Detox in 7 days: a detoux diet can help you shed up to 10 pounds and leave you feeling terrific. Our weeklong plan shows you how to lose the weight and keep it off - Cover story

When you simplify your diet for a week, something amazing happens. If you eat only wholesome foods and give your body a break from refined flour, sugar, and caffeine, your body sheds up to 10 pounds of excess water weight and your energy soars. You improve your digestion, stop feeling bloated and congested, and decrease your risk of disease. Detoxing, as this process is known, can also improve your eating habits. These new habits help you keep the bloat off and lose more weight.

Detox diets are a time-honored practice of limiting yourself to certain foods for a short period of time. Some detox diets are so strict that you only drink juices, but ours involves a more varied diet of vegetables, fruits, and whole grains. This practice is healthy and safe for most people, say holistically minded doctors like Elson M. Haas, M.D., director of the Preventive Medical Center of Marin in San Rafael, Calif., and author of The Detox Diet (Celestial Arts, 1996) and The False Fat Diet (Ballantine, 2000). Haas says he’s helped more than 10,000 people detox in his 30-year medical practice, and he personally detoxes three times a year.

We asked Haas to create the following seven-day detox plan. It gives you step-by-step instructions on what to do and tells you how to continue to lose weight after the detox is over. Don’t follow this plan if you have a chronic disease like cancer or heart disease or are pregnant or nursing. The plan is also not recommended for children or teens.

What to Eat

FOLLOW THIS MEAL PLAN DAILY DURING your detox week. Sit down for each meal and eat slowly, chewing every bite thoroughly. Chewing this way helps you feel full on fewer calories, and taking the time to sit down will keep you from feeling deprived.

WAKE-UP DRINK: As soon as you rise, drink two 8-ounce glasses of filtered or spring water. Squeeze half a lemon into one of those glasses; the lemon stimulates your digestive juices. Your goal is to drink at least six glasses of water by the end of the day. If you have trouble remembering how much you drank, keep track in your journal.

BREAKFAST: Between 7 and 8 a.m., eat one piece of fresh fruit like an apple, pear, or banana. Fifteen to 30 minutes later, eat 1 to 2 cups of cooked whole grains like amaranth, buckwheat, brown rice, millet, or quinoa. (This delay aids your digestion.) Avoid barley, corn, oats, rye, and wheat; many people experience congestion, poor digestion, and other symptoms when they eat these grains. To prepare most of the grains, you’ll add them to boiling water, reduce the heat to a slow simmer, and cook them covered for 30 minutes or more until they’re tender. (For exact instructions, consult the packaging.) You may want to prepare several servings ahead of time and reheat them in the morning.

To flavor your grains, add 2 tablespoons of 100 percent fruit juice or I teaspoon of an oil and butter mix per serving. To make this mix, combine 1/4 cup of extra-virgin olive oil or cold-pressed canola oil and 1/2 cup (1 stick) of room-temperature butter. Store it in the refrigerator. Use a maximum of 3 teaspoons a day. The fats in this mix keep your tissues healthy as you detox, and butyric acid, a compound in butter, helps heal and protect cells in your stomach and intestines.

With your grains, take a multivitamin and additional supplements to get 200 to 400 IU of natural vitamin E (d-alpha tocopherol) and 100 to 200 mcg of selenium. These antioxidants fight the free radicals your body produces as you detox. Taking supplements with food prevents the nausea you may suffer if you consume them on an empty stomach. If you usually take other supplements, continue to take them unless they contain caffeine.

MIDMORNING SNACK: Around 11 a.m., sip 1 to 2 cups of the vegetable water left over from steaming your lunch and dinner. (For more on the steaming process, see “Lunch,” next page.) You should reheat this water and can season it with a dash of salt. The broth provides valuable nutrients that separate from the vegetables during steaming, eases hunger pangs, and keeps you hydrated (it counts toward your daily fluid consumption). Next, take 500 to 1,000 mg of vitamin C powder buffered with calcium and magnesium. You’ll find this powder at natural food stores; choose a brand that’s free of sugar and artificial sweeteners. Mix it with 6 ounces of water and drink. Vitamin C, an antioxidant, neutralizes free radicals produced as you detox, and calcium and magnesium help ease any agitation you may feel as you withdraw from addictive substances like caffeine or sugar.

