And if your teeth are the problem, the dentist who did J. Lo's veneers can put in a crown.
Destination spas have been around for some time, but CHLI claims to have raised the bar when it comes to teaching people to live longer and better while they mini-vacation. A one-stop "concierge" medical and dental clinic is under the same roof as a posh 270-room Four Seasons Hotel with a 40,000-square-foot "rejuvenation" spa. Healthy cooking classes are offered in a Wellness Kitchen, and hotel suite mini-bars are junk food-free, filled instead with snacks like organic high-in-Omega 3 fatty acids chai with almond bars.
It's all the holistic brainchild of 84-year-old David H. Murdock, the billionaire health fanatic and CEO of the world's largest fruit and vegetable producer, Dole Food Co., which is headquartered right across the driveway.
Murdock has preached the health gospel since his third wife, Gabriele, died of cancer at age 43 in 1985. Now a "fish-vegetarian," he's convinced the couple's diet of steak and high-fat fare, as well as a lack of early diagnostic screening, contributed to her death.
"People want to live longer and better," says Dr. Philip Barr, an internal medicine specialist at the $300-million complex that opened in November 2006. "And they like having a central place where we can do the 360-degree view of their physical, mental and emotional health."
Clients, he says, include busy corporate execs and privacy-craving VIPs who enter and exit through secret basement doors.
"There are people from movies that you'd recognize like 'Oceans Eleven' and 'Batman,'" Barr says. "One day I came in and there was a whole line of motorcycles. There was someone from Bush's cabinet that was here."
This is definitely not for the commoners. A three-day Ultimate Women's Health Package, which includes a doctor's exam, fitness and nutrition counseling and two spa treatments, is $4,200 without room, which cost from $295 to $3,875 a night. Medical coverage is not accepted, although guests can ask for bills to submit to insurance companies that may cover some costs of routine tests.
While no invasive surgery is done on-site, physicians diagnose, prescribe and refer patients to specialists around the world. Barr says the institute's millions of dollars in the latest up-to-date equipment - which includes a digital mammography machine and an egg-shaped Bod Pod to measure body fat - "is better than what a lot of hospitals have."
CHLI's pampering-and-preventive care concept is nothing new, says Dr. Robert Butler, president of the International Longevity Center, a New York-based nonprofit research and education organization. The center is affiliated with the Mount Sinai School of Medicine, where Butler is also a geriatrics professor.
"Most spas more and more are including a variety of diagnostic tests," says Butler. He points to 28-year-old Canyon Ranch, which has wellness resorts in Tucson and Lenox, Mass., and boasts a team of Ivy League-schooled doctors and diagnostic services.
While Butler says it's a good idea for people to have an annual checkup, he also cautions against overdoing diagnostic tests that might come back with a false positive and lead to unnecessary surgeries.
The high-end medical spas provide "an advantage to the busy businessman or busy businesswoman or Hollywood star who in one place can get a lot of accomplished while holidaying," he says.
Perhaps the most unusual diagnostic service at CHLI is what it calls "breakthrough DNA testing." Using a person's urine sample, the test aims to measure the rate of aging and to determine if damage - which can be caused by a variety of factors including UV exposure and bad nutrition - is outpacing repair. Barr says the test, which would help doctors decide on diet and lifestyle changes for a patient, is a research project.
There's at least one simple way to help yourself live longer - stop pigging out. Butler says the United States dropped to 42nd worldwide in life expectancy, largely because people are so overweight.
Murdock wasn't available for an interview, but in an e-mail sent by a press rep, he was quoted as saying CHLI "represents the culmination of a dream. There is nothing like it anywhere. We have the highest obesity rate in the world; there are tens of millions of people who want to know how to live better."
If better means having Botox injections (administered by the Institute's dermatologist) or a Eucalyptus-Basil Sea Salt Exfoliation (offered at The Spa), then so be it. It's all part of the mind-body connection thing.
