Do you know who is standing behind those credentials? A medical doctor? Nurse? Neither?
Read the full article to find out:
http://www.disaboom.com/alternative-therapies/naturopathy-doctors-credentials-uncovered
24 Maret 2010
23 Maret 2010
Naturopathy Treatments
Naturopathy treatments are based on the premise that we must:
1. Stimulate the body's innate ability to heal itself.
2. Focus on nutrition because what you put into your body will influence
the healing process.
3. Use remedies that minimize the risk of side-effects.
4. Use the power of nature (water, sunlight, fresh air) to help keep the body
body.
To read the full article:
http://www.disaboom.com/alternative-therapies/naturopathy-treatment-for-disability
1. Stimulate the body's innate ability to heal itself.
2. Focus on nutrition because what you put into your body will influence
the healing process.
3. Use remedies that minimize the risk of side-effects.
4. Use the power of nature (water, sunlight, fresh air) to help keep the body
body.
To read the full article:
http://www.disaboom.com/alternative-therapies/naturopathy-treatment-for-disability
History of Naturopathy
The history of naturopathy dates back to Ancient Greece and the teachings of Hygeia, the goddess of health, and the daughter of Asclepius, the god of medicine.
To read the full article:
http://www.disaboom.com/alternative-therapies/history-of-naturopathy
To read the full article:
http://www.disaboom.com/alternative-therapies/history-of-naturopathy
What is Naturopathy?
Naturopathy is alternative medicine at its best! It relies on the body's innate ability to heal itself and focuses on finding the cause, rather than merely treating the signs and symptoms of disease.
To read more go here:
http://www.disaboom.com/alternative-therapies/naturopathy-defined
To read more go here:
http://www.disaboom.com/alternative-therapies/naturopathy-defined
22 Maret 2010
An Ayurveda healer in Manila
Fr. Jacob Gnalian during his birthday 2008
When I attended the first Power of Healing Conference a couple of years ago, I heard from one participant that there is a foreign Catholic Priest in Mandaluyong who is an Ayurveda practitioner. I asked around but no one can point me to the right person. A year or so after while surfing the internet on Ayurveda, I found the site
of Fr. Jacob Gnalian and corresponded with him via email.
I also found an old article in inquirer.net about him but unfortunately it does not seem to be online now so I am re printing the article below.
The address given in the online article is the old one. Today his clinic is found at Lee St. right next to the Lee Bldg at the corner of Shaw Blvd and Lee St.
I used to see him for more quite sometime and even attended his yoga classes each Sunday. A year after he decided to offer Ayurveda classes which lasted around six months which I also attended. I learned a lot in his class but more importantly he has helped me normalize my blood sugar levels.
Unfortunately due to the distance and some financial constraints. I am not able to see him recently but once I get over some challenges I intend to go back.
I have met lots of his patients who he cured from major illnesses including cancer. You can also view via google docs an old article from PDI. about him.
Priest helps the sick using a 5,000-year-old healing system
First posted 03:22am (Mla time) Feb 05, 2006
By Imelda Morales Aznar
Inquirer
REVEREND Fr. Jacob Gnalian has treated about 400 snake bite victims in his native India. "All got well except one, which I did not want to accept because it was already too late."
Fr. Gnalian is no ordinary doctor, but a practitioner of the ancient healing system known as Ayurveda.
The Catholic priest and Ayurvedic doctor has been practicing in the Philippines for the past four years. Through the use of Ayurvedic medicines, diet, exercise, and lifestyle changes, he says that difficult illnesses like diabetes, asthma, arthritis and hypertension can be cured.
Fr. Gnalian was born in Kerala, India in the 1940s. According to him, both his mother and her father had a special talent in medicine. "They have secret herbal medicines, and it's part of
Ayurveda but not the classic Ayurveda," Fr. Gnalian explains. "My mother can cure hepatitis in three days, and my grandfather can heal different ailments like wounds and poisoning." They got their healing knowledge from their ancestors, who passed it on to them, just as it was conveyed to them by their ascendants.
Needed expertise
"I was interested from the very beginning because I saw all that," he explains. He saw, for instance, how his grandfather healed bad cases of burning. Today, Fr. Gnalian's relatives are his patients, too. "My mother is taking my prescribed medicines, and my brother-in-law, who is highly diabetic, has been taking my prescription for four years, and now he is okay."
When Fr. Gnalian goes on one of his yearly trips to India, he makes his diagnoses and prescriptions for family members who need his expertise. His siblings, three boys and three girls, two of whom are now religious sisters, are all based in India.
Gnalian's birthplace of Kerala is a southern state in India considered to be the center of Ayurveda, a 5,000-year-old Vedic healing system.
"Kerala is the strongest Christian community in the world," he says. "One of Christ's apostles, St. Thomas, went to India in 52 A.D. and started preaching the Christian message in South India,
particularly in Kerala." St. Thomas supposedly established seven churches and communities there, which allowed the Christian faith to flourish.
Since his elementary days, Fr. Gnalian had felt the desire to "serve the people." "That is my mission," he says. Priesthood naturally came next, since for him it was the best way to fulfill his mission.
In the seminary, Fr. Gnalian thoroughly studied the scripture and the mission of Christ. "While studying the scripture, I learned that the mission of Christ is healing—he didn't spend much time in the temple,
he was always with the people, preaching to them and performing holistic healing." Christ healed the people of their physical, mental and spiritual afflictions. Likewise, the Ayurvedic approach is not limited to looking at the symptom of the patient, "but looking at the patient as a whole, to see the cause of the problem."
Priest and doctor
Fr. Gnalian's acharya (guru) was a Carmelite brother and doctor of Ayurveda. When Fr. Gnalian was assigned to the brother's hospital for his pastoral experience, he got interested in the study, and began to learn from him. "I was under an acharya when I was in the seminary, and I learned Ayurveda as I studied for the priesthood," Fr. Gnalian recounts.
When he finished his studies, he began practicing Ayurveda. He was ordained a Catholic priest in 1971 by His Eminence Joseph Cardinal Parecatil, Archbishop of Ernaculam, Kerala. As a priest and doctor, he would say Mass at the church, then see his patients afterwards. He did this for about 14 years, until he moved to the Philippines in 1984 for pastoral work and for higher studies in philosophy and theology.
He was requested to come on a mission by the bishop of San Pablo. While in San Pablo, he pursued and completed an MA degree in Oriental religions and cultures at the University of Santo Tomas. He remembers, "I came to San Pablo to do parish work in the diocese of Laguna; but when the mission was over, I felt that it was not complete, so now I do this," he says with a smile. He completed his doctorate thesis in Vedic Philosophy, the root of Ayurveda, also at UST, while serving as the chaplain of various poor communities in Metro Manila.
Driven by his sincere desire to help people, Fr. Gnalian started the Missionaries of the East in the Philippines. He was a member of Missionaries of the East in India. It is a religious organization that aims "to continue Christ's mission in fullness, that is, to heal the people through a holistic healing process." The local organization currently has priests and laymen members.
Unusual clinic hours
In 2001, he established the Sandhi Ayurveda Clinic in Mandaluyong City, with the help of his good friend, the late Rudy dela Rama. Sandhi is a research center and health care facility that "offers cure for diseases for which conventional medicine has no effective remedy." Sandhi aims "to provide a healthcare program for those who cannot afford other forms of medical treatment due to their high cost." Fr. Gnalian spends most of his time in the clinic, seeing patients for "as long as they are here," he says, referring to the absence of usual clinic hours followed by other doctors.
The Sandhi Ayurveda Clinic brochure states that from the time the clinic opened in 2001, "many patients have been treated for numerous diseases—arthritis, asthma, diabetes, psoriasis, eczema and other skin problems, stone in the kidney, dysmenorrhea, eye problems, sinusitis, migraine, hypertension, gastric ulcer and liver disorders; there has been no report of any side effect or complaints."
The Ayurvedic medicines he dispenses are produced by reputed companies in India, patented and registered with the Government of India. Fr. Gnalian's Missionaries of the East obtains them directly from the producers. Patients can't get the medicines anywhere else in the country, they are only available at the Sandhi Ayurveda Clinic. "In India, I just prescribe the medicines and the patients can buy them outside because they are available," he says, "But here, I have to give the medicines myself because they are not available anywhere else."
Getting the required clearances from Department of Health (DOH) and Bureau of Food and Drugs (BFAD) was not an easy process for Fr. Gnalian. "But they have approved my proposal and I was eventually asked by DOH to start Ayurveda here," he says. "I now have a clearance from BFAD to import more than 100 kinds of medicines in bulk, and I have clearance to dispense the medicines." These medicines have been available in the Philippines since 2001.
In 2002, Fr. Gnalian was invited as one of the lecturers in the World Ayurveda Congress in Cochin, India. He was the delegate from the Philippines in the same congress.
Finding harmony
Ayurveda has not become that popular among Filipinos, Fr. Gnalian says, because of the mindset that healing is dependent only upon the medicine and the doctor, with the patient doing very little work.
With Ayurveda, the patient is active in the healing process, and is responsible for his own healing. "When you are sick, it is because of a disorder in the harmony of the body, mind and spirit. The patient needs to cooperate before the healing power will work. You can't be passive because you are important here—you must be active in eating, proper exercise, and in taking your medicine."
This way, the immune system becomes stronger and the person can be healed properly. "The difference between Western medicine and Ayurveda is that Western medicine treats symptoms, while Ayurveda treats the cause."
Healing the body also means healing the spiritual or mental aspect of the person, as well. As with Christianity, faith is an important factor in Ayurveda. "You need faith in God, faith in yourself, and faith in your medicine."
Financial support
Fr. Gnalian has been doing his missionary work practically on his own. "In the beginning, I was told that there will be financial support from the government," he says. But nothing came his way. It's a good thing that the Indian community, and the Indian ambassador in particular, recognizes his endeavors. Individuals whom he had helped in the past have also extended some form of support to the cause, providing, for instance, a venue for the Ayurveda Wellness Weekends he conducts.
Aside from serving as his clinic, the center in Mandaluyong is also a venue for yoga sessions and rejuvenating therapies, and a place of counseling for wellness and healthy food management, and even Ayurvedic treatment for the HIV virus.
The secret, according to this priest-doctor, is to "go back to nature— that is the meaning of Ayurveda." Fr. Gnalian advises the sick to follow the law of nature. "When you change your way of life, then you will be healthy."
* * *
Healing Foods
Last November 2009, I attended the annual conference organized by the Phil. College for the Advancement of Medicine (PCAM) where I learned tons of information on natural healing.
I would like to share some of them in this blog. I will do it in parts and start with the talk of of Dr. Jaime Galvez Tan, former Secretary of Health.
Kamote Leaves and Tubers
Food, diet and nutrition constitute important components in the maintenance of a person's total well-being and in the promotion of human health and the prevention of diseases. However, not yet fully appreciated is the concept of food as medicine and that certain foods or their combination have healing properties. Healing foods have always been an Asian tradition. And more recently, Europeans and North Americans have become more aware of this concept.
Turmeric/Luyang Dilaw and Malunggay (moringa)
Nutrition scientists have now given the name "functional foods" to foods that heal. The European Union Food Supplement Directive 2002/46/CE has officially defined a functional food as food "consumed as part of a susual diet that is similar in appearance to, or may be, a conventional food, and is demonstrated to have physiological benefits and/or reduce the risk of chronic disease beyond basic nutritional functions."
