Mr Showbiz does detox - part two
Thursday 12 February 2009
I wanted to test myself I guess. Could I survive without my usual calorific food? The answer was simple – yes I could. Quite easily, in fact.
For breakfast (after a daily early morning yoga session) I indulged with fresh fruit, goats yoghurt and raisins, lunch time would usually be a Thai salad of some sort of a rice paper spring roll with beetroot and copius amounts of water and my evening meal would involve some sort of soup (green vegetable and spicy water melon were my favourites), buckwheat pancakes and either a Pumpkin Thai curry with brown rice or the vegetable Saag.
As well as the amazing menu people on detox were also allowed any of the amazing detox smoothies – the list was exhausting to even read.
They became a staple of the daily diet at Kamalaya – they had all the nutrients you needed to get through the day. Hell, I’ll admit it – I even started having daily wheatgrass shots!
But did all my efforts to eat healthily, take yoga classes once or twice a day and relax having along time actually make me feel any better?
The answer is a resounding yes. I was a person before this trip who was sceptical of health spa retreats and what you were able to achieve from a short stay.
Not only had I dropped a few pounds from it, I had more energy, I felt more content in my own self and was de-stressed and ready for returning to the UK for work.
It also changed my outlook on what I consume food wise – and it’s continued to have an influence on what I’m eating back here at home.
As I left the resort and made the hop on a plane to Bangkok to catch my connecting flight to London I was faced with a challenge that I never thought I’d ever have to deal with. What can I eat that’s healthy and good for me? I was desperate to keep the buzz of being on the detox. I managed to track down a stall where they chopped up pineapple and mango for you and gave you a stick to pick pieces out of a bag.
That was fine – but I needed more to eat after missing breakfast earlier that day. The sandwiches all looked dodgy and I’d had no bread for fives days.
I bit the bullet and thought it was best to try and stick to a tuna salad. I was sooooo smug when I spotted another guest from the retreat who was leaving for London woofing down a bagel with smoked salmon and a beer! I was officially a changed man.
So summing up my time at Kamalaya, it’s an amazingly spiritual place that was great for ‘me’ time and fantastic for giving me a nice healthy start to 2009. I’d recommend it to any of my friends – and will probably return there at some point in the near future too!
Obviously a detox isn’t going to last forever when you’re storming around London on the celebrity party circuit – but what this trip did was open my eyes to a better way of thinking. And as one heads towards 30 years of age I think what I learnt there is going to make a difference to my life – for all the right reasons. I still haven’t lost those 4 kilograms though….
Kamalaya Koh Samui is a Wellness Scanctuary and Holistic Spa located amid a tropical landscape on the southern coastline of Koh Samui, Thailand. For bookings and enquiries visit www.kamalaya.com
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