The papaya is one of nature's perfect foods -- a healthy and delicious fruit to eat, and a highly-sought after component in natural skin and body care.

Our skin continuously sloughs off dead and damaged cells so that new and healthy ones may take their place. Aging slows this process down, causing the skin to crease more easily, form fine lines and deep wrinkles.

We can easily aid this sloughing process and help to remove layers of dead skin with a protein-dissolving enzyme called papain, found only in papaya. Papain dissolves the dead and damaged cells readily, leaving new and healthy ones intact. Although papain is at its most potent when culled from a green (young) papaya, it is also of great benefit in its ripe- from-the-market stage.

Spa Grande, the spa at Grand Wailea Resort & Spa, is a sea of tranquility, a place of refuge where the body is restored not just to health, but exuberant well- being and wholeness. Award-winning Spa Grande is consistently recognized among the Top Ten Spas in the United States by Conde Nast and Travel + Leisure magazines.

To take advantage of the waters at Spa Grande, try the MAKAMUA package, designed for both first time and seasoned spa enthusiasts. The package offers you access to the wonderful Termé Wailea Hydrotherapies, a Pineapple-Papaya Body Scrub, a 50-minute The Grande Massage, a 50-minute Spa Grande Deep Cleansing Facial, and Shampoo and Blow Dry at the Grand Design Salon. This indulgent 4 Hours package is priced at only $325. In addition, the Grand Wailea presently have three specials in progress, including "3 for 2." For every two nights' stay, the third night is complimentary.

The quest for good health and beauty through meditation, massage and use of natural herbal remedies are ancient traditions in Thailand. Experience these traditions, handed down though countless generations, in a restored century-old teakwood house, where The Oriental Spa has become an oasis of peace and tranquility. Voted "Best in the World" by Travel & Leisure magazine, The Oriental Spa is the perfect environment in which to rejuvenate body, mind, and spirit.

In The Oriental Spa, guests will discover the pleasure and benefits of therapies based on traditional Thai and modern Western techniques. With just 14 private suites, The Oriental Spa is exclusive and luxurious. The antique décor is muted yet treatment and hydrotherapy facilities are state-of-the-art. Soothe away the stress of modern life and dissolve impurities under the gentle fingers of therapists trained in ancient skills.

The Oriental Hotel offers a terrific full-service package: The Revitaliser Package includes one Papaya Body Polish (which uses heated papaya!) (30 min), one Swedish Massage or Essential Oil Massage (60 min), one Personalized Cleansing Facial or Floral Mask Facial (90 min), one Oriental Foot Massage (30 min), and Herbal Tea, Fruit Juice or Mineral Water. This 3 hour, 30 minute package is just US$185.

Since papaya is a wonderful ingredient for natural skincare, many spas offer papaya based facials. Some spas and resorts are fortunate enough to have access to their own papayas, right on the property or from local growers. One is the Soulshine Spa Resort in Placencia, Belize. Soulshine has a Board Certified Dermatologist on staff, available for skin care consultations, and offers a Papaya Facial, A pure and natural facial that utilizes local papaya. The facial includes a gentle face, neck and shoulder, hand and foot massage, as well as a scalp massage with warm herbal oils, and is priced at $65.

Spa Gregories in Newport Beach, California offers the Aloha Paradise body polish and massage package, which starts with a Pineapple Papaya body scrub to exfoliate and smooth the skin, followed by a warm coconut and kukui aromatic oil massage. This one hour package is priced at $150.

The Pointe Spa at the Hawthorn Farm Athletic Club, Hillsboro, Oregon, offers a Chocolate Papaya Body Wrap. The treatment is designed to coax out impurities and nourish the skin and body, and starts with warmed moor mud enhanced with chocolate, yucca, papaya and rose petals applied to the skin as the therapist massages your temples. The treatment is finished with nourishing shea butter, and is 50 minutes, priced at $60 for members, and $65 for guests.

The Cranwell Resort, Spa & Golf Club in the Berkshires, Lenox, Massachusetts, offers a Decleor Spa Mossaic Envelopment Series, including the Spa Sauna selection. In this treatment, your skin is polished with Spa Mosaic Exfoliating Powder, followed by a relaxing massage application of Relax Aromatic Body Balm. You body is then enveloped in a Papaya and Clay Cream Mask that nourishes and hydrates the skin, continuing with a wrap in a warm blanket for a totally "Zen" cocooning effect. This 50 minute treatment is priced at $130.

Spa Luna, a European Day Spa on the beautiful Island of Maui, offers a number of popular treatments performed by both the instructors on staff and the students they teach at their onsite holistic spa, massage, and esthetician training school. Spa Luna is both a soothing retreat, and often an economical one, with facials starting at just $45. The spa is known for its own organic papaya seed exfoliating peels.

Scandals Day Spa in St. Louis, Missouri offers the Ocean Fusion Spa Manicure. This invigorating manicure starts with an aloe and papaya soak infused with algae and pure plant extracts. Hands are then exfoliated and soothed with fine silica from the ocean floor blended with five organic seaweeds designed to oxygenate and stimulate skin cells. Nail and cuticle care is followed by an arm and hand massage with essential oils and flower essences to further protect the hands. This 45 minute treatment is priced at $45.

Fruit label image from LondonFruit.Com

Makes 4 servings. 460 cal each, 82g carbs, 0 chol, 9g fat, 19g protein, 250mg sodium.

Papaya Art courtesy of Hawaiian & Contemporary Art by Sarah Wood

Additional Spa Cuisine recipes from SpaIndex.Com

If you have visited spas and resorts in exotic locales such as the Pacific Rim, Bali, Hawaii, and Tahiti, you've probably seen an esthetician select and mash fresh fruit in front of you for a fresh-on-the spot enzyme mask. It's easy to recreate this mask at home -- we've found a Balinese mask for you which will leave your face fresh and glowing.