The BR Experience

"I have a proposal for you," BR announced over the phone. "But I'm not going to tell you what it is unless you say yes. All I'll say is that it will be an interesting experience."

I was in the middle of lunch at Ise, probably enjoying a heart-warming bowl of beef udon, when the call came. BR was calling to thank me for the copy of World Changing I gave him over a year ago (he had thought I had lent it to him and wanted to buy me a replacement copy, but I've learnt early on not to loan out books unless they're books I never want to see again.). "I have nothing else to offer you in return, except for an experience."

I've known BR for years and he's an all-around great guy -- do-gooder, yogi and chef. He's the one I turned to for inspiration when I made a resolution to do yoga 6 days a week for a month. So I was sure the experience he was proposing could not be anything bad. And of course, being the Chief Experience Officer of my company, I was naturally baited to accept.

And what was the BR experience? It turned out to be a 10-day detox (actually, it's 11 days. the program starts counting from Day 0)! Now if BR had just asked me to go on an 11-day detox that included 2-days of fasting and drinking a disgusting meal replacement shake, I would have immediately said no. I would have come up with a million and one excuses not to do it. Afterall, over the years, I had made several half-hearted attempts. In fact, last year, I even spent a weekend in Phuket trying to kick-start a detox. I came back thinking that I enjoy food (whether it be a ham & cheese sandwich from Robuchon, a hearty breakfast of crisp waffles or french toast with strawberries and sausages or crisy bacon from Pressroom, Vietnamese pho bo, Korean bulgogi or bibimbap, Peking duck, all manner of Shanghainese...you get the idea, it's a very long list) and coffee a little too much to ever get through a whole week without them, let alone 11 days!

So before the BR Experience even started, here was lesson 1: The secret to convincing someone to do something you know they don't want to do is to spin or package it in a way that makes it seem appealing or at least intriguing, which involves a bit more ingenuity than mere sugar-coating.

BR had managed to convince two others to join in on his little experience. After comparing travel schedules, we settled on 8 June as Day 0. In between agreeing to embark on the detox and the start date, I had trips to Japan and Seoul, where I indulged in and ingested all manner of "toxic" foods:

My favourite artery-clogging, fat-filled salted caramel eclair from Fauchon in Takashimaya. Note the elaborate packaging just for the one eclair -- in the center are two ice packs positioned to keep the eclair cool and from moving around in the box. Japanese really know how to package.

I returned from Seoul three days before Day 0 (It was a Sunday, but I would actually suggest starting on a Friday. The toughest days are the first few, so they should fall on a weekend. The fasting days actually aren't that tough, because the body is already feeling much better and used to the reduced food-intake.). Despite my attempt to reign in my unhealthy eating habits so that my system wouldn't go into shock on Day 0, I ended up having at least half a box of popcorn while watching SATC on Thursday, a scrumptious Chinese feast on Friday at the newly-opened Ovologue and a salted caramel tart at the Robuchon tea salon on Saturday. I did manage to prepare for the detox though. Braving torrential rainstorms, I made my way to IMI (Integrated Medicine Institute, founder Graeme Stuart-Bradshaw designed the detox program.) and ThreeSixty to pick up all the things I needed for the next 11 days:
- Fast & Be Clear meal replacement
- Omega 3, 6, 9 oil
- Supplements: Spirulina, Fiberblend and Kyodophilis
- Ginger Honey tonic (tastes great as a hot tea)
- organic blueberries (a low-sugar fruit)
- Biotta Breuss juice (predominantly beetroot juice, definitely an acquired taste even for someone who normally likes to eat beetroot)
- organic carrot, apple, celery juice
- organic lemons
- lots and lots of water

At first glance, the program looks a bit complicated to follow. But basically, there are four phases -- pre-cleanse (day 0), initial cleanse (days 1-4), liver flush (day 5), intense cleanse (days 6 & 7), re-orientation (days 8-10). Through each phase, you substitute one more meal with the rice protein shake until you get to the intense cleanse phase where all you're drinking is the rice protein shake. Meals consist mainly of vegetables with a small serving of chicken, fish or brown rice. No other meat or poultry or shellfish allowed, no carbs (except brown rice), no coffee, sugar, alcohol, drugs (even Tylenol), tobacco etc. Over the course of the detox, I had most of my meals at Ise or Harakan where I would have either grilled silver cod or mackerel served with a large green or seaweed salad. I drank lots of hot lemon water whenever I had to meet someone at a coffee place.

Unfortunately, the rice protein shake is disgusting, especially if you get the cherry flavour (pineapple, i was told, is more neutral tasting). In fact, I was so disgusted with the shake that I ended up substituting the Master Cleanse lemonade (7 tbs lemon juice, 7 tbs Grade B maple syrup and 1 tsp cayenne pepper to a litre of water. You're supposed to drink 2 litres of this a day with unlimited water and zero solid foods) for days 6 and 7. The Master Cleanse drink, as you might imagine, is quite delicious. I got a little less protein and a few more calories from the Master Cleanse drink (7-800 for the day as opposed to 500 for the three servings of the rice protein shake), but I think the overall effect was the same, which was to give the digestive system a rest and allow it to rid the body of toxins.

The first 2.5 days were the hardest. I felt groggy and sluggish and got a headache on Day 1. But on the morning of Day 3, I woke up feeling much fresher. I found that even on the groggy days, the fog would lift if I did some cardio like swimming, running or kickboxing. For me, kickboxing was a most effective substitute for the caffeine/sugar buzz. From Day 3 onwards, the experience took a turn for the better. I would wake up earlier feeling refreshed and alert. I no longer felt sleepy or lethargic after lunch or in late afternoon. By Day 5, I noticed I could concentrate better. At no point during the detox did I feel hungry. That is not to say that I didn't crave food. When I got an email about an event at El Taco Loco, I wanted tacos. When I was posting pictures from my Seoul trip, I wanted to go eat at Iroha or Kaya. And of course I still missed my morning ritual of having coffee, even though I wasn't actually craving its taste.

What I missed the most, though, was the enjoyment of sharing meals with friends. So much of socializing in Hong Kong revolves around eating (gossipy Sunday brunches, brainstorming lunches, long chatty dinners) and drinking (whether it be an afternoon coffee or evening Champagne cocktail). I had a couple of dinners with understanding friends where I would watch them eat, but it's definitely a lot less fun. The upside is that I feel much more energetic, with more mental clarity. And of course, I lost 2.6kg (the program says that most women lose 2.5kg, while men can expect to lose 3.5kg).

I'm not sure I would have been able to get through the whole experience, resisting all temptations, without the support of friends. I had a huge amount of support from BL & AW, who ate similarly healthy lunches with me even though they weren't on detox. It's much easier eating healthy when everyone else at the table is eating healthy. PT kept me motivated and my mind off food during the two fasting days by supplying me with Seasons 1 and 2 of ALIAS on dvd. Everyone had to put up with my incessant "I wish I could have..." whining and whinging. Most importantly though, I have BR to thank for this "interesting (and instructive) experience". He checked up on me with daily pep calls.

I'm not sure that I'm about to give up coffee, cupcakes or my other culinary indulgences, but I'm certainly going to be more thoughtful about what I eat, striving, for example, to balance each portion of protein or carb with double the portion of veggies and fruits. And now I know that sleepiness or a lack of focus and concentration isn't necessarily about a lack of sleep or over exertion. So when I next feel like my mind and body are under-performing, I can always come back to the BR experience and do an 11-day system reboot.

Detox Weekend @ Aleenta Phuket-Phangnga

Sunset from my Ocean View Residence plunge pool. All that was missing was the toxicating Mojito.

It's pretty much human nature that the moment you tell people that they can't have something, then that's the one thing they suddenly want. And so it was when I started my 48-hour detox (it's not really enough time to do an effective detox, but it was a way for me to figure out whether it was something I or my clients would want to spend a week doing). Friday morning, at around 9:30am, I had my last non-detox meal -- my usual Starbucks drink, a Prêt-a-Manger egg salad and sundried tomoatoes baguette and citrus fruit salad. By the time I got to the airport for the 1440 Dragonair flight to Phuket, I was already sms-ing friends that I was hungry. Granted, I had just done 45-minutes on the treadmill (just enough time to watch an episode of House, a show that PT got me into). By the time I got on the plane, even the airplane food (a choice of dim sum or seafood rice served with haagen dazs ice cream) was looking really appealing.

