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Recently I found myself in the center of two diametrically opposed approaches to living. A dance of opposites boisterously played itself out before my eyes in a towering hotel in Las Vegas at the end of October. I was in Las Vegas for the very serious and sober purpose of filming for iHealthTube.com at a huge natural health vitamins and health supplements convention.
For starters, it was very distracting to prepare for and concentrate upon the weightiness of my topics amidst the throngs of intoxicated revelers with the pervasive sound of slot machines ding, ding, dinging in the background. The Casino! It was necessary to thread your way through the vast casino to get to the elevators regardless of whether you were there for business or pleasure. All paths pass through the casino.
In my suite on the 28th floor of this grandiose hotel, amidst a multitude of grandiose edifices, I discovered that I need not worry about getting a drink; a refrigerator was stocked with ample booze. However, there was no coffee pot/maker in the room, making it necessary to throw on some clothes first thing in the morning, get on the elevator, and go down 28 floors to the casino to get a cup of coffee.
On the night of my arrival there was a dramatic thunderstorm in Las Vegas, but though I had a view of the distant mountains from my room, the storm was more or less eclipsed by the vast array of neon signs, lights and billboards on the strip…kind of a nature versus neon…and neon won.
Now, for a variety of reasons Las Vegas is a handy town in which to hold conventions, if for no other reason than it can accommodate so many people and events. But again, I found it hard to do business there. My job, as the host for iHealthTube, was to interview scientists, researchers, biochemists and experts in the field of natural health resources, many of whom were doing presentations about the latest breakthroughs in their respective fields.
For example, there are new and better ways for getting the most potent effect in antioxidants, and furthermore, these new techniques can maintain the effectiveness of the antioxidants once they are actually in the cells. Thus, these antioxidants can better quench free radicals and alleviate oxidative stress.
There were interviews with scientists who are proving in new studies that age-old remedies and herbals from India and China, which have been used for eons for natural stress relief help, really do work. Yet another scientist and his team had decided to study the calming reaction that breast feeding has on babies and discovered through their studies that it was not just the mother-child closeness or bond, but a constituent in milk itself that causes that effect—hence a new stress-reducing product has been developed.
Two days of talking with academics and researchers about breakthroughs in how to improve health was both interesting and challenging because the material was complex, often abstract as well. It was hard work.
But then it was early Friday evening—interviews all done, and I found myself weaving my way through the messy fray of drinkers, smokers and gamblers in the casino where a different form of stress relief was being practiced—FUN! Friday night was coming on strong. The crowds were gearing up for it. Dressed up for it. Excitement! Entertainment! Fantasy! A Disney theme park for adults. But I headed for the sanctuary of my room.
A few hours later, in the dark of dawn, 5:30 a.m. to be exact, I made one last trek through the casino. It was time to check out and catch a cab to the airport for an early morning flight. There were plenty of people milling about by the slot machines, but they all looked frowsy and wilted, like they had been up all night—which no doubt, they probably had.
Hauling my luggage by two clearly inebriated young men, I heard one slur to the other with great solemnity, his arm gesturing to include the expanse of the casino: “My…..life….depends….on…..this!”
Hmmm…I thought, hurrying by, someday he may feel that same sentiment toward taking natural supplements! And hey, we’ll be there for him if he needs us! But in the meantime, I ducked quickly out of the hotel, shouting “Taxi! Airport please!”
For starters, it was very distracting to prepare for and concentrate upon the weightiness of my topics amidst the throngs of intoxicated revelers with the pervasive sound of slot machines ding, ding, dinging in the background. The Casino! It was necessary to thread your way through the vast casino to get to the elevators regardless of whether you were there for business or pleasure. All paths pass through the casino.
In my suite on the 28th floor of this grandiose hotel, amidst a multitude of grandiose edifices, I discovered that I need not worry about getting a drink; a refrigerator was stocked with ample booze. However, there was no coffee pot/maker in the room, making it necessary to throw on some clothes first thing in the morning, get on the elevator, and go down 28 floors to the casino to get a cup of coffee.
On the night of my arrival there was a dramatic thunderstorm in Las Vegas, but though I had a view of the distant mountains from my room, the storm was more or less eclipsed by the vast array of neon signs, lights and billboards on the strip…kind of a nature versus neon…and neon won.
Now, for a variety of reasons Las Vegas is a handy town in which to hold conventions, if for no other reason than it can accommodate so many people and events. But again, I found it hard to do business there. My job, as the host for iHealthTube, was to interview scientists, researchers, biochemists and experts in the field of natural health resources, many of whom were doing presentations about the latest breakthroughs in their respective fields.
For example, there are new and better ways for getting the most potent effect in antioxidants, and furthermore, these new techniques can maintain the effectiveness of the antioxidants once they are actually in the cells. Thus, these antioxidants can better quench free radicals and alleviate oxidative stress.
There were interviews with scientists who are proving in new studies that age-old remedies and herbals from India and China, which have been used for eons for natural stress relief help, really do work. Yet another scientist and his team had decided to study the calming reaction that breast feeding has on babies and discovered through their studies that it was not just the mother-child closeness or bond, but a constituent in milk itself that causes that effect—hence a new stress-reducing product has been developed.
Two days of talking with academics and researchers about breakthroughs in how to improve health was both interesting and challenging because the material was complex, often abstract as well. It was hard work.
But then it was early Friday evening—interviews all done, and I found myself weaving my way through the messy fray of drinkers, smokers and gamblers in the casino where a different form of stress relief was being practiced—FUN! Friday night was coming on strong. The crowds were gearing up for it. Dressed up for it. Excitement! Entertainment! Fantasy! A Disney theme park for adults. But I headed for the sanctuary of my room.
A few hours later, in the dark of dawn, 5:30 a.m. to be exact, I made one last trek through the casino. It was time to check out and catch a cab to the airport for an early morning flight. There were plenty of people milling about by the slot machines, but they all looked frowsy and wilted, like they had been up all night—which no doubt, they probably had.
Hauling my luggage by two clearly inebriated young men, I heard one slur to the other with great solemnity, his arm gesturing to include the expanse of the casino: “My…..life….depends….on…..this!”
Hmmm…I thought, hurrying by, someday he may feel that same sentiment toward taking natural supplements! And hey, we’ll be there for him if he needs us! But in the meantime, I ducked quickly out of the hotel, shouting “Taxi! Airport please!”
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