Food for the body, inside and out

What better way is there to appreciate the harmony of health, beauty and the natural world than by transforming flesh foodstuffs into natural treatments? Many of the spa ingredients in this book are easily found in your local supermarket, if they are not already in your cupboard, turmeric and ginger, honey and sesame seeds, for instance. Also, foods no longer need to be in season to be available. Tropical fruits such as avocado, papaya, coconut and lime are ^, easily found year-round. Hard-to-find items are often available from

specialist Asian grocery stores. Even in mid­size cities, you'll find such exotic items as lemon grass and galangal, a rhizome in the ginger family. Then there are the ingredients you can grow yourself, in pots on the Kitchen counter or in a small plot in the backyard: aloe and mint, for example. Your intuition will guide you as to what's right for you. It may be honey or mud, sea salt or clay.

Another pleasure of a home spa is the smell, taste and feel of your treatments - familiar foods with new and slightly exotic sensations. A trickle of cucumber pulp between the toes beats rubbing cream into your heels.

The heat of cloves and ginger smeared over your shoulder of the pungent smell of coffee bean wafting up from your cleavage elicits a sensuous shiver of delight. Moreover, the effect of some of these traditional whole food treatments is grounded in science. For example, the lulur or body treatment with its all over yoghurt body splash or the Papaya Body Polish pureed from whole fruit, contain mild acids that are akin to the alpha hydroxy acids (AHAs) we've seen touted on the pages of women's maga­zines at stratospheric prices. Milk and fruit acids loosen the bonds between dead skin and the live layer beneath it. Exfoliate with a loofah or terry towel and you'll reveal glowing skin with

a smoother texture and more uniform color The benefit of a whole-food treatment is that it is gentle and gradual. You will be unlikely to experience any irritation on contact with the skin as you may with the concentrated comercial product (just be sure to rinse off your treatment entirely before going in the sun). And, of course, It feels as luscious as it looks.