basalt health and fitness

Nutritional Tips: Finding The Balance To Support Your Life

People of all backgrounds, ages and lifestyles are making nutrition a hot topic these days. Nutrition is still a bit of a mystery to many. Colleges, doctors and independent groups have all performed research on nutrition to narrow down the falsehoods. The outcome is quite remarkable.

TIP! Use whole grain products instead of refined white flour foods. These whole foods contain more fiber and protein.

Aim to consume numerous types of protein every single week. Choose lean meats, skinless poultry and fish. Also, eggs can be a very valuable source of protein during your meals. Studies have found that eating one egg daily will not harm your health. Sometimes, you will want to refrain from eating meat on a particular day. Substitute meat with nuts, peanut butter, beans, peas and other protein rich foods.

Homemade fruit smoothies are great to have to start your day. Smoothies that you buy in stores or at stands are often full of too many calories. When you make smoothies yourself, you can ensure that they’re very nutritious. It’s also easy to work smoothies into your diet. Try healthy ingredients like fresh fruit, skim milk and Greek yogurt as a base.

TIP! People with adequate nutritional education know to avoid grains and cereals that have been highly processed. However, getting rid of the husk of the grains eliminates a major source of fiber and other nutrients.

Be sure you are eating healthy, wholesome foods with your allotment of calories. Sugary foods will leave you stranded, if you are eating nutrition-deficient candies and sweets. Your body is seeking positive caloric input through fresh, organic veggies, proteins and beneficial carbs. You are what you eat, no matter how much.

If you want to eat less on Thanksgiving, eat a snack before going to supper. When you are offered a big meal and you haven’t eaten all day prior to that, chances are that you will overindulge in an over-the-top way. Eating something healthy beforehand will help you fill up faster and limit your food intake.

TIP! Processed grains have replaced whole grains because, for many, they taste better. In some baked goods, white flour does produce preferable results.

For a healthy, quick, tasty snack, try pureeing some peaches, berries or pears. You will have a sweet spread to use on toast, pita chips or as a dip. Try this with different kinds of fruits and prepare a different snack each time to keep things interesting.

Ginger can help with motion sickness. Ginger conveniently comes in easy to swallow capsules. Wash one down about 60 minutes before heading out, and make sure to take 1000 milligrams every three hours. Ginger will help you get rid of nausea and an upset stomach in air travel. Try some ginger candy or some ginger tea.

TIP! Moderation is key to looking and feeling your best. Overeating can create too many nutrients inside of your body, which may make you gain weight or feel uncomfortable.

Try to limit meals that are cooked in the microwave. Most microwave meals aren’t good for your body in the first place. You should eat as much natural food as possible in order to maintain proper weight and a healthy appearance.

Mushrooms must be cooked well. Mushrooms contain carcinogens, and cooking them thoroughly will break them down and keep them from harming your body. Make sure to keep an eye on your health so that you can stay healthy and thin.

TIP! Make sure you consume broccoli. An excellent super food, even in a medium broccoli stalk you get your entire recommended dose of vitamin k.

Never make the assumption that dietary supplements alone are sufficient to improve nutrition. These are just supplements to a diet which is already healthy. It’s best to keep your vitamin intake to one every day and keep yourself eating foods that give you all the nutrition you need if possible.

Avoid salt when boiling water. Adding salt to your pasta water may decrease the boiling point, but it also adds unnecessary amounts of sodium. It’s not necessary and only saves a minute or two of boiling time while making your food less healthy.

TIP! Try eating salmon. It is a great choice because of the niacin amounts it contains and the fact that it is high in omega-3 fatty acids.

Broccoli is a delicious addition to any diet. It has lots of Vitamins K, C, A, minerals, and phytochemicals to fight off various cancers. The best way to prepare it while keeping lots of nutrients is a quick steaming or microwaving. It has little use when reduced to gray, lifeless lumps.

In conclusion, the topic of nutrition is in constant flux as more research is done on the subject. Learning about nutrition helps us to keep healthy. Always look for the latest in nutrition.