Below are samples of foods, which aside from providing the macronutrients and micronutrients needed by our body, also provide phytochemicals and anti-oxidants that give relief to ailments and illnesses:
Kulitis and Saluyot
Food that Heal the Kidneys - Leaf shoots of the kamote (Ipomea), Kulitis (Amaranth), malunggay (Moringa), Sili (Capsicum) and Saluyot (Corchorus) taken as a salad of pickled or mixed into a soup or porridge after its cooking.
Radish and Gotu Kila/Takip-Kohol
Foods that Heal the Liver - Radish (labanos), Turmeric/Luyang Dilaw (Curcuma)), and gotu kola/takip-kohol (Centella) eaten as salad or pickled.
Duhat
Foods that Heal the Pancreas - Ampalaya (Momordica) leaves and fruits, Kamote (Ipomea) leaves and tubers, Duhat (Zygium) fruits and leaves.
Tanglad/Lemongrass
Foods that Heal the Heart and Vascular System - Bawang/Garlic (Allium), Luyang dilaw/Turmeric (Curcuma) and coconut oil (Cocos), Tanglad/Lemon Grass (Andropogon), Pandan (Pandanus), Kamote leaves (Ipomea).
GALLSTONE FLUSH (or Liver Flush)
So many friends of mine have been asking me for this famous recipe which can aid in getting rid of stones in your gall bladder. I will post this here for easy reference as sometimes it takes time for me to search through my hard drive.
I paid a fortune some years back just to have this exact cleansing program.
INGREDIENTS:
4 TABLESPOON – EPSOM SALT
½ CUP LIGHT OLIVE OIL
1 LARGE OR 2 SMALL PINK GRAPEFRUIT, ENOUGH TO SQUEEZE 2/3 CUP JUICE. WASH TWICE WITH HOT WATER.
CHOOSE A DAY LIKE SATURDAY FOR THE CLEANSE SO THAT YOU CAN REST THE NEXT DAY.
Take no medicines, vitamins or pills that you can do without; they could prevent success. Stop the parasite program and kidney herbs, too, the day before.
Eat a no-fat breakfast and lunch such as cooked cereal, fruit, fruit juice, bread and preserves or honey (no butter or milk). This allows the bile to build up and develop pressure in the liver. Higher pressure pushes out more stones.
2:00 P.M. Do not eat or drink after 2 o’clock. If you break this rule you could feel quite ill later.
Get the Epsom salts ready. Mix 4 tbsp in 3 cups water and pour this into a jar. This makes four servings, ¾ cup each. Set the jar in the refrigerator to get ice cold (this is for convenience and taste only).
6:00 P.M. Drink one serving (3/4 cup) of the ice cold Epsom Salts. If you do not prepare this ahead of time, mix 1 tbsp in ¾ cup water now. You may add 1/8 tsp vitamin C powder to improve the taste. You may also drink a few mouthfuls of water afterwards or rinse your mouth. Get the olive oil (ozonated, if possible) and grapefruit out to warm up.
8:00 P.M. Repeat by drinking another ¾ cup of ?Epsom salts. You haven’t eaten since two o’clock but you won’t feel hungry. Get your bedtime chores done. The timing is critical for success.
9:45 P.M. Pour ½ cup (measured) olive oil into the pint jar. Wash grapefruit twice in hot water and dry; squeeze by hand into the measuring cup. Remove pulp with fork. You should have at least ½ cup, more (up to ¾ cup) is best. You may use part lemonade. Add this to the olive oil. Close the jar tightly with the lid and shake hard until watery (only fresh grapefruit juice does this). Now visit the bathroom one or more times, even if it makes you late for your ten o’clock drink. Don’t be more than 15 minutes late. You will get fewer stones.
10:00 P.M. Drink the potion you have mixed. Drinking through a large plastic straw helps it go down easier. You may use oil and vinegar salad dressing, or straight honey to chase it down between sips. Have these ready in a tablespoon on the kitchen counter. Take it all to your bedside if you want, but drink it standing up. Get it down within 5 minutes (fifteen minutes for very elderly or weak persons).
Lie down immediately. You might fail to get stones out if you don’t, the sooner you lie down the more stones you will get out. Be ready for bed ahead of time. Don’t clean up the kitchen. As soon as the drink is down walk to your bed and lie down flat on your back with your head up high on the pillow. Try to think about what is happening in the liver. Try to keep perfectly still for at least 20 minutes. You may feel a train of stones traveling along the bile ducts like marbles. There is no pain because the bile duct valves are open (thank you Epsom salts!) Go to sleep, you may fail to get stones out if you don’t.
Next morning. Upon awakening take your third dose of Epsom salts. If you have indigestion or nausea wait until it is gone before drinking the Epsom salts. You may go back to bed. Don’t take this potion before 6:00 am.
2 hours later. Take your fourth (the last) dose of Epsom salts. You may go back to bed again.
After 2 more hours you may eat. Start with fruit juice. Half an hour later eat fruit. One hour later you may eat regular food but keep it light. By supper you should feel recovered.
How well did you do? Expect diarrhea in the morning. Use a flashlight to look for gallstone in the toilet with the bowel movement. Look for the green kind since this is proof that they are genuine gallstones, not food residue. Only bile from the liver is pea green. The bowel movements sinks but the gallstones float because of the cholesterol inside. Count them thoroughly, whether tan or green. You will need to total 2000 stones before the liver is clean enough to rid you of allergies or bursitis or upper back pains permanently. The first cleanse may rid you of them for a few days, but as the stones from the rear travel forward, they give you the same symptoms again. You may repeat cleanses at two week intervals. Never cleanse when you are ill.
Sometimes the bile ducts are full of cholesterol crystals that did not form into round stones. They appear as a “chaff” floating on top of the toilet bowl after. It may be tan colored, harboring millions of tiny white crystals. Cleansing this chaff is just as important as purging stones.
How safe is this program? It is very safe. My opinion (Dr H. Clark) is based on over 500 cases, including many persons in their seventies and eighties. None went to the hospital; none ever reported pain. However it can make you feel quite ill for one or two days afterwards, although in every one of these cases the maintenance parasite program had been neglected.
Originally written August 10, 2009
How to bring down your sugar drastically using natural methods (a personal experience)
Last month, since I had an appointment in Marikina I went in to see Jaime Dy-Liacco in his residence, finally!
I live in paranaque down south so up north is quite far. However I see him when I attend seminars of PCAM and that is where I usually request him to check on me. I know for a fact that he has a long list of clients, counting months in his appointment book so I actually just took my chance.
I get my supply of minerals from him for my diabetes via a messenger so this time I wanted to be the one to get it myself and see if the good healer can check on me.
I sent him a my handwritten list of ailments as his assistant requested some months back. He read it and did a muscle test. He said my sugar is way up at 240! I was not able to monitor my sugar for two weeks. I ran out of funds to buy the test strips.
He then told me to take these:
His helper brought me 3 pcs of red pepper, one raw saging na saba, rock salt and three glasses of water (mineral) to bring my sugar down.
Oh boy the pepper was really hot! I had to take salt for every three glasses of water so as not to dehydrate me (otherwise I will just urinate all of them). The banana will provide potassium which one loses each time he or she urinates.
I had to get two more glasses of water in the kitchen as my tongue was on ‘fire’. The doctor told me not to worry, my tongue wont feel the scorching heat in five mins.
After around 15 mins, he muscle tested me again and my sugar went down to 78!
I also told him I used to take the raw pig pancreas to bring down my sugar but noticed I got dizzy so stopped it. He muscle tested me again and said I got dizzy not because of the pancreas but because I was dehydrated and my blood pressure was low. High blood pressure will make your head ache but low blood pressure may make you dizzy. He warned me about dehydration and to make sure I take 15 glasses of mineral water a day with rock salt.
I never had to take any insulin or prescription drugs for diabetes. I was able to control my sugar except during my recent stressful period. I just needed to share this knowledge hoping it will help other diabetics who are still hooked on prescription drugs.
Originally written June 30, 2009
I live in paranaque down south so up north is quite far. However I see him when I attend seminars of PCAM and that is where I usually request him to check on me. I know for a fact that he has a long list of clients, counting months in his appointment book so I actually just took my chance.
I get my supply of minerals from him for my diabetes via a messenger so this time I wanted to be the one to get it myself and see if the good healer can check on me.
I sent him a my handwritten list of ailments as his assistant requested some months back. He read it and did a muscle test. He said my sugar is way up at 240! I was not able to monitor my sugar for two weeks. I ran out of funds to buy the test strips.
He then told me to take these:
His helper brought me 3 pcs of red pepper, one raw saging na saba, rock salt and three glasses of water (mineral) to bring my sugar down.
Oh boy the pepper was really hot! I had to take salt for every three glasses of water so as not to dehydrate me (otherwise I will just urinate all of them). The banana will provide potassium which one loses each time he or she urinates.
I had to get two more glasses of water in the kitchen as my tongue was on ‘fire’. The doctor told me not to worry, my tongue wont feel the scorching heat in five mins.
After around 15 mins, he muscle tested me again and my sugar went down to 78!
I also told him I used to take the raw pig pancreas to bring down my sugar but noticed I got dizzy so stopped it. He muscle tested me again and said I got dizzy not because of the pancreas but because I was dehydrated and my blood pressure was low. High blood pressure will make your head ache but low blood pressure may make you dizzy. He warned me about dehydration and to make sure I take 15 glasses of mineral water a day with rock salt.
I never had to take any insulin or prescription drugs for diabetes. I was able to control my sugar except during my recent stressful period. I just needed to share this knowledge hoping it will help other diabetics who are still hooked on prescription drugs.
Originally written June 30, 2009
Hi1 N1 virus: It’s not as bad as it is reported
All you see all over thew news are the so called growing number of people affected by the H1 N1 virus. WHO has raised the alert to an alarming level.
However I would like to present another side of this. Related to my previous postquoting Dr. Mercola’s analysis. I would like to again, quote his recent analysis to provide another perspective and a more positive one.
On June 11 the World Health Organization (WHO) warned 194 member nations to expect up to 1/3 of the population to be infected with the swine flu. However they also reinforced that this is a mild illness in the majority of cases.
The KEY here is to recognize that absolutely nothing has changed from when I first posted my major update on Swine Flu on April 29 that has now been viewed over one million times.
This promotion to Stage Six is still fear mongering, plain and simple. While it certainly qualifies for a pandemic in the strict definition of the term, they are using that term to instill fear in the population.
All a pandemic implies is that the infection is spread across the world.
It is important to note that even the fear spreading WHO is still stating the disease is mild, and the latest stats support this. As of June 12 only 145 deaths have occurred in the entire world. Mexico has the majority of the deaths at 108 and the US has had 27 deaths.
While any death is tragic, let me put these numbers in perspective for you. If you believe the CDC, 35,000 people die every year in the U.S. alone from the regular flu. That means that in the last six weeks when 27 people died from wine flu, there were over FOUR THOUSAND people who died from the regular flu. That is 150 times as many people dying from regular flu as swine flu.
