My urban detox challenge
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1029059/ [2008-6-26]
Tag : cleansing tea
My urban detox challenge
By Liz Hoggard
Last updated at 9:05 AM on 25th June 2008 Comments ( 0 ) Add to My Stories
"How would you like to do an urban detox?" my editor asks me.
"It's based in Notting Hill so you'd still be able to come towork."
Battered by Bridget Jones-style romantic trauma, I jump at thechance - envisaging myself undergoing pampering spa treatmentsduring the day and uncovering a new-found radiance.
It's only when my welcome pack arrives from Hydro Healing that Irealise this is not a treatment for the faint-hearted.
Words such as "colon lavage", "fasting" and "replacement mealjuices" jump off the page.
Dear God, what have I signed up for?
Hitting the bottle: Liz Hoggard's regime included 10 to 12supplements a day
I'm on the point of resigning until Amo from Hydro Healing rings meup and reassures me that - if I really am squeamish - I can missout the three sessions of colonic irrigation and opt for thenon-invasive massages which speed up digestion.
I consult my inner Jane Austen and opt for the massages.
Hydro Healing believes that fasting is the single greatest naturalhealing therapy.
It's been used in Asian medicine for everything from minorinfections to serious illness.
Cells and organs of the body are allowed to breathe and repairwithout external stimuli such as junk food and alcohol.
Its new detox is aimed at busy workers who want to take control andpurge themselves of bad habits.
Yes, it's a shock treatment but it allows you to get on with reallife without having to jet off to some boot camp abroad.
On the five-day detox, no solid food is allowed - only water,vegetable juices and vegetable broth.
But I am promised that every day, four freshly blended juice drinkswill be delivered to my doorstep. The detox programme - whichoffers a range of benefits including better digestion, weight loss,increased energy and improved skin conditions - will be overseen byalternative health practitioner Hasmira, a qualified medicalherbalist and colonic therapist.
The toxic burden on my liver will be reduced (does she know aboutthe red wine?) and my lymph and blood will be purified. Additives,pesticides and preservatives will be "expelled" (nice euphemism)from my body. I am beginning to feel like a human volcano.
I count up the numerous supplements I am supposed to carry aroundduring the day and realise that it's 10 to 12 different bottles andpotions.
When I'm not mixing up bentonite clay and psyllium husks with applejuice every three hours (the clay acts as a magnet, drawing out allthe toxic substances in the body), I'm expected to drink organicapple vinegar and honey.
From 7am to 10pm, there's a different activity - from bodyscrubbing to boiling up flax seeds ("a treat for the colon"). It'sall very well for beauty types who can lie around their bathroomtreating their body as a temple and having a light sleep now andagain.
But what about my day job? Hasmira agrees to "narrow down" myschedule, so I'll only have to take the cleansing drink of clay andpsyllium first and last thing, and sends me out with a bewilderingshopping list (what exactly is acidophilus?).
If I get really desperate on day three, I can add in some fruit andsalad, she promises. Maybe even an Innocent Smoothie. But it's whenI read about the sideeffects that I get nervous. These includefeelings of lethargy, bad breath, bad skin and weight gain for noapparent reason.
"By day three you have the libido of a teenage boy," a friend warnsme. I eat my last supper as a condemned woman (pasta, red wine) andprepare to become an explosive, sexually incontinent husk…
TUESDAY
Up at 6am, squeezing lemon juice, body scrubbing.
At 8am mix up the frothing clay and psyllium - awful fleetingmemories of chemistry O-level. 9am, start on my scary juices.
Do they all taste of beetroot?
Have a lovely, sensual Qi massage with Neil at Hydro Healing to aiddigestion. It's a Chinese massage technique that supports optimumfunction and energy of the internal organs.
Also have acupuncture to strengthen the digestive system and relaxand calm the mind. 3pm, very hungry and grumpy.
Start to have terrible headache.
Go to see Michael Frayn's Afterlife at theatre (three hours!)almost unable to speak or interact.
"Perhaps you shouldn't come out until you're more fun," my artseditor says acerbically.
But feel so otherworldly I hardly notice bumping into tricky oldflame at the theatre.
Go straight home to bed. Have flax seed tea. Cry.
WEDNESDAY
No headache today.
Miss getting juices first thing because I have to review The LastDebutante exhibition at Kensington Palace.
Am near delusional when the debs start describing all the champagneand cream teas.
Back in office get hit with tricky feature. Have raw salad out ofdesperation. Broken detox already.
Have more energy in afternoon: walk to Knightsbridge.
See The Chalk Garden at the Donmar (two-and-halfhours) - fantasticproduction but falling asleep.
Have supper with friend with very painful love life. It feelscompletely insensitive just drinking water.
Have salad and veg instead of last two juices, which I am startingto loathe.
End day stewing flaxseed tea.
"Are you sure you don't want a Twix with that?" asks my housemate.
He has never seen me do so much in the kitchen.
THURSDAY
Second massage with Neil - more intensive on vital organs.
It's a Qi massage for detox purposes that opens up the four gatesaround the navel and speeds digestion.
Also have supportive acupuncture - "when you're purging yourselfyou can feel a bit knocked out," he says kindly. This time theneedles in my legs are buzzing like mad.
