Analyze This: Yoga Spring, Organic Pharmacy and Rachel Avalon
October 15 2009
You go about your normal routine of (ir)regular workouts, relatively healthy diet (holidays excepted, of course), daily doses of supplements and applications of vitamin-infused face creams guaranteed to fight off free radicals and fend off aging. Flu season? Pop an Emergen-C into your water bottle. Stress getting you down? Up the yoga quotient. You’re balanced—in a relative sort of way.
But then in walks a friend you haven’t seen in years and she looks phenomenal. Thick, healthy hair. Clear, glowing skin. Rested. She’s dropped a dress size. She might even have grown, for god’s sakes.
Instantly you feel like a toad. Then you ask for her secret.
It’s nothing, she tells you. She tweaked her diet a little. Added a few vitamins, deleted several supplements. Stopped (or started) eating meat. Did a cleanse. Began walking a few times a week.
Nothing major.
And so, inspired to hop off your own personal lily pad, you do the same—tweaking a little here, adjusting there. And nothing happens. Same old hair. Same old skin. Same old size.
Same old tired.
So you ask again. How did you know what to do? Oh, she tells you. Oh, that: She got analyzed.
Now lest you think this is some sort of pro-psychology, think again. Your friend didn’t get her head shrunk, this analysis was of her body. (And mind, in a holistic sort of way.)
There are a few ways of assessing a person’s health. A conventional doctor does blood or urine tests, which tell you what’s going on at the time of the test. So, for example, if you eat a banana before you go to the doctor and he tests your blood, you’ll show high levels of potassium—even if you’re deficient in that particular area.
But according to Santa Monica, CA based nutritionist Meg Gotelli of Newstrition, another—less invasive—way to determine health is a 30-year alternative medicine tradition of hair analysis. The theory is that because your hair is exposed to the blood, lymph and extra-cellular fluids in the body while it is being formed, testing it can give a far more accurate picture (and approximately two-month’s history) of a person’s mineral and heavy metal deficiencies, excesses and imbalances. Working with clients nationwide, Gotelli has them fill out a form and send a one-tablespoon clipping (a handy-dandy paper scale makes it easy) of undyed, product-free hair (pubic is convenient) to her lab for analysis. You get the results in chart form, which you can go over with Gotelli either in person or over the phone. And it’s not a simple equation: High levels of calcium don’t necessarily mean you’re full up on the stuff—it probably means that you’re low in potassium, Gotelli says, which is necessary for the body to absorb calcium, so the calcium is “spilling over” into tissues and hair, rather than being absorbed into the bones, where it’s needed. But rather than telling you to take a potassium pill, Gotelli will give you a laundry list of potassium-rich foods to choose from: Asparagus, oranges, swiss chard, summer squash, etc. Similarly, for someone who presents high levels of mercury, Gotelli might recommend eliminating tuna, swordfish, diuretics and skin-bleaching creams. Oh, and maybe non-eco mascara. Kidding!
Similary, Los Angeles-based holistic nutritionist Rachel Avalon advises clients nationwide on eliminating toxins from their bodies. But rather than analysis, Avalon focuses on action. After seeing too many people yo-yo diet on lemon juice and chili peppers, she developed the 15- or 30-day Avalon Cleanse, which includes a specialized blend of nutrients, herbs, enzymes, probiotics and fiber that Avalon creates for each client and ships to their door, as well as detailed information that can help create a more balanced, greener life. Avalon claims that her cleanse can eliminate excessive yeast and growth hormones from the system, along with the aforementioned heavy metals, as well as impacted fecal matter (!) and household cleaners (!!), among other things. Clients rave about improved metabolism, digestion and immunities. And if the radiant, rested and ridiculously gorgeous Avalon is any evidence, her system works.
Finally, the U.K. based Organic Pharmacy, which claims to be the “first and only pharmacy in the world dedicated to health and beauty using organic products and treatments,” is as legendary for its detoxes as it is for its facials. Unfortunately, unless you can hop a flight to London where the company has five locations, the only way to get the Organic Pharmacy experience on this side of the pond is at their singular U.S. location in Beverly Hills, CA. There, a dedicated team of highly trained homeopaths is ready and willing to evaluate your entire life—from stress levels, nutrition, organ function, vitamin and mineral status to emotional well-being—using an amazing system of body analysis that uses electromagnetic waves to figure out what ails you. (Lest you think this is a load of futuristic-sounding hooey, picture this: One EcoStilettoista in the hot seat had a scan that showed exactly where the muscle tension she felt appeared on her body. No hands were applied. Amazingly accurate.) The OP team then advises you on a personalized detox, using herbs, homeopathy and nutrition, that just might jump-start your life.
You could also just online order their 10-day detox kit (pictured above) and hope for the best. No lily pad necessary.
Through the end of October, mention EcoStiletto and get $50 off the Avalon Cleanse; also through October 31st, get $25 off a hair analysis with Meg Gotelli at Newstrition if you say you read about it here. (Thanks, too, to Newstrition, for the photos on our home page!)
