Something new: alive and well
Rachael Blackmore
"What I don't believe in are detoxes and diets," says Kanchan Porta Panjabi, proprietor of Living Alive, a boutique wellness agency that instead operates to the mantra "Balance. Care. Simplicity."
"It's not about a short-term fix," says Kanch, as she prefers to be known. "It's really about a lifestyle and mental shift and often this is hard for people to do.
Born in India and raised in Hong Kong, New York and London, Kanch spent five years working in fashion design. Overworked and stressed, the woman behind the Kanchan Couture line, decided to take her health into her own hands and enrolled in the New York-based Institute for Integrative Nutrition, qualifying as a health coach after two years of training and study.
She now instructs Hong Kong clients in holistic health, which covers nutrition and wellness, usually in three- or six-month programmes that amount to six or 12 60-minute sessions, respectively.
During the sessions, Kanch hands out samples of products "that encourage a healthier lifestyle, are 'clean' [this means they could be organic, or made in a sustainable manner or without chemicals and artificial substances] and one of the big things is I have to love and use the products myself".
One of the products she advocates is millet, "an amazing organic grain, an easy substitute for rice or to throw in your salad. It's a whole grain and gluten-free, which makes it a good clean source of energy".
As well as coaching individuals, Living Alive helps stage "nourishing events" such as yoga workshops and "Gluten is My Bitch", which will focus on gluten-free living.
"Gluten is My Bitch" takes place on April 29 (6pm to 8pm) at 35 Aberdeen Street, Central, and costs HK$300 a head.