I landed in Phuket at 1705 and was at Aleenta by 1800. I had dragged PT along to keep me company during my detox and she had arrived a day earlier. However, I wasn't able to convince her to join me on the detox. But apparently, all the staff at Aleenta had been trying to detox her from the moment she arrived! PT had booked an in-residence foot and scalp massage for me at 1900. After that, we went down to the restaurant for dinner. If you ever decide to go on a detox trip, make sure the person going with you is doing the detox as well! Because as I was eating my steamed vegetables wrapped in rice paper roll, she was having a tuna tartare and papaya & shrimp salad. She also told me how good her other meals had been (though expensive!).

The next morning, we woke up for our 7am yoga session with our yoga instructor who never introduced himself. It's always nice to do yoga with the view of the ocean in front of you. It was a fairly easy-going and relaxing class, although not the most inspiring. Turns out that he met one of my favourite Pure Yoga instructors, Patrick Creelman, when Patrick was at Aleenta for holiday. Following yoga, PT and I headed to breakfast. She got to have pain au chocolat with coffee, orange juice, fruit yogurt and fruit, while I got all-you-can-drink carrot-garlic-ginger juice (I actually don't like carrot juice at all. When I do drink it, it has to be mixed with something like apple juice), a cold vegetable soup (mainly cucumber and yogurt) that I didn't really have much of, and fruit. No coffee!!

After breakfast, we retired by the plunge pool, PT with her well-worn copy of June's issue of Vanity Fair (I got to hear entertaining bits and pieces from Ronald Reagan's Presidential diaries) while I flipped through the latest issue of Vogue for motivation. All to the tunes of sugary, beach holiday pop (Paris Hilton's Stars are Blind, Bee Gees' How Deep Is Your Love, Madonna's Holiday...) blaring from the iPod Bose speakers (I still think the sound quality of Altec Lansing speakers are much better than Bose). At 11am, we had our massage session (a Thai massage is part of the detox package). The massage therapists are all well-trained and have a good touch. After massage, it was time for lunch. I had a steamer full of plain, steamed vegetables without any seasoning, served with a sweet and refreshing juice mixture (it was written down as "Natural Thai Diet Juice"). PT, on the other hand, had chicken satay and pomelo salad. As I was enviously eyeing her pomelo salad, I mentioned, "Would it have been so unhealthy for them to add some fried shallots to the steamed vegetables?" To which, PT quickly pointed out: "But they're fried!".

The rest of the afternoon was spent chilling poolside until we went for a villa tour at 1630. I was supposed to have a meditation/relaxation session in the afternoon, but decided that chilling by the plunge pool was relaxing enough and cancelled the session. We were originally booked into an Ocean View Loft, but on arrival, we were upgraded to a 2-bedroom Ocean View Residence. From all the rooms, there were beautiful views of the ocean. The first floor has a very roomy sitting area and 2 balconies, a large, well-equiped kitchen, dining table for up to 8 people, a laundry room, guest toilet and one of the en-suite bedrooms.

Upstairs was the plunge pool and master bedroom with en-suite bathroom featuring a large jacuzzi bathtub with views of the ocean.

On the villa tour, we saw the Beachfront Villa, which is a compound that has a large common area pavilion (kitchen, dining area, sitting room) with an upstairs bedroom plus two separate beachfront suites. All together, you could have 6 people, great for a weekend party or a family holiday (adults+children+nanny/helper). For one person or a couple, my favourite was the Villa Suite, which is right on the beach (but that also means less privacy because the plunge pool is open to the public beach). In terms of plunge pool privacy, the Ocean View Lofts, Pool Villas and Ocean View Residences are best. The space and layouts of all the rooms I saw were quite comfortable and well thought out.

The outdoor jacuzzi bathtub in the Pool Suite has views onto the beach.

Interior of the Ocean View Loft, with the bedroom upstairs.

