The connection between the internal and the external sex organs is the vagina, or birth canal. Vagina is a Latin word whose original meaning was sheath; presumably the designation came about in reference to the role the vagina plays relative to the penis in heterosexual intercourse. The vagina performs three separate functions: it serves as the passageway for menstrual flow, it couples with the penis during intercourse and is involved in other forms of sexual activity, and it is the birth canal.

The vagina resembles a collapsed tube of toothpaste when all the toothpaste has been squeezed out. It is a potential space; it is not always open. When a woman is neither sexually stimulated nor in the process of giving birth, the vagina is closed, with its two walls touching. These walls are composed of soft folds called rugae. The vagina is extremely flexible and expandable; it can open to accommodate a finger, a tampon, a penis, or a baby. In its resting state, it is about eight to ten centimeters (three to four inches) long; it tilts at a slightly backward angle from its bottom (external opening) to its top — an anatomical fact of some significance for the woman learning to insert a tampon or a diaphragm.

The upper two-thirds of the vagina has relatively few nerve endings and thus is relatively insensitive to touch. However, this portion of the vagina is sensitive to pressure. The cervix, too, is relatively devoid of nerve endings. Thus, the medical procedure known as the Pap smear, which involves removing cell samples from the cervical os, can be done with minimal discomfort for the woman. (The Pap smear will be discussed more fully in a later section of this chapter.)

The lower third of the vagina, especially around the entrance, is the most sexually sensitive part of this organ. A procedure which can be performed for therapeutic reasons or as part of self-discovery involves thinking of the vaginal entrance as the face of a clock. Having located the relative positions of 12, 3, 6, and 9 o’clock, the woman then explores which areas are most sensitive for her. Some women also locate a sensitive spot on the anterior, or upper, wall of the vagina, which may be related to the clitoral nerve system.

The vagina can have two types of moisture present in it. One is a product of the normal functioning of the hormonal system, for example, cervical mucus, and of the vagina’s self-cleansing mechanism. Vaginal discharge is thus a normal product; the amount varies from woman to woman, and the amount, texture, and odor varies with the phases of the menstrual cycle. The environment of the vagina is normally acidic, between 3.5 and 4.5 pH. This acidity works to reduce the possibility of infection. The other type of moisture produced in the vagina is the lubrication which is secreted as a woman becomes sexually aroused.

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Fruits and vegetables – antidote to cancer

Researches conducted in ascertaining links between diet and cancer since 1970, have now conclusively proved that fruits and vegetables can serve as antidotes to cancer. According to Dr. Peter Greenwald, Director of the Division of Cancer Prevention and control at the American National Cancer Institute, “The more fruits and vegetables people eat, the less likely they are to get cancer, from colon and stomach cancer to breast and even lung cancer. For many cancers, persons with high fruit and vegetable intake have about half the risk of people with low intake.”

Some studies indicate that eating fruits twice a day cuts the risk of lung cancer by 75 per cent, even in smokers. The normal servings of fruits and vegetables are two fruits and three vegetables a day. Adding more fruits and vegetables to these servings can reduce the risk of cancer. One serving means 100-115g of cooked or chopped raw fruit or vegetables, 70-85g of raw leafy vegetables, one medium piece of fruit, or 170 ml of fruit juice or vegetable juice.

Sulphur – rich vegetables – reduce risk of cancer

A survey of dietary habits in China from 1973-1984 found, among other things, that people who ate more sulphur-rich vegetables like cabbage, cauliflower, garlic and onions had the lowest risks of cancer, in general.

Persons who avoid raw fruits and vegetables are more prone to stomach cancer. Several studies have found an array of fruits and raw vegetables to be so protective, that anyone worried about stomach cancer should simply increase the intake of raw vegetable and fruit salads. If a person does not consume raw foods daily, his risk of stomach cancer doubles or even triples, according to studies conducted in Japan, England and Poland. Raw vegetables of various types are powerful anti-stomach cancer foods, according to extensive research. Especially protective are raw celery, cucumbers, carrots, green peppers, tomatoes, onions and lettuce.

