Michelle L. LeBlanc

Kate the Peon asks:

I need a new deodorant. For years I have used either Secret or Dove, and now I feel like both of them fail me within minutes of putting them on. I don't like invisible ones and I have to have a solid. What do you recommend?

Currently, I use Dove. I think I have been using Dove for a year or so. Prior to that, I used Degree. I only use a regular solid and I only choose scents that aren't powdery or flowery. The reason I stopped using Degree is that I felt like it stopped working for me. What I think really happened was that I became so used to the scent that when I smelled it, I equated it with the smell of my armpits. Then, I think I became so used to the scent that I no longer smelled the deodorant, only my stinky pits.

That's my theory anyway. I haven't tested it because, during the time I have been using Dove, Degree stopped making the scent I used and I don't like any of the other ones.

My recommendation is to switch to Degree for awhile and then try switching back to whatever your favorite was.

I hear Oprah did a 21-day cleanse diet. I am a little late to the party because I had our satellite TV service turned off over four months ago. I heard about this on dooce.com. Heather was trying out the cleanse. She lasted about a week before she caved to the detox sickies. Her friend, Carol, had the same experience.

I had a similar experience a few years ago when I did a 37-day juice fast with my husband. I lost about 30 lbs. and I felt like crap the entire time. I eventually gained all the weight back, and more, because I didn't change one single thing about my habits. I have tried about once a year since then to either do another juice fast or switch to a raw food diet, with little success each time.

Still, I would recommend an extended juice fast to anyone. Why? I have been sick only three times since that juice fast. I didn't escape two of the flu seasons and I caught a cold a couple months ago that the baby brought home from daycare. Even the subsequent failed attempts were each long enough to be considered an annual maintenance fast.*

I didn't have an exceptionally strong immune system before the juice fast, but I do now. Even that cold I caught from the baby was because I was tempting fate. She had it for four weeks before I finally caught it, because I wouldn't stop kissing her on the mouth.

Compared to the juice fasts and the raw food diets we have done in the past, Oprah's cleanse, which eliminates caffeine, sugar, alcohol, gluten and animal products from your diet for up to 21 days, is child's play. You get cooked food! You can have sweet potato fries! After reading through Oprah's blog about it and my own blog about my past attempts, I think I am going to give a mostly raw diet another chance. The version of a raw food diet we tried in 2005 actually sounds pretty good again.

*A full detox fast is your age plus 17 days long. Each year after that, you should do a 1-2 week fast.

Jen14221 asks:

What is your opinion on:

A 38 year old, 245 pounds, 5'9" with a BMI of 37 getting gastric bypass surgery. Because there is no way in hell I can lose 100 pounds by myself. I am going to get it even if I have to pay for it myself.

Well, it definitely seems like you have made up your mind about it. I am not going to offer you an opinion that tries to sway you against it. I know several people who have had gastric bypass surgery and none of them regret it at all. They have all lost a lot of weight, though only a couple of them have reached their goals. Apparently, it hurts like hell and the first couple weeks of your recovery are worse than you can imagine, but the end result is you drop weight like mad.

Besides the recovery and the possible surgical complications from gastric bypass, I have watched enough Discovery Health Channel to know that the biggest downside, at least it would be for me, is all that gross skin you are going to have leftover that will need to be surgically removed by a plastic surgeon. As long as you are prepared for that as well, I say go for it.

One more thing, if I were in your position, I would really look into getting the lap band procedure over the gastric bypass procedure. It is less invasive, has less potentional for complications, is easier to recover from, and is not permanent.