to educate the public about the risks they are taking with their liver everyday in a world full of chemicals in our foods and in the air we breath.  Research will be the second goal and that means I want to see more definitions of what can cause Fatty Liver disease so that people do not feel shamed and doctors can stop rolling their eyes at obese patients and treating them like second class citizens.  The last goal and one I am most passionate about is to get the name changed in the medical community. What an awful name Fatty liver disease is. It makes patients feel ashamed , it makes doctors treat you like you ASKED for this disease. It makes the public picture a morbidly obese person and also think that THEY ASKED for it!! I have enough proof to show that its genetic in some cases, Chemicals and even minerals can be overloaded in the body and trigger the liver to start acting up, A nasty virus, attack on other organs in the body can cause the liver to overwork and start this cycle.  I believe that a Hepatitis immunization shot that my daughter had to take before she went to Italy in 2008 is very likely the trigger for her liver to start acting up! So lots for me to do to make this successful but I will!

What about me huh…what happened to all my health goals and focus on weight loss to be healthier. It was important for me to put that on a shelf while I was on the roller coaster of life after losing my job. Now I have direction and I also know that there is a possibility that one day I could donate up to 72% of my healthy liver to my daughter if she ever needs it.  This lets me refocus on getting healthy and losing weight. I want to be the picture of perfect health if that day ever comes. I do not want to be the overweight candidate who is rejected due to the condition of my own body!

So the next step in my personal plan will be to go on an anti fungus diet to clear my body of toxins. All the stresses that the last 6 weeks have brought into me are happy little toxins floating in my body preparing to take over and make me SICK….sorry toxins the party is over. I will have my 42nd birthday on May 13 and the following Monday I will be starting the Yeast Connection diet.

Our bodies are full of yeast , it loves the warmth of our inner body, it came in when we took anti biotics, when we use birth control pills, when we have major viruses or infections, when we eat meat that came from an animal that was fed antibiotics, when we treated acne or maybe when we treated athletes foot with a topical cream….  It will show up with headaches, depression, skin problems..we will wonder why we are always exhausted…very general symptoms that we never connect to a fungus living in our body.

I have a lot to learn about the yeast connection still but essentially my diet will become focused on complex carbohydrates. Most grains will be gone, most meats will be gone. It will make my daughters liver detox diet look like fun! however, until the fungus is out of my body I will not lose weight effectively and I will continue to have skin problems. So yes I will be re focused and I will be back on track.

Life is creating the path I should follow…now its just time to go for it! See you on the path  It will be an interesting journey!

Hugs

Michelle

http://www.facebook.com/?ref=home#!/group.php?gid=40124237301

http://www.gethealthywithmichelle.wordpress.com

michelle_clermont@rogers.com

Fatty Liver Disease – what you need to know

Fatty Liver disease is something my daughter was diagnosed with at the age of 11. In the 2 years since she has had the disease I have learned a lot. Unfortunately I have learned NOTHING from doctors. They do not understand this disease and they basically pat the patient on the head and tell them to lose weight and exercise and everything will  be ok. My daughter has tried and has not been successful and I now know that is because when your liver is not functioning correctly nothing internally is functioning right.

I am now driven to start a movement regarding this disease. Education of the general population is key. We think of sick livers being caused by alcohol or sharing dirty needles, we do not think of it associated to the ice cream cone we enjoyed at baskin robbins!

This disease has been diagnosed in children as young as 4, that is very scary, my 13 year old has a chronic illness and that is scary! These are CHILDREN, chronic illness is for the middle aged folks, the elderly even!! If its showing up in our kids our world is in serious trouble and we need to change things NOW!!

Feed your children organic foods, fresh fruits , fresh veggies, get your meat from a butcher , go back to basics please! No more convenience foods filled with chemicals…if you don’t understand what is on the side of the label why are you eating it!

I have approached the Canadian Liver Foundation about starting a sister foundation dedicated to Fatty Liver disease. I truly believe this will be as big as diabetes in the next 20 years and that a lot of us have it already without major symptoms. Once the major symptoms are showing up , you have damaged your liver and your goal is to prevent further deterioration! The next time you have a blood test ask to have your AST and ALT  levels checked, even if you are skinny on the outside you may be fat on the inside, so do not take it for granted that this is only a disease of the obese!

The sooner you find out about the condition of the liver , the easier it is to resolve with diet and exercise.

Hugs….and nope did not get that job from last week …but may have found my calling instead!

See my support group in facebook to understand this even further!

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=40124237301

Michelle

Dancing My Butt Off!!

Dancing has always been an escape for me, somewhere I can let lose and forget about all the stress that surrounds my world and give myself to the music.  I also sing along to the radio regardless if I know the lyrics but thats another topic!

