Today we would like to give you some tips on how to balance diet in a Chinese-style way achieving the fine balance between yin and yang.

To maintain harmony with the natural world the body must match nature’s cycles by eating with the seasons:

Spring is the ideal season for detoxifying a congested liver in preparation for the hot summer months. Greens are a traditional part of the spring diet in most cultures; their use is associated with freshening, cleansing and rebuilding the body.

You should eat fresh fruits, green vegetables, asparagus, corn, wheat, celery, cucumber, berries, lemons, sour plums, yoghurt, limes, pickles, brown rice, nuts, seeds and dandelion.

For summer you need cooling and bitter fruit- and vegetable- based foods and drinks. Foods should be lightly cooked (think boiling, steaming and stir frying) and the diet packed with cooling foods like fruits, salad greens, cucumber, lemons, seed and mint.

Chicken and dairy products should be restricted. Have grains, broccoli, spinach, apricots, peaches, cherries, salad greens, cucumber, lemons, limes, cayenne, ginger, lemongrass, mint and seeds.

Autumn: Foods like fish, vegetables, olive oil and stronger tasting warming foods such as meat, eggs and dairy products combined with longer cooking methods (baking and roasting) help draw energy into the food to heat the body. Eat root vegetable (potatoes, yams, squashes, carrots, onions), spinach, nuts, beans, seeds, garlic, ginger, meats, dairy products (including eggs), mangoes and bananas.

Winter is traditionally a time for soups, stews and casseroles, Winter meals require garlic, ginger and cayenne pepper to add warmth to the body. Cooked whole grains served with lentils or beans are excellent winter staples. Have baked and roasted dishes, soups, stews, meats, turnips, seaweed, mushrooms, squashes, melons and salt (sea salt, soy sauce).

Explore and enjoy your new Chinese diet!

1) Six Senses Hideaway - Zighy Bay, Oman

Being the first Six Senses Hideaway to open in the Middle East, the resort is indeed a true “Hideaway”. Located on the Musandam Peninsula in the very North of Oman, the SixSenses Hideaway at Zighy Bay is beautifully set in one of the secluded bays between the crystal clear Gulf of Oman and the Hajar Mountains. The resort was designed to blend with the natural surroundings of Zighy Bay and the Musandam and was built according to old Omani traditional style. To ensure their operations are also in line with the environment and its immediate surroundings, they have an environmental management system in place which is based on the Six Senses’ Holistic Environmental Management Programme. Zighy Bay‘s food is essentially Arabic and so they buy or even grow what they can locally. The resort also does not import water - they purify the water themselves and offer it in reusable glass bottles to their guests. Every resort villa has their own bikes and even the hotel staff travel around the resort on bikes. The villas are so well ventilated and insultated that guests have not to use air conditioning, which I think is wonderful. Finally, Zighy Bay also supports their local community by example teaching local children English.

2) Six Senses - Soneva Kiri, Thailand

Exclusively and luxuriously appointed, Soneva Kiri offers Intelligent Luxury together with an unparalleled reputation for excellence and cutting-edge eco-concepts. The resort is situated on a 41-hectare or 102-acre site on the Island of Kood. Known for its spectacular tropical landscapes, crystal clear waters and white sandy beaches, the location is one of the most pristine and untouched islands of Thailand. Their new Ecological Suite, ‘The Eco Villa’ is a prototype zero emissions suite built at Soneva Kiri as the pioneering project to the forthcoming zero emissions Six Senses Evalution brand. It showcases of a range of environmental technologies incorporated into a bio-climatically designed structure made from locally sourced and non-toxic building materials, creating an entirely new experience for guests. Among these are:

- Low embodied energy materials and building techniques
- Site sourced stone, mud and timber
- Non-toxic adhesives and wood treatments
- Excellent insulation, insulated glass and green roof
- Highly efficient lighting, and active and passive cooling
- Rainwater harvesting, storage and filtration
- Energy autonomy via hybrid wind turbine, solar PV and micro-hydro applications
- Reed bed for waste water and septic tank effluent and reused for
landscape irrigation (biological filtration)
- Natural swimming pool using plants to clean the water
- Electric vehicle

I love it!

Mothers who exercise during pregnancy are helping to boost their child’s IQ, according to research by American psychologists. Intelligence is 80% genetic and recent studies findings point to a pivotal role for mothers. Fathers, whether absent or doting, have relativley little influence over their offspring’s intelligence. Children whose mother exercised 30 minutes a day score eight points higher on a standard IQ test than children whose mothers were more sedentary. Breast-feeding for up to nine months may increase your child’s IQ by much as six points as well. Wow!

So don’t forget to exercise during your pregnancy!

Article by John Harlow, Sunday Times UK

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