LUNCH: Between noon and 1 p.m., eat steamed vegetables. You can make them the night before or in the morning and reheat them at lunch. Save the water from the steaming process in a covered container and refrigerate it.

To make your lunch, steam up to 4 cups of raw vegetables in at least 2 cups of water until they’re tender but still crisp. Prepare at least four vegetables for each meal, aiming for a variety of flavors, textures, and colors. For example, try a starchy vegetable like a potato, a bitter green like kale, a sweet vegetable like red bell pepper, and a pungent vegetable like scallions.

Deciphering Laser Vaginal Rejuvenation and More

LVR is the acronym for a well-known procedure called laser vaginal rejuvenation. Laser Vaginal Rejuvenation is a secure bloodless outpatient vaginal surgery that takes only an hour or so to complete. It is designed to remedy vaginal relaxation using a laser.

Vaginal relaxation refers to a condition in which the vaginal muscles are no longer firm and consequently have poorer control, strength and tone. This means that the vagina is no longer in its peak condition. Women who have a “relaxed” vagina tend to undergo involuntary urine spurts or spillover. As a result, women may feel embarrassed and frustrated, that is why Laser Vaginal Rejuvenation is invented.

Women experience vaginal relaxation due to a number or reasons. When a woman’s body undergoes childbirth as well as the normal aging process, the ligaments, fascia and muscles separate due to childbirth trauma. This incident causes the pelvic organs to fall from their original positions. The pelvic organs are comprised of the vagina, rectum, bladder and uterus. Vaginal relaxation is not exclusive to those who gave birth since strain due to chronic coughing and obesity are also probable causes and Laser Vaginal Rejuvenation can correct that.

Laser Vaginal Rejuvenation or LVR efficiently reduces the external and internal vagina diameters, in effect building up the perineal area. Perineal area is the region immediately outside of the vagina and on top of the anus. This particular vaginal surgery makes women feel appealing vaginally. In addition, these women feel younger and their sexuality is similarly regained.

Laser Vaginal Rejuvenation is designated for women who have ordinary sexual functioning. Women who have sexual dysfunctions like discomfort and pain during sex as well as those who have trouble achieving orgasm are not qualified.

When you have decided to undergo an Laser Vaginal Rejuvenation or LVR, a comprehensive consultation with a doctor is necessary so that a patient will have an informed decision. What follows next is that a specific operative plan is designed for the patient. Prior to the operation, patients are given the overview of risks and complications. They are also advised to submit under a comprehensive medical clearance.

The patient is advised to rest for six weeks in order to completely recover from the Laser Vaginal Rejuvenation process. But most patients feel ready to go back to their regular lives only after seven days, giving you more reason to avail of Laser Vaginal Rejuvenation for yourself. Of course, before undergoing a laser vaginal rejuvenation procedure, you should learn first more about the operation. Understand what LVR or Laser Vaginal Rejuvenation is will give you a more informed and educated choices.

How to Find the Best Vaginal Surgery in the Area

Before signing on to any hospital or clinic in Orange County, arm yourself first with the necessary information. All of these facilities claim to offer the best vaginoplasty procedure. Better find out as much as you can about the vaginal surgery and check out whether the clinic knows every tidbit of information.

In Orange County, vaginoplasty is one of the most popular type of vaginal surgery, and it’s popularity is based on the number of happy clients the operation produced. It performs what you can call a vaginal tightening since the vaginal canal is narrowed in the process. This vaginal reconstruction seeks to eradicate excess vaginal skin in order to increase the sexual pleasure between two partners. Unlike other operations, this vaginoplasty is fairly easy to perform, so a regular vaginoplasty procedure takes an hour or two to finish.

The causes of a loose vaginal canal vary from genetics; multiple childbirths, natural aging or trauma caused by some other method can be corrected by vaginoplasty. In any case, it generally results to stretched vaginal muscles. Once this is corrected, the vaginal muscle will be toned and hence result in better contraction strength as well as control.

Prior to the vaginal surgery, Orange County clinics advise a patient to quit smoking for a while. That’s because smoking decreases the body’s oxygenation, and consequently inadequate oxygenation may result in complications. That is, if the patient is a smoker, otherwise there are no other pre-operative measures to follow. Of course, the patient must bring comfortable and loose-fitting clothes with her.

It is important to note that this type of vaginal reconstruction is different from another popular vaginal surgery, the Labiaplasty. It is not the same as vaginoplasty. Ask Orange County doctors for a thorough explanation between the differences of the two. .Labiaplasty refers to the reduction of the inner lips of the vagina, the labia minora. Since the two female genital surgeries have the same recovery period, they may be often intertwined.

In Orange County, vaginoplasty procedure is performed through either conventional surgical methods or through laser vaginoplasty. This is generally a bloodless vaginoplasty. The simplest form of vaginoplasty. The period of recuperation lasts from four to six weeks. Nonetheless, patients are already comfortable walking a few days after the vaginal reconstruction.

Dutch dermatologist Martino Neumann from Erasmus University Medical Centre has developed a spray for diagnosis of skin cancer at early stages. Worrying skin part (a mole, pigment spots, freckles, etc.) is first sprayed over with fluorescent liquid. Two hours later sprayed skin is scanned by special sensitive equipment.

If skin is affected by cancer, the scan will show changes in color. Neumann promises his method will allow to detect skin cancer at the earliest stages and this is good news for people in the risk group. There are two most common types of skin cancer –squamous cell carcinoma and basal cell carcinoma (basalioma).

In the US alone, 2 300 people die from squamous cell carcinoma each year. Usually, women are 1.3% more likely to get skin cancer than men. The frequency and the degree of risk for skin cancer are positively related to the age and reach the peak after 75. It is known that risk group includes fair-skinned people who may suffer from sun exposure (they are often red or light-haired and freckled) as well as those who are excessively exposed to UV-light and X-rays. In addition, such factors as genes, reproduction and hormones also contribute to skin cancer formation.

breast, women breast, breast women

Woman’s breast should be not only beautiful, but first of all healthy. Nutritionists are sure, not only proper cosmetics, ideal hygiene and regular fitness can help keep your breast healthy, but the right diet can do it as well. So, what do we, women, need to eat and drink daily in order to have healthy and beautiful breasts? Here are some healthy tips to follow.
Orange Fruits and Vegetables

First of all, women should include orange and yellow fruits and vegetables into their daily diet. These are fresh and dried apricots, citruses, bananas, carrots. They contain a lot of vitamins A, E and C – the main antioxidants, which don’t let your breast and your body in general age fast.
Prevent Breast Cancer

White and Chinese cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli are the necessary foods, that should be eaten in order to improve and maintain the breast health. These are the main foods protecting the breast against cancer processes.
Bran Is Good for Breast

Bran bread, porridges made of wholegrain and prepared with water, beans and legumes contain fiber, which has a good effect on the hormonal state of the woman. This is why women should eat at least one item from the list daily.
Selenium for the Healthy Breast

Besides, woman’s breast can’t do without selenium, which is contained in brazil nuts and beer yeast – the main sources of vitamin B1, which gives the breast skin the necessary elasticity.
Drinks for the Healthy Breast

Moderate consumption of sweet wine can also be good for women’s breast. Other drinks beneficial to breast are green and white tea. Nutritionists recommend to drink 3 to 5 cups a day, as these types of tea have strong antioxidant properties, as you already know. This means, that they protect the body (including your breast) from various diseases and early aging.