Dr. Darden Reveals the
AB SECRETS
Olympic Gymnasts
Have Practiced for Years!
Apply These Secrets for a Flatter,
Firmer Stomach in Only 14 Days.
Do you want tight, toned, and lean abdominals – especially your
lower abs? Do you wish that you could finally discover how to get
the best results from your eating and exercising?
The following eBook commands your attention, answers your
questions, and guides you in a new, realistic direction. And, it’s FREE.
By Ellington Darden, Ph.D.
Former Director of Research for Nautilus
Sports/Medical Industries and
Author of 68 Fitness Books
Copyright © 2010. All rights reserved worldwide.
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Discover the Secrets Nadia, Mary Lou,
and Shannon Have Known for Years!
Have you ever noticed the firm, flat stomachs that
champion gymnasts have?
•O
lga Korbut, with her winning smile and
originality, pranced her way to a gold medal at the
1972 Olympics in Munich and Nadia Comaneci
followed some four years later in Montreal with
her perfect 10s. What slim, strong midsections
they had.
• And who can forget Mary Lou Retton,
with her hard body and ripped abs, winning the
all-around title in 1984?
• Then, there was Shannon Miller in Atlanta
in 1996 and Carly Patterson in Athens in 2004.
Both were well conditioned and concave waisted.
Shannon Miller, Olympic Gold Metalist,
still fit and firm at age 35.
• More recently, in Beijing in 2008, the dynamic
athleticism of Shawn Johnson impressed
us. Plus, the graceful lines of Nastia Liukin,
combined with her power and sleekness, left many
admirers searching for suitable adjectives.
You might think female gymnasts in competition all stay
lean by starving themselves. Well, they don’t. They know
how to PLAN their eating by having small, frequent,
carbohydrate-rich meals – which keeps their energy levels
steady and consistent.
Olympic gymnasts almost never practice crunches or situps. How then do they get their incredible abs? They do
pikes, leg raises, and v-seats – which work their lower abs
intensely – from the BOTTOM UP.
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Female gymnasts also accelerate both their eating and
exercising by superhydrating their systems with cold
water. Water in large amounts contributes greatly to both
leanness and strength.
For decades, I’ve observed and studied the practices
of these gymnasts, and I’ve adapted their guidelines to
the training of other athletes. As a result, I’ve had much
success in helping people of all ages reduce their fat,
strengthen their midsections, and flatten their stomachs.
But my techniques for shrinking those pooches of fat
around the navel are so foreign to most people that they –
rightly so – should be classified as SECRETS.
The 3 SECRETS I discuss on the following pages are the
product of my decades of researching and working with
overfat and out-of-shape people – plus, gymnastic insight
into what produces the best results in the lower-abdomen
region. Each page of this eBook, by careful deduction, is
significantly condensed.
The real secret, from a scientific perspective, is there are
more than three secrets.You’ll have to study my previous
books, visit my website – or consult with me – to obtain all
the details and learn the unabridged story.
For now, these 3 SECRETS, once understood and
applied – for as little as two weeks – will make a
recognizable difference in your stomach flatness.
SECRET #1
Exercise Your Abs from the Bottom Up.
Stack Lower-Ab Exercises into a Workout
and Repeat 3 Times a Week.
Watch a gymnast train and it’s one related activity after
another. Sure, there are runs, jumps, and rolls. But there are
also handstands, balances, and graceful postures performed
in a slow, controlled manner.
Did you know . . . it’s those smooth, deliberate movements
that require the greatest muscular strength and endurance?
Advanced gymnasts practice connected exercises, one after
the other, in what they refer to as stacks.
Professional gymnasts like Shannon Miller
exercise their abs from the bottom up.
For the women using this eBook, “stack” means to
organize three related exercises and perform them backto-back, with no rest time between the movements.
In other words, you immediately go from exercise 1 to
exercise 2, and then from exercise 2 to exercise 3. Using
this style with similar exercises leads to a deep, burning
sensation within the involved body parts.
This deep burn has proven to be exceptionally effective
in sculpting the abdominal and oblique muscles.
