The Lemonade Diet was devised in the 1940s. There is still a great deal of controversy about whether it is a good, healthy diet. For some people, it is something they do twice a year for their health and vitality. For other people, the Lemonade Diet is dangerous to your health and nothing would make them do it.

First, let’s look at the Lemonade Diet and what it is and is not. Although originally called the Master Cleanse, people who liked it nicknamed it the Lemonade Diet. It started out as an affectionate name and it stuck. The Lemonade Diet was first written as a bowel cleanse and de-tox for the body and later became known as a diet to become thinner. Stanley Burroughs, the writer who invented the Lemonade Diet said ”it is a reducing diet which is superior in every way, to other systems because it dissolves and eliminates all types of fatty tissue.”

It is hard to imagine not losing weight, when you eat no solids for 10 days. Some doctors feel it is dangerous to limit intake in this way, others state it is a healthful process. Confused?

Nutritionally, this is what you can expect from the Lemonade Diet;

* Lemons are known to be one of the richest sources of minerals and vitamins. Lemons also help loosen and break up mucus in the body.

* Grade B maple syrup is used for both its taste and minerals. It is a prescribed part of the Lemonade Diet and shouldn’t be replaced. The available nutriments in maple syrup include: potassium, magnesium, manganese, calcium, copper, iron, phosphorus, sulfur and silicon. Vitamins A, B1, B2, B6, C, nicotinic acid and pantothenic acid are also ingredients.

* Cayenne Pepper breaks up mucus and increases warmth by building blood and acts as a cleanser for the digestive, respiratory, and circulatory systems. It has been popularly used by herbalists to treat a wide range of problems and to enhance the effectiveness of many other herbs.

It is unlikely that any great harm will come to anyone in 10 days of fasting with this balance of nutrition, but many people find it too harsh a regime for the benefits. For those who don’t know the recipe, this is it;

* 2 tablespoons of lemon or lime juice (1/2 of one fruit)

* 2 tbsp of pure grade B maple syrup

* a generous pinch of cayenne pepper

* 12 oz of filtered warm water

Estimate how much you will drink in a day and prepare the lot for the whole day. You may drink between 6 and 12 glasses of the Lemonade Diet a day. There is no real maximum amount, but it is important to drink at least 6 glasses.

The Lemonade Diet says each morning, you should take the salt rinse. This is a quart of water with 2 teaspoons of sea salt in it, drink it quickly, followed by lemonade. This will start the cleanse and keep your bowels moving. At night, you should drink a cup of laxative tea.

The Lemonade Diet seems harsh but there are people who have experimented and found you can eat certain foods. There are ways of dealing with unpleasant side effects. I would strongly recommend some support from people who have used the Lemonade Diet. These measures will help you stay on the Lemonade Diet for long enough to make your own mind up about it.Nothing works for everybody. There are gentler ways to both de-tox and lose weight, though the Lemonade Diet is fast and cheap.

It’s in your hands. it’s a good idea to educate yourself thoroughly before stating the Lemonade Diet. Here’s to your health, whatever you decide!

I wrote a bit last week about the honor I had to meet opera tenor great Vahan Mirakian last year in Mexico during his deportation battle to re-enter the U.S. I am very pleased to say that he has returned and is doing his good works through his nonprofit foundation, the Vahan Mirakian Foundation. I encourage everyone to visit the site and see some of the videos, hear some snippets of this man’s incredible voice at www.vahanmirakian.com.

Keep in mind, this is coming from a simple Mississippi writer who grew up on Charlie Pride and Hank Williams. Though I still consider them greats in their the world of country music, admittedly it took me a little while to understand and finally appreciate this amazing art known as opera (Vahan can do it all and as you will see in the short video, recently did a special tango concert which was a sellout in Los Angeles).

This might give you some insight before visiting so to know what to expect:

Vahan Mirakian, born in Armenia, belongs to the excelling tenor singers of our period. His reputation covers a lot of countries where he performs diverse opera parts and a broad repertory of songs and folk-songs.

Already as a pupil the young Mirakian sang in concerts of amateurs. As he also was a member of the Armenian junior basketball-team, he had to choose: He chose the music instead of sports and entered the Jerewan conservatory where Tamara Shakhnazarian became his first teacher. In his third year of studies he gave his debut at the Spendiarow opera house in Yerevan, Armenia. Having finished his studies he was invited to enter the ensemble of the opera house and sang in his first season, the parts of Lensky in “Eugen Onegin”, the Duke in “Rigoletto” and Alfredo in “La Traviata”. Other figures he performed are “Lucia di Lammermoor”, “La Boheme”, “Carmen” and “Tosca”.

Three years working with Maestro Barra in Milano was very successful. The young singer had now the possibility to learn the fine nuances of Italian belcanto by studying parts like Cavaradossi (”Tosca”) and Rodolfo (”La Boheme”) at the Teatro Alla Scala. At the same time Mirakian studied a huge repertory of songs which he performed for the first time in Milano and in the hall “G. Verdi” in Parma. Immediately after his studies Mrakian got a contract with the Bolschoi-Theater in Moscow, Russia where he performed the grand parts of the lyric Russian and the Italian repertory until his immigration in 1981.

Vahan Mirakian, during his long artistic like, has fascinated listeners all over the world. Not only with his perfect cantilena and his fine phrasing and nuances of his grand voice, but also with his vast reparatory reaching from songs by Schubert and Schumann over the romances by Tshaikovsky and Rachmaninov until the Russian and Armenian folk-songs. He has sung in each big city in Russia, the United States, Canada, Sweden, England, Netherlands, Belgium, France, Spain, Germany, Austria, Poland, Yugoslavia, Czechia, Hungary, Japan, South Africa, Near East and also became a welcomed guest in different famous opera houses around the world. Mirakian now lives in Los Angeles, CA in the United States where he applies to the education of young singers in single lessons, workshops and masterclasses. Take advantage of this opportunity if you are in the Los Angeles area to take lessons with the a true maestro.

The mission of Vahan’s foundation is to provide help for the development and the growth of our culture; to help young talents to get the necessary training and education by awarding scholarships and other forms of financial aid; provide the right training to help them gain recognition in all kinds of art forms.

His mission statement: One Dollar for the sake of the Arts!

The Foundation statement adds, “We hope that this foundation will help us bring together all those wonderful individuals who have the love, passion and appreciation for the arts. The foundation has also established a vocal arts and classical music academy where students will have a chance to work and get personal attention and training from the Master of Bel Canto Maestro Vahan Mirakian himself.”

If you don’t want to risk purchasing dog food from the grocery store, consider stores that sell feed for other animals. Companies such as TSC regularly deal with customers interested in excellent nutrition for their pets. They would undoubtedly be able to help you decide on a specific brand of food to suit the needs of your dog’s diet. Some upscale dog foods are available at such stores that you may not find at your local Wal-Mart.

But do not overlook the obvious. Your veterinarian can consult with you about the best types of dog diets. He or she may sell specific brands or varieties right from their office. Once you have decided on a specific diet for your dog, consider picking it up when you bring your pet in for a checkup or while picking up your monthly heartworm medication. A trusted vet would not offer you food that is not suitable for your dog’s diet, so this may be a great place to start. If the vet recommends a particular type of diet for your dog, due to health reasons, your vet may be one of the only places to find the exact food your dog’s diet requires.

But never forget to always consult the veterinarian before making any changes or alterations. Once you have decided on a specific diet for your dog, take advantage of the healthiest and most convenient method available to you.

The role of calcium in your dog’s diet

It is important for your dog’s diet to contain all of the essential vitamins to ensure excellent health. One of the important nutrients in your dog’s diet is calcium. When we think of calcium, strong teeth and bones come to mind. Your dog’s diet should be rich in calcium to support healthy teeth and bones.

When your dog’s diet contains appropriate levels of calcium, such bone abnormalities occur infrequently. This is just one more reason to carefully select an appropriate diet for your dog. Always consult with your veterinarian to determine the best amount of calcium in your dog’s diet.

Dog diets consisting exclusively of meat will not provide the proper amount of calcium and phosphorus to create healthy bones. Such a diet results in a ratio of about 1.0 part calcium to 18 parts phosphorus. The range of absorption is where the trouble begins.

Milk fever, or eclampsia, cannot be avoided with calcium supplements. Eclampsia is not a nutritional deficiency, but a metabolic condition that affects the dog after the pups have been born and begin nursing.

