Holistic living

BODY TALK

Catalyst Health Asia http://wellnessthenewluxury.com

WHAT if a person could take one look at you and accurately assess your health issues, disease profile and personality type? That's what "wellness whisperer" Sally May Tan, founder of Catalyst Health Asia, is equipped with in her health-coaching business.

Even as there have been moves towards holistic and East-West integrated health, one of the new systems out there is "ph360", launched just 11/2 years ago, which can be described as a health diagnostic system or algorithm which is based on the integration of 15 sciences, rather than just biological markers.

Ms Tan was the first in Asia to be trained on how to use it as a tool to assess her clients' health. "It's a powerful tool that enables me to arrive at personalised solution much faster because it gives me ways to read a person's body," she explains.

The sciences ph360 draws from include anthropometry, embryology, the science of where one is born, which season one is born in, the ancient Indian healing system of Ayurveda, Traditional Chinese Medicine and more. One of the key sciences is bio-typing or anthropometry which looks at lengths and ratios of the body. "These indicate certain tendencies in health and behaviour," explains Ms Tan.

For instance, body ratios can be used to indicate whether people are mesomorphs, ectomorphs or endomorphs. "It's not just about body shape, but the proportion of the limbs to the torso etc. So one could be a big mesomorph or a thin one, but they are still mesomorphs," she explains.

In the science of embryology, for example, the length of fingers could indicate personality traits. If the fourth finger is longer than the second finger, it indicates that the foetus received a surge of testosterone when in the womb, and for a female, it means a more aggressive personality. Different parts of the body, such as the jawline from the ear to the chin, can be measured as they also indicate different traits.

Ms Tan says that the founders of ph360 took 10 years to pull together the data and research for its algorithm and only launched it in 2014. When they wanted to map Asians as well, and offered Ms Tan to work with them, she leapt at the chance to learn more about this new method. Now, it's offered as part of the package of her highest-tier in personal health coaching.

Health coaching is a new business for the former chief executive officer, who had been interested in health for a long while, but finally set up her own health consultancy in 2014. After leaving the corporate world in 2012, she took the time to get better qualified in health although she'd long been interested in the field. She's now both a certified holistic health coach with the Institute of Integrative Nutrition and a Master of Social Science in Professional Counselling.

As a wellness coach, Ms Tan says that only about 20 to 25 per cent of her clients have weight loss as a goal, with the rest struggling with other health conditions such as diabetes which is a lifestyle disease. She signs clients on to six-month blocks (rates range from S$3,000 at entry level to S$6,000, full suite, for six months) but they meet with her only twice a month, while she remains available via texts or email all the time.

She teaches them not to "outsource" their health by relying on medication all the time and to understand what they could be eating better. "It's not magic but the thing is compliance. I also simplify their lives by deciphering all the health information out there," says Ms Tan, who just launched her new book entitled Wellness, the New Luxury earlier this week.

By Cheah Ui-Hoon

UNDERSTANDING AGEING

Nu Skin Enterprises http://bit.ly/ageLOCYSPAN

MOVE over vitamins, the next wave of supplements out there would most likely address anti-ageing or slowing down the ageing process of our cells, if Nu Skin's newest brand of supplements - ageLOC Y-Span - are an indication.

"There's no doubt that to understand the human body, you've got to study genes and how they operate. Genes are like the hardware, and what you put into the 'computer' (your body) is the software - this is the layer that stays on top of genes like chemical 'tags'. That whole layer is the epigenetic layer which controls how genes behave," says Dr Joseph Chang, chief scientific officer of Nu Skin Enterprises.

Nu Skin started researching the gene expression profile of ageing about five years ago. Unlike cancer, which is a disease where there is a physical alteration in the genes, or genetic mutation; in ageing, the gene doesn't change and has nothing to do with mutation.

"What changes is the level of activity," explains Dr Chang. The human body has some 25,000 genes and these make proteins that govern bodily functions. How the liver or brain functions is the result of gene activity or expression. Diet was the first clue. It's a known fact, for instance, that reduced caloric intake will result in a longer life span but in actual fact, the actual caloric intake per day has to be drastically reduced to get this result. "No one can practise this kind of dieting. So what we started looking at is how to copy what this caloric restriction does to cells," he says.

The scientists identified six major systems which contribute to ageing - the immune, cardiovascular and hormonal systems, the brain, cellular protection and tissue renewal. "These have age-defying mechanisms if you preserve and maintain them at an optimal level," says Dr Chang.

"The body has the ability to stay young if it's given a chance, so that biological ageing can be slowed down," he points out.

Nu Skin's ageLOC Y-Span is nutri-genomics as it is supposed to work on the gene expression of ageing and it's supposed to act as a "shield" to ageing. What they have also realised is that no one ingredient does the trick, but a composite of ingredients.

Is this just a rebranding of health supplements or a new frontier? The jury is out as more research goes on in this area.

Nu Skin's ageLOC Y-Span will be officially launched in Singapore this November.

By Cheah Ui-Hoon uihoon@sph.com.sg

TCM AMID LAVISH SETTING

Asian Wellness Spa One Farrer Hotel & Spa, Level 18 Tel 6705 7854 Open 1pm to 10pm daily

WHEN you think about traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), what do you picture? A dingy clinic with concrete walls, and the smell of Chinese herbs? That doesn't always have to be the case, at least not at One Farrer Hotel's Asian Wellness Spa.

That's where the time-honoured TCM treatments such as acupuncture and cupping are matched with the comforts of modern opulence, through a range of programmes which are meant to "veer you towards a better lifestyle", says spa director Doris Sinnathurai.

Some of the programmes they offer include pain management (S$1,688++), which takes place over 30 days and includes non-invasive laser therapy using a Theralaser TLC-1000 or acupuncture sessions, and sleep management (S$4,888++), which spans 90 days and includes consultations with a psychologist.

Alternatively, if you're not sure where to start, there's the comprehensive preventive check (S$299++) where you'd go through a traditional TCM diagnosis by speaking with their full-time practitioner, followed by a chat with one of their in-house nutritionists. The check includes body analysis using various machines such as an Acugraph (to measure the energetic status of your acupuncture meridians), and EZSCAN (for early detection of glucose intolerance).

There are also facials and Thai massages, some of which were created at the Asian Wellness Spa itself, such as the Phoenix Facial (S$259++) involving facial acupuncture, and the Silk Road Warrior (S$219++), targeted at frequent travellers and which includes a massage and acupuncture.

"We looked at some of the Asian modalities, and found Thai treatments had a lot of documented benefits. And, of course, TCM as well. They're also both easier to relate to, so that's why we chose to focus on these two," explains Ms Sinnathurai.

While the Asian Wellness Spa is focused on improving overall wellness, the hotel also has a leisure spa on the sixth floor called the Spa Retreat, which Ms Sinnathurai highlights is more about relaxation, pampering and "shutting down from busy-ness".

Hotel chairman Richard Helfer says that having two separate spas not only forces them to focus on creating strong programming for each one, it also gives customers confidence in their individual specialisations as opposed to having one spa with a wide variety of services.

He explains: "It's like how some restaurants do fusion cooking, but that sort of fell out because it generated confusion. The fact that we specialise in what we do and set a high level of professionalism helps build reputation and loyalty."

By Rachel Loi rachloi@sph.com.sg @RachelLoiBT