Two routines are presented below. The first requires
no special equipment. The second stacks three exercises
involving the Ab Coaster, which is a unique home-exercise
machine that targets the lower abdominals. Both routines
apply only one set of five exercises, which are performed
three times per week.
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The first three exercises in each routine are done
progressively by doing 8 repetitions, initially, and adding
1 repetition each training day. At your sixth workout,
you will be doing 13 repetitions. Try to do each
repetition smoothly, taking approximately 5 or 6
seconds per repetition.
At the completion of the first three exercises in both
workouts, take two minutes to rest – then, do the Wall
Squat Hold and the Negative Push-Up.
It’s important that you motivate yourself during each
exercise. Understand the movement and push yourself
intensely through each group of repetitions, in proper
form.Your goal is to reach that burning state and
keep going – progressively – workout-by-workout.
For the midsection of a gymnast, you must learn to focus
and endure a certain amount of muscular fatigue toward
the completion of each exercise. With a positive attitude,
you can succeed. Repeat routine three times a week,
on non-consecutive days.
Difficult Ab Exercises Made Easy
Ab Coaster: A Breakthrough in Abdominal Training
Among competitive gymnasts, who are known for their
lower-ab strength and muscularity, the best exercise
for complete abdominal development is the Hanging
Leg Raise. The Hanging Leg Raise is performed in the
following manner:
Hang by your hands from an over-the-head horizontal
bar. Raise your feet and knees toward your hands. Lean
back slightly with your head and shoulders as your legs
are lifting. Touch your feet to the horizontal bar. Pause
briefly. Lower your feet back to the bottom position.
Hanging Leg Raise
The Ab Coaster makes this
difficult exercise possible for
anyone to perform.
If you can do 10 consecutive repetitions of the Hanging
Leg Raise, you probably have little need for this eBook.
In fact, your stomach is probably flat and your lower-abs
are well defined.
The problem is that the Hanging Leg Raise is extremely
difficult for the average woman to perform. Most
cannot even raise their feet to waist level, much less
to the overhead bar. And, holding onto the horizontal
bar for 30 seconds or longer, takes muscular hands and
forearms, as well as supportive strength in the shoulders
and upper back.
The Ab Coaster was designed to remove much of the
difficulty of this hanging exercise, while emphasizing the
positive effects of raising the lower body. Instead of
lifting the entire weight of your legs forward and up,
you kneel on a bench that rests on a curved track.
The Ab Coaster works your
abs from the “bottom up,” while
limiting stress to your neck, back
and shoulders.
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Then, with your elbows supported on padded armrests,
you glide the bench forward and up. Such a motion
works your abs from the “bottom up,” much like the
Hanging Leg Raise – with none of the problems.
The Ab Coaster has my vote for working effectively the
often-neglected, lower-ab muscles.
What about stacking the Ab Coaster exercises? Well,
you’ve really got to experience this “below-the-navel,
inside-out-burning feeling” for yourself.
Once you get the hang of the Ab Coaster (it does take
some getting-used to), you can progressively add 5, 10,
and 15 pounds of resistance plates to the carriage . . .
to make each repetition HARDER. Harder is the name
of the game, if you want to force your body to build
stronger, better-defined, lower abdominal muscles.
There’s just never been a PRACTICAL, PROGRESSIVE
way for women to target the lower abs – until the
arrival of the Ab Coaster.
For more information about the Ab Coaster, go to
www.AbCoasterClub.com.
Ab Coaster, Lower-Ab Routine
Ab Coaster Forward Lift (for abdominals, especially
the lower): Adjust the seat so that it faces forward. Move
to the side. Place your forearms and elbows on the arm
pads and grasp the handles lightly. Kneel on the seat and
hook the front of your feet on the back edge of the pad.
Look forward and keep your back straight. Pull your
knees forward and up, which moves the carriage, until
you fully contract your abdominals. Pause briefly at the
top position. Lower smoothly to the bottom. Repeat for
8 repetitions. Ease out of the machine and get ready to
perform the Left Side Lift.
Forward Lift
Side Lift
Ab Coaster Left Side Lift (for abdominals and left
obliques): Readjust the seat. From behind, the front goes
right and the back goes left, and make sure it locks in place.