It’s no surprise that fiber forms to be a vital part of a healthy diet. However, consuming foods high in dietary fiber can be more beneficial than just keeping you healthy. Eating fiber rich foods can lower the risks for stroke; heart disease and diabetes besides enhancing the health of your skin and helping you lose weight. Unfortunately, in today’s time when one needs to eat healthy foods as a result of stressful and unhealthy lifestyle, majority of the people don’t include fiber rich foods in their diet. Given are some tips wherein you can count on the several benefits of fiber that help you feel good and prevent you from serious diseases.

What’s Fiber?

Fiber, the other name for which is �roughage’, is the part of plant based foods (nuts, beans, fruits, vegetables and grains) that the body is unable to break down. It passes through the body without getting digested, thus keeping the digestive system clean and healthy, facilitating bowel movements and throwing cholesterol and harmful chemicals out of the body. There are primarily two types of fiber: soluble and insoluble. Insoluble one doesn’t dissolve in water. It’s bulky fiber that helps prevent constipation and is found in wheat cereals, whole grains and vegetables such as celery, carrots and tomatoes.

On the other hand, soluble fiber gets easily dissolved in water and helps control levels of blood sugar and lessen cholesterol. Oatmeal, barley, nuts, beans and fruits such as berries, apple, pears and citrus fruits are some good sources of soluble fiber.

Fiber with several health benefits

Many expert nutritionists have highlighted how consuming a fiber rich diet can boost the immune system and how it forms to be a good source of nutrition for children as well. Some benefits are highlighted below:

Digestive Health:
Eating dietary fiber helps normalize bowel movements by bulking up stools and letting them easier to pass. This helps relieve and prevent both diarrhoea and constipation. Getting fiber in abundance also tends to lessen the risk for gallstones, diverticulitis (inflammation of intestine), kidney stones and also offer relief from irritable bowel syndrome.

Diabetes:
The risk of type 2 diabetes can be considerably lowered by consuming a fiber rich diet, especially insoluble fiber from cereals. If you already have diabetes then consuming soluble fiber may help control blood sugar levels by delaying gastric emptying

Skin Health:
Consuming fiber rich diet can flush toxins out of the body which affect the health of the skin. Skin tends to be healthy when the flow of blood is good as a result of lesser toxins in the body.

Fiber helps Weight Loss:
Besides helping in digestion and preventing constipation, fiber adds bulk to your diet, an important factor in both losing weight and maintaining a healthy weight. Adding bulk lets you feel full earlier. Also, since fiber stays in the stomach for a longer period than other foods, the feeling of fullness stays with you for quite some time, letting you eat less. Foods such as vegetables and fruits that are rich in fiber tend to be low in calories, thus by adding them to your diet; it’s quite simple to cut calories.

Eating fiber rich foods has been the first preference of many nutritionists when it comes to weight loss and maintaining a healthy lifestyle. Due to its numerous health benefits it should be your first choice as well during your daily meal.

What happens when you go for a workout at the gym? You run on treadmill for half an hour, take a steam bath, return home and eat a sandwich or some fruits. But wait; there are people who hate making a sandwich or a protein shake and as a result they don’t get the required nutrition. This often happens due to unavailability of appropriate ingredients. People often tend to skip a healthy meal after gym or go out for unhealthy alternatives. Otherwise there are a bunch of foodies who like their burgers without cheese and fries without oil. They aren’t wrong anywhere. When the world is screaming for healthy eating options, why won’t the restaurants change their recipes! Well to ease things up, Gold’s Gym at Gold Souk Mall in Gurgaon has started their own cafe 3 And a Half.

Long story short: this cafe serves the most Nutritious Food in Gurgaon. Right from 200 calories Tuna sandwich to protein bars and zero sugar beverages, this Best Caf in Gurgaon is the perfect choice for the calorie conscious. The welcome drink at the cafe, unlike a sweet lime, consists of a wild variety of cold tea infused with a nice floral fragrance. And it tastes nothing better than green tea. However to say the least it is quite refreshing.

The smoothies and shakes available in strawberry, mango and blueberry variant are made using organic honey sourced from Rishikesh. For refreshments, there are options of seasonal juices and white tea. Interestingly white tea is known to have a lot of health benefits including weight loss and it’s not a lot of places in Delhi where you find this. Also you can go for whey protein shakes if you are building up your muscles.

