Staying Healthy Spring News from Dr. Elson Haas
IN THIS ISSUE
Anaheim Natural Products Show
Children's Health Education
Spring Cleansing
Malaysian Adventure and Speaking Tour
Singapore
Clayton Conference
Special Tasty Organic Foods
What's to Come?
Hello Everyone,

Blessed Spring to you all.
It's been quite a busy and productive time for me these past six weeks, which is typical as I begin the season with my Spring Cleansing group. Because of this and recent travels to Malaysia, Singapore, and then Atlanta, I have waited on my seasonal message to you all and for you to arrive in the glory of springtime. I pray you are well and entering smoothly into our warming and light expanding time of the year.


Anaheim Natural Products Show

Pre-spring took me to Anaheim to the yearly gi-normous Natural Products Expo West show along with the entire natural food industry of nutritional supplements, beauty products, and of course, food. Basically, every company that sells in these related industries is present with their booth, staff, handouts of materials, and a serious amount of free samples. I personally need to watch my intake and food combining when I walk around. For me, it might be a few wheat-free breakfast treats in the morning, lunch around Amy's Foods with always a wide selection, then a few new chips and salsas in the  mid-afternoon, and finally a few chocolate or other sweet treats before the end of the day. (Remember, I love to eat, and that's why I need to detox.) Yet, my focus is walking the show, visiting old and new friends, whom I find everywhere and anywhere since I have been part of this growing/exploding industry of natural and organic foods and continued new products as a writer and educator that supports healthy nutrition for the past 25 years. I gave several talks and book signings, especially for Clayton College of Natural Health (www.ccnh.edu) with whom I have a close alliance. I travel to Atlanta every year to speak at their national conference at a wonderful resort, this year being at a new place at Lake Lanier Islands, Georgia.
Anatomix
Children's Health Education

For this Anaheim show, I also met and spoke with interested parties and potential sponsors and producers in the areas of children's health education, as this is an essential part of my new career interest-Family and Youth Health Education with a focus on Healing the Earth and Natural Medicine. I am doing this with my 30+ year associate Bethany Argisle and with the support of Ernie Hubbard, our business advisor and man of many talents. As of now, we have three fully completed prototypes ready for publication and distribution. We are seeking not only sponsors, but the right, like-minded companies to license, produce, and distribute these books, musical CDs, and animation products to the world. Please let us know when you have any contacts that are appropriate.

Our first three products include the Anatomix Comix™, Count Broccula, and Blimps and Whales. Anatomix offers a CD of many songs about the body systems, such as "Muscleman", "Chew-Chew" for the digestive tract, and "Let's Be Doctors", the opening song. The Anatomix Comix also features a Comix/Songbook with many visuals and health tips for young and old. Count Broccula is a young person's story about how kids dislike of vegetables, yet the humorous message here is "you'd better eat your vegetables before they eat you." The beautiful illustrations are by artist Neil Osborn, who also has illustrated Blimps and Whales, a touching love story written by Bethany Argisle about a blimp and whale and about protecting our wonderful whales.

Please review the visuals and further information of these products in the "Adventures of Dr. Sun and Princess Argisle" on the following website: http://elsonhaasmd.com/Children/EBNewPortal.html
detox diet bookSpring Cleansing

Right after Anaheim, I did my 34th annual 10-day Spring Cleanse with a focused group of patients and interested attendees at my office, the Preventive Medical Center of Marin (www.pmcmarin.com). It was both a challenging and powerful cleanse for me (in the Oriental idea that "Crisis" is "Opportunity"), with new disciplines and insights. The group did well also with some nice breakthroughs for some of the people, and everyone dropped some weight and shifted a few habits, like taking breaks from sugar, caffeine, and alcohol, and if we add wheat and dairy products to those, we can call that "Taking a break from the Big Five."

My next guided group detox program is the Autumn Cleanse, a 3-week detox program about changing habits, which will be held in September at my office in San Rafael.