Time magazine adds to the fear mongering by stating that:
“The last pandemic — the Hong Kong flu of 1968 — killed about 1 million people. Ordinary flu kills about 250,000 to 500,000 people each year.”
If you use those numbers, the statistics for the swine flu are even worse.
Let’s assume the midpoint of 375,000 people die every year from ORDINARY flu. That means that 43,000 people have died from ordinary flu in the last six weeks and only 145 from swine flu. So nearly 300 times more people died from ordinary flu than swine flu, further confirming that swine flu is a relatively MILD disease for the vast majority of people.
The WHO announcement is simply more of the same. NOTHING has changed.
It is no surprise that more people have died or will continue to die. The major point is that this is a mild illness that will have virtually no major impact on death rates. It is not the Flu Pandemic of 1918 that killed 20 million people worldwide.
Originally written June 15, 2009
How to Protect Yourself Without Dangerous Drugs and Vaccinations
Again, I am quoting the article below from Dr. Mercola. I chose to separate this post from the previous one since I want us all to focus on preventing this so called pandemic flu. It is really simple and you will not need a vaccine for this.
For now, my point is that there are always going to be threats of flu pandemics, real or created, and there will always be potentially toxic vaccines that are peddled as the solution. But you can break free of that whole drug-solution trap by following some natural health principles.
I have not caught a flu in over two decades, and you can avoid it too, without getting vaccinated, by following these simple guidelines, which will keep your immune system in optimal working order so that you’re far less likely to acquire the infection to begin with.
Optimize your vitamin D levels. As I’ve previously reported, optimizing your vitamin D levels is one of the absolute best strategies for avoiding infections of ALL kinds, and vitamin D deficiency is likely the TRUE culprit behind the seasonality of the flu — not the flu virus itself.
This is probably the single most important and least expensive action you can take. I would STRONGLY urge you to have your vitamin D level monitored to confirm your levels are therapeutic at 50-70 ng.ml and done by a reliable vitamin D lab like Lab Corp.
For those of you in the US we hope to launch a vitamin D testing service through Lab Corp that allows you to have your vitamin D levels checked at your local blood drawing facility, and relatively inexpensively. We hope to offer this service by June 2009.
If you are coming down with flu like symptoms and have not been on vitamin D you can take doses of 50,000 units a day for three days to treat the acute infection. Some researchers like Dr. Cannell, believe the dose could even be as high as 1000 units per pound of body weight for three days.
However, most of Dr. Cannell’s work was with seasonal and not pandemic flu. If your body has never been exposed to the antigens there is chance that the vitamin D might not work. However the best bet is to maintain healthy levels of vitamin D around 60 ng/ml.
BUT to keep this in perspective the regular flu, not the swine flu, has killed 13,000 in the US since January. But there is strong support that these types of figures are grossly exaggerated to increase vaccine sales. However, the fact remains that the regular flu at this point in time is FAR more dangerous than the swine flu and were you worried about the regular flu before the media started talking this up?
Avoid Sugar and Processed Foods. Sugar decreases the function of your immune system almost immediately, and as you likely know, a strong immune system is key to fighting off viruses and other illness. Be aware that sugar is present in foods you may not suspect, like ketchup and fruit juice.
Get Enough Rest. Just like it becomes harder for you to get your daily tasks done if you’re tired, if your body is overly fatigued it will be harder for it to fight the flu. Be sure to check out my article Guide to a Good Night’s Sleep for some great tips to help you get quality rest.
Have Effective Tools to Address Stress . We all face some stress every day, but if stress becomes overwhelming then your body will be less able to fight off the flu and other illness.
If you feel that stress is taking a toll on your health, consider using an energy psychology tool such as the Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT), which is remarkably effective in relieving stress associated with all kinds of events, from work to family to trauma. You can check out my free, 25-page EFT manual for some guidelines on how to perform EFT.
Exercise. When you exercise, you increase your circulation and your blood flow throughout your body. The components of your immune system are also better circulated, which means your immune system has a better chance of finding an illness before it spreads. You can review my exercise guidelines for some great tips on how to get started.
Take a good source of animal based omega-3 fats like Krill Oil. Increase your intake of healthy and essential fats like the omega-3 found in krill oil, which is crucial for maintaining health. It is also vitally important to avoid damaged omega-6 oils that are trans fats and in processed foods as it will seriously damage your immune response.
Wash Your Hands. Washing your hands will decrease your likelihood of spreading a virus to your nose, mouth or other people. Be sure you don’t use antibacterial soap for this — antibacterial soaps are completely unnecessary, and they cause far more harm than good. Instead, identify a simple chemical-free soap that you can switch your family to.
Eat Garlic Regularly. Garlic works like a broad-spectrum antibiotic against bacteria, virus, and protozoa in the body. And unlike with antibiotics, no resistance can be built up so it is an absolutely safe product to use. However, if you are allergic or don’t enjoy garlic it would be best to avoid as it will likely cause more harm than good.
Avoid Hospitals and Vaccines In this particular case, I’d also recommend you stay away from hospitals unless you’re having an emergency, as hospitals are prime breeding grounds for infections of all kinds, and could be one of the likeliest places you could be exposed to this new bug. Vaccines will not be available for six months at the minimum but when available they will be ineffective and can lead to crippling paralysis like Guillain-Barré Syndrome just as it did in the 70s.
Originally written May 1, 2009
The Swine Flu Pandemic – Fact or Fiction?
I would like to reproduce some parts of Dr. Mercola’s timely article regarding the Swine Flu pandemic which is gripping many countries right now.
It is a very long one and you will find the full length article here but I chose to just focus on two main parts which I am quoting below.
As a natural wellness practitioner, I am concerned at how many people are in a panic to buy flu shots “just in case…” and the morning news reported that the drug stores are now out of stock of this so called precious vaccine. Who benefits? Read on….
Why a True Bird- or Swine Flu Pandemic is HIGHLY Unlikely
While in my opinion it is highly likely factory farming is responsible for producing this viral strain, I believe there is still no cause for concern.
You may not know this, but all H1N1 flu’s are descendants of the 1918 pandemic strain. The reason why the flu shot may or may not work, however, from year to year, is due to mutations. Therefore, there’s no vaccine available for this current hybrid flu strain, and naturally, this is feeding the fear that millions of people will die before a vaccine can be made.
However, let me remind you of one very important fact here.
Just a couple of months ago, scientists concluded that the 1918 flu pandemic that killed between 50-100 million people worldwide in a matter of 18 months — which all these worst case scenarios are built upon — was NOT due to the flu itself!4
Instead, they discovered the real culprit was strep infections.
People with influenza often get what is known as a “superinfection” with a bacterial agent. In 1918 it appears to have been Streptococcus pneumoniae.
Since strep is much easier to treat than the flu using modern medicine, a new pandemic would likely be much less dire than it was in the early 20th century, the researchers concluded.
Others, such as evolutionary biologist Paul Ewald,5 claim that a pandemic of this sort simply cannot happen, because in order for it to occur, the world has to change. Not the virus itself, but the world.
In a previous interview for Esquire magazine, in which he discusses the possibility of a bird flu pandemic, he states:
“They think that if a virus mutates, it’s an evolutionary event. Well, the virus is mutating because that is what viruses and other pathogens do. But evolution is not just random mutation. It is random mutation coupled with natural selection; it is a battle for competitive advantage among different strains generated by random mutation.
For bird flu to evolve into a human pandemic, the strain that finds a home in humanity has to be a strain that is both highly virulent and highly transmissible. Deadliness has to translate somehow into popularity; H5N1 has to find a way to kill or immobilize its human hosts, and still find other hosts to infect. Usually that doesn’t happen.”
Ewald goes on to explain that evolution in general is all about trade-offs, and in the evolution of infections the trade-off is between virulence and transmissibility.
What this means is that in order for a “bird flu” or “swine flu” to turn into a human pandemic, it has to find an environment that favors both deadly virulence and ease of transmission.
People living in squalor on the Western Front at the end of World War I generated such an environment, from which the epidemic of 1918 could arise.
Likewise, crowded chicken farms, slaughterhouses, and jam-packed markets of eastern Asia provide another such environment, and that environment gave rise to the bird flu — a pathogen that both kills and spreads, in birds, but not in humans.
Says Ewald:
“We know that H5N1 is well adapted to birds. We also know that it has a hard time becoming a virus that can move from person to person. It has a hard time without our doing anything. But we can make it harder. We can make sure it has no human population in which to evolve transmissibility. There is no need to rely on the mass extermination of chickens. There is no need to stockpile vaccines for everyone.
By vaccinating just the people most at risk — the people who work with chickens and the caregivers — we can prevent it from becoming transmissible among humans. Then it doesn’t matter what it does in chickens.”
Please remember that, despite the fantastic headlines and projections of MILLIONS of deaths, the H5N1 bird flu virus killed a mere 257 people worldwide since late 2003. As unfortunate as those deaths are, 257 deaths worldwide from any disease, over the course of five years, simply does not constitute an emergency worthy of much attention, let alone fear!
Honestly, your risk of being killed by a lightning strike in the last five years was about 2,300 percent higher than your risk of contracting and dying from the bird flu.6 I’m not kidding! In just one year (2004), more than 1,170 people died from lighting strikes, worldwide.7
So please, as the numbers of confirmed swine flu cases are released, keep a level head and don’t let fear run away with your brains.
Where Strain Come From?e did This Mysterious New Animal-Human Flu Strain Come From?
Alongside the fear-mongering headlines, I’ve also seen increasing numbers of reports questioning the true nature of this virus. And rightfully so.
Could a mixed animal-human mutant like this occur naturally? And if not, who made it, and how was it released?
Not one to dabble too deep in conspiracy theories, I don’t have to strain very hard to find actual facts to support the notion that this may not be a natural mutation, and that those who stand to gain have the wherewithal to pull off such a stunt.
Just last month I reported on the story that the American pharmaceutical company Baxter was under investigation for distributing the deadly avian flu virus to 18 different countries as part of a seasonal flu vaccine shipment. Czech reporters were probing to see if it may have been part of a deliberate attempt to start a pandemic; as such a “mistake” would be virtually impossible under the security protocols of that virus.
The H5N1 virus on its own is not very airborne. However, when combined with seasonal flu viruses, which are more easily spread, the effect could be a potent, airborne, deadly, biological weapon. If this batch of live bird flu and seasonal flu viruses had reached the public, it could have resulted in dire consequences.
There is a name for this mixing of viruses; it’s called “reassortment,” and it is one of two ways pandemic viruses are created in the lab. Some scientists say the most recent global outbreak — the 1977 Russian flu — was started by a virus created and leaked from a laboratory.
Another example of the less sterling integrity of Big Pharma is the case of Bayer, who sold millions of dollars worth of an injectable blood-clotting medicine to Asian, Latin American, and some European countries in the mid-1980s, even though they knew it was tainted with the AIDS virus.
So while it is morally unthinkable that a drug company would knowingly contaminate flu vaccines with a deadly flu virus such as the bird- or swine flu, it is certainly not impossible. It has already happened more than once.
But there seems to be no repercussions or hard feelings when industry oversteps the boundaries of morality and integrity and enters the arena of obscenity. Because, lo and behold, which company has been chosen to head up efforts, along with WHO, to produce a vaccine against the Mexican swine flu?
Baxter! Despite the fact that ink has barely dried on the investigative reports from their should-be-criminal “mistake” against humanity.
According to other sources, a top scientist for the United Nations, who has examined the outbreak of the deadly Ebola virus in Africa, as well as HIV/AIDS victims, has concluded that the current swine flu virus possesses certain transmission “vectors” that suggest the new strain has been genetically-manufactured as a military biological warfare weapon.
The UN expert believes that Ebola, HIV/AIDS, and the current A-H1N1 swine flu virus are biological warfare agents.
In addition, Army criminal investigators are looking into the possibility that disease samples are missing from biolabs at Fort Detrick — the same Army research lab from which the 2001 anthrax strain was released, according to a recent article in the Fredrick News Post.13 In February, the top biodefense lab halted all its research into Ebola, anthrax, plague, and other diseases known as “select agents,” after they discovered virus samples that weren’t listed in its inventory and might have been switched with something else.
Read rest of the article here.
Originally written May 1, 2009
Secrets about Bleached Flour you need to know
I’m diabetic and my cousin and I noticed by blood sugar rises whenever I eat pasta. My cousin who is also my doctor told me wheat increases blood sugar.
I just read an article of Dr. Mercola which explains some ills of the commercial flour which I want to share with my readers.
Nearly everyone knows that white flour is not healthy for you, but most people don’t know that when white flour is bleached, it can actually be FAR worse for you.
It’s generally understood that refining food destroys nutrients. With the most nutritious part of the grain removed, white flour essentially becomes a form of sugar. Consider what gets lost in the refining process:
- Half of the beneficial unsaturated fatty acids
- Virtually all of the vitamin E
- Fifty percent of the calcium
- Seventy percent of the phosphorus
- Eighty percent of the iron
- Ninety eight percent of the magnesium
- Fifty to 80 percent of the B vitamins
And many more nutrients are destroyed — simply too many to list.
The Journey of the Wheat Berry
Have you ever wondered how white flour is made?
The website Healthy Eating Politics has an interesting article about the process.
Most commercial wheat production is, unfortunately, a “study in pesticide application,” beginning with the seeds being treated with fungicide. Once they become wheat, they are sprayed with hormones and pesticides. Even the bins in which the harvested wheat is stored have been coated with insecticides. If bugs appear on the wheat in storage, they fumigate the grain.
A whole grain of wheat, sometimes called a wheat berry, is composed of three layers:
- The bran
- The germ
- The endosperm
The bran is the layer where you’ll find most of the fiber, and it’s the hard outer shell of the kernel. The germ is the nutrient-rich embryo that will sprout into a new wheat plant. The endosperm is the largest part of the grain (83 percent), making up most of the kernel, and it’s mostly starch.
White flour is made from the endosperm only, whereas whole-wheat flour combines all three parts of the wheat berry.
Old time mills ground flour slowly, but today’s mills are designed for mass-production, using high-temperature, high-speed steel rollers. The resulting white flour is nearly all starch, and even much of today’s commercially processed whole wheat flour has lost a fair amount of nutritional value due to these aggressive processing methods.
White flour contains a small fraction of the nutrients of the original grain, with the heat of the steel rollers having destroyed what little nutrients remain. But then it is hit with another chemical insult–a chlorine gas bath (chlorine oxide). This serves as a whitener, as well as an “aging” agent.
Flour used to be aged with time, improving the gluten and thus improving the baking quality. Now, it is treated with chlorine to instantly produce similar qualities in the flour (with a disturbing lack of concern about adding another dose of chemicals to your food).
According to Jim Bair, Vice President of the North American Millers Association:
“Today, the US milling industry produces about 140 million pounds of flour each day, so there is no way to store the flour to allow it to age naturally. Plus, there is a shelf life issue.”
It has not been determined how many mills are bleaching flour with chorine oxide, but we do know the use of chlorides for bleaching flour is considered an industry standard.
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) defines chlorine gas as a flour-bleaching, aging and oxidizing agent that is a powerful irritant, dangerous to inhale, and lethal. Other agents also used include oxides of nitrogen, nitrosyl, and benzoyl peroxide mixed with various chemical salts.
The chlorine gas undergoes an oxidizing chemical reaction with some of the proteins in the flour, producing alloxan as an unintended byproduct. Bair and other milling industry leaders claim that bleaching and oxidizing agents don’t leave behind harmful residues in flour, although they can cite no studies or published data to confirm this.
Why Bleaching Makes White Flour Even Worse
It has been shown that alloxan is a byproduct of the flour bleaching process, the process they use to make flour look so “clean” and — well, white. No, they are technically not adding alloxan to the flour — although you will read this bit of misinformation on the Internet. But, they are doing chemical treatments to the grain that result in the formation of alloxan in the flour.
With so little food value already in a piece of white bread, now there is potentially a chemical poison lurking in there as well.
So what is so bad about alloxan?
Alloxan, or C4 H2O4N2, is a product of the decomposition of uric acid. It is a poison that is used to produce diabetes in healthy experimental animals (primarily rats and mice), so that researchers can then study diabetes “treatments” in the lab. Alloxan causes diabetes because it spins up enormous amounts of free radicals in pancreatic beta cells, thus destroying them.
Beta cells are the primary cell type in areas of your pancreas called islets of Langerhans, and they produce insulin; so if those are destroyed, you get diabetes.
There is no other commercial application for alloxan — it is used exclusively in the medical research industry because it is so highly toxic.
Given the raging epidemic of diabetes and other chronic diseases in this country, can you afford to be complacent about a toxin such as this in your bread, even if it is present in small amounts?
Just How Much is Too Much?
Similar to disinfection byproducts (DBPs) in water, alloxan is formed when the chlorine reacts with certain proteins remaining in the white flour after the bran and germ have been removed. Protein makes up between 5 percent and 15 percent of white flour, depending on whether it’s cake flour, or high-gluten flour, such as what’s used for pizza crust or bagels.
So, this would suggest that perhaps 5 to 15 grams of protein per 100 grams of flour could be contaminated.
However, according to Professor Joe Schwarcz, Director of the McGill University Office of Science and Society, alloxan is the byproduct of xantophyll oxidation only. Xantophylls are yellow compounds in wheat that react with oxygen, causing flour to turn white.
According to Mr. Schwarcz:
“One of the possible minor side products of xantophyll oxidation is alloxan. It may therefore be found in small amounts in flour. There is no available research that shows trace amounts are a problem or that alloxan builds up in the body. The amounts, if present at all, must be small because xantophylls themselves only occur to the extent of 1 microgram per gram of flour.”
Alloxan has not been studied in terms of human exposure, particularly long-term. There is just so much we don’t know, and you know what assumptions will get you.
Alloxan in Rats vs Alloxan in Humans
Scientists have long known that alloxan produces selective destruction of the beta cells of the pancreas, causing hyperglycemia and ketoacidosis in laboratory animals. Alloxan is structurally similar to glucose, which might explain why the pancreatic beta cells selectively take it up.
According to Dr. Hari Sharma’s Freedom from Disease, alloxan causes free radical damage to DNA in the beta cells of the pancreas, causing them to malfunction and die. When they fail to function normally, they no longer produce enough insulin.
Even though the toxic effect of alloxan is common scientific knowledge in the research community, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) still allows companies to use chemical processes in which the end result is toxic food. Until they unequivocally prove something is toxic by way of human deaths, severe side effects, or when the public screams loudly enough, the FDA is not likely to protect you.
Until then, it is you who must protect yourself.
If you have diabetes, or cancer, have a compromised immune system, or if you are in some other high-risk category as tens of millions of North Americans are, you need to know what foods contain hazardous ingredients so you can avoid them. But in the case of alloxan, there is no way to know, either by reading the ingredient list or by any other means, that it might be in your food!
History of Bleaching Flour — Pillsbury and the FDA
An interesting sideline to this whole flour story lies in the origins of the FDA.
Bleaching and oxidizing agents weren’t developed to produce quick aging of wheat flour (within 48 hours) until the early 1900s. Prior to that, it required several months for oxygen to condition flour naturally.
When bleaching was introduced, it was vehemently opposed.
The first major consumer advocate was Harvey W. Wiley, MD, who eventually became known as the “Father of the Pure Food and Drugs Act” of 1906. Mr. Wiley was head of the Bureau of Chemistry, which was the precursor to the FDA. Wiley crusaded against benzoic acid, sulfites, saccharin, and bleached flour, among other food additives and adulterants.
Dr. Wiley felt so strongly about preventing the bleaching of flour that he took it all the way to the Supreme Court. They ruled that flour could not be bleached or “adulterated” in any way. However, it was never enforced.
Wiley believed that foods posed a greater risk to the public than adulterated or misbranded drugs. He constantly butted heads with Secretary of Agriculture James Wilson and President Roosevelt over food regulation.
Soon, Wiley’s personal administrative authority was undercut when Wilson created the Board of Food and Drug Inspection in 1907 and the Referee Board of Consulting Scientific Experts in 1908, one of which was reportedly headed by someone who had been working at Pillsbury, although I have not been able to verify this addendum.
Finally, in 1912, Dr. Wiley quit as director out of frustration, although he continued as a vocal consumer advocate for many years.
The government replaced Dr. Wiley with Dr. Elmer Nelson. Dr. Nelson was the polar opposite to Wiley , and was quoted as saying:
”It is wholly unscientific to state that a well-fed body is more able to resist disease than a poorly fed body. My overall opinion is that there hasn’t been enough experimentation to prove that dietary deficiencies make one susceptible to disease.”
Therein lies the foundation of the FDA. Since Dr. Wiley resigned, the FDA has continued to shift its focus on drugs, since Wiley was never able to convince the government of the dangers from chemicals in our foods. He was truly a pioneer and a century ahead of his time!
Food For Thought
The important point to take away is, beware of any processed food because chemicals are always used. And we simply don’t know what the long-term effects will be of ingesting chemicals, on top of chemicals, on top of more chemicals.
Strive to stick to whole unprocessed foods that are as close to their natural state as possible. If you’re going to eat grains, make sure they are at the least unbleached, whole, and organic, and eat them in the proportion that is best for your nutritional type.
Originally written March 25, 2009
Arsenic in Water Linked to Diabetes
A new report seem to link arsenic in water to Type 2 Diabetes. Sounds absurd but various tests were conducted which led to this conclusion. Salient points in the article are as follows:
- A new analysis of government data is the first to link low-level arsenic exposure, possibly from drinking water, with Type 2 diabetes, researchers say. The study’s limitations make more research necessary. And public water systems were on their way to meeting tougher U.S. arsenic standards as the data were collected.
- Seafood also contains nontoxic organic arsenic. The researchers adjusted their analysis for signs of seafood intake and found that people with Type 2 diabetes had 26 percent higher inorganic arsenic levels than people without Type 2 diabetes.
- Arsenic can get into drinking water naturally when minerals dissolve. It is also an industrial pollutant from coal burning and copper smelting. Utilities use filtration systems to get it out of drinking water.
Also, the findings raise a chicken-and-egg problem, she said, since it’s unknown whether diabetes changes the way people metabolize arsenic. It’s possible that people with diabetes excrete more arsenic.
