All in good taste - and good health

To live a healthy life, the subject of good diet can never be overlooked. In fact, in order to "live right", we must start with "eating right." And this is a significant concept behind destination spas and wellness institutions around the world.

Spa cuisine is one of the alternative dietary choices favoured by health-conscious consumers of the modern era. When it was introduced several years ago, this cuisine based on a low-fat, low-salt, low-sugar diet was concerned mainly with providing sufficient nutrients to sustain life and enable significant weight loss. It was regarded by many as bland and boring. Yet, as the spa industry has developed, spa cuisine has risen to a level where healthy food can be tasty and tantalising.

Over the past years, the term "spa cuisine" has been used more or less to catch public attention. Often, the term was misused at some modern-day restaurants and chic holiday resorts for a normal cuisine served in a spa environment, rather than a strict dietary method that would enhance the quality of life.

At Six Senses Destination Spa Phuket, however, the principle of spa cuisine is taken seriously and is executed constantly at all its dining outlets. In general, it features a selection of carefully designed dishes that are low in fat, salt and sugar, without synthetically-processed ingredients, and for the most part without dairy products. But what makes the resort even more ideal for those who like to enjoy the healthy-eating vacation is that it complies a strict "fishetarian" concept while offering one of the ultimate approaches of spa cuisine - raw foods.

In a perfect location with a brilliantly-designed landscape, Six Senses Destination Spa Phuket, is set among vegetable gardens and surrounded by Andaman Sea. Basically, it serves "fishetarian" spa cuisine dishes prepared with locally-grown vegetables and a variety of fish caught from the ocean at its main restaurant, Ton Sai.

Guests can enjoy raw foods cuisine at Dining

at the Point restaurant, where dishes are prepared according to raw vegan diet, explicitly featuring unprocessed, uncooked plant and-nut-based food. In cases where food needs to be cooked - bread and pasta, for example - it must not be heated above 46 degree Celsius. It is believed that food cooked above this temperature, the highest weather temperature a human body can safely endure, will lose much of its nutritional value, such as enzymes and minerals, and will be harmful to the body.

Although spa cuisine is no longer new, it is still seen as a gastronomic challenge for those who aren't willing to sacrifice flavour in the name of maintaining a healthy lifestyle.

Not so, declared Ana Maria Tavares, general manager of Six Senses Destination Spa Phuket.

"We give tremendous importance to the taste of food," she said.

"Food is absolutely crucial to the entire concept, considering that the average stay of our guests is nine to 12 nights. They pay for a wellness experience and good food is an important part of that experience.

"It doesn't matter what background they come from - Thai, European, American - they all want to eat, and the food has to taste good. We never want to see our guests looking anxious or uncomfortable with their food."

The resort offers a variety of international flavours to its guests and the menu features a mix of cutting-edge Thai and international dishes: a tandoori oven and a pizza oven are both there to ensure the guests' gastronomic pleasure. And being at a destination spa doesn't mean you have to give up your glass of wine. At Six Senses, organic or bio-dynamic wines are served after 6pm.

"Spa cuisine is a challenge, producing good and tasty food without yummy ingredients, but we've taken it to new heights and can now explain to the world that eating well and in moderation doesn't mean being cut off from the things you love. If you love pizza, you can have a healthy pizza; it depends on what you put in it," said Ana Maria.

Just as in any other section in the resort, the food and beverage department follows Six Senses' philosophy of SLOW - Sustainable, Local, Organic and Wholesome.

"Everything we eat on the island comes from the island, whether vegetables, fruits or herbs," said Ana Maria.

"We even have mushroom huts that produces up to five kilogrammes of three types of mushroom a day. We have our own organic garden, a pineapple plantation and banana trees. It's not unusual for guests to walk along the resort's garden and take a banana from the tree.

"And you can be sure that all the animal protein consumed in the resort come straight from the Andaman Sea."