As a resort, Aleenta is good value for money. All of the accommodation have private plunge pools (Chedi Phuket's, for example, does not. Trisara does, but they're in different price point.). And they have one of my necessities -- free wifi, even by the plunge pool. The feel of the resort, however, is a bit more holiday home feel rather than awe-inspiring resort experience. The villas are all in plain view and built close to each other like an apartment complex, albeit a stylishly minimalistic one. Most guests probably just hang out in the privacy and comfort of their own suites and villas at Aleenta, because there aren't many public spaces to lounge around in. There's a small library, a very basic gym, a small restaurant and beachside cafe/lounge bar. There is no big swimming pool to do any real swimming in. If you get bored hanging out in the villa, Phuket town is about a 45-minute drive away and there are a lot of boating excursions that can be organized. If you're looking for a peacful, quiet retreat in your own comfortable villa, Aleenta is a good place for that. For detox, I would have to say that detox is a very difficult thing to do on holiday, at least for me. For me, experiencing local cuisine and restaurants is such a big part of the travel experience that travelling somewhere only to have fruit and steamed vegetables seems a bit like self-inflicted punishment (especially when those accompanying you, or in one instance, even the waiter, tempt you to do otherwise).

What was the first thing I did after my plane touched down back in Hong Kong on Sunday evening? I went straight to Starbucks for my usual iced, double, tall, no vanilla, skim caramel macchiatto and then went to Lucy's in Stanley for dinner. The asparagus salad with truffle oil and falaffel weren't that unhealthy, but certainly tasted much better than steamed vegetables!!

ThreeSixty: Starting a health revolution in HK?

Over the weekend, I got some sad news about one of our ski instructors in Cortina. Apparently, M would not be able to join us for CNY skiing since she has just been diagnosed with breast cancer. Perhaps BI, who has just completed a course of chemotherapy and is now undergoing radiation therapy and will be joining us in Cortina, can offer her some support. In any case, I wish M a very speedy recovery and return to the slopes!

So over the weekend, health was on my mind. As I was working out in the gym with PT, she mentioned having just checked out ThreeSixty, the new food store on the top two floors of Landmark. At first, I wasn't all that interested, thinking it was just another City'Super, Oliver's, Great or Gourment. But then, she mentioned it was like Whole Foods. Those who have read my post when I was in D.C. will know that I love Whole Foods. So of course, I jumped at the bait and immediately went to check it out after my workout.

ThreeSixty just opened last Tuesday and when I got there, it was bustling with people. In many ways, it does try to be Whole Foods, except ThreeSixty is still a whole lot smaller. And the fact that it's in Landmark makes it a lot less accessible to the masses (so I guess their health revolution is starting from the affluent. For the launch, though, they are partnering with three NGOs: Oxfam, WWF and Changing Young Lives Foundation, but I couldn't quite figure out what the partnership entails, i.e. whether part of proceeds are donated or whether it's free publicity for the organizations etc.)

Like Whole Foods, ThreeSixty has done a lot of work on their labelling. On fresh produce, country of origin and farming style (conventional or organic) as well as brief description of health benefits were marked on the label along with the price. Same with meats. There were lots of educational and informational pamphlets explaining the difference between conventional, organic or naturally-raised livestock. At the moment, though, I would say that the majority of the offerings are marked "conventional" (i.e. no different from what you might find at your local Park'N'Shop). But credit has to be given to ThreeSixty for clearly marking everything and for making consumers more aware of the differences of conventional vs. organic farming methods. It also uses labels to indicate which foods are suitable for certain diets (i.e. low-sodium, low-carb etc.) or when certain allergens are present (XTC's gelatos had milk marked on the allergen labels).

In the non-food area, I was happy to see products such as Seventh Generation toilet paper (free from chlorine bleaching) and non-toxic cleaning products. They also have the Wellness Centre that has a naturopath on hand to guide customers in their choices of health supplements and natural beauty products.