Originally written February 12, 2009
Nano Ink ‘Tattoo’ Could Monitor Diabetes
Discovery News just came out with an article about a new type of ink tattoo which can monitor sugar levels of diabetics. This is less painful than the usual blood glucose test used. Read more about it here.
Another report describes the process as having a sensor that would be injected into the skin’s surface layers — actually shallower than tattoo ink. A fluorescence monitor, resembling an optical mouse, would then be used to measure the light emitted by the tattoo.
Aside from monitoring glucose, there are possible applications to monitor sodium levels, which can measure hydration. This would most likely lead to the tattoo becoming a mandatory style for club-going ecstasy users.
Originally written February 12, 2009
What is the best alternative to sugar?
What is the safest artificial sweetener? For diabetics like me this is a constant concern as many studies are coming out on the harmful effects of some of them starting from aspartame. I stumbled upon this very informative video which helped me determine which product to use.
Originally written February 12, 2009
Originally written February 12, 2009
Harmful effects of Splenda
My Ayurvedda doctor does not allow us to use Splenda. He says it is not good for our body. He would rather the diabetics use Mozcovado rather than this artificial sweetner.
Various materials that I have read endorse Stevia rather than the more popular Splenda. Equal and other aspartame brands have been reported as extremely harmful for humans.
Recently, I read in the website of Dr. Mercola that current studies show that Splenda reduced the amount of good bacteria in the intestines by 50 percent, increased the pH level in the intestines, contributed to increases in body weight and affected P-glycoprotein (P-gp) levels in such a way that crucial health-related drugs could be rejected.
The P-gp effect could result in medications used in chemotherapy, AIDS treatment and treatments for heart conditions being shunted back into the intestines, rather than being absorbed by the body.
Originally written February 12, 2009
14 Health Foods That Aren’t
A friend shared this article in facebook which I found interesting specially now that I have to choose what I eat. I do agree with what was written below. I was told not to eat white rice and instead stick to organic brown rice. Sometimes however when I have to eat out due to some business meetings, I notice that if I eat pasta my blood sugar rises. Brown rice never spikes my blood sugar.
Last night at a coffee shop I was looking for a sugar free pastry. The only thing available was guiltless chocolate. It looked rich so I looked for something else. The staff recommended the bran muffin but I asked him to check the ingredient. True enough there was sugar and from the article below boy it was rich!
14 Health Foods That Aren’t
By David Zinczenko and Matt Goulding
If your weight-loss regimen consists of giving up pizza and burgers in favor of flaxseeds and rice cakes, it’s time to reconsider your strategy.
In the book, Eat This, Not That! Supermarket Survival Guide, co-authors David Zinczenko and Matt Goulding insist you don’t ever have to diet again. You can eat all of your favorite foods and still drop 10, 20, 30 pounds in just a few months.
To do so, though, you’ll need to learn the sneaky tricks the food industry employs to sabotage your waistline. The biggest hurdle to your weight-loss efforts isn’t the industrial-strength calorie bombs lurking in supermarkets and restaurants the country over (though be sure to brush up on the Worst Restaurant Foods and Worst Supermarket Foods in America, just to be safe), but rather, the flood of lackluster packaged and prepared foods masquerading as healthy eats. With the food industry spending $30 billion a year to peddle their most dubious products, it’s no wonder we’ve confused some of the most calorie-riddled, fat-laden products in America for truly nutritious food. To help you slim down this year, the Eat This, Not That! guys have identified the 14 most punishing health ruses and suggest delicious alternatives that will keep you satisfied and give you all the purported nutritional benefits that many of our most beloved foods sadly do not. Read on to discover a new, smarter game plan!
1. Bran muffin
# 420 calories
# 20 g fat
Eat this instead: Ham, egg and cheese on an English muffin
# 300 calories
# 12 g fat
Bran muffins are comprised of two things your body doesn’t want in the morning: sugar and refined flour. Both will work to spike your blood sugar, which signals your body to start storing fat and sets you up for a mid-morning crash. And with only trace amounts of fiber, there’s nothing healthy about this misunderstood muffin. The breakfast sandwich, on the
other hand, is a surprisingly great way to start your day. Besides having fewer calories, fat, and carbs, it also offers about 20 grams of protein, which we really need in the morning to jumpstart our metabolism.
2. Chicken Caesar salad (dinner-size portion)
# 900 calories
# 60 g fat
Eat this instead: Grilled chicken on mixed greens
# 400 calories
# 20 g fat
Caesar salads suffer the consequences of two natural disasters: a flood of fatty dressing and a blizzard of Parmesan cheese and croutons. Even a Caesar side salad before a meal can cost you up to 500 calories. Skip the emperor treatment in favor of a simple grilled chicken breast tossed in a bed of mixed greens tossed with a balsamic vinaigrette. The vinaigrette is a vast improvement over the treacherous Caesar dressing, and the absence of a Parmesan sea means that you’ll save nearly entire meal’s worth of calories by making this simple swap.
3. Tuna melt
# 900 calories
# 50 g fat
Eat this instead: Roast beef or ham sandwich
# 500 calories
# 15 g fat
Plain tuna out of the can is healthy; tuna doused in mayo, shrouded in melted cheese, and slicked with another layer of dressing is not. Both ham and roast beef are packed with protein and are super-satisfying and surprisingly lean, which means you can eat the same size sandwich and save 400 calories and 35 grams of fat.
4. Chicken wrap
# 700 calories
# 35 g fat
Eat this instead: Grilled chicken sandwich
# 375 calories
# 15 g fat
The wrap itself is the real offender here, dense with fast-burning carbs and containing up to 400 calories. It’s a tortilla shell pumped with a bunch of modified starch and fat. Plus the huge surface area means more room to slather dressing and pack in more cheese and meat than your typical sandwich. Definitely not a health food. A grilled chicken sandwich on a bun offers a great balance of fat, carbs, and protein, plus having a bun instead of a huge tortilla provides some much-need portion control. Bonus: Nix the mayo in favor of barbecue sauce or salsa (which is the ultimate fat-free, low-cal condiment).
5. Turkey burger
# 850 calories
# 50 g fat
Eat this instead: 7 oz sirloin steak
# 350 calories
# 20 g fat
People hear turkey and automatically think lean and healthy, but depending on the type of ground turkey and toppings used, one of these poultry patties can be every bit as fatty and caloric as a beef burger. Sirloin, on the other hand, is one of the leanest cuts of meat available, which makes for an incredibly satisfying, protein-enriched meal that will keep you feeling fuller, longer. Who wouldn’t want to make this swap?
6. Fruit smoothies
# 600 calories
# 120 g sugars
Drink this instead: 100 percent fruit smoothie
# 350 calories
# 75 g sugars
Many fruit smoothies contain added sugars and high-fructose corn syrup, which means they’re more milkshake than smoothie. The key here really is in the name: A 100 percent fruit smoothie made with plain yogurt instead of ice cream or sherbet will contain nearly half the calories and significantly less sugar, plus it will provide all of the vitamin and
antioxidant capacity that a smoothie is supposed to have.
7. Granola bar
# 200 calories
# 15 g sugars
Eat this instead: 1 oz cheddar cheese with Triscuits
# 150 calories
# 5 g sugars
Ever wonder what keeps a granola bar together? The makers of one of America’s favorite (and
most misunderstood) snacks use mostly high-fructose corn syrup as their glue, which in turn quickly raises blood sugar and cancels out any of the potential benefits you might otherwise
get from the oats. By switching over to good old-fashioned cheese and crackers, you swap out sugar and calories for protein and fiber. Talk about a great deal!
8. Pasta salad
# 300 calories
# 20 g fat
Eat this instead: Egg salad
# 200 calories
# 14 g fat
When the main ingredient for a snack or a side is pasta, you’re asking for trouble. That’s because pasta is made from highly-refined flour, which means quick-burning carbs and a huge spike in blood sugar. Not only does it save you a hundred calories, but the egg salad replaces those troublesome carbs with healthy protein, which helps fill your belly faster and keeps your metabolic fires effectively stoked.
.jpg)
9. Yogurt with fruit on the bottom
# 190 calories
# 30 g sugars
Eat this instead: Plain yogurt with fresh fruit mixed in
# 110 calories
# 15 g sugars
You wouldn’t start your morning with a can of Coke, would you? Then you should pass on these troublesome yogurt cups since they contain as much sugar as a soft drink. Almost all of what comes directly from the “fruit” is high-fructose corn syrup. Yogurt and fruit can be a great way to start your day, but do it yourself by mixing a cup of nonfat plain yogurt with a half cup of mixed berries.
10. Bagel with cream cheese
# 700 calories
# 40 g fat
# 13g saturated
Eat this instead: Cheese omelet
# 425 calories
# 18 g fat
# 6 g saturated
Bagels are bogus. The bread is bad enough, containing 300 calories and 60 grams of carbohydrates, but tack on the liberal cream cheese schmear (by our survey of popular breakfast chains, up to 4 ounces for a single bagel!) and your “harmless” breakfast snack just got worse than a Whopper. The omelet swap will save you nearly 300 calories, plus provide a surge of metabolism-driving protein. And a recent study from the University of Connecticut found that eggs can help raise HDL (good) cholesterol.
11. Pasta primavera
# 800 calories
# 40 grams of fat (12 g saturated)
Eat this instead: 2 slices veggie pizza
# 400 calories
# 20 g fat
# 6 g saturated
Yes, there may be a few vegetables in this popular pasta dish, but there is also a ton of butter, cream, and quick-burning carbs from the mountain of noodles. If you want to stick to pasta, look for red sauce-based dishes like pasta pomodoro or penne arrabiatta (chili-spiked marinara). But ultimately, even a few slices of cheese or vegetable pizza turn out to be a relatively smart choice when the craving for Italian food strikes. Unlike the nearly bottomless pits of pasta most restaurants serve up, pizza comes in a naturally portion-controlled form: two slices and you’re done. Just be sure to opt for regular or thin crust; both pan and deep dish pizza have nearly twice the calories.
12. Dried fruit
# 175 calories
# 45 g sugars
Eat this instead: Fresh fruit, like an apple or a peach
# 70 calories
# 15 g sugars
Okay, so dried fruit won’t totally derail a day of good eating (unless you put down an entire bag of banana chips), but it’s far from being a harmless snack. First, because the dehydrating process sucks most of the volume from the fruit, you can eat cups of the stuff, and 600 calories later, still not feel any fuller. More troubling, though, is the fact that companies like Sun-Maid and Ocean Spray almost invariably add a ton of sugar to the fruit, making Craisins closer to candy than Mother Nature’s original intention. In this case, the
choice is clear: Stick to the real stuff. You’ll get more fiber and less sugar, a time-tested formula for superior snacking.
13. Fish sandwich
# 600 calories
# 30 g fat
# 11 g saturated
Eat this instead: Chicken sandwich
# 300 calories
# 13 g fat
# 4 g saturated
Fish is healthy. Fish battered, fried, robed in cheese, and bathed in tartar sauce is decidedly not. The lesson? It’s not about the star ingredient, but the supporting cast—in this case a cadre of fat-bearing miscreants. We’ve seen too many chicken- and fish-based dishes ruined by overly assertive (and caloric) accoutrements. To that end, make sure your next chicken sandwich is grilled (avoid any menu item with the word “crispy,” the restaurant industry’s euphemism of choice for fried food), dressed with fresh produce, and topped with
a low-cal sauce like barbecue, or even ketchup and mustard.
14. Stick margarine (1 Tbsp)
# 100 calories
# 11 g fat
# 2.5 g saturated
# 2.5 g trans fat
Eat this instead: Whipped butter (1 Tbsp)
# 50 calories
# 6 g fat
# 1.5 g saturated
In their haste to remove saturated fat from butter, stick margarine makers created a monster—a soft, spreadable sludge loaded with trans fats, a dangerous lipid with more concerning links to heart disease than saturated fat. Stick with the real stuff, but pick up whipped butter from brands like Land O’ Lakes instead; by whipping air into the butter, manufacturers decrease the caloric density of a tablespoon of butter, plus it makes for easier spreading. Learn more about the healthy foods you should be shopping for and print
out personalized grocery lists with the Eat This, Not That! Premium site.
Originally written January 20, 2009
Last night at a coffee shop I was looking for a sugar free pastry. The only thing available was guiltless chocolate. It looked rich so I looked for something else. The staff recommended the bran muffin but I asked him to check the ingredient. True enough there was sugar and from the article below boy it was rich!
14 Health Foods That Aren’t
By David Zinczenko and Matt Goulding
If your weight-loss regimen consists of giving up pizza and burgers in favor of flaxseeds and rice cakes, it’s time to reconsider your strategy.
In the book, Eat This, Not That! Supermarket Survival Guide, co-authors David Zinczenko and Matt Goulding insist you don’t ever have to diet again. You can eat all of your favorite foods and still drop 10, 20, 30 pounds in just a few months.
To do so, though, you’ll need to learn the sneaky tricks the food industry employs to sabotage your waistline. The biggest hurdle to your weight-loss efforts isn’t the industrial-strength calorie bombs lurking in supermarkets and restaurants the country over (though be sure to brush up on the Worst Restaurant Foods and Worst Supermarket Foods in America, just to be safe), but rather, the flood of lackluster packaged and prepared foods masquerading as healthy eats. With the food industry spending $30 billion a year to peddle their most dubious products, it’s no wonder we’ve confused some of the most calorie-riddled, fat-laden products in America for truly nutritious food. To help you slim down this year, the Eat This, Not That! guys have identified the 14 most punishing health ruses and suggest delicious alternatives that will keep you satisfied and give you all the purported nutritional benefits that many of our most beloved foods sadly do not. Read on to discover a new, smarter game plan!
1. Bran muffin
# 420 calories
# 20 g fat
Eat this instead: Ham, egg and cheese on an English muffin
# 300 calories
# 12 g fat
Bran muffins are comprised of two things your body doesn’t want in the morning: sugar and refined flour. Both will work to spike your blood sugar, which signals your body to start storing fat and sets you up for a mid-morning crash. And with only trace amounts of fiber, there’s nothing healthy about this misunderstood muffin. The breakfast sandwich, on the
other hand, is a surprisingly great way to start your day. Besides having fewer calories, fat, and carbs, it also offers about 20 grams of protein, which we really need in the morning to jumpstart our metabolism.
2. Chicken Caesar salad (dinner-size portion)
# 900 calories
# 60 g fat
Eat this instead: Grilled chicken on mixed greens
# 400 calories
# 20 g fat
Caesar salads suffer the consequences of two natural disasters: a flood of fatty dressing and a blizzard of Parmesan cheese and croutons. Even a Caesar side salad before a meal can cost you up to 500 calories. Skip the emperor treatment in favor of a simple grilled chicken breast tossed in a bed of mixed greens tossed with a balsamic vinaigrette. The vinaigrette is a vast improvement over the treacherous Caesar dressing, and the absence of a Parmesan sea means that you’ll save nearly entire meal’s worth of calories by making this simple swap.
3. Tuna melt
# 900 calories
# 50 g fat
Eat this instead: Roast beef or ham sandwich
# 500 calories
# 15 g fat
Plain tuna out of the can is healthy; tuna doused in mayo, shrouded in melted cheese, and slicked with another layer of dressing is not. Both ham and roast beef are packed with protein and are super-satisfying and surprisingly lean, which means you can eat the same size sandwich and save 400 calories and 35 grams of fat.
4. Chicken wrap
# 700 calories
# 35 g fat
Eat this instead: Grilled chicken sandwich
# 375 calories
# 15 g fat
The wrap itself is the real offender here, dense with fast-burning carbs and containing up to 400 calories. It’s a tortilla shell pumped with a bunch of modified starch and fat. Plus the huge surface area means more room to slather dressing and pack in more cheese and meat than your typical sandwich. Definitely not a health food. A grilled chicken sandwich on a bun offers a great balance of fat, carbs, and protein, plus having a bun instead of a huge tortilla provides some much-need portion control. Bonus: Nix the mayo in favor of barbecue sauce or salsa (which is the ultimate fat-free, low-cal condiment).
5. Turkey burger
# 850 calories
# 50 g fat
Eat this instead: 7 oz sirloin steak
# 350 calories
# 20 g fat
People hear turkey and automatically think lean and healthy, but depending on the type of ground turkey and toppings used, one of these poultry patties can be every bit as fatty and caloric as a beef burger. Sirloin, on the other hand, is one of the leanest cuts of meat available, which makes for an incredibly satisfying, protein-enriched meal that will keep you feeling fuller, longer. Who wouldn’t want to make this swap?
# 600 calories
# 120 g sugars
Drink this instead: 100 percent fruit smoothie
# 350 calories
# 75 g sugars
Many fruit smoothies contain added sugars and high-fructose corn syrup, which means they’re more milkshake than smoothie. The key here really is in the name: A 100 percent fruit smoothie made with plain yogurt instead of ice cream or sherbet will contain nearly half the calories and significantly less sugar, plus it will provide all of the vitamin and
antioxidant capacity that a smoothie is supposed to have.
# 200 calories
# 15 g sugars
Eat this instead: 1 oz cheddar cheese with Triscuits
# 150 calories
# 5 g sugars
Ever wonder what keeps a granola bar together? The makers of one of America’s favorite (and
most misunderstood) snacks use mostly high-fructose corn syrup as their glue, which in turn quickly raises blood sugar and cancels out any of the potential benefits you might otherwise
get from the oats. By switching over to good old-fashioned cheese and crackers, you swap out sugar and calories for protein and fiber. Talk about a great deal!
8. Pasta salad
# 300 calories
# 20 g fat
Eat this instead: Egg salad
# 200 calories
# 14 g fat
When the main ingredient for a snack or a side is pasta, you’re asking for trouble. That’s because pasta is made from highly-refined flour, which means quick-burning carbs and a huge spike in blood sugar. Not only does it save you a hundred calories, but the egg salad replaces those troublesome carbs with healthy protein, which helps fill your belly faster and keeps your metabolic fires effectively stoked.
.jpg)
9. Yogurt with fruit on the bottom
# 190 calories
# 30 g sugars
Eat this instead: Plain yogurt with fresh fruit mixed in
# 110 calories
# 15 g sugars
You wouldn’t start your morning with a can of Coke, would you? Then you should pass on these troublesome yogurt cups since they contain as much sugar as a soft drink. Almost all of what comes directly from the “fruit” is high-fructose corn syrup. Yogurt and fruit can be a great way to start your day, but do it yourself by mixing a cup of nonfat plain yogurt with a half cup of mixed berries.
10. Bagel with cream cheese
# 700 calories
# 40 g fat
# 13g saturated
Eat this instead: Cheese omelet
# 425 calories
# 18 g fat
# 6 g saturated
Bagels are bogus. The bread is bad enough, containing 300 calories and 60 grams of carbohydrates, but tack on the liberal cream cheese schmear (by our survey of popular breakfast chains, up to 4 ounces for a single bagel!) and your “harmless” breakfast snack just got worse than a Whopper. The omelet swap will save you nearly 300 calories, plus provide a surge of metabolism-driving protein. And a recent study from the University of Connecticut found that eggs can help raise HDL (good) cholesterol.
11. Pasta primavera
# 800 calories
# 40 grams of fat (12 g saturated)
Eat this instead: 2 slices veggie pizza
# 400 calories
# 20 g fat
# 6 g saturated
Yes, there may be a few vegetables in this popular pasta dish, but there is also a ton of butter, cream, and quick-burning carbs from the mountain of noodles. If you want to stick to pasta, look for red sauce-based dishes like pasta pomodoro or penne arrabiatta (chili-spiked marinara). But ultimately, even a few slices of cheese or vegetable pizza turn out to be a relatively smart choice when the craving for Italian food strikes. Unlike the nearly bottomless pits of pasta most restaurants serve up, pizza comes in a naturally portion-controlled form: two slices and you’re done. Just be sure to opt for regular or thin crust; both pan and deep dish pizza have nearly twice the calories.
12. Dried fruit
# 175 calories
# 45 g sugars
Eat this instead: Fresh fruit, like an apple or a peach
# 70 calories
# 15 g sugars
Okay, so dried fruit won’t totally derail a day of good eating (unless you put down an entire bag of banana chips), but it’s far from being a harmless snack. First, because the dehydrating process sucks most of the volume from the fruit, you can eat cups of the stuff, and 600 calories later, still not feel any fuller. More troubling, though, is the fact that companies like Sun-Maid and Ocean Spray almost invariably add a ton of sugar to the fruit, making Craisins closer to candy than Mother Nature’s original intention. In this case, the
choice is clear: Stick to the real stuff. You’ll get more fiber and less sugar, a time-tested formula for superior snacking.
13. Fish sandwich
# 600 calories
# 30 g fat
# 11 g saturated
Eat this instead: Chicken sandwich
# 300 calories
# 13 g fat
# 4 g saturated
Fish is healthy. Fish battered, fried, robed in cheese, and bathed in tartar sauce is decidedly not. The lesson? It’s not about the star ingredient, but the supporting cast—in this case a cadre of fat-bearing miscreants. We’ve seen too many chicken- and fish-based dishes ruined by overly assertive (and caloric) accoutrements. To that end, make sure your next chicken sandwich is grilled (avoid any menu item with the word “crispy,” the restaurant industry’s euphemism of choice for fried food), dressed with fresh produce, and topped with
a low-cal sauce like barbecue, or even ketchup and mustard.
14. Stick margarine (1 Tbsp)
# 100 calories
# 11 g fat
# 2.5 g saturated
# 2.5 g trans fat
Eat this instead: Whipped butter (1 Tbsp)
# 50 calories
# 6 g fat
# 1.5 g saturated
In their haste to remove saturated fat from butter, stick margarine makers created a monster—a soft, spreadable sludge loaded with trans fats, a dangerous lipid with more concerning links to heart disease than saturated fat. Stick with the real stuff, but pick up whipped butter from brands like Land O’ Lakes instead; by whipping air into the butter, manufacturers decrease the caloric density of a tablespoon of butter, plus it makes for easier spreading. Learn more about the healthy foods you should be shopping for and print
out personalized grocery lists with the Eat This, Not That! Premium site.