What’s new in the Jazz scene? Brian Johnson’s “Mystic Cove”. It is the long awaited musical and lyrical sounds-cape for the smooth Jazz lover that flows like a fresh water stream. A mix of well known musicians like Russ Freeman, Eric Hansen, Jeff Kashiwa, Sammy Figueroa, and others with Brian Johnson’s effortless symphonic smooth jazz create catchy breaks with dynamic horn and percussion parts and pop/ballad feel along with complex chords. One cannot help but admire this stunningly innovative mix of pop melodies blended with smooth jazz-style playing. Gargantuan production, along with experienced producing facilitates to give the album a big but well balanced sound. Jeff Kashiwa’s smooth sax style just falls into place nicely with the Brian Johnson’s composition on ‘Hope Town’ as well as Eric Hansen’s unique classical guitar feel in ‘Almost’ and the organic feel of “Smooth”. The album also boasts a funky undertone that demands attention and with the percussive foundation of Sammy Figueroa’s Latin twist just screams of sophisticated beats. Having had the chance to show her incomparable vocalist chops, Tomey Sellars can’t resist letting her trademark voice sail into the stratosphere as she does in the popish smooth jazz ballad song of “Almost”. The immediacy of the horns dancing with the rhythmic counterpoint gives listeners the sense that they are experiencing a live performance in a late-night hip jazz club. Great engineers, mixing talent like Marko Ruffolo, good studios, and other great musicians like Russ Freeman’ make this smooth jazz album also a well balanced but exciting attention keeper. Such concepts are the basis for his unique music and the album signals the arrival of an unmistakable new sound in smooth Jazz music.

It’s that time of year when millions of people resolve to make this year the year that they finally lose weight. Natural weight loss plans, diet pills and potions, exercise equipment and videos, and gym memberships are purchased at record rates during January every year. By February, most weight loss resolutions have fallen by the wayside and have given way to the return of poor eating habits and a lack of exercise.

So what happens? What changes between the beginning of January and the end of the weight loss programs by February? Why are so few people able to stick to their weight loss programs for any longer than a few weeks?

The problem is, our minds play tricks on us. Sure, we want to lose weight, but we want to continue to eat the wrong foods and we’d much rather watch television than exercise. So, we start to weasel out of our goal to lose weight. “Just one donut won’t hurt.” “I can skip today’s workout and I’ll do extra exercise tomorrow.” “I’m too tired to make a salad. I’ll just order a pizza tonight and I’ll get back on my diet tomorrow.” It becomes next to impossible to be successful with a natural weight loss plan when you cheat every day.

Our minds are often programmed at a subconscious level to want certain foods and to enjoy certain unhealthy behaviors. Furthermore, the mind may be programmed to view healthy diet and exercise as painful or distasteful. We can take control though and through conscious effort re-program our minds to help us achieve our weight loss goals.

With a little bit of time and effort, using techniques such as those promoted byTony Robbins, Emotional Freedom Technique, the Sedona Method, and others, you can program your thoughts to make healthy eating and exercise as pleasurable as all of those bad habits you enjoy so much right now. Natural weight loss can be yours if you work on your mind before you work on your body!

Most diets are not effective in controlling weight over the long term. When dieting you may get a temporary weight loss but you are 95% more likely to regain the weight you lost after you stop the diet. Not only will you ultimately gain more weight but also progressively have more difficulty in losing the weight again. As most of you know this is called the Yo Yo effect.

Unfortunately, our odds are high we will regain all the weight we lost back. Even if we gain just the weight we lost previously, the result is the weight gain will be more fat and less lean muscle. Why? Please let me explain.

Humans originated about 200,000 years ago, due to the harsh conditions, our bodies created a defense mechanism to protect itself from starvation. When the fuel (food) shortages are detected by the body, our body’s defense mechanisms will start. When this happens the body will assume that the shortage will last awhile, and our body then reprograms our system to protect itself by reprogramming for starvation mode. Changes in the metabolism, hormonal productions, and psychological systems occur. This reaction is hard wired for self preservation and cannot be fooled no mater what some information my state.

Decreases in metabolism, loss of muscle, increase in the fat storing enzymes & hormones and reducing the fat burning enzymes & hormones are the results of this self preservation or Starvation mode. Your body will begin to decrease the thyroid output, and increase the appetite, resulting in you feeling like you are starving. Due to the lack of fuel your energy levels will sharply decrease and you will find it harder and harder to concentrate. The body is not designed to work without fuel, so now the body is looking for other places to get that fuel.

The body doesn’t burn fat the way we would choose it to. Before I studied the process I thought that the body would first burn the fuel we have consumed recently, then burn fat stored on my belly and abdomen. No such luck! Don’t we all lose one of the best body attributes first! Like myself, I have an apple body, broad shoulders, round belly and thin legs and thighs. When I begin to loss weight, I begin to look like a basketball on stilts! UGH! I also notice it becomes harder to climb stairs because my legs are so weak. I now recognize I have loss lean muscle tissue! Not Good!