And what about you? What's your plan for lightening up and clearing for this Spring and Summer?

During my cleanse evenings, when I typically crave foods, instead I enjoyed going through my clothes and wardrobe and buying a couple things for my trip to Malaysia, then creatively packing for this journey which began only a few days after my cleanse. Thus, I needed to be a bit cautious with my diet on my travels and since there was much food everywhere, it was all about making good choices, as it truly is for all of us, even in our daily lives.
Dr. Haas playint flute in MalaysiaMalaysian Adventure and
Speaking Tour

I was invited to speak for a nutritional product company in Malaysia, and this opportunity turned into an exciting adventure, sponsored by Dr. Tushar Manek, who lives in the U.S. and has a long-time association with a Malaysian Company in Kuala Lumpur. Dr. Tushar provides this MLM company (Elken) with new nutritional products after full testing and assessment. This particular trip was to introduce a new organic fruit/vegetable nutritional and phytonutrient powder to support health by providing cells with the nutrition they need. Let's face it, most people, and this is true in Malaysia as it is here in the States, do not consume enough (7-9 servings) fresh fruits and vegetables, and especially the green veggies. Thus, the new product, called Fitorac (for Phytorac), was introduced to the people of Malaysia, Singapore, and other areas (Hong Kong and India). I believe this is an important breakthrough in these cultures since I basically believe that disease begins from malfunction of cells, both from nutritional deficiency (not enough vitamins, minerals, amino acids, fatty acids, and phytonutrients) and from toxicity from chemicals and metals that interfere with enzyme activities and thus, cell function.

We spoke in four cities to groups of 250-800 people with the message of good nutrition and detoxification. Basically, if we rebalance the cells and the body, we can heal, from feeding the body what it needs and avoiding the toxins as much as possible. Simple, yes? However, in every city, it appeared that everyone did daily amounts of one or more SNACCs (Sugar, Nicotine, Alcohol, Caffeine, and Chemicals). I know this because no one raised their hand when I asked, nor did they when they were asked in translated Mandarin Chinese in the cities of Panang, Kuala Lumpur (KL), and Johor Bahru (JB), or in English and Malay in Kota Kinabalu (KK), a wonderful city on the north coast of Borneo (Malaysia).

I initially flew from San Francisco (leaving 1am) through Taipei for 14 hours overnight with a 15 hours time jump ahead, and then another 5 hours to Kuala Lumpur, the capital and largest city of Malaysia, located in the middle of the country. So, I left at 1am SF time and landed 1pm the next day Malaysian time; missed that whole Friday. I then had a couple days to unwind and adjust to relax, swim and meet the people I would work with. I stayed at the Sunway Resort and Waterpark with great swimming and a modified jungle setting. I also had a nice massage at the affiliated spa. People who know me well know also that I take care of myself (and others) wherever I go. I exercise and find the good food, and do what it takes to balance myself.

Then on Tuesday (4/8), five of us took off for a 4-5 hour journey north by van through beautiful palm forests and green hills and temple caves in limestone mountains to the large island of Panang in northern Malaysia peninsula for our first talk. During our first three talks, Hui Ping, a woman who worked with Elken, was our Mandarin translator with my slides also translated; it was great to listen to my words and concepts in Mandarin, not that I understood too much.

The next day we drove around Penang, stopped at a beach, and then drove to the great Quan Yin temple on the hill where I played my flute, walked around the pagoda temples, and bought some beautiful batik cotton clothes for my daughter and female friends. Then back to Kuala Lumpur (KL) for our big talk to the company staff and distributors; the main office is in KL. Dr. Tushar spoke after me to better describe the product-the ingredients and the production, etc. The product has more than twenty organic ingredients with an overall ORAC (anti-oxidant) score of 4000 per scoop, which is quite high. We need about 3000 per day to protect us from free radical irritating molecules, so you can see this provides a good start to the day, or support during daily activities.

