Hello my name is Joyce Boudreau I am 56  and I live in Nova Scotia Canada.  I do have a question about the assessment test for the brain type. Before I do I would like to tell you about myself first.  I am so excited to do your program, I ordered the whole Brain Warrior package from PBS.  I have been obese ( 50 to 150 lbs overweight) most of my  adult life.  My story is not typical, 30 years ago when our sons were toddlers they both became seriously ill with asthma. After a year of constant hospital visits I decided to look for an answer outside the medical field. I read John Robbins “Diet for a New America”  and that book  began a life long journey of learning and healing.  After 6 months of taking all processed foods, dyes, white flour and pasta ,  cow dairy out of our home, switched to only local chicken and beef , used only local unpasteurized honey and organic local maple syrup for sweeteners,  fish was abundant for my husband at the time was a fisherman, raw goats milk from a local farm down the road, and make most of our food from whole organic ingredients  our sons were symptom free and have remained so into adults.

In that time I fell in love with herbs and have used them as our primary medicine for over 20 years now.  I make most of my own healing salves, tinctures, skin care products and house hold cleaners.  I also love to wild craft local herbs for nutrition and medicine.  I was a warrior for our sons but I still sometimes  would binge on chips or anything potatoes and of course over ate even the good stuff when I felt stress.   I worked very hard ,I cooked everything from scratch cooking about 30 hours a week.   I loved it and later on in life when our sons grew I became a shadow life coach (Jungian phycology) and after 2 years of training really fell in love with my life, my work, and lost around 70 lbs.  I began yoga, qigong, and meditation practices, walked 30 to 45 mins at least 3 times a week  and had a rich spiritual life. For 15 years I remained a seeker considering myself a life- long student of spiritual growth.  Healed  from many of childhood wounds I felt very healthy and happy.  ( I even loved my large body 😉 )

Then 2 years ago Life happened as it does to all of us, my brother died of pancreatic cancer, my elderly  parents were critically ill for a few months, went through menopause,  I was on crutches from a serious fall that damaged my knees, leaving me in chronic pain most of the time… all at the same time.  I consider myself a very strong person  but a year later (last year)  I fell apart, eating like a mad woman, I ate things I had not in over 25 years, crazy things like ice-cream almost every day.  Onion rings, big bags of chips, etc. You get the picture.  I put on 40 lbs in 3 months. I fell in a depression, my knees got worse, my back gave out and I just sat around watching TV for 8 hours a day some days. I stopped working, I isolated myself, could not garden anymore or wild craft, two of my  passions.

I had seen Dr. Amen’s PBS specials several times over the years but after watching the Brain Warrior I got excited that this might be what I need to pull myself out of this.  I have all the DVDs, the book, I am on Brianfitlife, and my hubby and I am taking the course on Amen University.  Very excited but here is the confusion.  I have taken the Brain assessment 6 or 7 times now ( I know obsessive) and I get a different numbers every time.  SO far I am type, 1,4,7, and now 10. Yikes, I am constantly wavering how I answer the questions from the point of view of who I am today to who I was those 15 years.  My brain is fogy and very dull, memory is horrible and I am frustrated . I have started the program diet suggestions but I want to make sure I am using the right brain type.  I already feel the difference in my spine and knees.  There is no way I can come and get a brain image in the near future so this is important that I get this down moving forward.  Thank you all for what you do.  Very excited . Sorry for the long story , looking forward to your response.  I have many more adventures on my bucket list and for the first time in a long time feel they may be possible again!  Love Joyce