One day I saw this colleague who had lost 20 pounds in a month by going to a health farm that uses naturopathy to cure ailments including obesity. I am usually very skeptical of such farms but naturopathy sounded good and cost was not prohibitive, so I decided to send an application. The process includes a doctor reviewing your application and granting you admission if they find that you will benefit from the stay.
Key reason I had applied for admission was treatment for fibromyalgia because I knew that once I get rid of pain, I can buckle up and lose weight as I had done before. My application was approved and finally I landed there for admission.
Let me give you an idea about the facility and treatment. No outside food is permitted in the facility, only very important medicines (approved by a doctor there) are allowed, you have to deposit the rest. Surprise checks of your accommodations ensure that all patients comply with these two rules. The doctor, after a detailed and long consultation, decides on a course of treatment which is accompanied by a diet.
Diet is as much a part of the cure as the treatments they have. You can’t cheat on the diet because it is written on a card and you are given food per the instructions on your card. Plus there is nothing interesting anyway that would tempt you in the first place! In addition to a strict diet, naturopathy also means that you can’t have anything toxic or addictive like tea, coffee, tobacco, alcohol, meat. Even dairy is considered unnatural. Your food mainly consists of fruits, vegetables, whole grains and soy milk.
Treatment includes various kinds of packs & baths, colon-cleansing techniques, yoga, acupuncture, reflexology and physiotherapy. A typical day starts at 4:30/5:00 am with a walk, followed by yoga, then after a glass of juice for breakfast your morning treatment begins. Lunch starts at 11 am so post treatment you have lunch and can get an hour of rest before afternoon treatment session. Then you have disease specific yoga class, acupuncture, reflexology, swimming (if you’ve energy left). Dinner wraps by 7 pm. Most folks take long walks post dinner as well.
For most people lunch and dinner is usually fruits and boiled vegetables in controlled portions. Some lucky ones get to eat whole wheat chapatti. And if you are unfortunate your lunch and dinner will comprise of a just a glass of juice each. These are called fasting days and are used as a detox. During my stay I was on fast for 3 days...first day is the toughest - you experience severe headache but by third day you are full of energy and ready to take on the world. The decision on the diet is doctor’s – you can shed a few tears and get him/her to be lenient for one meal but mostly they are strict about what you should eat based on your ailment.
I was at the farm for 10 days but I didn't lose much weight inspite of walking 6 miles a day and eating only fruits and vegetables. However, I did see a significant increase in my stamina to exercise and flexibility of my body. There were certain yoga poses that I couldn't perform perfectly when I had landed at the farm but by the end of the stay, I could do all of them with perfect form.
I came out about 5 pounds lighter (most people lose 10+ pounds in the same duration) and physically a lot better than I had expected. I, personally, give their colon-cleansing treatments a lot of credit for the difference I felt in my stamina. I had 3 of them and while I found them painful, I still remember feeling better after each successive treatment.
One thing that I learnt from this experience that there is a lot of merit in eating natural/fresh foods as against processed/preserved items that we consume a lot. Eating wrong food (even if low in calories) damages our body more than eating higher calorie right food. I would rather eat a 160 kcal mango as a snack than eat a 150 kcal protein bar.
Key reason I had applied for admission was treatment for fibromyalgia because I knew that once I get rid of pain, I can buckle up and lose weight as I had done before. My application was approved and finally I landed there for admission.
Let me give you an idea about the facility and treatment. No outside food is permitted in the facility, only very important medicines (approved by a doctor there) are allowed, you have to deposit the rest. Surprise checks of your accommodations ensure that all patients comply with these two rules. The doctor, after a detailed and long consultation, decides on a course of treatment which is accompanied by a diet.
Diet is as much a part of the cure as the treatments they have. You can’t cheat on the diet because it is written on a card and you are given food per the instructions on your card. Plus there is nothing interesting anyway that would tempt you in the first place! In addition to a strict diet, naturopathy also means that you can’t have anything toxic or addictive like tea, coffee, tobacco, alcohol, meat. Even dairy is considered unnatural. Your food mainly consists of fruits, vegetables, whole grains and soy milk.
Treatment includes various kinds of packs & baths, colon-cleansing techniques, yoga, acupuncture, reflexology and physiotherapy. A typical day starts at 4:30/5:00 am with a walk, followed by yoga, then after a glass of juice for breakfast your morning treatment begins. Lunch starts at 11 am so post treatment you have lunch and can get an hour of rest before afternoon treatment session. Then you have disease specific yoga class, acupuncture, reflexology, swimming (if you’ve energy left). Dinner wraps by 7 pm. Most folks take long walks post dinner as well.
For most people lunch and dinner is usually fruits and boiled vegetables in controlled portions. Some lucky ones get to eat whole wheat chapatti. And if you are unfortunate your lunch and dinner will comprise of a just a glass of juice each. These are called fasting days and are used as a detox. During my stay I was on fast for 3 days...first day is the toughest - you experience severe headache but by third day you are full of energy and ready to take on the world. The decision on the diet is doctor’s – you can shed a few tears and get him/her to be lenient for one meal but mostly they are strict about what you should eat based on your ailment.
I was at the farm for 10 days but I didn't lose much weight inspite of walking 6 miles a day and eating only fruits and vegetables. However, I did see a significant increase in my stamina to exercise and flexibility of my body. There were certain yoga poses that I couldn't perform perfectly when I had landed at the farm but by the end of the stay, I could do all of them with perfect form.
I came out about 5 pounds lighter (most people lose 10+ pounds in the same duration) and physically a lot better than I had expected. I, personally, give their colon-cleansing treatments a lot of credit for the difference I felt in my stamina. I had 3 of them and while I found them painful, I still remember feeling better after each successive treatment.
One thing that I learnt from this experience that there is a lot of merit in eating natural/fresh foods as against processed/preserved items that we consume a lot. Eating wrong food (even if low in calories) damages our body more than eating higher calorie right food. I would rather eat a 160 kcal mango as a snack than eat a 150 kcal protein bar.
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