On Thursday, we drove, as a group again, south about three hours to JB on the southern tip of Malaysia for another talk to 200-300 distributors and interested guests. Then, we were supposed to travel across the border into Singapore for another talk and to relax to complete my trip, but Singapore was not ready due to some product details and getting things finalized with their government regulations. Instead, we were invited to fly to Kota Kinabalu (KK), which I mentioned above as a special place about 2-3 hours plane ride north to uppermost Malaysia and the island of Borneo. More people there speak the native Malay language. Only problem with this day's journey was that we needed to drive across the border before 5am to avoid rush hour and the apparently slow inspection of everyone crossing into Singapore. So, on just a few hours sleep, we made it easily and flew the coastline all the way north. My friend Kurt Schnaubelt of the Aromatherapy Institute suggested I sit on the right side of the plane to view the beautiful coastline (KK is his favorite place to vacation). That was the one day of my trip that I took a two-hour nap after a drive up in the KK hills for the view. I had adjusted my time of 15 hours ahead fairly well with melatonin and No-Jet Lag. (To be more specific, the melatonin I took 3 days before I left at the new local bedtime in Malaysia, or about 7-8am west coast time, and for the No Jet Lag, I used on the airplane as directed on the package taking a pill every 2-3 hours.) After a rest at our KK Promenade Hotel, we went out to the beach for the sunset at the magnificent Shangri La Tanjung Aru Resort where I took a swim and played my shakuhachi flute at sunset. Very beautiful!

The KK group was really awesome, meeting us at the airport with a banner and a royal, enthusiastic welcome. This was our last talk and we gave them what we had left, with our slides and translator in Malay with Suk Mun, another Elken employee, doing the translation. The Malay language is closer to English with lettering, and a bit closer to Hawaiian from my sense, where the Mandarin is calligraphy letters and more challenging to understand.

Merlion in SingaporeSingapore

After 24 hours in KK, I flew down to Singapore on my own for a visit with several friends and to meet a new business associate from the Elken's Singapore office. I enjoyed walking around the city and seeing the Merlion (lion head and fish body), the symbol of Singapore. Shared dinner of chili crab (the house specialty) and greens with Mr. KC, their Singapore CEO, by the spouting Merlion into the bay. I also walked around with my son's friend, Domenic, on his 22nd birthday, where he was finishing a 4-month hotel school job working in one of the restaurants of the famed Raffles House in the middle of the Singapore shopping district. And let me tell you, there was a lot of folks out shopping; well, it was Saturday afternoon. I caught a good sale at the local Roots store, a company owned by friends of mine in Toronto, Canada. Then, after dinner on the bay, we went up on the hill for a nighttime view of the city and I found some nice trinkets of the Merlion, a couple that played a smiling Singapore song.

On my last morning and travel day, one of my long-time patients who moved recently to Singapore with his family, met me and we visited the botanical garden on my way to the airport for a little walk in nature before flying another 24 hours home, again stopping in Taipei. This time I left at 1pm Sunday and arrive at 3:30pm in SF. I went back in time, which felt more energizing to me.

Then, I had a day at home to check emails and make calls and relax, two days seeing patients at my office, and then I flew to Atlanta for Clayton College of Natural Health's conference.
Clayton Conference

This is my fourth year presenting at this event and we have a new place, Emerald Pointe Resort on Lake Lanier Islands, about an hour north of the Atlanta airport. What a nice spot and a great group! I gave two well-received presentations. The first was a session with my good friend at Clayton, Susie Hale, Director of Practitioner Education, on How To Be an Effective Practitioner. This is about being an inspiration and supportive guide for clients in helping them become motivated to care for their own health. It's about talking the talk and walking the walk. I encouraged the full room to really engage with clients and share their own experiences. Then we did some practitioner/client role-playing to talk to people about weight loss, detoxification, and general lifestyle and health issues, such as breaking the sugar habit. Susie was a great facilitator and we work wonderfully together. We also received rave reviews from evaluation forms, such as:

  • "Awesome class; great 'tangible' ideas; examples at end were extremely helpful to see them in action; good foundation; best class I've had yet."
  • "This presentation was wonderful. Presenters work incredibly well together."
  • "Can't wait for the lunch discussion. Wished we had more time for more demo session/interactions."
  • "Got some good ideas from the presentation which were important in building client relationships for me. Concrete concepts!"
  •  "Great! Just what I needed for my practice - excellent advice!"

