Last Wednesday, I gave you a little taste of my weekend up North at the Grail Springs Health Resort. It was a healing getaway unlike any vacation I’ve ever experienced. While my usual week-long vacations leave me with the blues and longing for a return to the beach, after only two days at Grail Springs, I felt well-rested, energized, at peace and ready to take on the world!

Grail vacationers go to heal and learn balanced living. Everyone had a fascinating story to tell, the guests, staff and even the owner. Several guests said it wasn’t their first time here, and this time wouldn’t be their last (one had already booked for next month!) Whether it was to cope with the death of a loved one, learn better stress management or heal from a chronic illness, we all felt the benefits of living the Grail philosophy:

From www.grailsprings.com:

“Our approach to lifestyle is holistic. We believe our natural state is that of equilibrium, clarity, and good health. And that our life is a journey of experiences, lessons, triumphs and fulfillment. Within the challenges facing most in the 21st century; we often find ourselves having made sacrifices in our health, peace of mind, family, finances, or our basic right to happiness and love for life. Somewhere along the road we lost our way.”

Read the rest of this entry »

The Legend of the Holy Grail is an ancient tale dating back to at least the 12^th century. Some say it is based on even older Celtic mythology and nature cult folklore. If you’ve seen the excellent Spielberg and Lucas flick, Indian Jones and The Last Crusade, you’ll remember that the Grail holds mystical powers. According to the legend, it was the cup that Jesus used at the last supper. Anyone who drinks from it is blessed with eternal youth.

So for a holistic health resort featuring natural living and a focus on helping their guests recover their youthful appearance and vigor, Grail Springs Health Resort is aptly named. Even their message at the bottom of their new website (just launched on Sunday, the day I checked out) promises, “where the legend is alive and well…”

A vacation get-away for Hollywood stars (like Jim Carrey), wrestlers (like Trish Stratus), music moguls and top executives, Grail Springs is the perfect place to be pampered. It’s no wonder people travel from all over the world to get its guaranteed R & R. One American guest told me that Grail Springs was by far the best health spa he’s been to out of seven he’s encountered during his globe-trotting. Another guest traveled all the way from London, England to get the tonic served here in Bancroft, Ontario. Read the rest of this entry »

If you’ve been keeping up with Live Lighter, you’ll know that I’ve been falling back into my old habits and addictions . I’m curious as to why I fell off the wagon, and explored one possibility in The Cure to Indecision . In that post, I speculated that it was because I lost my vision.

I’ve since reviewed that vision and it’s given me the strength to make a decision. I am convinced that health is the key to happiness , so on September 1^st , I will once again walk my talk. I will reaffirm my decision to lead a healthy lifestyle - starting with a smoke-free existence (my ultimate nemesis)!

But old habits are comforting and change is frightening. I need a solid plan of attack in order to prepare for the lifestyle changes. This plan requires good research to be well-informed so that I can customize my health plan for my individual life. And though this isn’t the first time I’ve created a health plan , my life is different now. I need new and updated information, different tricks and alternative methods to get back on the wagon. By the way, this is the next post topic!

Read the rest of this entry »

Last week I received an email notifying me of an article posted by NursingDegree.net, “101 Resources for a Holistic Healthcare Regimen“. The email didn’t get me excited right away so I set it aside for later. Later came today and just in time!

The first article is about the health benefits of massage. It reminded me of a few mental and physical facts about stress that instantly helped me find my calm. It relaxed me enough so that I could find a solution to my challenges and do what I wanted to get done. Whew.

Kudos goes to Alisa Miller, the author of this massively intense and intelligent list of holistic health sources. The information is well-organized in simple categories (which is really hard to do when we’re talking holistic health, by the way). And the list is so comprehensive that it’ll take awhile to get through – I’ll be book-marking it and returning often, for sure.

Read the rest of this entry »

“Eating locally isn’t just a fad - it may be one of the most important ways we save ourselves and the planet.” David Suzuki.

Local eating is a favourite subject for Denise Lambert , our regular guest writer here on Live Lighter, so far contributing, “For the Love of Asparagus ” and “Rhubarb – A Local Delight ”. Her source of inspiration lies in the recently published, national bestseller by Alisa Smith and J.B. MacKinnon, The 100-Mile Diet: A Year of Local Eating .

This fascinating book recounts the year in which the married couple consumed only food (including the packaging) grown and sourced within a 100 mile radius of their Vancouver , BC apartment. This lifestyle experiment was motivated by the disturbing statistic that each ingredient in an average North American’s meal has typically travelled at least 1,500 miles .

The book raises interesting topics such as un-renewable energy sources, environmental damage and loss of nutrition due to food transportation, and the ever increasing untrustworthiness of mass food production and the organics industry. It even subtly considers the soundness of apocalyptic mentality and questions our current relationship with food, the fact that we are disconnected from our primary source for life.

Read the rest of this entry »

A few posts ago, we defined detoxing and body cleansing . We’ve also covered why we should detox and the warning signs our bodies show to tell us when a detox might help make life a bit easier. In that last post, I promised this one would cover how to detox.

How to Detox.”

However, faithful Readers, I thought you might enjoy a break from reading. In keeping with the theme, the following video is a Fox news segment covering Isagenix , a body cleansing system currently out on the market.

MY ISAGENIX REVIEW:

Read the rest of this entry »

One of the main ingredients to making it easy to get healthy is pleasure. I tell ya, I LOVE this workout DVD. I crave it weekly now. It’s fun and full of variety. I feel a marked stress reduction in mid-workout and it’s made me stronger both physically and mentally.

One of the videos from SELF Magazine’s Body Bonus workout series , “Your Best Butt Fast” has been the best workout video I’ve encountered so far. The following is a list of why I can’t get enough of this workout:

• It consists of 3 parts: exercises inspired by kickboxing, dance and yoga.
• If you’re time crunched, you can skip to your favourite part.
• It involves muscle building, stretching, cardio and active, deep breathing.
• The instructor is positive and motivating without being annoying.
• It’s great for beginner, intermediate and advanced fitness levels.
• The music is well-suited, the moves well-choreographed.
• It’s filmed on a tropical beach…ahh…

Why not check out this minute clip to see for yourself: