The 3-Day Detox

If you’re feeling sluggish or like you’re having trouble sticking to a healthy eating plan, sometimes you just need a reboot.

In her book “Detoxification”, Linda Page points out that “A detox is one of the best ways to remain healthy in today’s world.” 

The following cleanse reportedly helps clear your liver of toxins. It makes sense because your liver plays a vital role in balancing your hormones and ridding your body of toxins, and this cleanse is a sort of “liver purge”. Give this 3-day cleanse a try:

After waking:

Squeeze one lemon into eight-ounces of water and drink. For added benefit, add a few drops of herbal extracts known for aiding digestion (such as dandelion root, cardamom, or orange peel).

Breakfast: One eight-ounce glass of carrot/beet/cucumber juice or organic apple juice. One eight-to 12-ounce bowl of miso soup.

Midmorning: One eight-ounce glass of vegetable juice (such as low-sodium V8). Or, you can mix a green superfood powder (spirulina, barley grass, or chlorella) with water or vegetable juice.

Lunch: One eight-ounce glass of carrot juice or organic apple juice.

Midafternoon: One cup of peppermint or dandelion-root tea.

Dinner: A cup of cooked brown rice; a cup of steamed, organic veggies; and a glass of mixed vegetable juice or carrot juice.

Before bed: Another glass of lemon juice in water (one lemon in eight-ounces) or papaya or pineapple juice.

3 days of this and you should feel that boost in energy and mood you’ve been craving to keep you moving forward with your weight loss and healthy lifestyle goals!

The Corset "Trunk-Plasty"

This procedure is often best for massive weight loss patients who want the best abdominal contour possible and are willing to have extra scars in order to get it.  While the Fleur-de-lis has a corset effect, the corset effect of the Trunk-plasty is even more dramatic.

Like the Fleur-de-lis abdominoplasty, there is the traditional, lower horizontal scar, a midline vertical scar, and also a horizontal scar that is just under the breasts or chest, making the appearance of the letter I. 

The overall skin removal is much greater than in the Fleur-de-lis. (See Red Shaded area in Figure below) By making a horizontal incision along the bottom and the top, a sort of “open book” is created.  These upper and lower incisions are extended slightly along the sides of the body toward the back. The skin at the sides of the abdomen and some of the back skin (Purple Shaded area below) is then pulled forward like a corset around the body (pull is in the direction of the Green Arrows below).

The Corset Trunk-plasty after massive weight loss

Similar to other abdominoplasty procedures, the rectus abdominis muscles (figure below) are tightened in the midline of the abdomen (see abdominoplasty post above for details). 

Repair of separated Rectus abdominis (Abs) muscles

The corset trunk-plasty not only addresses the excess skin along the lower abdomen, but also the sides of the abdomen/waist and the upper abdomen, creating a very good contour. It typically also improves excess skin in the back and that extra “roll” just below the side of the breasts.  

The Fleur-de-lis Tummy Tuck

This is a little more extensive than a standard abdominoplasty, as it also removes skin using a vertical incision (Purple arrows in Figure Below) in addition to the traditional horizontal skin removal (Red arrows). 

The benefit to using this procedure is that it typically gives a very good contour to the waist, especially in those with excess skin along the upper abdomen and along the waist, such as after massive weight loss. Removing the skin along a vertical (up-and-down) axis over the abdomen creates a nice pull from the waist, similar to a corset effect. The negative is that it does leave a vertical scar in addition to the traditional horizontal tummy tuck scar. This is best for someone not as concerned about scarring as much as having a good overall body contour.