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Jimmy did construction work. At fifty-six he was an interesting mix of youth and age. His hair was light brown dappled with gray; his face was boyish, but pale and tense.

“My doctor says I’ve got to take off some weight. He’s been telling me for years, but now it’s serious.” He went on to talk about his high blood pressure, his backaches, and his father, who died at age fifty-eight. “I have to take off at least thirty pounds,” he said.

Jimmy had tried diets in the past but, he told us, “I couldn’t work on cucumber sandwiches or child-sized portions. I get too hungry. It just doesn’t feel like real food. It’s not enough for me.

“And I can’t carry a measuring cup and food scale with me to the twentieth floor of a construction job. Or those exchanges—they wanted me to eat one exchange of this and two exchanges of that. I can’t live like that. I don’t eat exchanges, I eat real food that gets all the exchanges mixed together. It got really ridiculous, trying to figure out exchanges while the guys are ordering sandwiches from the deli.”

Jimmy’s Carbohydrate Addict’s Test revealed he had only a Mild Addiction. We told him about the three-meal-a-day plan, two of them low in carbohydrates, the third the Reward Meal. We explained the insulin connection, too, and he nodded in agreement. He’d try it.

Jimmy was between jobs, so for the first two weeks of the diet he had little difficulty following it. In fact, he was losing weight almost too quickly, at a rate of about three pounds a week. But then he was called back to work.

“Now let’s see how the diet holds up on the job,” he said with a laugh.

It proved to be a difficult challenge. A basic part of Jimmy’s work, we learned, was an almost ritual approach to eating. Breakfast with the guys was first. Then after a couple of hours of work came coffee break. Then some more work and lunch. In the middle of the afternoon came another break. Then everybody went home for dinner.

The sum total of this eating-working schedule was five mealtimes daily. Not surprisingly, Jimmy didn’t do as well the first week back on the job.

“Breakfast is no problem,” he assured us. “Bacon and eggs I love and I don’t really mind giving up the bread.

“The morning coffee break, though, that’s tough. I don’t know exactly what to do. For the first couple of days I just had coffee, but then I started adding rolls toward the end of the week. Lunch is okay, I bring that from home.

“The real tough one is the coffee break in the afternoon. By then I’m tired and cold and hungry and the thought of just coffee when everyone else is eating is impossible.”

Even with his rule breaking, however, Jimmy lost three pounds. Still, from experience we knew we couldn’t let him eat carbohydrates as often as he wanted to: it would inevitably lead to an appetite rebound and the end of his weight loss.

Given his rapid weight loss, we recommended that Jimmy follow plan A. This would help avoid hyperinsulinemia but still suit his needs. We recommended the following: his breakfast would remain the same Low-Carbohydrate Meal, and we reminded him that he’d have to forgo the rolls that he had added to his morning coffee break. He agreed, he could manage that. Lunch was to be as usual, low-carbohydrate foods. But Plan A added a Low-Carbohydrate Snack.

Jimmy was now able to follow a plan that included a snack at afternoon break, like a chicken leg and dill pickle. Jimmy suggested celery stuffed with cream cheese, a favorite snack of his. We told him that was perfectly acceptable, too.

It worked. Breakfast and lunch remained his Low-Carbohydrate Meals, dinner his Reward Meal. At the midafternoon break, Jimmy had some meat or his cheese and celery snack.

On his next visit, Jimmy told us a story about his daily throwing away of the bread that came with the deli sandwich he had started ordering for that snack. “So help me,” he said, chuckling, “I swear the pigeons know I’m coming now and they head for the trash can nearest me.” His weight dropped steadily—but not too fast. He reached his desired weight loss of thirty-two pounds in less than four months. And, two years later, his yearly check-in revealed his weight was still level.

The Carbohydrate Addict’s Diet had worked well for him. “I’m thinner than I was in high school, and my blood pressure is like that of a kid. That’s it for me—for life.”

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