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THE year
2007 was a watershed for then-Henkel Phils. president
Cris Aquino.
From
being an employee, albeit a highly paid one in a
multinational company, she became an employer, putting
up two companies, both of which catered to her strength
as a chemist. She also found out in the course of her
regular executive checkup that she had three big
gallstones and several small ones to boot. Her doctor
recommended immediate surgery. She opted for a
noninvasive procedure instead.
“A
friend recommended that I try flushing. After my first
session in April 2007, I flew to Germany on business and
had another ultrasound. The doctor was amazed because he
saw only one gallstone. I took care of that with another
session in July of the same year,” she said.
Aquino
is several of hundreds Filipinos who have participated
in the monthly wellness workshops held by The Global
Vital Sources Co. since January 2007. The next workshop
will be held on the weekend of March 8 at Discovery
Suites in Ortigas Center.
Although
the workshop covers lectures on how to eat well but
healthily and how to create a life balance that makes
you more happy and, therefore, less stressed, its core
is the flushing or detoxification of toxins from the
liver and gallbladder, which are sometimes described as
the body’s janitor and his Axion, and the body’s first
line of defense.
“When
you flush, your body’s performance improves because you
remove the clogs. Toxin buildup, caused by improper
diet, pollutants and an unhealthy lifestyle, lowers the
immune system and increases the chances of disease to
set in,” said Global Vital Source chairman and chief
executive officer Jean Goulbourn.
The
procedure starts with a controlled diet of soups, juices
and all the fruits you can eat for five to six hours to
hydrate the body. This is followed by a four-hour fast
that includes water. Between 6 in the evening and 8 in
the morning of the next day, each participant is given
five glasses of liquids containing natural and organic
elements, such as a salt called epsom salt that prompts
the body to expel gallstones of different colors and
different sizes.
“There’s
no pain involved but expect to take numerous trips to
the bathroom between 7 and 10 the next morning,” said
Goulbourn. “About 80 percent of gallstones are caused
by bad cholesterol, the accumulation of all those years
of eating fried and greasy food that Filipinos, Chinese
and Americans like.”
One
happy side effect of flushing is the loss of weight as
the body rids itself of excess water. The usual weight
loss is between 1 and 2 lb, although there are cases
such as Carmelite nun Sis. Mary Niere, who lost 8 lb
overnight.
“When I
joined the workshop, I was 35 lb overweight and in need
of knee surgery because of my weight. After the initial
loss of 8 lb, I lost another 28 lb in the span of one
year by eating right. Health is indeed a precious gift,”
said the 78-year-old nun, who no longer needs surgery.
In fact, the Zamboanga-based nun is more active than
ever, frequently traveling all around the country and
abroad to lecture on contemplative praying.
Diet and
lifestyle
“YOU can
still eat what you like and be healthy. Just prepare the
food differently by steaming, rather than frying. Also
avoid sweets and red meat, because cancer cells thrive
in sweet and acidic environments,” said holistic
nutritionist Dale Flores.
Health
trends worldwide show that prostate cancer is the
biggest killer for men; heart disease for women; and
lung cancer is the biggest killer for both men and
women. In Asia the Philippines has the highest incidence
of breast cancer largely due to a diet of high fat, high
salt and high sugar. Interestingly, Bicol has the
longest life expectancy in the country, because coconut
is a widely used ingredient in cooking.
There
are three underlying causes of cancer. An unhealthy diet
is one. Stress is another. Chemical intake is a third.
Smoking can hurt the lungs; alcohol, the liver; and too
much salt, the kidney.
“Research shows that cancer patients hate vegetables and
eat a lot of red meat. They also have problems with
emotions because they have a tough time letting go and
forgetting,” said
Flores.
Contrary
to public perception, eating healthy is not expensive.
For example, the lowly malunggay packs more calcium than
milk and more vitamin C than any citrus fruit. In
contrast, vitamins in tablet form are only 30 percent
absorbed by the body.
