SPA FOCUS Dealing withLoss
Spas are thought to be the Holy Grail of weight loss, the places to go to return to the leanness and size of our youth – if only. Jo Foley examines exactly what a visit to a spa can do for your weight and shape and shows how you have to play your part, too. Plus where to go for the right inspiration.
S
pas are thought to be the Holy Grail of weight loss, the places to go to return to the leanness and size of our youth – if only. Jo Foley examines exactly what a visit to a spa can do for your weight and shape and shows how you have to play your part, too. Plus where to go for inspiration. Spas are not magic palaces where you go in one door, out of sorts, unfit and overweight and, within four, five or seven days, a whole new you will emerge from another door. It’s not quite like that but the good news is, that in four, five or seven days a whole new you can emerge, in attitude if not in weight. And, while you can certainly lose weight during a stay at a spa or undergoing a serious detox programme, it is only the beginning of a total re-education process. We know if we eat less and exercise more, the chances are we’ll lose weight. But the problem is sticking with the good behaviour The great joy of a spa is it can help kick-
start a regime which can be with you for life by teaching you what foods work best
for you. Some of us need carbs, others more protein, which is why a session with a nutritionist is such a help. So by all means book yourself into a weight management or detox programme, but remember this is just the beginning. There are many regimens that have been tried and tested over the years, but the daddy of them all is the one devised by Dr Franz Xavier Mayr, who believed digestion is key to a healthy body and lifestyle, and only by giving this a rest from its average daily intake can it help rejuvenate itself. For this, head to the
MAYR AND MORE clinic on the shore of Austria’s pretty Lake Worth, where people come to change their lives, eating habits – and shape. Unashamedly dictatorial, this is a place where you do as you’re told – chew each mouthful 40 times, eat only dry spelt bread, sheep’s yogurt and fresh vegetable soup (the lucky ones get a baked potato). You wake each morning to a glass of
40 WORLD OF CRUISING I Autumn 2013
Epsom salts, take light exercise, enjoy fresh air, and are in bed every night by nine o’clock. In between, the day is taken up with doctor’s appointments, massage, the occasional colonic, osteopathy and physio, plus a lot of kneipping – where different areas of the body are submerged in hot and cold water sequentially to boost circulation. Obviously you lose weight, but that isn’t the main point. What the chewing does is slow down our eating behaviour as most of us eat too quickly. The other rule – no raw food after 4pm – ensures our digestive systems are treated kindly. Raw foods take longer to digest and while salads and fruit, etc, are fine if we are still active, eating them at more inactive times means they can linger and fester in the stomach. And, while a visit here can never be called glamorous, it does attract some of the most glamorous aficionados who return year after year. It costs from £2,182 (flight Ryanair to Klagenfurt extra). More info:
www.mayrandmore.com
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