Ingrebretsens Blog

Plastic surgery in is not just for celebrities any more. There is great variety of plastic surgery procedures that a plastic surgeon can offer. When looking at the trends of plastic surgery, it becomes clear that certain procedures are much more popular than other ones.

Breast augmentation using silicone or saline implants is one the most commonly performed plastic surgery procedures. Women who are unhappy with the size of their breasts or would like to restore the breast volume which was lost following pregnancy turn to a plastic surgeon for breast enhancement.

In some women with droopy breasts, in addition to breast augmentation, a breast lift would need to be performed in order to achieve a better shape. Silicone breast implants recently became FDA approved for cosmetic breast augmentation in the United States. Silicone breast implants offer the advantage of a more natural feel and there is less risk in the implant rippling.

A tummy tuck is another commonly performed procedure. Staying in shape and having a flat stomach has been promoted in today’s society. Exercise and diet do not always allow for a flat stomach, especially in people who lost weight or in women following pregnancy. These people typically have stretched abdominal skin which can only be removed with surgery. During a tummy tuck loose abdominal muscles are also tightened which further flattens the stomach.

Liposuction is similar to tummy tucks and is also a frequently requested procedure. It can be performed alone or in combination with other procedures such as a tummy tuck. Liposuction will remove areas of fat accumulation such as in flanks, thighs, neck, back, and abdomen.

Rhinoplasty (also referred to as nose reshaping or nose job) concludes the list of most commonly performed procedures. Both men and women turn to a plastic surgeon requesting to improve the shape of the nose. Most commonly, patients complain of a bony hump, wide nose, or droopy tip. Some patients request to improve their breathing. In many patients, rhinoplasty is combined with other procedures such as breast augmentation or liposuction.

As the popularity of plastic surgery is increasing, it becomes very important for any person considering surgery to do research to ensure that your surgeon is skilled and safe.

Don’t let one more ounce of fat get anywhere near your body. You can reverse the fat build process beginning today.

If you seeing lady lumps appearing in places you definitely don’t want them… You probably need to decongest your digestive system and detox your body after all the stress and low budget fast food you had been eating for lunch.

How do you know if you need a cellulite fat flushing purifying cleanse?

In order to experience a long-term lean body you must eat a perfectly balanced nutritious diet. One of the great advantages of achieving that lean body is high energy and mental clarity.

It is difficult sometimes to start a program so my suggestion is to jump in lips first. It’s looking at everything that passes through your lips into your mouth and down into your stomach for digestion.

Proper nutrition is the basis for boosting your metabolic system and the extra energy you will feel from the detoxifying effects of fresh juices, super foods, herb teas and healing broths.

Most weight loss diets have little nutrition to offer so they leave you feeling tired and lifeless. In the end, even if you lose weight, you feel so deprived that it starts ravenous cravings for foods that zap your energy and put the weight right back on. You end up feeling worse than when you started.

A cellulite fat flushing purifying cleanse is one of the best ways to jump-start your weight loss, which can lead to total healing and anti-aging. Dangerous fats such as saturated fats in processed meats and dairy foods, trans-fats like those found in many dairy foods, hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated oils found in margarine, shortening and many quick snack foods, and oxidized fats, like those in all fried foods, collect in the excess body fat you already have. They all make your fat worse and makes cellulite even more dimply!

Sugary foods and highly processed foods (like fast foods) are void of digestive enzymes that they end up collecting as excess fat, too. When your system is congested, your body tries to dump its metabolic wastes to get them out of the way and one of the places that receive this horrific metabolic waste is excess fat.

Is your body showing signs that it needs a cellulite fat flushing purifying cleanse?

Here are some questions you can ask yourself to find out….

First of all… what is Cellulite? Cellulite is a combination of fat, water and trapped wastes beneath the skin. It is concentrated areas of fat that appears dimpled when you squish it in your hands.

Is it collecting on your hips, thighs or tummy?

Are your upper arms flabby?

Is your waistline noticeably thicker this year than last year this time?

Does your face look jowl-y or puffy?

Have your wrists and ankles thickened?

Today is the day when you begin this process. No, not next week, or after your next final exam. There’s no better time to give your body a healthy, fresh start than right now! You can start lowering your weight this very day by eating clean, upping your liquids and thinking fresh.

Benefits of a Cleanse

Energy levels rise almost every day as your system becomes purified.

Your weight will drop consistently as you become more serious and committed.

Your digestion will noticeably improves as toxins are flushed and high-quality nutrients are more quickly absorbed. This helps to strengthen your immune system and boost your metabolism.

Elimination problems often associated with weight problems begin to clear up.

Circulation will noticeably improve, as will all cardiopulmonary performance.

Your heart becomes healthier as well as your other vital organs.

Quick Steps for a Cellulite Detox to Jump Start Your Weight Loss Program

Step 1 – DRINK

Drink plenty of bottled or filtered water!

Eight to twelve glasses of purified water each day. This can include herbal teas that do not have caffeine. Water can help an overeater get past weight loss plateaus; decreasing water intake causes increased fat deposits. Drink all liquids before eating, to suppress appetite and maintain a high metabolic rate. Make sure at least 50 percent of your diet is composed or fresh foods and fresh juices.

Step 2 – GO Keep it Moving!

Rev up your fiber intake. Fiber plays a major role in weight control and fat detoxification.

Fresh fruits and vegetables and whole grains and legumes are great forms of fiber.

Stop the bad fats! Unhealthy fats make you gain weight… healthy fats like olive oil, flax seed oil and canola oil assist weight loss as long as they are used in moderation. The healthy oil is also good for digestion.

Step 3 – EAT

Eat Foods that are Alive, Fresh and Organic!

Here are some suggestions:

Green leafy vegetables. Eat them raw, put them into a broth, add them to your juices. Their chlorophyll helps remove environmental toxins (heavy metals, pesticides) and it is a great liver protector. Fresh food calories are relatively non-stimulating to glands and tend to stabilize weight. Add sea vegetables to your diet everyday.

Lemons. Fluids are vital. They help flush the body. Freshly squeezed lemonade is ideal. Its vitamin C – considered the detox vitamin – helps convert toxins into a water – soluble form that is easily flushed away.

Watercress. Add a cupful to your salads, soups, and whole grain and fat free sandwiches. This peppery green leaf has a diuretic effect that helps move things through your system. And watercress is rich in minerals too.

Garlic. Add it to everything – salads, sauces, spreads. In addition to the bulb’s cardio benefits, it activates liver enzymes that help filter out toxic debris.

Broccoli sprouts. Buy them at a health-food store. They pack 20 to 50 times more cancer-fighting, enzyme-stimulating activity into each bite than the grown-up vegetable.

Cabbage. There are two main types of detoxifying enzymes in the liver; this potent veggie helps activate both of them. Coleslaw, anyone?

Water based fruits. Melons, kiwi, oranges, grapefruits, apples and berries. They’re full of almost all full of fiber, vitamin C, fiber, nutritious fluids, and all kinds of antioxidants. Nothing tastes better and is more refreshing than fresh honeydew melon, fresh berries, or a juicy apple.

Green tea. This antioxidant-rich brew is one of the healthiest ways to get more fluids into your system. Bonus: It contains catechins, which speed up liver activity. I like the decaf because I can’t handle too much caffeine.

Psyllium. A plant that is rich in soluble fiber, like oat bran, but more versatile. It picks up toxins (cholesterol too) and helps clear them out. Stir powdered psyllium into juice to help cleanse your colon, or have psyllium-fortified Bran Buds for breakfast.

Sesame seeds. They’re credited with protecting liver cells from the damaging effects of alcohol and other chemicals. For a concentrated form, try tahini, the tasty sesame seed paste that’s a staple of Asian cooking.

Working out during a cellulite fat flushing purifying cleanse What Exercise Should I Undertake While Cleansing/ Detoxing?

As you can imagine, during a detox it is not a good idea to put your body under too much strain or stress through exercise. However, this does not mean that all exercise is forbidden during a detox (you don’t get out of it that easily!).

The detox process aims to give your body an opportunity to cleanse itself, flushing any toxins from your system and therefore you want to know which exercise can help with this process and is recommended while detoxing. Aerobic (fat burning) exercise is one of the primary exercises to focus on when detoxing. Aerobic exercise increases your heart-rate into your ‘fat burning zone’ (intensity of around 6-7 out of 10 rate of perceived exertion) and encourages deep, diaphragmatic breathing that helps flush your lymphatic system while you are burning fat.

While resistance training is fantastic for you, it’s better to not do heavy mass building workouts while you are in the first seven days of a good detox. This type of exercise (along with high intensity aerobic training (HIT) can be quite stressful on the body during a detox and can therefore inhibit the body’s ability to repair itself effectively. After the first seven days, you can go back to your heavy training.

Amelia, I recommend this type of focused programmed for seven days. Once you have kicked your body into purification, you can gradually add in more carbohydrates that are moderate to low glyemcic and natural.

If you like the way you feel and your body is responding well and your energy is high, keep going until you can achieve a modified version that will be easily maintained. This is one of the methods I used for several of my artists who had to look good fast in a bikini or less for a photo shoot.

I am so passionate about getting rid of cellulite that I made an entire program about it. I outline the foods, and celebrity secrets that cost many actresses thousands of dollars to find out. It’s called my Quick Start Energy Program [http://www.quickstartenergyprogram.com/] and it contains my Special Cellulite Solution MP3 Audio that goes into specific detail about cellulite reduction!

I wish you well with your career and with your life. I strongly encourage you to design your perfect life. Don’t settle for anything less than the best of everything. Only accept the perfect job, only date perfect men and most of all make yourself happy before you even think about getting married. Make sure you marry someone who celebrates You and all that you are and all that you desire to be.

God Bless and make it the Best Week Ever!

Imagine waking up one morning and realizing your prescription for Percocet has just run out, yet instead of feeling the typical relief in finishing a prescription-this time you want more. At first the cravings are subtle, yet make no mistake about it they are there, dragging you towards an addiction to Percocet.

What is Percocet?

Percocet is part of a larger group of prescription drugs known as opioids. These opioids are known as synthetic opiates, because they are originally derived from the poppy plant, which is the plant that all opiates originate from. Percocet is a combination of oxycodone and acetaminophen and although not as powerful as it’s counterparts like Oxycontin, it is just as insidious. Opioids are usually used for pain relief, typically after an injury or operation, yet for addicts it’s the sense of euphoric pleasure opioids like Percocet gives them, which lays the foundation for their addiction.

More disturbing than Percocet Addiction forming as an outgrowth from a prescription, is the expansion of it’s use among non prescribed individuals. Percocet use among individuals not using it for medical purpose has exploded in the last few years. It is estimated that the rate of prescription drug abuse has doubled in the last 10 years.

Signs of a Percocet Addiction

Percocet Addiction tends to be private, so at first it’s signs are not apparent to the casual observer and may not even be obvious to the addict. Most health care professionals familiar with Percocet Addiction claim that a person can become addicted to Percocet Addiction after 2 or 3 weeks. If the addict will feel that he or she needs more than their usual dosage to generate an effect, then the user’s tolerance for Percocet has grown. Tolerance to any drug sets the stage for addiction, because the user feels that more of the substance is needed to ensure a high.

Typically, Percocet addicts exhibit signs of addiction that are shared with other prescription drug addictions. These signs include taking the medication outside of medical use. This usually occurs to relieve stress, normally after a busy day. Another sign of Percocet Addiction is a rapid increase in the amount of pills the user takes. This can be seen by the rate in which the user finishes the prescribed Percocet. If the Percocet is finished faster than expected, it is a strong indication that the user has built a tolerance to the drug and needs more to create the desired effect. In order to get more Percocet the user will find other doctors to ensure a constant supply through prescriptions. This behavior is called “Doctor Shopping.” Some addicts will even write fake prescriptions to generate a near endless supply of Percocet. Of course the most obvious sign is irritability when the user is without Percocet or any prescription drug.

Ending the Percocet Trap

Like any other drug, ending an addiction to Percocet is not easy. Prescription drugs themselves often times catch the user unaware. This fact alone makes them hard to stop before its too late, but with strength and support an addict can break their addiction to Percocet. Many addictions follow the same forms of treatment such as medical, psychological, and nutritional therapies. With Percocet as with all opioids, there is a new drug available. Suboxone is a partial opiate agonist, which helps the addict through the withdrawal period.

No matter what the treatment, the most important aspect of Percocet Addiction is the knowledge about the drug and it’s effects and addictive attributes.

No matter what course a person has been taking, when it comes time to take the certification test they begin to panic. The dental assistant certification test is no different. The training course provided you with the data that will be covered on the test.

If you have had a period of internship at a dental office, then you have knowledge of what your career path is going to be like. Why are you so worried? Yet, regardless of how much you have studied or prepared, you may still be nervous about the upcoming test.

After you have secured your dental assistant certification, there are several different career pathways you can take. You can be a certified dental assistant, an uncertified dental assistant, a certified orthodontic assistant or a certified dental practice management administrator. Each of these career fields will require a different form of testing exam so you will have to prepare accordingly.

The certified dental assistant test has three components that make up the exam. The first is the general chair side exam. This exam consists of 120 questions and will cover the basics.

The second is the infection control exam and consists of 100 multiple choice questions. It is also part of the orthodontic assistant exam. The third component is the radiation health and safety exam. It also has 100 multiple choice questions.

The orthodontic assistant test has 210 multiple choice questions that cover the course of the program. The practice management administrator test focuses more on the front office than it does on the healthcare.

It will deal with book keeping, records, accounting and receptionist duties. The training for this program will cover computer classes as well as some of the typical anatomy and physiology classes.

Do not let intimidation stop you from taking the dental assistant certification test. There are some things you can do to help the test go much smoother. Make sure you do not try to cram the material in at the last moment. Cramming for an important exam is never a good idea!

Start studying a few weeks beforehand, and plan to cover a certain amount of information each night. Don’t forget to review. Get plenty of sleep the night before, eat a good breakfast in the morning and wear comfortable clothing. Simple things such as these can help.

On June 10th something wonderful happened, and the media hasn’t paid much attention yet. On that day, the National Public Health Road Map to Maintaining Cognitive Health was released by the CDC and the Alzheimer’s Association. The authors proposed a set of 44 actions to reach a lofty goal: To maintain or improve the cognitive performance of all adults across America. This is great timing, given all the research and media attention that this field is getting, and the aging of the baby boomer population.

I want to first share with you the 10 top actions proposed by this report, and then provide a quick glossary to explain the key words that you will hear more and more when discussing brain health.

Top recommendations:

1) To determine how diverse audiences think about cognitive health and its associations with lifestyle factors. This work has all-ready yielded in a phenomenal report on Baby boomers’ current opinion of Brain Health and Fitness, that you can find in the website of the MetLife Foundation.

2) To disseminate the latest science to increase public understanding of cognitive health and to dispel common misconceptions. The discovery of lifelong neuroplasticity and neurogenesis (see glossary below) has given us a new positive view upon the human brain – This is still a concept not many know of. “Use it or lose it” and “Use It and Get More of It” needs to reach all people.

3) Help people understand the connection between risk and protective factors and cognitive health. Protective factors were well summarized in the MacArthur study of successful aging: good nutrition, mental and physical exercise, stress management and social engagement.

4) Assess the literature on risk factors (vascular risk and physical inactivity) and related interventions for relationships with cognitive health. As Dr. Marilyn S. Albert at John Hopkins points it out: All the things that we know are bad for your heart turn out to be bad for your brain.

5) More clinical trials will be conducted to determine the effect of reducing vascular risk factors on lowering the risk of cognitive decline and improving cognitive function. Recent findings presented at International Conference on Prevention of Dementia are one big step in the right direction.

6) Further, more research will be conducted on other areas potentially affecting cognitive health such as nutrition, mental activity, and social engagement.

7) The last research focus is on determining the effect of physical activity on reducing the risk of cognitive decline and improving cognitive function.