Move to the side. Place your forearms and elbows on the
arm pads. Grasp the handles lightly. Kneel on the seat and
hook the front of your feet on the back edge of the pad.
Look forward and keep your back straight. Note that your
left knee, because of the rotated position of your hips, is
slightly in front of your right knee. Pull your knees forward
and up, which moves the carriage, until you fully contract
your abdominals and left obliques. Pause briefly at the
top position. Lower smoothly to the bottom. Repeat for
8 repetitions. Ease out of the machine and get ready to
perform the Right Side Lift.
Ab Coaster Right Side Lift (for abdominals and
right obliques): Readjust the seat. From behind, the front
goes left and the back goes right, and make sure it locks in
place. Move to the side. Place your forearms and elbows
on the arm pads. Grasp the handles lightly. Kneel on the
seat and hook the front of your feet on the back edge of
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the pad. Look forward and keep your back straight. Note
that your right knee, because of the rotated position of
your hips, is slightly in front of your left knee. Pull your
knees forward and up, which moves the carriage, until you
contract fully your abdominals and right obliques. Pause
briefly at the top. Lower smoothly to the bottom. Repeat
for 8 repetitions.
Wall Squat Hold (for buttocks and thighs): Stand
erect and lean back against a smooth, sturdy wall. Place
your heels 3 inches wider apart than your hips and
approximately 12 inches away from the wall. Adjust hands
on hips. Slide your back down the wall until the tops of
your thighs are parallel to the floor. Hold this position for
10 seconds. Push back to the top position. Lower to the
parallel position and repeat for 8 sustained-contraction
repetitions. Add 1 repetition to each workout.
Negative Push-Up (for chest, shoulders, and backs
of upper arms): This is the single exercise you’ll do in a
negative or lowering-only manner. Assume a standard
push-up position on your toes and hands with your arms
straight and your body stiff. Lower your body slowly to
the floor by bending your arms slowly in 6 seconds.
Do NOT try to push yourself up to the top position.
The idea is to focus only on the lowering, which will
become very challenging. Use your legs to get up. Place
your knees on the floor, raise your chest, straighten your
arms, and slide back on your toes into the top position.
Repeat for 8 repetitions. Add 1 repetition per workout.
SECRET #2
Eat a Small Meal Every 2½ Hours.
Cut Calories, but Eat More Often.
Gymnasts during their practices, which last for consecutive
hours in the morning as well as the afternoon, are
constantly on the move. There’s little time for sit-down
meals and full stomachs cut into practice time.
Their secret is to consume a small meal, 300 calories or
less, and to repeat it every 2½ hours. They are fueled
on complex carbohydrates, plus a moderate amount of
proteins and fats. Frequently, nutritious shakes are mixed
and gulped on the go.
Five or more of these small meals are consumed each
day . . . by serious gymnasts.
Try a nutritious shake as a
meal replacement.
In comparison, studies show that the typical woman in the
United States eats only 2.5 meals a day. She consumes a
skimpy breakfast, followed by a moderate-size lunch and
a larger dinner. In between meals, she drinks caffeine–
ladened coffee and diet sodas.
A key component to efficient fat loss is to increase the
number of meals per day and keep them small and evenly
spaced: approximately 2½ hours between calorie intakes.
A small meal can be a snack or a measured amount of
several different foods.
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The Flat-Stomach Eating Plan consists of five mini-meals
for a total of 1,100 calories a day for a woman weighing
150 pounds or less (Group A) and 1,300 calories a day for
a woman weighing 151 pounds or more (Group B).
Calories for each of the listed foods are in parentheses.
Each day’s mini-meals are comprised of approximately
50-percent carbohydrates and 25-percent proteins and
25-percent fats. Complex carbohydrates – such as wholewheat bread, bananas, and apples – are your recommended
sources of energy. In some of the meals, I suggest a brandname product as a guide.
Research shows that most adults can consume the same
breakfast and lunch for two weeks, if not longer. This
simplifies calorie counting and food preparation. Also, after
the eating plan, please refer to the notes carefully.
The Flat-Stomach Eating Plan
For 14 Consecutive Days
Total calorie consumption . . .
Women (Group A, 150 pounds or less): 1,100 calories per day.
Women (Group B, 151 pounds or more): 1,300 calories per day.
Breakfast = 300 calories
Lunch = 300 calories
Dinner = 300 calories
Choice of bagel or shake.
Choice of sandwich or shake.
Choice of one of three frozen, microwave meals:
Bagel:
1 plain bagel, Lender’s (refrigerated,
5 pre-sliced to the bag) (210)
½ ounce light cream cheese (30)
½ cup orange juice (55)
Noncaloric beverage
Sandwich:
2 slices whole-wheat bread (140)
1 tablespoon reduced fat mayonnaise dressing (20)
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard (0) (optional)
2 ounces white meat (about 8 thin slices) chicken
or turkey (80)
1 ounce fat-free cheese (1½ slices) (50)
Noncaloric beverage
Layered Lasagna with Meat Sauce, Michelina’s Lean
Gourmet (310)
Noncaloric beverage
Shake:
2 scoops of Metabolic Drive Complete shake mix
(206), or other meal replacements to equal the
appropriate calories
1 large banana (8-3/4” long) (100)
12 ounces cold water
Place ingredients in blender and mix until smooth.
Shake:
2 scoops Metabolic Drive Complete shake mix
(206), or other meal replacements to equal the
appropriate calories
1 large banana (8-3/4” long) (100)
12 ounces cold water
Place ingredients in blender and mix until smooth.
Honey Ginger Chicken, Healthy Choice Frozen
Entrees (310)
Noncaloric beverage
Chicken with Almonds, Lean Cuisine Café
Classics (250)
½ cup fat-free milk (45)
Noncaloric beverage
Evening Snack = 100/200 calories
Group A has one selection; Group B has both.
Afternoon Snack = 100/200 calories
Group A has one selection; Group B has both.
1 apple (3” diameter) (100)
1 cup light, nonfat, flavored yogurt (100)
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1 apple (3” diameter) (100)
1 cup light, nonfat, flavored yogurt (100)
Notes on the Eating Plan
• Noncaloric beverages are any type of water – tap,
bottled, carbonated, or flavored – with no calories.
Other noncaloric beverages are soft drinks with
zero calories and no caffeine, and decaffeinated teas
and coffees.
• For the latest frozen, microwave meals, and for possible
substitutions – please refer to the following Web sites:
• Michelinas.com
• Healthychoice.com
• Leancuisine.com
Control your meal planning
with simplicity.
certain types of heart, liver, or kidney disease; diabetics;
and those suffering from some types of arthritis and
cancer. This should not be taken as an all-inclusive list.
Some individuals should follow this plan only with their
physician’s specific guidance. Consult your health-care
professional beforehand and play it safe.
Optimize Eating Out
If you are dieting, eating out can be a trying experience.
It’s best to be prepared and proactive with these rules:
• For nutrient-dense, meal-replacement shake mixes, see
• Metabolic Drive Complete (MetabolicDrive.com)
• Full Strength Nutrition (FullStrength.com)
• Myoplex Original (EAS.com)
• Request that a large pitcher of ice water be placed on
you table and drink from it freely.
• When on a reduced-calorie eating plan, you should
take one multiple vitamin with minerals tablet each
morning with breakfast. High-potency supplements
are not necessary.
• Choose a simple green salad without croutons and bacon
bits. Add lemon or vinegar as a dressing.
• Your doctor should be aware that you are about to
modify your eating and exercising. Make a copy of this
eBook and carry it with you for easy referral. Your
physician will more than likely recommend a thorough
physical examination if you have not had one in the last
twelve months.
• IMPORTANT: There are a few people who should
not try this program: children and teenagers; pregnant
women; women who are breast-feeding; women with
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• Don’t open the menu. Menus are designed to entice you
to spend big on rich foods.
• Select one or two vegetables with nothing added.
• Order a whitefish and have it baked, broiled, or steamed,
with nothing on it.
• Be very specific with your order. Double-check it to
make sure the waiter understands.
• Have decaffeinated coffee or tea for dessert.