When you’re on a diet and the body senses a reduction in fuel, this reduction will cause the body to go into what is called Starvation Response mode. So now the body needs fuel, where does it go to get it? Muscles are metabolically active tissue. So reducing the muscle reduces the request for the energy it needs to move that muscle. It now becomes more efficient to burn lean muscle than to reduce the stored fat. Basically the body is saying lets become a more efficient machine, if we have less muscle we don’t need as much energy (Fuel). Go to http://MyDietForWeightLoss.com/Starvation-Mode for more info on Starvation Mode.

To have a calorie deficit, you must burn more calories than you consume in any given day. There are two ways to do so.

1) Decreasing the amount of calories you ingest. 2) Increase the amount of calories your burn.

The best way to acquire a calorie deficit is to burn the fat with exercise and reducing your caloric intake by a small amount.

Actually, it may seem backwards but eating more of the right kinds of food and exercise to burn off the fat is the healthiest way for you to diet. Exercise allows you to create the calorie deficit. It also burns the fat without losing muscle and slowing down your metabolism. Eating more gives your body the vitamins and minerals it needs were low calorie diets does just the opposite.

By using the three combo approach to permanent fat loss, nutrition, cardio, and weight training (both cardio and weight training also involve stretching) you can increase your results exponentially!

Okay, the wedding is on and you need unique wedding favors. Unique Wedding favors say to your guests that they mean a lot to you. You’ve been planning for months and finally it time for… the wedding. Let the fun begin.

Don’t just throw the cheap wedding favors on the tables in a helter skelter fashion. Carefully place them in such a manner that indicates the importance of your guests to you. Money doesn’t necessarily mean that your favors will go over big time.

Everybody talks about the wedding, but the reception is just as important. This is the time where the bride and groom have a good time with their family. This is a happy time to contemplate the upcoming marriage.

When your guests are seated guess what they notice first? Right, the cheap wedding favors. Get it right and they are a hit, make a mistake and you know what they will remember most about your wedding.

If you can personalize your unique wedding favors, so much the better. Go with a bride and groom theme, telling a little bit about yourselves. You can very easily use symbols of love, such as hearts.

The number one secret to success in choosing your cheap wedding favors is to keep it simple and uncomplicated. Do this and half the battle is won.

If you choose your unique wedding favors with the intent of making your guests feel good you will not go wrong. Give serious thought in your table layout keeping in mind that simplicity is the key. Spending a lot of money may or may not help.

In all parts of the world brides to be read all of those wonderful bridal magazines trying to get unique wedding favor ides. This is a great activity for you and it is fun.

At the risk of sounding like a stuck record, think of others when planning your wedding rather than just yourself. Don’t be selfish.

The bottom line is that your wedding is a once in a lifetime affair and you want to take the time to plan it correctly and choose your unique wedding favors with care and love.

There are some lifestyles and habits that cause you to bloat and get fat. Some of these would include too much partying and pigging out without exercising. It wouldn’t be unlikely to find yourself fat and bloated then. If you don’t want this to happen to you, start thinking about doing a regular love handle exercise.

A bit of fun now and then is healthy but without exercise, it can be harmful. If those love handles start showing up in your belly, it means you got excessive fats in your body. That means you’re going beyond your threshold of a healthy lifestyle. You have to get rid of those waist fats and fast. This article talks about some facts about keeping in shape and what love handle exercise you should be working on.

1. Why do we have to keep ourselves fit? There could be a lot of reasons. But the most logical of all is health. If fats are stored, eventually it blocks of arteries. This prevents blood circulation especially in the heart vessels to flow this causing heart attack.

2. What should you do to prevent this? The best approach is to have a regular exercise to get rid of those flabby tires around your waist. There are so many exercise regimens that could work for you. If you want to get rid of those ugly belly fats, start working on a love handle exercise that you are most comfortable with.

3. Is this all? No. Diet is also important. The food you eat is used for energy. If energy is not used, your body stores it and these are called fats. If you eat more than what you should, your body will have more energy to use. If unused, it starts showing up like tires in your belly called love handles. Eating the wrong food also stores the wrong fats thus ending up unused as well.

To stay healthy, you need to stay within your ideal body weight. Do some cardio exercises regularly. This workout is one of those resistance exercises that are easy to do. Examples of cardio workouts are pushups, squats and lunges. Brisk walking, swimming, and other sporty activities can work well. This love handle exercise doesn’t build muscles but it helps you maintain your weight.