Originally written January 20, 2009
Evolution of the Spa from Pampering to Healing: Spa Finder's Top Spa Trends for 2009
My eyes were opened to the world of wellness more than five years ago but I started attending various conferences and closely studying this new realm after my dad passed away in 2005. I experienced helplessness with the so called western medecine, and ills that pharmaceuticals brought to my parents. If only I knew what I know now perhaps I could have helped in lengthening their years on earth.
Susie Ellis, Turning Point Spa Industry Seminar, Shangrila Resort, Cebu
Susie Ellis, President of Spa Finder was one of the more prominent speakers in all these conferences where I saw the Spa evolve from mere pampering to healing. I always look forward to her start of the year predictions regarding the Spa industry.
She recently announced the “Top 10 Spa Trends To Watch In 2009,” the company’s sixth annual forecast of the emerging concepts that will shape the world of spa in 2009 and beyond.
The global spa industry’s extraordinary growth and resiliency has been fueled by important new ideas in health, wellness, fitness, beauty, design, and cuisine. Despite a turbulent economy, Susie Ellis believes 2009 will prove no exception, with the industry continuing to innovate, including developments such as the ‘in-transit’ spa experience, new offerings for the exploding Gen X and Y demographic, bolder eco-friendly initiatives, and the ramping up of global spa brands.
In particular, one clear ‘macro’ trend is emerging: the interweaving of medicine and spas in unprecedented ways, with spas poised to increase their roles in wellness and healthcare while hospitals evolve to embrace spa-like offerings and hospitality. As the expensive, “sickness-oriented” western healthcare model comes under intense review, spa innovation and influence on both traditional and alternative/complementary medical fronts is growing. With consumers increasingly receptive to preventative wellness solutions and effective non-western wellness modalities, spas are seizing the opportunity—and the spa-medicine relationship has never been richer or stronger.
As Susie Ellis, President of SpaFinder, Inc. noted: “In a few short years I’ve watched spas go from a narrow focus on pampering to become a vastly expanded category where dozens of wellness solutions are explored. They’ve become, in essence, our alternative ‘laboratories’ for testing new health and wellness approaches–from fitness, nutrition, acupuncture and yoga–or more recently, sleep and fertility solutions. And for 2009, whether it’s energy medicine or brain health offerings—or the rise of wellness tourism or diagnostics—there’s never been more breeding going on in the spa Petri dish.“
SpaFinder’s Top 10 Spa Trends for 2009
Energy Medicine – People are more open to alternative medicine, and there is more scientific evidence lending credibiity to the field.
Casinos & Spas – The combination of gaming and relaxation is quite complementary, and casino hotels have the money and creativity to build unique and exciting spas.
The Medical and Spa Tourism Shuffle – Traveling for health is happening for many different reasons and in many different ways, all over the globe.
Eco-Embedded Spas: A Deeper Shade of Green – It’s the most relaxing way for spa-goers to enjoy and feel good about their spa experiences.
Trains, Boats & Planes: In-Transit Spa-Going – The presence of de-stressing outlets during travel helps to make trips much more enjoyable.
Brain Health and ‘Mind’ Gyms – As people age they recognize that their minds need exercise just as their bodies do.
Stress – the 2009 Buzzword – As the entire global population is seeing unprecedented stress levels, and the number-one reason people go to spas is to reduce stress.
Mindful Spending – Discounts, bargains, and added values are expected in almost every transaction, and spas will be no exception.
Move Over Baby Boomers: Gen X & Y Are Spa-ing Their Own Way – The younger generation has unique spa-going habits, such as starting at a younger age, spa-ing with friends, and using technology 24/7.
Brands, Brands, Brands – There are so many spas to chose from, and brands help consumers distinguish one from another.
Below is a more detailed description of these trends:
1) Energy Medicine
.jpg)
Everyone’s ‘talking about energy,’ and for 2009 the spa industry will follow suit, with a lot of high-voltage buzz around ‘energy medicine’ and therapies like Reiki; Qi Gong; chakra balancing; healing touch; magnetic, light and sound therapy; and acupuncture.
While there’s charged debate about how to define these practices, whether they’re in fact ‘new,’ or whether there’s enough scientific evidence to warrant our attention—the energy medicine trend within both the spa industry and the medical establishment is clear. For instance, Dr. Oz of Oprah fame recently argued that ‘the next big frontier of medicine…is energy medicine,’ and former Surgeon General and Canyon Ranch CEO Richard Carmona recently reported that energy medicine is one of the emerging science areas they’re pursuing for their forward-thinking medical resorts.
The discussion on the medical side (centering on electromagnetic forces and laser beams), is of course quite different from terms like ‘qi,’ ‘chi,’ ‘prana,’ ‘chakras’ and ‘doshas’ used in the spa sector, where the emphasis is on clearing imbalances in a body’s energy field to promote healing of body, mind and spirit.
Interesting spa examples emerging: bite-size doses of energy medicine along with traditional massage at properties like Conrad Maldives Rangali Island—the extensive use of visiting consultant-‘practitioners’ at Thai resorts like Trisara, Chiva-Som and the new Six Senses Destination Spa Phuket—Canyon Ranch Resorts’ ‘Healing Energy’ menu with offerings like Polarity, Acutonics (think tuning forks…) and Jin Shin Jyutsu, which is said to balance energy pulses via a practitioner holding various energy ‘locks.’
Acupuncture was ushered onto the U.S. stage via Nixon’s high-profile visits to China in the 70s, and the buzz around energy medicine today stems from an increased receptiveness to healing traditions from other cultures courtesy of phenomena like the Internet and the recent Beijing Olympics, etc. Look for a whole spectrum of energy medicines to be increasingly ‘on the table’ in the experimental theater that is the modern spa. The enlightened approach? An open mind, along with encouragement for solid scientific verification. After all, there’s a great deal we still don’t know about the ‘body electric.’
2) Casinos & Spas: A Good Bet
Venetian Resort Spa
Placing a high-end spa in a casino hotel was a long-shot idea when Elaine and Steve Wynn (both Golden Door regulars) opened the first at the Golden Nugget Casino Hotel in the 1980s. But today, spas in casinos have hit the jackpot, as they are some of the highest spa revenue producers in the world. These world-class facilities are situated within hotels with hundreds (often thousands) of rooms, catering to a captive, free-spending clientele that both appreciates pampering and sees the value of balancing both high-octane indulgence and recharging, healthy pursuits.
The new Canyon Ranch SpaClub at the Venetian Resort Hotel Casino has expanded to 69,000 square feet and 90 treatment rooms, making it the largest spa in the world. It features a super-opulent thermal suite circuit, complete with sauna butler and more. Across town, the new Fountainbleu Hotel & Casino (slated to open in fall 2009), promises the 60,000 square foot Lapis Spa, reportedly one of the most expensive ever built.
In keeping with the over-the-top luxury of the original Miami Beach site, they plan spectacular water features, including an experiential ’rain tunnel’ with steam mist and penetrating water jets, mineral bathing areas, and gender-specific spa areas for men and women.
And some casino operators are designing fun, more approachable facilities catering to inexperienced spa-goers, such as the Northern Quest Resort in Washington State (opening late 2009) and Ameristar Resorts of Black Hawk and St. Charles, MO. The mood is playful and welcoming and avoids creating that atmosphere of intimidation that first-time spa-goers can feel when entering a super-luxury spa.
The trend is exploding in Asia…Outside the U.S., Macao has recently surpassed Las Vegas in terms of annual gambling revenue, and its gargantuan Venetian Macao-Resort-Hotel (the second-largest building in the world) now features the impressive V SPA. While in Singapore, which recently legalized gambling, RWSentosa is adding a casino, Banyan Tree plans a casino-spa resort, and the Marina Bay Sands project is in the pipeline. Casinos that have rolled the dice on luxury spa facilities have seen big wins for ‘the house’…so look for more blending of casino excitement and luxury spa experiences in 2009.
3) The Medical and Spa Tourism Shuffle
Bumgungrad Hospital, Bangkok
Two years ago SpaFinder named medical tourism, the phenomenon of people traveling to medical spas in another country or region for aesthetic or traditional procedures, a top trend. Two years later, the concept of ‘medical travel’ (or ‘wellness tourism,’ ‘holiday surgery’ or ‘spa tourism’) has evolved in powerful, myriad ways.
Today, imagine a deck of cards, each representing a different type of establishment: from a large Indian hospital performing hip and knee replacements at a fraction of Western prices— to a hotel spa in Brazil featuring a nursing staff, catering to pre-and post-surgery patients (Kurotel Longevity Center)—to a Mexican destinationdental clinic—to a Traditional Chinese Medicine practice in China or Ayurvedic Center in India—to a Philippine prevention center that banks people’s stem cells—to a Swiss luxury spa with a popular plastic surgery business (Clinique La Prairie)–to a new concept like Paradise Makeovers, where women join groups to journey to places like Bali for yoga, meditation and spa services combined with non-surgical rejuvenation treatments. Down the road this increasingly full ‘medical travel’ deck of cards will be shuffled, with some big winners, and its fair share of problems and losers, but it’s a category brimming with opportunity.
Forces fueling the trend: crises within the traditional health care system (skyrocketing costs, millions of uninsured)—the rise, with the Internet and globalization, of a more consumer-centric model revolving around greater choice and price transparency—and fluctuations in international currencies opening up attractive new markets, even within the U.S. Whether people are traveling between countries, within countries, or even in their own region, consumers are seeking lower prices and cutting-edge medical/wellness offerings…and spas are right in the thick of things.
Picture a hospital with serene gardens, feng shui designed private rooms, 24-hour room service with organic local cuisine, on-demand massage and a menu of alternative and healing therapies. At places like the Henry Ford Hospital in Michigan, the ‘patients’ have become ‘guests,’ healthcare and hospitality are united, and spa elements have invaded the once drab hospital walls…not only to meet consumer demand, but as a differentiator in a brutally competitive industry. To boost the bottom line hospitals are unleashing programs to attract not only the sick and old,but the young and well: from integrative programs, prevention centers, executive physicals, to aesthetic procedures. And this cross-pollination of ‘medicine’ and ‘spa’ also includes the significant rise in ‘wellness diagnostics’ within the medical spa environment, from services like imaging, genomics, stress tests, blood and urine analyses, to futuristic banking of one’s own stem cells.
So watch for the line between spas, medical spas and hospitals to become ever more creatively blended. The era of the ‘spa-spital,’ with global consumers traveling to access the services they want, need, and can afford, has arrived.
4) Eco-Embedded Spas: A Deeper Shade of Green
Back in 2005, SpaFinder identified the eco-spa boom, crystallizing the first industry definition still widely used today. In our 2007 forecast we noted the eco-spa trend had shifted from being industry- to consumer-driven: with spa-goers now demanding a meaningful, aggressive environmental position from spas. And in 2009, we’re tracking a clear new direction—call it spa environmentalism 2.0—or the ‘eco-embedded spa.’
By ‘eco-embedded’ we mean expanded green initiatives and eco processes that are quietly and meaningfully enmeshed throughout the entire spa, so there’s no demanding efforts required by the spa guest, who is, after all, there to relax. While the spa consumer skews very green, consumers in general are suffering from green fatigue and sustainability stress. So, goodbye showy, loud, and superficial green gestures—as well as those that tax or confuse the spa-goer—in tandem with spa eco initiatives that are far bolder than ever before.
