Benefits
Of A Chocolate Spa
The
Service: chocolate spa
The Hype: slimmer figure: smooth skin: stress relief
The Lab Rat: a thirty-something female chocolate lover with
irregular eating habits
The Results: thighs slimmed by 1.1 cm; feeling of relaxation:
and - though connection can't be proven - a sudden desire to
go shopping.
Noriko
Nakagawa, manager of Spa Claudia Aoyama, clathers our Life Lab
Rat in paste made from one of her favorite foods: chocolate.
When
I recently saw an advertisement for a particular beauty spa
in Aoyama, it was not really a desire to be beautiful that made
me pause.
It
was the photo of a young, smiling model, her body covered with
a light-brown paste. That alone was arresting enough, but next
to her was a bowl of chocolate bars -- and this is what stopped
me in my tracks: those bars of lovely, brown, milk chocolate.
Yes,
I confess, I am a chocolate lover. Not exactly a chocoholic,
but I do have my occasional binges when things get too stressful.
You know, those days when it's all . . . just . . . too . .
. much.
While
I'm a veteran of eating chocolate, I've had only marginal exposure
to anything called a "spa."
The
chocolate therapy ad, though, made some interesting claims.
It said by absorbing caffeine and polyphenols through your skin,
you could shed those extra pounds. How? Well, they put it down
to endorphins, the special biochemical compounds that the body
produces under certain circumstances. Likened to natural opiates,
their release in the body has been linked to sex, drugs and
sports, even to eating spicy foods. And while it's been proven
that they can give feelings of well-being and relaxation, according
to Spa Claudia Aoyama's ad, they also induce "fat melting."
It
was with a fair bit of skepticism that I visited the spa run
by the Tokyo-based company Claudia, which operates several salons
in prime Tokyo locations and offers everything from liposuction
and hair removal to "wine spas." But company spokeswoman
Fumie Kozuka assured me that the treatment does make a visible
difference, and that I would see the physical proof afterward.
Kozuka
did mention, however, that the launch of the chocolate therapy
was timed to coincide with Valentine's Day this past February,
which made me think that it was more a clever marketing scheme
than a scientific breakthrough.
The
90-minute course started with a cacao-bean scrubbing. As Aoyama
salon manager Noriko Nakagawa carefully applied a mix of cacao
bean husks and oil, a sharp chocolate aroma started to fill
the small room. The bittersweet fragrance began to intensify
as she applied a chocolate pack, wrapped me up in a plastic
sheet, a heating pad and another futonlike pad. She left me
for 10 minutes to marinate in the chocolate, enjoy the experience
and listen to mellow music-box Muzak.
You
would think that at this point I, slathered in my favorite sweet
and wrapped in warmth, would be approaching a blissful state
in mind. There were, however, a few problems. One was my stomach.
I didn't have time for lunch before the 2 p.m. appointment,
and the chocolate aroma was giving me severe hunger pangs. I
was almost dizzy. I also wondered -- as many Japan residents
probably do in situations like this -- "What should I do
if an earthquake hits me right this minute?" Here I was,
naked, and covered in chocolate.
Well,
actually it wasn't really proper chocolate. According to the
salon staffer, the body pack contained a mix of cacao extract,
citric acid and magnesium oxide, among other ingredients. These,
coupled with a massage, help relieve various PMS symptoms, including
a sudden increase in your appetite and feelings of stress, Nakagawa
said. I sample-tasted the paste when Nakagawa wasn't looking;
it was awful.
Ten
minutes later, I was instructed to take a shower to wash the
creamy paste off, and was then given a rigorous body massage.
I was wrapped up in a heating pad again for 10 minutes, I showered
again, and the session was over.
Nakagawa
said that my feet and fingers were colder than those of most
clients, which she said meant that I had a low metabolism. Usually,
after being wrapped and heated for 10 minutes, the "chocolate"
cream would get mixed with perspiration and look even creamier,
she said. In my case, it just dried up and stuck to my skin.
Nevertheless, when Nakagawa measured my left thigh after the
session, I had apparently managed to shed 1.1 centimeters!
The
loss wasn't that remarkable compared to her other clients, according
to Nakagawa, who said some people lose more than 2 cm. Still,
I was curious to find out how it all works. I found one expert
on the Internet who wrote that the low levels of caffeine contained
in chocolate can improve metabolism, increase alertness and
reduce the perception of fatigue. Another expert claimed that
the cacao polyphenol contained in chocolate also protects you
against hardening of the arteries, stress, tooth decay and skin
aging.
And
how did I feel after the therapy? My skin did feel slightly
smoother, and I did feel relaxed but exhausted. I was looking
forward to a good night's sleep and collapsed into bed earlier
than usual that evening. In the middle of the night, though,
I suddenly woke up and felt restless. Unable to go back to sleep,
I finally gave up, at around 4 a.m., and took a long bath.
Then
something strange happened.
For
some reason, I had a sudden desire to go shopping. I started
making a list of the things I wanted to buy (despite the fact
that I really didn't have money for them). The list grew quickly.
There I was, in the dead silence of the night, scribbling down
the items, things I had sort of wanted for a while, but suddenly
I just had to have. I wanted an iPod, a home speaker system
and headphones. And not just any headphones, but the superdeluxe,
noise-cancelling ones I had seen for 40,000 yen in an in-flight
magazine.
I
don't know if there is any connection between these sudden cravings
and the chocolate therapy. Was it a caffeine buzz? A craving
for more endorphins through shopping? All I knew was that the
desire was incredibly intense.
I
called the salon back later, told Nakagawa what happened, and
asked her whether any of her clients have talked about having
an urgent desire to go on a shopping spree after the treatment.
"No, " she said, giggling. "But responses to
the treatment vary from person to person. Many people say they
can go to bed earlier or have a good sleep."
In
conclusion, I'll say this much: The treatment had a yummy smell
that could help stave off a chocolate binge; just don't go in
with an empty stomach like I did.
Then
again, not eating before might be a good way to intensify the
sensory experience -- and your consumerist urges. If it happens
to you, and you've got the funds for a luxury spending spree,
then go ahead and do what you can to help by putting your cash
back in the nation's economy.
Spa
Claudia Aoyama, 6F Tera-ashios Omotesando, 5-10-6, Minami-Aoyama,
Minato-ku, Tokyo, is a two-minute walk from Omotesando Station
on the Ginza, Hanzomon and Chiyoda subway lines. Women only. The
90-minute course is 15,750 yen, 21,000 yen for two sessions. Open
daily 11 a.m.-8 p.m. Closed Dec. 29-Jan. 4. For more information,
call, preferably in Japanese, (03) 5766-7784. or see www.claudia.co.jp