“At the
end of the day, it’s important for everyone to increase
his/her health awareness by dealing with his/her own
‘doctor within.’ Learn to listen to your body. Take care
of it. Stress that you can take at 25, your body might
not be able to take at 55,” said Flores.
A case
in point is Goulbourn, who had off-and-on-again fever
and coughing over a period of 60 days two years ago.
Prescribed antibiotics and steroids, she also
experienced cramps and depression. It was when she
consulted a naturopath doctor that her road to wellness
began. She was given a therapeutic wrap and lots of
soups and juices. Four-and-a-half hours later, her
temperature returned to normal. She hasn’t had even a
cold since.
“It took
me 10 months to change my lifestyle, to redesign my
life. It took that much time to look into my inner body
so that I could move out of the box. Food is the best
medicine. It is also important to priortize what is
important to you. When you are in your 30s, you want to
achieve a lot even at the cost of health,” said
Goulbourn, who no longer reads newspapers at night nor
listens to newscast nor makes business decisions after 6
pm to reduce stress. She also takes her dinner no later
than 7 pm for better digestion.
Advocacy
GOULDBOURN describes herself as a natural wellness and
natural medicines advocate. She is, of course, better
known as the first local fashion designer to put up her
own ready-to-wear collection and as a producer of
locally made silk mixed with other indigenous fabrics
like piña that are exported to European fashion houses
such as Balenciaga.
“When I
entered the wellness business, I thought that I would
just bridge people to the right doctors and the right
nutritionists. But after having personally experienced
poor health, it boiled down to helping those who are not
already ‘sick-sick’ but just suffering physical
discomfort. These are the ones that easily bounce back
after body cleansing,” said Goulbourn.
Global
Vital Source focuses on digestive clean up, or DCU
modules, which cover the upper digestive tract or the
stomach, small intestine, liver and gallbladder.
It
piloted the liver and gallbladder module sometime in the
fourth quarter of 2006. “We chose
Bacolod for several reasons. The people there are more conscious of
eating healthy. In fact, Negros Occidental Gov. Joseph
Maranon has a ‘Go Organic’ program that encourages
healthy eating. We also got a lot of help from Liz
Querubin-Ascalon in getting together 10 volunteers at
the
Punta
Hulata Beach and Spa,” said Goulbourn.
The
first official wellness workshop in January 2007 had 28
people. “It was a memorable group. We had seven people
who each lost 8 lb. Of the seven, five have retained
their new weight,” said Goulbourn.
In its
marketing effort, which is entirely by word of mouth,
Global Vital is careful not to promise that the workshop
will take away gallstones although its experience so far
shows that eight out of 10 participants claim some level
of pain relief after flushing. Instead, the company
describes the workshop as a nonmedical, nonsurgical
healthcare prevention that follows the protocols of a
naturopath doctor. There are nurses on standby during
the entire workshop and the venue itself is close to a
tertiary hospital, The Medical City.
Bright
plans
MORE
than a year into the venture, the company has already
received buyers’ interest, all of which have been turned
down.
“Acceptance has increased. It’s easier to talk to the
younger ones up to 40 because they’re open to new ideas.
Men find it harder to join but they need to because
prostate cancer is food-related,” said Goulbourn. There
is also corporate interest. A Binondo-based company with
400 employees and the Rustan’s Group have signed up and
will be sending employees in batches of 30 to a bigger
venue in Fray Clemente Center, behind the San Juan de
Dios Hospital. The rate per person is half that at
Discovery Suites.
Late
this month, the company is opening an information center
on the fifth floor of Rustan’s
Makati. The center will accept enrollment, as well as hold wellness
lectures every six weeks. The major source of future
income for Global Vital Source, however, is expected to
come from the production of organic food.
“This is
a difficult project because the food we will produce has
no preservatives and, therefore, has a short shelf
life,” said Goulbourn.
Right
now, though, Goulbourn and her partners at Global Vital
Source are more interested in advocating good health
rather than making money out of it. |
