whoa whoa.. look at all the processed foods out there. I know there's a lot of views on this. i did the colonix cleanse and i feel great. I'm sure there are some that work better than others. Just like some vitamins/supp. are junk. Different qualities. Here's the link I was skeptical at first but i started having digestive problems. docs diagnosed me with ibs and i just got sick of dealing. after reading all the testimonials i get it a shot and am glad i did. good luck with your search! Here is a link that might be useful: Colonix

In my experience as a master yoga therapist, I can pretty much assure you that the so-called health benefits of colon cleanses are based on the antiquated notion that the colon was simply a sewer that carried post-digestive sludge to the rectum. Barring some physical anomaly such as a tumor or that noted by karen_b above, there is no buildup in the colon; its walls are porous and continually extract nutrient-bearing moisture from the digested food, the remaining solids then being moved along via peristalsis. Were such a buildup to occur, the result would be far more perilous than the symptoms usually listed to support the need for such a cleansing. Often, IBS and chronic dyspepsia can be effectively treated by fasting -- giving the digestive system a rest by ingesting only liquids. If the symptoms are still recurring after three days, the first possibility which must be ruled out is disease -- everything from malignancy to microbial colitis. One of my clients had suffered from chronic attacks of severe cramps and diarrhea for ten years and had subjected himself to every sort of "naturalistic cure" without result. After a few days of inpatient tests, a culture finally revealed Klebsiella colitis caused by an overabundance of a microbe common to the colon, and a simple antibiotic treatment effected a complete cure. Had a cleansing treatment such as a high colonic caused even a minute breach of his colon and enabled Klebsiella bacteria to escape into the abdomen, serious infection would have almost certainly ensued. Hope this helps.

Thanks all for a lot of good advice. I shared this thread with my friend. She is also getting additional feedback from others including professional advice from her doctor. Like some of you commented, Baraiatric surgery today seems quite different than a few years ago. I also asked our family doctor who is quite conservative and his opinion was that it depends on co-morbities like diabetes, high cholesterol etc. For many people this is resolved. However, it is but a tool and lifestyle changes are key. Unlike procedures like Lap band which has issues like slippage, vomiting etc., and more drastic procedures like gastric bypass where there is serious issues with not being able to absorb enough vitamins and such, the specific procedure that she is looking at is sleeve gastrectomy that leaves the intestines intact. She will need to take calcium everyday. A chewable vitamin is good as eating very less food initially is very stressful for the body. But once the sutures are healed, she can eat normal food for most part.. Just less of it and more protein. A very hard decision but she has a good support group among friends and family.

I've been with the same company since 1989, and so we are very familiar with each other by now, but it was not like that in the beginning. When I first met my boss, I felt an instant rapport with her and felt like we were meant to be together. When I looked at her furniture, I thought to myself, "These are the exact same proportions I would use," and so I knew from the beginning that we had a compatible design style/sense. It took her a little longer than it did me to realize this, but once she did, she trusted me with all new designs. Kevin has some good friends at work, and a couple of the them live not too far from us. One has offered to help cook and help with grocery shopping, if necessary, but I think I am recovered enough by now to handle shopping. I just cannot get anything heavy yet, but that will come in due time. As for the garden, I will hire help probably in October. It would nice to have him sooner, but he is my friend in Sacramento, and I have to work with his schedule. I don't trust the local landscapers here. I could possibly find a good landscape architect here, but that would be expensive and more than we need right now, although I'll keep it in mind for the future. It depends on what we end up doing in Palm Springs. I think Kevin will be much happier when we can buy a second home in the Palm Springs area. We'll probably end up in Cathedral City (Palm Springs adjacent but not walking distance), and hopefully Cathedral Gulch. This won't start happening until next year, but it's something to look forward do that I think might help Kevin feel better. What is odd is that so many people ask us if we are twins, but I am 15 years (+3 weeks) older, and I think this must be very insulting to Kevin. First people ask us if we are brothers. Then they ask if we are twins. Then they ask which one is older, which is the worst question of all. I've afraid that Kevin is going to appear even older after this ordeal, but if he can have a week-end house in PS, then I think he won't mind so much. I don't know yet how I will look after my full recovery, but I am keeping plastic surgery as an option. I've had hospital technicians tell me that if you live in Los Angeles, then it is almost mandatory. When I had a bike accident that cut my forehead, they would not release me from St. Johns until I interviewed with a plastic surgeon. Back then (around 1996) I did not care about having a small scar or two on my forehead, and now it's barely visible anyway. If anything, what I can see of it makes me look more rugged, I think. I wear bike helmets now. Sorry for rambling - I'm having trouble sleeping some nights, and after just having seen Kevin, I am feeling even more anxious. I think I will be able to help him with most of what he needs, but he is very private and introverted and often likes to be by himself. I hope he will spend his alone time in the back yard instead of his bedroom, but for now, I know it is painful for him to sit in a chair, and I expect that to last for a while. I could see the evidence of the surgery that had been done, having to remove part (or all) of his sphincter, which I mentioned before but had not seen evidence of before. He's going to be on disability for about three months, I think, but since he has been paying disability insurance for many years, he will get paid pretty much his normal salary - from the insurance. However, they deduct Californian disability payments, as California is fairly generous with these payments, and so Kevin will have to apply for those as well - since the payments will be deducted whether he receives them or not. He cannot file for California disability until he gets out of the hospital, but I think he knows how to do this.