The government will develop a population-based surveillance system to measure the public health burden of cognitive impairment in the United States.

9) Initiate policy changes at the federal, state, and local levels to promote cognitive health by engaging public officials.

10) Brain Fitness will be included in Healthy People 2020, a set of health objectives for the nation that will serve as the foundation for state and community public health plans.

This initiative will help people of all ages take more control of our brain health in the same way we care about our nutrition and body health.

Now let’s review some of the most relevant concepts in this field. This vocabulary will become familiar to all of us during the next years::

Brain Fitness: the general state of good, sharp, brain and mind, especially as the result of mental and physical exercise and proper nutrition.

Brain Fitness Program: structured set of brain exercises, usually computer-based, designed to train specific brain areas and functions in targeted ways, and measured by brain fitness assessments.

Chronic Stress: ongoing, long-term stress. Continued physiological arousal where stressors block the formation of new neurons and negatively impact the immune system’s defenses.

Cognitive training: variety of brain exercises designed to help work out specific “mental muscles”. The principle underlying cognitive training is to help improve “core” abilities, such as attention, memory, problem-solving, which many people consider as fixed.

Cognitive Reserve: theory that addresses the fact that individuals vary considerably in the severity of cognitive aging and clinical dementia. Mental stimulation, education and occupational level are believed to be major active components of building a cognitive reserve that can help resist the attacks of mental disease.

fMRI: functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) is a non-invasive neuroimaging technique that enables researchers see images of changing blood flow in the brain associated with neural activity. This allows images to be generated that reflect which structures are activated (and how) during performance of different tasks.

Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR): yoga and meditation practices designed to enable effective responses to stress, pain, and illness.

Neurogenesis: the process by which neurons are created all throughout our lives.

Neuroplasticity: the brain’s ability to reorganize itself by forming new connections throughout life.

Exciting times ahead! We should all be looking forward what science will bring us to help develop and grow gracefully as we age.

Lumbar stenois is a condition in which the spinal canal narrows and causes neurologic symptoms almost always resulting in pain. Generally speaking the onset occurs in persons over 50 years of age. The hallmark of lumbar stenosis is pain in the back and legs which is aggravated by bending backwards, standing and walking. The pain is lessened by bending forward and to the sides. Many physicians seem to accept that the natural course of lumbar spinal stenosis is that of a progressive worsening. The classic syndrome associated with lumbar stenosis is termed neurogenic intermittent claudication. The pain generally occurs in the lower limbs of the patient.

Historically it had been accepted that only surgery could check the development of the disease. The procedure is called a decompressive laminectomy in which the laminae (roof) of the vertebrae are removed, creating more space in the spinal canal for the nerves. In 1996 in the British Journal of Neurosurgery it was concluded that conservative treatment of lumbar spinal stenosis is recommended for patients with moderate stenosis. Conservative treatments in 1996 were considered to be physical therapy, chiropractic flexion spinal manipulation, bracing, strength training, muscle stretching and relaxation as well as interferential treatments.

Today with advances in early diagnosis, as well as new modaliities, it is felt an at home treatment of interferential therapy combined with stretching, strength training and increased physical activities may help stop the progression of the disease. The most noticeable aspect of lumbar stenosis is the presence of pain which also prohibits the recommended therapeutic activities.

Interferential therapy provides immediate pain relief. With the ability to treat at home it is reasoned that the multiple treatments will provide prolonged pain relief progressing over time which is called “carryover”. The interferential treatments can be administered prior to beginning exercise routines and during the routines so the stretching and rehabilitation exercises can be continued longer and with greater range of motion since the pain will not be present during and after interferential treatment. With interferential providing a biphasic ( +/-) polarity wave form it is felt the positive (+) aspect actually increases blood flow, prevents muscle spasticity, and relieves pain including radiating sciatica. Due to the Widensky effect the area underneath the electrodes during an interferential treatment is naturally anesthesized which also provides the pain relief.

With the advances that have been made it is no longer necessary for the patient suffering from lumbar stenosis to “grin and bear it”. There are better non-surgical, non-drug options available.