I remember Scott and he encouraged me in my walking program. He will be missed. Rest in peace.

I remember him posting here. It is indeed sad.

I'm so glad you got up the nerve to ride the zip line. It sounds like so much fun!! The weight loss has given us unexpected and unimaginable ways to have fun and live life. Belinda

Thanks STephanie, It sure felt great to be able to do all of that work and not be wasted for a day following it. Take care, Rick

Jannine sending positive thoughts your way and hope you get the tooth situation resolved soon. As for artificial sweeteners... Believe almost everything you read about how bad they are for you! Theres an excellent book out there called Sweet Deception by Dr. Mercola. It has tons of references to back up everything they say in the book. Splenda is sucralose combined with chlorine which causes holes in the brain. Surprisingly, after reading the book, it still seems sachrin (which was the first sweetener to come out) is still the better of the 3 (aspartame, splenda or sachrin), not to say its good for you, but its the less of the 3 evils. I've stopped with sweeteners (ocassionally I'll still use splenda brown sugar just because I havent found an alternative yet), but I've switched to stevia. The packets are bitter, so I've told people if you're going to try it you're better off going with the liquid form it isn't as bitter. They also have flavored stevias for people that like drinking things like fruit 20. heres the link to Sweet Deception if you're interested... http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B000WPMC40/optimalwellnessc here is the FAQ on the splenda site re: chlorine, interestingly enough they're comparing their man made chlorine atoms to natural ones found in vegetables... How is SPLENDA® Brand Sweetener made? SPLENDA® is the brand name for the ingredient sucralose. It is made through a patented, multi-step process that starts with sugar and converts it to a no calorie, non-carbohydrate sweetener. The process selectively replaces three hydrogen-oxygen groups on the sugar molecule with three chlorine atoms. Chlorine is present naturally in many of the foods and beverages that we eat and drink every day ranging from lettuce, mushrooms and table salt. In the case of sucralose, its addition converts sucrose to sucralose, which is essentially inert. The result is an exceptionally stable sweetener that tastes like sugar, but without sugar's calories. After consumption, sucralose passes through the body without being broken down for energy, so it has no calories, and the body does not recognize it as a carbohydrate.