For the starters you can try some wraps and sandwiches that are hardly 250 calories. There are a lot of options from chicken, paneer and tuna to choose from. The wraps are particularly very tasty with nuts and yogurt. The main course is quite elaborate. Right from a Jerk Chicken Pizza to chicken in barbecue sauce served with rice, calorie counts are limited between 200 and 300. That’s quite amusing if a meal can be limited to that calorie and yet be lip smacking. However do note, it’s not a normal QSR chain or fine dining restaurant, but a healthy place to eat. Don’t expect your food to be too delicious. Mind you, this place is for people who want to eat after work out rather than eating out for fun.
For desserts you are offered a lot of options. Right from protein bar to date pudding, there are a lot to try. Unbelievable as it may sound, desserts known to be most calorie counting than anything else are something around 200-300 calories or lesser. The bars are made without sugar so it doesn’t feel much crunchy but melts in your mouth.

In a sense Canada has it all. It has great cities – Montréal and Vancouver being perhaps the best of a choice lot. In the immense countryside — skiing, sailing and wilderness viewing that goes on forever. Because it is so large visiting Canada all in one trip is a massive undertaking.

Over 5,000 Kilometres separate St. John’s, Newfoundland from Victoria, British Columbia (about the same distance separates London and Riyadh, or Tokyo and Calcutta).

To drive from one end of the country could take 7-10 days or more (and that assumes you’re not stopping to sight-see on the way). A flight from Toronto to Vancouver takes over 4 hours.

When speaking of specific destinations within Canada, it is better to consider its distinct regions.

In this quite vast country it has most things including, because of the French influence, some amazing restaurants. But, above all, because of its fixation on the healthy life, Canada has a range of spas almost unrivalled elsewhere.

If you know that people come from the United States (especially from California) to Canada for spa treatments – some on a regular basis – then you begin to understand the attractions.

Note that although most of the country, by law, is bi-lingual even in the most French parts around Montréal you will never have a problem with the language.

Let us leave all thought of governments and politics and concentrate, instead, on spas and healthy living. Which is what many Canadians do.

BREAK OUT

Use of each language outside government varies widely across the country. In almost all of the province of Québec, as well as parts of New Brunswick and Ontario, French is the dominant language; in most of the rest of the country, English predominates. Montréal, Ottawa and Moncton have large concentrations of fluently bilingual people. Canada spans six time zones and borders three oceans and covers 9,017,699 sq km (3,481,753 sq miles). now promotes itself as a country of peace and governs itself independently. But it still has the British monarch as its head of state. And, no, that is not easy to explain.

For spa lovers Canada is pretty much the ideal country to visit. It has it has it all, scenery, wonderful sport, exciting cities. So how do you choose in this vast country?

A personal preference is Vancouver and Vancouver Island. Here is where the spa comes to near perfection.

Start by knowing here we are talking about two different destinations: Vancouver Island and Vancouver which is NOT on the island of the same name. Close – a few minutes way – but Vancouver is on the mainland. Both are wonderful places. But very, very different.

Vancouver Island rejoices in climate which is the mildest in Canada, with temperatures on the coast even in January being usually above freezing and in the summer the weather is warm but not oppressive – say 28-33 degrees Celsius. But there is a rain shadow effect so that the west coast typically is very wet — Henderson Lake on the west coast is the wettest place in North America – down to very dry in the provincial capital of Victoria on the southeast coast’s Saanich Peninsula. In a sense you can chose and if you bear in mind rain is most common in the autumn and winter you can be very precise.

Getting there is part of the experience for you can take an awe-inspiring seaplane over the Pacific coastal isles; a journey from Vancouver by ferry; or from Seattle aboard the high-speed ferry via the Strait of Juan de Fuca.

Near the centre of Vancouver Island is the 2,500 square kilometres Strathcona Provincial Park, which is part of a group of peaks that include the Comox Glacier. Note that Vancouver is not the only island in the area. There are several others.

