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From DestinationSpaVacations In The News
DAY 1 Dinner (delicious cedar-planked wild salmon) is over, but there's no rest yet. Those of us who have just arrived are getting a crash course in FitPath, a metabolism kick-start that's the main agenda here. We eat fewer calories (about 1,200 a day for women), greatly increase our aerobic and resistance exercise, drink lots of water, and encourage detoxification with daily saunas and a nightly digestif: a probiotic capsule mixed with goat whey, ground flax, and warm water. The group ranges from a 20-year-old man determined to end his couch-potato ways to a retired executive in his 60s who comes for a yearly tuneup. The rest of us are women and men in our 40s and 50s who have habits to change and weight to lose. We gamely down our doses and joke about drinking the Kool-Aid. DAY 2 Following breakfast, it's time for our first hike. I feel like I'm in one of those bad dreams where I get stuck getting ready and never make it to the event. I have to learn blister protection, get the heart rate monitor strapped around my chest, fill the water bladder and insert it into my pack, get the pack on and adjusted, pick a pair of hiking poles, and tie my boots the right way. By the end I'm practically in tears because I can't get a simple buckle fastened. Is it the lack of my usual coffee? (Green tea is the only caffeine source here.) Is it adjusting to the calories? Last night we were told that emotional release is part of the body's natural response to detoxification. Thankfully one of the guides comes to my rescue. She shows me how to push the poles behind me to propel myself up the hills and how to place them in front of me to steady myself as I go down. In the woods, sweet with fern and cedar, my earlier meltdown is forgotten. Every day there will be three guides and three groups so everyone can hike to their capacity, no matter how fast or slow they need to go. The guides are really attentive—they watch how we walk, listen to our breathing, ask how we're feeling, remind us to sip water—but they're teaching, not coddling. All the while, they keep us moving. We pause to catch our breath after climbs but don't dawdle, and on a slippery downhill stretch we're talked through the technique (take flat steps, lean forward) so fear doesn't stop us. After accomplishment, there is praise. In the afternoon, there's the first of three great talks by Jeff Krueger, the resident dietitian. He wants us to see patterns. Most of us, for example, eat our biggest meal in the evening and then go to sleep, a perfect way to put on fat and produce cholesterol. The pattern we are practicing here is to break our fast soon after getting up and to eat most of our calories before dinner. We are also eating real food—whole grains, nuts, fruit, and eggs at breakfast; cheese, chicken, fish, and tofu with lots of beans and vegetables at lunch and dinner—instead of refined foods and junk that not only offer very little nourishment but also cause belly fat and an overload of toxic stuff. Our bodies won't hoard fat if we're eating regular meals and snacks and keeping our blood sugar steady, which happens to be the best way to prevent swings in energy and mood, too. DAY 3 DAY 4 DAY 5 DAY 6 DAY 7 DAY 8 Book It: Mountain Trek Fitness Retreat and Health Spa, Ainsworth Hot Springs, British Columbia, Canada, (800) 661-5161, from $4,249 per week all inclusive -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 5 TIPS FOR TOP HEALTH Even if you don't have time to schedule a fitness retreat, there are easy ways to improve your well-being right at home. Kirkland Shave, program director and general manager of FitPath, offers these suggestions: 1. Drink 10 to 12 glasses of water (8 ounces each) per day to support high-performance metabolism. 2. Eat two-thirds of your daily calories before dinner—and try to get some exercise after dinner—to avoid turning extra evening calories into fat. 3. Mix fruit with a bit of protein (nuts and berries are great for this) as midmorning and midafternoon snacks to help maintain an even blood-sugar level and prevent hunger spikes. 4. Eat a "lean/clean" lunch: Three-quarters of your meal should be mixed vegetables, salad, or soup, and one-quarter should consist of lean protein (such as poached or broiled meat, tofu, or beans). 5. Follow the American Medical Association's "10,000 Steps a Day" minimum exercise regimen (try taking a half-hour walk at lunch and opting for stairs whenever possible) and set a reminder for two one-minute breaks during the day. During the breaks, look out a window at the sky and take deep, slow breaths. These breaks will help lower the stress hormone cortisol. Bonus Points: Reward yourself weekly with massage or infrared sauna appointments, which detoxify the body and contribute to general emotional and physical well-being. Source: Spa Magazine © Copyright 2010 |