The examples are endless. Across European spas, hotel room key slots trigger time-delayed sensors to turn off lights and air conditioning in rooms. At El Monte Sagrado Resort in New Mexico the property is heated and cooled 100% geo-thermally. At Gwinganna Lifestyle Retreat in Australia (and elsewhere) there’s optional half flush toilets. Rancho La Puerta serves cuisine from its organic farm, and embeds exclusively organic products (from cleaning supplies to spa products) throughout the resort. And then there’s the new breed of spa like Rock Resort Spa at Keystone Lodge in Colorado, built, from the ‘earth up,’ with sustainability in mind: using wind-powered electricity, building from recycled wood, etc. And more spas like the eco-boutique Chill Spa in Hotel Terra Jackson Hole, or Gaia Napa Valley Hotel & Spa, are now achieving the very highest levels of LEED certification.
As an industry we’re ‘seeing green’ everywhere: More spas are branding themselves with names like Green Spa (NY), Eden Organix Spa (NJ), GreenBliss EcoSpa (CA), etc.; the industry now boasts a Green Spa Network; and a relatively new magazine called Organic Spa.
Consider a health club like Green Microgym in Oregon where the energy created on cardio-fitness equipment is captured and reused to light the facility—or perhaps the most innovative 21st-century eco destination spa, the Six Senses in Thailand, where guests can eat all of the resort landscaping. Now that’s ‘eco-embedded’!
5) Trains, Boats & Planes: In-Transit Spa-Going
With overbooked flights, tight security and longer delays, there’s no doubt that the stress of modern travel has increased. Thankfully, spa-ing while traveling is reaching a whole new cruising altitude: trains with fully equipped gyms and spas, planes with in-flight spa showers and massage treatments, health and wellness-oriented cruises, and more. What began as a novelty has turned into big business, targeting the uniquely captive, over-stressed traveler.
Southern India’s Golden Chariot train already features an onboard Ayurvedic center with fully equipped gym and spa, while China’s new Tangula luxury train will also include a spa when it launches in 2009. Today almost every major airport boasts a spa, many first class lounges incorporate spas, and Dubai’s Emirates Airlines even promises to include spa services on their new Airbus A380. London’s Heathrow Airport alone has four spas to choose from: the Cowshed Spa at the Virgin Atlantic Club, an Elemis Travel Spa at the British Airways Lounge, a Molten Brown Travel Spa at the Air France Lounge and an Urban Retreat Spa!
Cruise ships are broadening their health and wellness options beyond the spa facility itself. Costa Cruises has launched Ristorante Samsara, a specialty spa restaurant with organic and natural vegan cuisine; Crystal offers dedicated Mind-Body-Spirit cruises; and even Disney has joined the trend by offering a “Detox for Weight Loss” program. New ships under construction are adding staterooms that effectively serve as mini-spa cabins.
6) Brain Health and ‘Mind’ Gyms
With a vast, aging Baby Boomer population, well-publicized medical reports revealing that with brains you’ve got to ‘use them’ or ‘lose them,’ and an Alzheimer’s pandemic, brain health is increasingly on the spa-goers’ mind. So don’t be surprised if next time you scan the spa menu you see offerings relating to ‘mental fitness’ or ‘brain workouts’ in addition to traditional body therapies like massage or facials.
While research concurs that many spa cornerstones like healthy food, exercise, relaxation techniques and healthy sleep are key to long-term brain health, spas will really step it up in ’09 to add activities, education, and new technologies and therapies that function like ‘gyms for the mind.’
Whether it’s exercising the grey matter through brain boosting games or juggling, or spa educational programs where neuroscientists discuss books like My Stroke of Insight, brain ‘work-outs’ are increasingly popping up on both day and stay spa menus, and the examples are diverse. Mind Spa Mental Fitness Center in Florida has added a Neurobics Center, featuring computer stations with scientifically developed brain exercise and biofeedback programs, as well as Neurowave chairs to stimulate brain function. The Raj Ayurveda Health Spa in Iowa worked in tandem with a brain research institute to develop the ‘Raj Prevention Program for Alzheimer’s,’ a full program to prevent the onset of age-related cognitive disorders. Canyon Ranch’s medical director regularly lectures on ‘Boosting Brain Power’ and preventing memory loss to the resort’s clients. Westin Resorts recently unveiled a hotel-wide program dubbed BrainBodyFitness that disperses puzzles and brain-teasers throughout the entire hotel experience, as well as offering brain workouts in the fitness center.
If you think about it, it’s a pretty logical next step for the spa…
7) Learning Labs for Stress Reduction
The number one reason people hit the spa is to relax and de-stress, and in nerve-wracking times, the impulse is significantly magnified, especially if the price and overall value is right. ‘Stress’ is a huge spa buzzword, and at SpaFinder.com, for example, nearly four times as many consumers entered ‘stress’ into the search bar in the last four months, than in the four months prior.
Spas, out of necessity, will increasingly become ‘learning labs’ for stress reduction, and this means it’s time for both the industry and its guests to realize that it can take less than one hour (or a ton of expensive time and treatments), to elicit the critical relaxation response. Look for: spa staff to increasingly become teachers of take-home, DIY ‘relaxation responses’—and a shift from emphasizing trendy spa rituals-of-the-month, to effective stress therapies like breath work, hot baths, meditation, exercise, massage, MBSR (mindfulness-based stress reduction) programs, and even an emphasis on psychological support and the sharing of feelings. Mini-treatments like ten-minute chair massages will grow in popularity, not only because they’re relaxing on the wallet, but because of the increased awareness that stress reduction is critical to overall health, and can be accomplished quite quickly with the right techniques.
The medical evidence continues to mount that chronic, unresolved stress (which continually triggers the release of ‘fight or flight’ hormones like adrenaline and cortisol) can be physically destructive, contributing to weakened immune systems, a susceptibility to viruses, stroke, arthritis, Type 2 diabetes, periodontal disease and even some forms of cancer. As the medical evidence gets publicized, more people will seek innovative stress-busting therapies at the spa…as if their life depended on it.
Look for more day spas to incorporate the term ‘stress’ in their offerings (‘stress relief massage’ etc.). As well as stay spa programming like Miraval’s ’Mindful Stress Mastery’ experience, offering spa-goers a customized stress-fighting curriculum, incorporating breathing therapies, psychological training to ‘live in the moment,’ and take-home resources.
.jpg)
And as spas increasingly serve as our culture’s alternative non-denominational chapels—or places of spiritual respite and retreat in anxious times—look for more spas with ‘soul,’ focusing on connection, community and spirituality, and unleashing new programming like life coaching, transition retreats, and mindfulness experiences as well as challenge courses and labyrinths. And don’t be surprised if a “slow spa” movement takes off…
Mindful Spending
In a challenging economic year, spa-goers will obviously be looking closely for value and tangible results. Spas will be experimenting with creative ways to attract the consumer, earn their trust and exceed their expectations. Look for concepts such as “daycations” and “spacations” to move from mere vague catch phrases to realities.
The spa industry has proven fairly resilient thus far, but consumers will increasingly be price shopping. Discount massage and facial businesses will enjoy more popularity, and significant spa deals and added value pricing will appear on most spa websites. Luxury facilities will need to work harder at demonstrating how their unique experiences and special treatments merit the greater expense.
We will likely see three- and four-star hotels, where more people will be staying, get into the spa arena with competitive spa service offerings. Spas at these locations will be aiming to help first time visitors feel welcome and comfortable, bringing many new lifelong spa customers into the industry.
9) Move Over Baby Boomers: Gen X & Y Are Spa-ing Their Way
The shift from a core spa clientele comprised of Baby Boomers to one made up of the Gen X and Y generations represents more than a simple demographic switch. As Gen X (born 1965 to 1980) and Gen Y (born 1981 to 1995) hit spas in record numbers, they’re shaping the experience to meet their unique wants and desires. The trick for spas will be to continue to attract aging Boomers, who fueled the first ‘spa wave’ with their considerable spending power, while simultaneously re-evaluating facilities and programs in order to meet the expectations of an entirely new generation of spa-goers.
Marketing analysts draw attention to striking characteristics of each demographic. Gen X’ers, the first tech-savvy generation, are often the children of divorce, tending to replace family with friends, while postponing marriage and parenting. They engage in lifelong education and are less brand-loyal. Gen Y, the true tech-obsessed market, likes to multi-task–demands instant gratification—communicates via IM, text message and blogs—are socially and environmentally responsible—exhibits even less brand loyalty—and are the most ethnically diverse of any prior generation.
Both Gen X and Y, who came of age watching their self-absorbed workaholic parents hit the spa, are ‘no excuses, spa-entitled’ generations, and perceive spa-going as a necessity rather than an occasional indulgence. They seek wellness, rather than pampering, and often head to the spa in packs—giving new meaning to the ongoing trend of social spa-ing. These generations also exhibit an unprecedented comfort level with cosmetic med-spa procedures, and are adopting them for prevention (“Give me Botox in my 20’s, so I can prevent wrinkles in the first place.”)
To compete, spas will need to rethink everything from design, to treatment menus, to standards for use of personal communication devices. Some spas are now allowing iPod usage during massage, adding party-size treatment rooms, and trumpeting philanthropic endeavors and their commitment to sustainability. All spas will need to learn to embrace new technologies, such as encouraging online bookings through sites like SpaBooker and sending mobile alerts when last minute, spa deals become available.
Cutting-edge experiments are underway at the new Ciel-Spa at SLS in Beverly Hills, with its very playful social lounge experience, organic savories and myriad light and technology options. A $400 million renovation of the Dolder Grand in Zurich includes a spa with futuristic elements like a meditation walkway, a ‘chill-out space’ with suspended basket chairs with headphones, and quirky features like a ‘snow paradise room,’ and stone lounges called ‘Tsunaburos’ where people can bury themselves in heated pebbles.
10) Brands, Brands, Brands
With almost 72,000 spas around the world, consumers may ultimately need some help distinguishing between them. Can the casual spa-goer tell the difference between a Mandarin Oriental Spa and a Shangri-La Spa? Spas that establish and broadcast a truly unique brand identity will enjoy a powerful competitive advantage, and should attract more guests at a time when consumer budgets are under pressure.
Previously, any establishment with attractive décor, quality service, and talented therapists had a good shot at success. But today, large companies are bringing strong branding savvy into the spa game (think Dove, Nivea and Shiseido), and high-end luxury brands are expanding into spa as well (think Bulgari, Prada, Dior), highlighting the importance of standing for something special.
And look for the distinctions between emerging brands to become more pronounced. For example, Shangri-La’s Chi Spa brand has successfully incorporated signature elements throughout their collection (13 spas at last count), while retaining enough uniqueness at each property to make every Chi Spa a new – and yet familiar – experience. Their approach features “Five Element” pre-treatment evaluations; bold, red-colored décor; and “spa within a spa” treatment rooms complete with changing rooms and showers. The ESPA brand has also established a strong identity across a vast number of spas around the world and they have mastered the art of training spa therapists to provide highly consistent, quality treatments.
Originally written Jan 7, 2009
Langganan:
Postingan (Atom)
LinkWithin