SECRET #3
Drink More Water for Greater Fat Reduction.
Accelerate Your Eating and Exercising
Results by Applying Superhydration.
On television you see many of the world’s best
athletes chug down their Gatorade on the
sidelines. But in spite of the millions and millions
of dollars spent on advertising, most exercise
scientists recognize that the key ingredient in
Gatorade, and other marketed “precisely balanced
carbohydrate-electrolyte beverages,” is WATER.
result, one of the liver’s main functions, metabolizing
stored fat into useable energy, is minimized.
Additionally, muscles are composed of more than
70-percent water. Intense muscular exercise emits
heat, which requires steady amounts of water to
keep the entire system cool and fueled. Combining
superhydration with intense exercise creates a
synergistic recipe for successful fat shrinkage.
You better believe that competitive gymnasts get
thirsty. Nothing, and I mean NOTHING, will ever
take the place of cold water. During hot, humid
practices, gymnasts crave ice-cold water – and
lots of it – for performance purposes, improved
health, better concentration, and more confidence.
Maximize calorie burn by keeping the water
cold. A gallon of ice-cold (40-degrees
Fahrenheit) water requires 123 calories of heat
energy to warm it to core body temperature
(98.6 degrees Fahrenheit).
A constant supply of water – contrary to popular belief – helps many
women prevent bloating, which is caused by female hormones and too
little fluid.
Superhydration will initially cause you to visit the bathroom
more often than normal. Soon, however, your bladder will adapt
and you’ll urinate less frequently, but in larger amounts.
Large amounts of cold water are vital for efficient fat shrinkage. The term
superhydration means the drinking of at least 4 quarts of ice-cold water
each day.
For you bottled water fans, buy 16-ounce bottles, refrigerate the lot, drink
freely, and count tops. Don’t stop until you’ve collected 8 tops for the day.
The traditional recommendation of 8 glasses (two quarts) per day is not
nearly enough for maximum fat shrinkage. To accelerate your results,
drink 4 quarts a day.
When not consuming enough water, the body’s reaction is to retain the
water it does have. Kidney function is hindered and waste products
accumulate. The liver is then called upon to flush out impurities. As a
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For those of you who have easy access to a fridge, fill a gallon container with
water. Throughout the day, continue filling your glass until you empty it.
For the office dwellers, purchase an insulated 32-ounce container with a
straw. Add a rubber band to the bottom each time you finish one.
Get clever with your hydration accounting. It will pay off in decreased
pounds and inches.
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Realistic Expectations . . .
Make It Happen!
Riddled with
Daytime Stress?
Apply this
5-Minute Technique
• Most people who fail to shrink fat at
the average rate have too much stress
in their lives. In many of these situations,
it’s important to learn how to relax
more.
• Michael Krugman, founder of the
Sounder Sleep System, describes how
to take a timeout and relax more
effectively during a stress-filled day:
• Sit comfortably. Fold your hands in
your lap, lacing the fingers and thumbs.
Then straighten your index fingers, so the
pads of the two fingers rest against each
other. Remain in this quiet position for
five minutes.
• Continues Krugman: When you’re awake
and active, your hands are usually busy –
and so is your brain.When you stabilze your
hands – with this five-minute technique –
your brain slows down, and you become
calm and tranquil.
If you want a leaner, tighter midsection and are ready to commit,
what can you expect from adhering to my 3 SECRETS for 14 days?
Research at the Gainesville Health & Fitness Center in Gainesville,
Florida, which is reported in my book, A Flat Stomach ASAP, offers some
insight. In that study, 109 women progressed through a similar plan.
In the first two weeks, the average woman shed 7 pounds.
An average of 2 inches came off of the waist of each woman.
Since my 3-SECRET formula is comparable
to the ASAP program, you can expect similar
decreases. In fact, with the incorporation
of the Ab Coaster, I predict – in many cases –
even better results.
Soon you will experience the gold-medal
teamwork of . . .
(1) Bottom-Up Exercise,
(2) Small Meals Every 2½ Hours, and
(3) Superhydration.