"We use a holistic approach," says Leland Raymond, the spa's front desk manager. "Yes, it's all nice, but we're also targeting what the body needs."
The Spa offers a menu of "rejuvenating" treatments such as a Craniosacral scalp massage, aimed at unblocking energy, relieving tension and easing back and neck pain.
AN EASTERN FEEL ABOUT IT
While the hotel style is a mishmash of Mediterranean, Asian and English hunting club, the spa has a decidedly tranquil Eastern feel. Spa users lying on lounges in the relaxation area gaze at an impressive orchid-accented wall of water while they sip body-relaxing chocolate-and-spice iced tea.
There's a much more massive waterfall outside on the grounds, in part to drown out the freeway noise just a stone's throw away. Although you'd never know it by their Web site, the walled-in resort is just off the (101) Ventura Freeway in a commercial neighborhood and not too far from a Pierce Brothers cemetery. How's that for an incentive?
Murdock camouflaged the surroundings by bringing in dozens of trees, including large sequoias from Northern California. He also traveled to Thailand and handpicked nine giant boulders from the River Kwai (as in the 1957 movie) to decorate the property. And he had 18 Chinese artisans build the Poet's House Pagoda in the traditional style in Beijing, before having them disassemble it and reassemble it on the resort's lush grounds.
The center boasts about its "science-based" philosophy, from fitness programs to nutrition plans. In the cooking classes, guests are taught to use "superfoods," which include: antioxidant-containing fruits that are believed to help fight cancer; Omega 3-rich fish, which is said to help lower heart risk and help arthritis; and nuts and soy, which have been linked to lowering cholesterol.
"We take the science of what is good for us and put it in fine dining," says head dietitian Paulette Lambert. Her "Family Meals in Minutes" cooking class features Miso Turkey Burgers, Salmon Tacos and Zucchini Carpaccio.
The director of CHLI's dentistry program wasn't here this particular day because he was at his Brentwood office working inside the mouth of an Oscar-winning actor's daughter. Dentist Stanley Golden and his patient could both be seen and heard over the big-screen he uses to communicate with colleagues at an office when he's not there.
It's no wonder that octogenarian Murdock has been a longtime patient of Golden's, whose celebrity clientele includes Matt Damon and Diane Lane. Golden says his practice focuses on not just keeping the teeth healthy, but making sure the whole chewing mechanism and jaw stay in shape.
"Seventy-five isn't old anymore," he says. "And we don't want to quit on people that are in their 80s. You know, when they get up to 110 or something like that or 120, that's going to be old."
Best care that the monied can buy
A sampling of California Health and Longevity offerings:
Deluxe Physical - $3,400. Includes: full preventive care exam; consultation with lifestyle adviser, dietitian and exercise physiologist; 50-minute spa treatment and follow-up.
Discovery - $400. Includes consultation with lifestyle adviser and dietitian, a healthy living workshop and choice of facial or massage.
Wellness Kitchen two-hour cooking class - $125.
Bod Pod that measures and tracks body composition - $65.
DNA tests - $100 for each test. A series of tests are recommended over a year.
Zoom teeth whitening - $850.
Healthy advice, no spa required
Can't make it to the luxury medical spa? Here are some healthy living tips, courtesy of the California Health and Longevity Institute:
Include a small amount of protein at each meal. It will keep you from being hungry longer than dining on carbohydrates only.
Accumulate 30 minutes of physical activity each day. That means you can garden for 10 minutes, walk around the block for 10 minutes and do another 10 at the mall.
Drink tea. Not only is it high in antioxidants, it contains no phosphates (found in soda) that can leach calcium out of bones.
Get up from your desk at regular intervals and stretch to counteract chronic stress from sitting all day. While standing, raise your arms overhead, pull them back and place then on your hips and lean back.
Eat fruit in between meals for a boost of energy and to get needed antioxidants.
Release tension by belly breathing several times a day. Inhale slowly through your nose feeling your chest and abdomen expand. Exhale slowly through your mouth.