ThreeSixty probably has one of the nicest supermarket shopping environments in Hong Kong. Though, I imagine, they'll be wanting more space very soon. I took a couple of photos with my new HP iPAQ hw6965 (I am still waiting, with baited breath, for Apple's iPhone, but I just got fed up with Nokia's word completion on the cheap, basic Nokia I got in India that I just had to spring for a phone with a full keyboard and wifi) so please excuse the grainy quality of these pics:

Thinking about health

Was talking to LP about summer holiday plans today. "I've decided I'm going to take it easy and go on a real holiday," she said. She explained that she just found out that a competitor in her field (head-hunting) just passed away at the age of 29. She had a brain tumour. Just within these past 6 months, I have heard of 1 other FoF (friend of friend) undergo surgery to remove a brain tumour, 1 FoF in a coma from a brain heomorrage, 1 F pass away from liver cancer, 1 FoF diagoned with lymphoma. These are just the ones ranging in age from 23-45 years old. What's going on? It seems that cancers and brain tumours are claiming the younger set. It's not just LP that's thinking it's all stress-related. All these stories and my own health scare got me thinking about researching a Little Cream Book on the cream of medical institutions around the world. But what we need isn't just the best places for medical diagnosis and treatment (by the time we need to seek medical treatment, it's already too late!), we need to find ways that will help us live healthier more balanced lives as well so as to prevent the onset of disease. Well, I hope to find some of these places during my research.

Google Calendar, Goytisolo, Gotan Project, Ana Forrest

Got a 4-day weekend here in Hong Kong, but having my own business means that weekends and public holidays don't mean much. I spent the day working on LCB: Golf in Starbucks. Didn't get far, only as far as Q (working backwards). As usual, I got side-tracked by quite a few interesting and fun things:

Google Calendar -- What can I say? Google never ceases to amaze me by coming up with new ways to organize and integrate every aspect of my life. I spent a couple hours setting up my calendar. But the real power of Google Calendar won't be realised until all my family, friends, colleagues, work associates are on it. The power of sharing aside, it was really easy to set up. I got iCal to synch with gCal, and then iCal transfers it all to my iPod video. Check it out!



The Anti-Orientalist -- One of the things I miss most about being in Hong Kong is Sundays with The New York Times Magazine (and the rest of the paper). Instead, I get previews to articles on Wednesday and read this rather interesting article on the Spanish writer Juan Goytisolo. Got me intrigued enough to want to read his memoirs, but also got me thinking about our love of the "authentic" in cultures -- usually the more chaotic, colourful side of developing countries. On the one hand, as tourists, we want to experience that aspect of "local culture", but at the same time, economic development and globalization leads to homogenization of cultures. And it's unfair for those of us visiting from economically privileged countries to expect those in developing countries to cling to traditions for our desire to experience something different or novel, not to mention that it helps maintain our higher spending power in those countries. Take wet markets in Hong Kong for example. Wet markets are a breeding ground for viruses (such as Avian flu) and diseases. Yet, they are also what add colour to the city; the juxtaposition of the sleek, gleaming international financial center that is Central with the wet market that is "local" life (never mind that the younger generation now shops at supermarkets such asCity'Super, Wellcome, Park-N-Shop).
Gotan Project -- Been listening to their new album Lunático (you can download tracks from iTunes).


Great stuff, as usual. It's great music for transporting you to a different time and place -- think late night in a smoky bar in Paris' Bastille or tango hall in Buenos Aires. Speaking of tunes that invoke destinations, BL tipped me onto Panjabi MC (which he heard while watching Inside Man), think it would be great for the pool party in India.
Ana Forrest -- By chance, I got to see an amazing and inspiring demonstration by the yogi Ana Forrest (there are links to videos of a similar performance held recently at a conference in Boston on her website). It had been a while since my last yoga class. BL managed to drag me to an hour long Hot Flow class at Pure Yoga and the demostration was right after class. I had no idea who Forrest was, but wandered in out of curiosity. It was truly inspiring to see the amazing control she had over each part of her body. It made me realize the power of breath in focusing the mind and controlling the body. Breathing seems like such a simple task that we don't really think about it. But it only takes one yoga class to figure out how difficult it is to master and how much power is behind such a simple task. Now, if only I could breathe and chew each bite of my food 20 times...