Dancing this weekend became a different experience when I went out to a 40′s singles event where they were offering 2 hours of latin dance lessons. I had no idea what to expect other than embarrassment! We started with the Merengue and that seemed to go smoothly I was focused and paid too much attention to counting the steps and not enough attention to letting the music guide me for the first time in my life lol!! Then we were introduced to some basic salsa steps and by that time the sweat pouring off me told me this was one heck of a workout!! I tripped over my feet more times than I can count and laughed a lot, a great experience with my friends Lisa and Aly and I now know I want to take lessons and make this part of my exercise routine regularly!

I went to see Brandon last night, I knew it was the day of reckoning and time to get weighed and measured. It has been a month since I did this and as I reflected over the month, I went in not expecting anything. The month included me losing my job, a focus on strengthening exercises, and crafts! Not on food, not on aerobic exercise. We have all been taught that in order to lose weight we need to decrease our food intake and increase our aerobic exercise. I had moved to a diet that was protein heavy and was 80% healthy perfect eating and 20% eating just for fun! So I had burgers, fries and swiss chalet chicken. I even had a chocolate milkshake from an old drive in restaurant!

So Brandon hasn’t emailed my specific results but I can tell you I did not lose any weight this month. I even gained a pound. As Brandon put it , this is not a problem and is expected with the stress and changes in my eating this month.

There was a huge success in another area that totally blew me away and Brandon was just as surprised as I was!! He looked up at me and asked if I had noticed my pants getting looser! In fact I had I am now wearing a pair of jeans I haven’t worn in 5 years and that was another success that had me dancing around the apartment , heck event that time my daughter didn’t gasp at my dancing with embarrassment and said I had every right to dance and celebrate that!!

So now I add another celebration I lost 9 INCHES in my HIPS!! that is HUGE!!! other areas of my body increased by an inch, dropped by an inch or 2 but nothing compares to the hip ratio!

This is the area where I have the most to lose, and it is falling off clearly lol! So I do not care what the scale reports this month at all!! I LOST 9 INCHES and I am getting stronger every week with my core exercises. Once my muscles are working on full throttle the number on that scale will start to drop again and it will drop fast , so hold on for the ride its a bumpy one and I will continue to dance my butt right to my high school reunion in March!!!

I will post the specific numbers Saturday and will have new pictures taken to show the progress! Make it a great week everyone I know I will!

Keep track of my progress at http://www.gethealthywithmichelle.wordpress.com and find me on twitter as micha009 and facebook michelle clermont. If you add me there please send me a quick message telling me you are following me from blog!

Thanks!

Moving on beyond Anxiety!

The sense of Everything Happens for a Reason is a great thing to hold in your head when bad things happen to good people. However, after 7 days of dealing with the bad things I have to report that I have not stayed as positive as I wanted to be.

Reporting the news to the my stepdad the person I admire and respect and love the most was painful. He was not angry with me, but disappointed. He was not judging, but worried for me. He worries for himself too,  since he has been my financial crutch through the last 5 years of my rebuilding.  Thankfully there are lots of jobs available today which does give me hope that I will have the job I need in April and not have to rely on him too long.

This takes a heavy toll in my heart, in my head. Its pride , its shame, its a desperate need to not have to lean on him again.

A friend contacted me on the weekend too, she needed to vent out some concerns she had about the investment she made in me to start me in Usana. I have had so much on my plate and I know that once people start seeing the results for me , they will naturally want to try Usana products too.  My friend loves me, she is scared too and wants success for me.

This added to the guilt, shame , pride issues that were already plaguing my subconscious thoughts.

The result of those two events created a zombie in me. I have been working hard on getting through the steps Brandon set out for me, but I knew I was not really feeling it. My nights were full of nightmares, bad dreams, cramps in my legs, barely sleeping at all. My days were dotted with naps lots of naps! Staying up too late, eating less, and then also allowing myself to comfort myself with a large plate of fries.

Somehow I lost myself over the last 5 days. I went to see Brandon last night and admitted my lack of focus, I am scattered at best.

He knows I am overwhelmed and I have been full of anxiety to get everything done quickly. This is manifesting itself in me physically. It was very interesting to see that I could not balance on one foot, because my core balance is off while I am in this state of anxiety!

So back to basics for me, I now have a journal beside my bed to write down my dreams, and anything that interrupts my sleep at night.

I need to cut 2 hours a day out of my life to focus on Networking and job search steps.

I need to get outside and go walking in a park for 20 minutes a day to refresh my soul.

I need to plan FUN days in order to balance out the stress I am dealing with!

Last night I used 2 Usana Pure Rest tablets before I went to be at 11. I actually slept through the night with the assistance of the melatonin!

Today my goal is no NAPS before 4 pm. I can’t let bad habits take over and gain control of me.

I am not perfect and I will not hide that from you my readers! But I will not let life take me out and you will see me get back up and keep fighting!

Brandon has a new website you should check out. http://www.knssconsulting.com/

Good luck this week everyone! Measurements and current weight to be taken Saturday, will post again after that.

Michelle