For example, Galiano is a long and narrow island, the second largest of the Gulf Islands, and the driest. 25 kilometres long and 9 kilometres wide, it has a population of about 1.000 residents, while Saltspring Island, the largest, has a population of over 12,000.

As far as spas are concerned there are probably over thirty in the whole island group so you are not restricted for choice. Note most of them are destination spas – you stay there as if it was a hotel and some of them are on islands off Vancouver Island. There is a sort of alternative life-style feel about most of these spas. They are for get-away-from-it-all visits.

One great exception. The 1905 classic Willow Stream Spa at The Fairmont Empress is an urban hotel spa in Victoria on the island. It is a very modern spa which is located in something of a Victorian – in two senses of the word — grande dame of a hotel, The Fairmont Empress.

Much of the clientele of the spa are staying at the hotel and many of them have come up from the United States – people from California for some reason make up the majority — to experience a rejuvenation and a period of rest and calm.

If you stay at this hotel – and you should if you can afford it – you will be following in the footsteps of a very young Shirley Temple, Barbra Streisand, Harrison Ford and many others. And, yes, of course, it serves afternoon tea.

The spa itself – the Willow Stream — is far more modern than the hotel and is a blend of traditional and contemporary designs. There is a waterfall and marble floors and soothing colours create. Your spa experience begins as you step through the doors into an elegant space.

All spa treatments begin with ‘The Spa Ritual,’ which is complimentary. The 30-minute ritual includes five minutes each in the Finnish sauna and steam room, followed by a 10-minute Hungarian bath and ten-minute rest with a glass of cold water.

Note that, as with the other six Fairmont resorts’ Willow Stream Spas dotted around the country, it’s definitely upscale and not inexpensive.

Luckily, locally there are places locally which are less expensive if not, perhaps, quite so gorgeous.

For example, less expensive and more relaxed, is the casual Kingfisher Oceanside Resort & Spa. This ocean front resort and spa has views of Gartley Bay, Denman and Hornby islands and the snow-capped Coast mountains beyond.

The two-storey, 64-room hotel includes 36 new beachfront suites with beach rock fireplaces, driftwood-tone furniture, fir timbers and peeled cedar logs. The 14,000 sq. ft. spa has 22 treatment rooms, an outdoor pool, hot tub/sauna, fitness room and the Pacific Mist Hydropath.

Very relaxed and laid back.

Poets Cove Resort & Spa, is so secluded you have to take a ferry or water taxi, It is on South Pender Island, just off the east coast of Vancouver Island and overlooks Bedwell Harbour Resort and Marina. You can also take a water taxi from Sidney (on Vancouver Island) to Bedwell Harbour or travel by BC Ferries.

The hotel has a 22-room lodge, 15 seaside cottages and nine country villas.

Coastal Trek Vancouver Island, B.C. (2009) is for people who are not going to just laze in a spa. The family-run retreat in the Comax Valley is all about health and hiking. From a selection of about 100 nearby hiking options, a different hike is scheduled each day based on the interests and fitness levels of guests. Structured programs which include yoga sessions and healthy cooking classes are all part of the deal.

There are spa treatment rooms but healthy activities followed by a spa are more the theme of the retreat.

The there is Galiano which is 10 minutes from Vancouver by float plane, or 50 minutes by ferry. This is a quiet island refuge where the majority of island residents are engaged in tourism and the arts.

The Galiano Oceanfront Inn and Spa has its own dock and offers special spa and room packages. So you are staying in a hotel which is also a spa on an island which is near Vancouver and near Vancouver Island but not part of either.

Then there is Ocean Palm Spa, Sidney and yes, the address is often misspelled a if it was in Australia. This is a new resort spa environment for men and women, located at the Sidney Waterfront Inn and Spa.

Think of this spa as being totally focussed on spa treatments although, being part of an Inn, all the other facilities are available.

Again on Vancouver Island Oh Spa, Courtenay is on the banks of the Courtenay River, in the Comox Valley. It has a range of exclusive treatments and natural products which are, as it were, part of the ambience of the island.

Brentwood Bay Lodge and Spa is on an inlet in the heart of Victoria’s wine country. The spa is called Essence of Life and some of its treatments work with locally harvested seaweed; heated basalt stones and aromatherapy.

And so it goes on. There are at least 30 establishments in this area but mostly they are more suited for a hotel stay/spa experience. Not places you would fly into for a three hour treatment.

Now we come to the city of Vancouver which is not on Vancouver Island, although very close, and is probably the most liveable city in the world. It is somewhat reminiscent of Hong Kong – one in five of the two million inhabitants is Chinese – but with more style and more understanding of design in an urban setting.

Because of the high percentage of Chinese population the Chinese food there is quite remarkable. The people of Vancouver think it is the best Chinese food in the world. In that they are wrong. But it is certainly quite, quite excellent.

As a designed city it is probably the best in the world. There is general agreement that Vancouver is one of the world’s greatest cities. Certainly the most liveable city.

When it comes to spas the problem is counting them. Possibly over a hundred. Certainly every need is catered for and some of the spas are seriously world class.

A good example is Solace Spa which has all sorts of packages which include, Couples Romantic Getaway, Vino Therapy, Solace Signature Divine Bride, New Mom’s Renewal. (If you run a spa in a highly competitive area you have to think of new and focussed treatments which make your spa unique. Plainly Solace has worked very hard on this aspect of spa management.)

Note that it is in the Holiday Inn so that, in a sense, it is both a residential and a day spa.

Vida Spas are big in Vancouver (there are three of them – Sheraton Vancouver Wall Center Hotel, Sutton Place Hotel and the Westin Bayshore as well as others in Whistler and Seattle.) There are seven different Ayurveda therapies are based on the idea everyone is typically dominant in one of three doshas (Vata, Pitta or Kapha). Ayurvedic treatments work from the inside out to bring your dosha into perfect harmony so you can enjoy optimal health. Vida also has an Ayurveda-inspired product line customized for the various doshas, and they send clients home with tips on how to eat for your dosha. For the record the writer’s dosha is Vata.

Then, a considerable way away for it is right on the other side of the country, there is Montréal in the province of Quebec (which also contains the smaller Quebec City). Montréal is very French Canadian and has an amazing history, has more spas than you can easily count. Probably several hundred and almost all of them are day spas. Spend a few hours there and emerge refreshed, relaxed and in the perfect mood to enjoy the local cooking which is quite amazingly good. Probably because of its French heritage. Note that Montréal’s Underground City is a set of interconnected shopping malls (both above and below ground) in and around downtown Montréal. It is the largest underground complex in the world. Go down there in the winter and the weather is totally irrelevant.

No point in listing all the spas in Montréal because there are so many.

Rather just a few examples from a very small area which is Downtown Montréal. You can then you make your own discoveries probably either in the hotel at which you are staying or very, very close nearby. There are that many spas.

Izba Spa is on the 12th floor at Hotel Le Crystal. We are told the Izba Spa incorporates the traditional Russian Banya (steam bath) with therapeutic massage and modern methods of holistic therapies to encourage health, facilitate rehabilitation and reduce stress.

Rainspa which is at Place d’Armes Hôtel & Suites 55 St-Jacques Street in Old Montréal has a Hammam – a traditional Middle Eastern steam bath. As well Rainspa offers high-quality paramedical treatments such as micro-dermabrasion, Intense Pulsed Light and VelaSmooth Spa anti-cellulite treatment.

Spa Savanna 4032 Notre-Dame West is very much the urban spa with a wide range of massage therapies and advanced skin care treatment.

Spa Eastman at 666 Sherbrooke West in Downtown Montréal was among the first urban spas in the city. Now it has been revamped but it still has staggering views from its panoramic lounge and offers a wide range of treatment.

Espace Nomad Holistic Spa at 4650 Boulevard St-Laurent calls itself Montréal’s first organic spa. It offers a massage, yoga and spa treatments and a line of products inspired by Indonesian beauty rituals.

Relatively near to Montréal is Toronto which is a bustling modern city – the largest in Canada — quite near to the smaller Ottawa which is the seat of government. The number of spas is, again, quite amazing. Well spoken of is Elmwood Spa Toronto which is in downtown Toronto and has couples’ suites – the Royal and Sapphire Suites both have two treatment tables, fireplaces and in-room showers under gabled ceilings.