On Saturday at lunchtime, I presented my new, colorful PowerPoint show about Eating with the Seasons to the entire several hundred attendees. I began with my basic concepts of health and they loved when I summarized my 1,000+ page Staying Healthy with Nutrition book into one line. Most of them use this book, which because of its size is initially "scary," for their nutrition classes, yet they become excited when they realize how user-friendly it is (yes, thank you Bethany). Oh, you want to know what the one-liner is? I thought so.
    "Enjoy wholesome food and avoid junk and chemicals."

After the health overview, I went into Seasonal Eating, which is the national nutritional focus now and in some ways is becoming more crucial than eating organically. The latest message is "Eat Locally." Have you heard the new term, Localvore? Ideally, eat locally and what's available at the time, and eat organically grown foods whenever possible. And better yet, grow your own! Plant your garden! Well, this message was much appreciated and just perfect during a lunch where the hotel staff created of couple recipes from my Cookbook for All Seasons, Watercress Salad and Pollution Solution Dressing, both adapted from the great naturopathic doctor and educator, Paavo Airola, and his book, The Airola Diet and Cookbook.

I also got to visit many friends at Clayton, relax and play, swam in both the pool and the chilly Lake Lanier, a bit low from their dry past year or two. Yes, I do feel a bit like the Merlion, the swimming lion!

Special Tasty Organic Foods - The Wholefood Farmacy

I want to introduce you all to a new line of natural lyophylized (dehydrated without heat) food line. Please review it with the Rx link on the homepage of my website. I met Linda Ann Ventura at a recent conference and bought the sample box of all of their foods. These are high-quality and very tasty products that are great for travel, survival food, and for carrying to work when you need a good nourishing energy lift. There are several organic items and they happen to be some of their best products, including the Phi Plus (blend of raw grains, legumes, fruits, nuts and seeds), Coco-Cherry Phi, and Apple Cinnamon Phi, and all of these are organic. Everything is GMO-free, and they're quite delicious. Everyone likes their Veggielicious Spice, a mixture of dried vegetables and corn (roasted, nor raw), and they have several really tasty dried and partially popped corn products, some mixed with naturally dried nuts and seeds. I want you all to taste these items. Click on the Rx logo on my website or this link http://www.drelson.wholefoodfarmacy.com/2005/ga_home.asp
I will tell you that this is a person-to-person network marketing company, which I do not typically do, yet I just must because the products are so unique and so good. So, try some, share them with your family and friends, and get them involved. That way we support each other both nutritionally and financially.
SunsetWhat's to Come?

Wow, I get to relax a bit and be home (and work of course) for a bit. On a personal note, we had to put down the family dog, Kashi, a sweet yellow lab almost 15 years old, because she was getting immobile and in pain. This happened while I was in Malaysia. Kashi was loved by many. So, my house is a little quieter and lonelier without our friend, yet she had a good life, and we all have to fly free some time. I prepare every day, yet I also pray to be here for years to come. We never know, do we?

I plan to have some time with my kids this summer and do a few talks, yet quite light travel until autumn when I do my September Detox programs and travel to Boston for Natural Products Expo on October 15-18, and then return for a talk on October 19 at NANP symposium (www.nanp.org) in Santa Rosa.

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Finally, I wish you good health, enough wealth to buy good food and some gasoline, and good relationships, as we all need love in our lives.

Stay Healthy,

Dr. Elson