With strict adherence to my 3 SECRETS, you will be
well on your way to achieving a flat stomach, defined lower
abs, and the body you’ve always wanted.
Make it happen!
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BONUS SECRET!
Practice the Stomach Vacuum
For a Smaller Waist.
Fat Cells:
Losing or Shrinking?
What happens when you lose 10 pounds of body fat? “Lose”
is actually a misnomer. Biologically, the oily liquid inside the fat
cells simply metabolizes and the outer walls, the circumferences,
shrink. In other words, you never get rid of the fat cell, just the
fuel inside of it.
“Shrink” is a much better description than lose. Fat cells shrink
in size and they have the potential to inflate and deflate – again
and again and again – which explains why many people go back
and forth between fatness and leanness.
Generally, if you want a flat stomach or six-pack abs, you have
to shed fat from all over your body.Why? Because we evolved
as mobile, active creatures, who were adept at using BOTH our
lower and upper bodies.
Thus, survival was not only based on being able to move
our arms and legs vigorously, but also having a long-term
energy supply in the form of stored calories, or fat. It made
evolutionary sense for mobile people to store fat in thicker
layers around the midsection and progressively thinner levels
toward the extremities.
Today, primarily because of the abundance of high-calorie foods
and laborsaving devices, Americans are the fattest people on
the planet. By the year 2012, predictions are that 82 percent of
Americans, 25 years and older will be overweight.
Surveys reveal that the No. 1 body part both men and women
want to improve is ABDOMINALS. Both want exercise
equipment and expert instruction on how to get flat, hard,
muscular stomachs.
Now is the time to challenge yourself to decrease some of your
body fat – and to do so efficiently with proven science.
The stomach vacuum is an old-school bodybuilding trick
that involves an unusual contraction of the transverse
abdominis muscle, which stretches horizontally across your
midsection. I taught this contraction to more than 100
women who went through one of my tummy-tightening
courses, and most of them got the hang of it quickly.
Here’s what it entails:
• Lie in bed on your back.
• Place your hands across the bottom of your rib
cage and the top of your abdominals.
• Take a normal breath and forcibly blow out as
much air as possible.
• Suck in your stomach to the maximum degree,
but take in no air during the process.You should
feel a concave formation under your rib cage.
• Try the vacuum several more times while lying down.
• Stand now and get in front of a mirror and try the
vacuum. Remove your shirt so you can see what’s
happening. At first, the vacuum is more difficult to do
standing than lying, but with a little more practice, you
should be able to master it in a standing position.
• Practice the stomach vacuum twice before breakfast,
lunch, and dinner – or six times a day – for two
weeks and your waist will be stronger and flatter.
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About Ellington
• Ellington Darden graduated from Florida State University
in 1972 with a Ph.D. in Exercise Science. While at FSU, he
also completed two years of post-doctoral study in Food
and Nutrition. Afterward, for 20 years, he was Director of
Research for Nautilus Sports/Medical Industries, where
he helped to develop and popularize Nautilus strengthtraining equipment.
Ellington Darden
• In July of 1984, the American Booksellers Association ranked
The Nautilus Bodybuilding Book by Ellington as the No. 1 sports/
fitness book in the United States. Furthermore, USA Today
selected The Nautilus Diet as the most highly acclaimed fatloss book of 1987. Since then, Ellington has authored other
bestselling manuals, including The Six-Week Fat-to-Muscle
Makeover, Hot Hips and Fabulous Thighs, Living Longer Stronger,
The Bowflex Body Plan, and The New High-Intensity Training.
His books have been printed in seven languages with
worldwide distribution.
• Ellington resides with his wife, Jeanenne, and son, Tyler, 7,
and daughter, Larah, 4, in Orlando, Florida. He manages an
interactive web site, www.drdarden.com, and continues to do
research, writing, and Intensive Coaching from his private gym.
Ellington is available for consulting at
Email: ell@drdarden.com
For more information, see www.drdarden.com.
This group of professional water skiers from Sea World
in Orlando, with Dr. Darden’s Intensive Coaching, shed
120 pounds of body fat in six weeks. To learn more of
the details, go to www.drdarden.com and review the
article, “Florida Dreaming.”
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