Workouts for the muscles are important to. Weight lifting helps a lot in burning those unwanted fats and builds good muscle structure for your body. But you have annoying love handles, abdominal exercises are the best. These exercises target the abs section. Choose the one that works around your rectus abdominis and oblique muscles. The most popular today is the captain’s chair and the bicycle exercise.

Love handle exercise keeps you from cardio problems. That is the straightest fact there is. In doing so, you will not only build muscles, maintain your weight, and stay healthy, but you will also look good. As a matter of fact, looking good builds a great deal of confidence. So the next time you party and have fun, make sure you’re also balancing and keeping a healthy lifestyle.

You are fat and out of shape and look like a football and people often call you a couch potato. Is this what you want to be? Or you want to look fit and healthy always full of life and vigor. The choice is yours. The only way out is to add a regular exercise regime in your everyday routine for gradual weight loss. Just exercising without any guidance and proper diet control is not going to take you anywhere close to your goal.

The aim of leading a healthy life should start with a proper plan of exercising and diet control. As a beginner for achieving a healthy body does not restrict you from getting the maximum out of your workout regime. The plan must include a chart of ‘What to eat When to eat’ and a chart of ‘When to exercise’ to enable you to get the maximum out of the workout plan you want to follow for weight loss.

You must understand that choosing a proper time to eat is equally important as eating a meal. Eating before an exercise will always make you feel worse with problems like sleepiness, indigestion, sluggishness and even cramps and an overall bad health. Similarly if you have no food at all you will be too weak for exercise and may faint or feet tired all the time. It is important to follow some guidelines for eating if you have the intention of weight loss. Following are some basic guidelines but these may be modified depending upon your body response and personal experience.

The cardinal principle of healthy eating is that a big grub should be always eaten at least three to four hours before the exercise and where you are in for a cloudless meal you must have a two to three hours gap between the meal and exercise.

The second principle of healthy eating is simply avoiding eating fat in any form as much as possible.

The third principle of well apprehending eating is to drink a lot of water past you exercise as this will not allow you to dehydrate and keep your body cool.

If you’re the proud new owner of a puppy, the excitement you are feeling is incredible. You imagine all of the good times you’re going to have with your new pet. Then reality strikes and you realize that your new best friend is really messing up your home because it’s not potty trained yet. As much as you wish your new puppy would obey your commands, you quickly realize that you don’t actually know how to potty train a puppy.

As you know, potty training a puppy is vital if you wish to maintain a clean home. Unfortunately, different breeds are harder to train than others so don’t be upset if your puppy is not responding immediately to the training. If you haven’t purchased your new puppy yet, then you may want to ask the breeder or pet shop assistant about the breed and how quickly they can be potty trained. If you have your heart set on a particular breed don’t be surprised if it takes a little longer to be potty trained.

In potty training a puppy, you must have immense patience. Because the puppy is so young, it really has very little control of when it has to do its business. If you keep finding messes around your house, it can definitely lead to frustration. So just this realization that the animal is young, and the fact that they just cannot hold it, should make you a little more clam when these accidents occur.

Potty training a puppy is best done right after it eats. By taking your puppy outdoors or to the area that you have set up for it, it’ll create a regular routine to follow. You should also take your puppy to this area first thing in the morning and before you go to sleep to help establish this routine.

Another great idea when potty training a puppy is to use treats or affection and excitement. After your puppy has successfully gone potty where and when you wanted them to, give them a treat or praise. Pretty soon it will understand that this was a good thing and will keep wanting a treat or wanting to please you by doing the right thing.

When you go to feed your puppy, make sure you stick with dry food. Make sure that you feed your puppy at the same time each day so it goes potty at the same time each day or evening. Changing it’s feeding times will not allow it to get into this routine that’s so vital when potty training a puppy.

Make sure your puppy has a lot of water and keep checking and filling it’s bowl regularly. Be careful though, if you allow it to drink water too late into the evening, it may end up having to go potty in the middle of the night. Taking it’s bowl away approximately 2 hours before bedtime would be advisable.

The final thing to help in potty training a puppy is to make sure it’s area is clean. If it’s area is messy it will try to avoid going there. A clean area will not give your puppy any excuse to avoid it.

Those are a few tips to help potty train your puppy. Hopefully, you have found them useful. If you can just remember to be a little patient potty training will be a thing of the past.