WHEN Eckard Rempe first found this sprawling lay of land in Lipa, Batangas some 20 years ago, he immediately envisioned a nature retreat, a sprawling 48-hectare health resort at the foot of Mt. Malarayat, that will allow people to integrate with nature and live on its bounty. Rempe had traveled the world and was particularly enamored with the raw charms of Bali, Thailand and India. The secret to health, he realized, was in savoring life in its most organic form: eating food as nature intended, getting rid of toxins from the body and living in harmony with the environment.

The result of such vision is The Farm at San Benito, a resort spa that offers detoxifying treatments, a naturally healthy diet of raw food, live blood analysis, yoga exercises, spa and massage services and a forested setting sparsely dotted with spacious quarters that easily recall the architecture and interiors of Bali. Also known as the Hippocrates Health Resort in Asia, it has won the equivalent of the Oscars for spas for its health-promoting services, including a detoxification program tailored to the needs of every guest.

Stressed out executives as well as people in need of healing in mind, body and spirit are their most frequent guests, observes Dr. Rounville Bardonado, chief of The Farm?s Medical Department.

?Boredom is the most common complaint,? he says, so that part of the place?s program is ?uncluttering the mind.? The art of doing nothing actually helps, this doctor says. ?When you have a problem, you find yourself pacing and walking and thinking about it. And from such movement come insights, because the answers may be within you.?

Bardonado, who does the Live Blood Analysis of guests, also reveals that, based on LBA results, the most common health problem of people who come to The Farm are obesity, hypertension, diabetes, stress and constipation.

Such health problems can directly be traced to several factors, he points out: the lack of nutrients from food, too much toxins from a meat-based diet, processed food, additives and flavorings, herbicides and pesticides, as well as a lifestyle that?s just too fast and reckless.

Continues Bardonado: ?Health does not mean the absence of sickness or disease. But turning to nature and an organic diet can change and inspire mental and emotional health.?

This 1995 medicine graduate from UERM has several tips on maintaining one?s state of wellness that are applied assiduously at The Farm:

1. Train yourself to cope with your environment. Find like-minded people and support groups that will reinforce your confidence in yourself and your ideas.

2. Follow a sustainable health plan, as Dr. Jeanette Belen-Rosales, Bardonado?s colleague at The Farm, advises. ?Your best doctor is yourself,? she adds. ?We can only guide you and jumpstart your resolve to be healthy.?

3. Go for an organic, vegan diet. Both doctors, who are vegans, agree that ?our body has its own memory, and can be trained to get used to vegan dishes. ?Malunggay,? cites Rosales, ?is one of the top 10 most nutritious foods on earth, is easily available and doesn?t taste too bad.?

The right food nourishes the body, Bardonado adds, and an organic diet means taking only pure elements of nature into our bodies.

Fortunately for The Farm, its chef, Lucresia ?Lucring? Buking, an Igorot from Sagada, knows vegetables like they?re her birthright. At the resort?s ?Alive? restaurant, 85 percent of the menu offerings are raw, and only 15 percent are cooked.

At a recent media event, Buking served coconut crackers made from shredded coconut and herbs, a smoked cashew tofu sandwich with a Brazil nut crust and sweet chili sauce, a panaeng curry with squash and steamed greens, and a coconut cream pie with spiced tropical fruit salad for dessert. For snacks, there was tarragon and other fresh herb teas from The Farm?s own garden, paired off with vegan chocolate fudge cookies.

To convince meat eaters to go vegan at least during their stay, the resort?s restaurant has a 14-day revolving menu so that no two dishes are offered on consecutive days for two whole weeks. It helps as well that there are regular visiting chefs from the US, notably from the Living Lights Culinary School in San Francisco.

4. Enjoy nature and its fresh air, which has a lot of negative ions that are good for the health, says Bardonado who is a holistic medical practitioner.

Says Cita Villanueva, director of Sales and Marketing: ?A nature-inspired setting helps because once you connect with nature, you get a different perspective that helps put your life in order.?

5. Go for a lifestyle change that involves choosing healthier foods, getting optimum exercises, and a regular detox treatment that cleanses the body and brings it to its original state.

6. Prayers and meditation once a day can also help to strengthen the body-mind-emotion connection.

7. Open your mind to new experiences. Explains Rosales: ?A lot also depends on how open the guests are. We help you bring home and practice your learnings from The Farm. We can discuss with you how to cook healthy and delicious vegan dishes, practice yoga and other exercises, show you how to detox, and so on.?

Try out raw or living foods that contain live enzymes, vitamins, and minerals needed for the proper nourishment and functioning of the body. Cooking destroys the enzymes in living foods that convert into living energy.

Despite its emphasis on health, Villanueva clarifies that the resort isn?t a medical facility. ?We want people to know that everything we offer are interconnected and work together to promote good health. There is complementation here ? from the raw but gourmet cuisine, the spa and other relaxation techniques, the medical services, and the back-to-nature ambience. Everything works hand in hand for total health.?

Adds Bardonado: ?The overall philosophy at The Farm is ?Let food be your medicine and vice versa.?? He explains: ?The body has enough power to heal itself if it is sufficiently nourished and regularly cleansed. We are all the authors of our health. Healing comes from within us.?

To make The Farm more accessible to the local market, Villanueva says they are offering promo packages of up to 50 percent discount until September 30 this year. ?With our rates adjusted to the domestic market, staying at The Farm has become value for money, not to mention a good investment on health.? Pennie Azarcon-dela Cruz

For more information on The Farm?s promo packages, call the Manila Sales Office at 02 884 8074 or visit their website at www.thefarm.com.ph