Or, if you prefer, getting away for it then it is a 90-minute from downtown Toronto to one of Canada’s oldest and best known spas – Ste Anne’s which is in Grafton, Ontario. This is a residential spa with outdoor hydro-therapy options include a large swimming pool, plus a year-round field-stone lap-pool and hot tub. Plus, of course, a full menu of treatments and therapies. Not inexpensive but a total experience.

Wrong to suggest that the only places you can have the total spa experience is Vancouver, Vancouver Island, Montréal and Toronto although the first three would have to be on any visitor’s list. There are spas all over Canada.

Take Ottawa which is the government city with all that implies. Yet it has the Holtz Spa which is possibly one of the most authentic spa experiences in Canda. It has one special which is Spirit of the Forest. They describe it as a ‘Vibrational Healing Experience which is a unique 80-minute experience involving the vibrational resonance of the essences of Canadian trees. Following the lineage of Bach Flower Remedies, tree essences are believed to have special healing qualities that speak to emotional well-being and vitality.’

Note that this includes a relaxing tree essence beverage post treatment.

Then there is Infinima in Ste Foy which is about a 15 minute drive from Old Quebec City. This is truly a ‘green’ spa in that it is all about minimising the use of electricity and maximizing the use of natural materials.

The décor is stunning and the treatments, as you would imagine, follow a routine of green, alternative practice. In fact, it is a total spa treatment which gives an excellent example of how to minimise the use of energy.

Then there is Spa Ofuro at Morin-Heights, Quebec which is, as it were, a Japanese themed ‘nature’spa. Ofuro’ has a full menu of spa services including exotic-sounding signature treatments such as Summo, Tao, Yin and Yang.

And so it goes. On and on. Spas in abundance in every city with perhaps the greatest concentration being in Vancouver and Vancouver Island. Once you have been there you will no doubt agree that Canada is one of the great spa destinations of the world. With the added plus of great cuisine, staggering scenery and a pleasant and welcoming population.

Acupressure: Acupressure uses the pressure of the fingers and hands and is utilized effectively for tension related elements.

Acupuncture: Acupuncture uses small needles to penetrate and stimulate specific points in the body to restore normal functions and energetic balance. Acupuncture is now a widely accepted form of treatment throughout the world and is practiced in both hospitals and private practice.

Anti-Aging: Aging process can be slowed, suspended and in some cases reversed. Acupuncture came about as a shift in thinking from aging as an inevitable process to aging as a series of disease processes. Aging processes can be measured, and as with any disease, there are symptoms and treatments. Anti-aging is a comprehensive practice of preventive care, but goes beyond them utilizing specific high-tech testing procedures and treatments.

Applied Kinesiology: Applied Kinesiology (AK) tests the Chi or energy by taking a strong indicator muscle, any strong muscle, and asking the person to lock their muscle as the practitioner challenges the strength of that muscle by pushing or pulling the area to see if it will hold. The practitioner might ask the person to hold his/her arm straight out in front and lock it while the practitioner with an open hand firmly pushes down on the arm right above the wrist. This is a check to see if the arm will hold. Any major muscle will work for muscle testing. The arm being able to hold is a signal the body is free of dis-ease or distress. If the arm is unable to hold is a signal there is a weakness in the system. Kinesiology testing is required to determine the cause of the dis-ease or distress.

Aromatherapy: Aromatherapy is the art and science of using the essential oil of botanical plants for the treatment of ailments, illness and disease. Various therapeutic grade essential oils are utilized without side effects. These oils can be inhaled, applied topically and, in some cases, ingested. In many countries aromatherapy is highly respected as a system of holistic health care.

Ayurvedic Medicine: Ayurvedic Medicine is an ancient medicine, which evolved among the Brahmin sages of ancient India. Ayurveda is from the roots “ayur” meaning life and “veda” meaning knowledge. Ancient Vedic texts indicate the system is the oldest being practiced prior to 4000 B.C. and some believe it is even 8000 years old. Ayurveda and Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) are very similar being based on universal natural bi-polar concepts that matter and energy are one. There are several aspects of this system of medicine which distinguish it from other approaches to health care.