Feel like walking electric storm. Another nightmare copy day. Havesneaky canteen soup out of desperation.
Go to see The Ugly One at Royal Court. Gripping play about bodybeautiful - and worryingly autobiographical. Have to file late copyat home. Resort to eating an avocado. I am realising just howimportant food is as a social, emotional ritual.
There really is so little point to life without it.
FRIDAY
Manage to get through Pilates without collapsing.
But God, I hate those juices. Especially the carrot, apple,beetroot, ginger formula.
They just sit in my fridge reproaching me.
Researching piece at home - so experiment with vegetable broth.
To my horror you're supposed to throw all the lovely potato andcarrot away - and just drink the liquid.
4pm interview Lucinda from The Apprentice in Marylebone.
Am I still using verbs?
Can't join colleagues for birthday champagne. Walk home from BondStreet to Peckham in growly mood - everyone having pizzasdelivered.
Go to bed in despair.
SATURDAY
Skin clearer and it is lovely to say hello to waist (last glimpsedin 1983).
Not strictly hungry.
But so very bored. Stay in writing up interview.
Then off to National and supper with friend at trendy Skylonrestaurant. Have salad with spinach and aubergine.
Remember not to ask about friend's handsome teenage son, now I'mofficially a sex pest. Home to last dose of clay and psyllium andflax seed tea.
SUNDAY
Real food! Though interestingly I don't feel like anything much butfruit. Go to Hydro Healing for my last visit.
Have finally agreed that I will try one hydrocolonic session.
But as Hasmira advances with the pipe, I rear up like nervoushorse.
After third failed attempt, I gather my dignity and suggest I'mjust not that sort of girl.
Secretly relieved - but are there any more depressing words in theEnglish language than "If you'd just like to put your skirt backon"?
Walk from Notting Hill to Victoria, so fired up by embarrassment.
CONCLUSION
Feel thinner, though not as much as the other journalists who hadall three colonic sessions (on average they lost 6lb in weight andreport feeling greater mental clarity and digestive health).
Amo is worried that I haven't been able to go on the same"psychological, physical and emotional journey" as the otherladies.
But you know I'm not sure having a pipe up your bottom doesconstitute a spiritual journey for me. It has, however, inspired meto revamp my diet. I'm still not eating as much carbohydrate.
Food tastes fresher, cleaner.
And yes, I can go five days without red wine. I'd definitely goback for Neil's massages, which can be tailored to suit yourphysical/emotional state.
But I hated starving - never again.
At least the massage and acupuncture definitely helped with thecomedy of errors that is my love life.
The Urban Detox, Hydro Healing, Notting Hill, W11, costs from
My urban detox challenge
By Liz Hoggard
Last updated at 9:05 AM on 25th June 2008 Comments ( 0 ) Add to My Stories
"How would you like to do an urban detox?" my editor asks me.
"It's based in Notting Hill so you'd still be able to come towork."
Battered by Bridget Jones-style romantic trauma, I jump at thechance - envisaging myself undergoing pampering spa treatmentsduring the day and uncovering a new-found radiance.
It's only when my welcome pack arrives from Hydro Healing that Irealise this is not a treatment for the faint-hearted.
Words such as "colon lavage", "fasting" and "replacement mealjuices" jump off the page.
Dear God, what have I signed up for?
Hitting the bottle: Liz Hoggard's regime included 10 to 12supplements a day
I'm on the point of resigning until Amo from Hydro Healing rings meup and reassures me that - if I really am squeamish - I can missout the three sessions of colonic irrigation and opt for thenon-invasive massages which speed up digestion.
I consult my inner Jane Austen and opt for the massages.
Hydro Healing believes that fasting is the single greatest naturalhealing therapy.
It's been used in Asian medicine for everything from minorinfections to serious illness.
Cells and organs of the body are allowed to breathe and repairwithout external stimuli such as junk food and alcohol.
Its new detox is aimed at busy workers who want to take control andpurge themselves of bad habits.
Yes, it's a shock treatment but it allows you to get on with reallife without having to jet off to some boot camp abroad.
On the five-day detox, no solid food is allowed - only water,vegetable juices and vegetable broth.
But I am promised that every day, four freshly blended juice drinkswill be delivered to my doorstep. The detox programme - whichoffers a range of benefits including better digestion, weight loss,increased energy and improved skin conditions - will be overseen byalternative health practitioner Hasmira, a qualified medicalherbalist and colonic therapist.
The toxic burden on my liver will be reduced (does she know aboutthe red wine?) and my lymph and blood will be purified. Additives,pesticides and preservatives will be "expelled" (nice euphemism)from my body. I am beginning to feel like a human volcano.
I count up the numerous supplements I am supposed to carry aroundduring the day and realise that it's 10 to 12 different bottles andpotions.
When I'm not mixing up bentonite clay and psyllium husks with applejuice every three hours (the clay acts as a magnet, drawing out allthe toxic substances in the body), I'm expected to drink organicapple vinegar and honey.
From 7am to 10pm, there's a different activity - from bodyscrubbing to boiling up flax seeds ("a treat for the colon"). It'sall very well for beauty types who can lie around their bathroomtreating their body as a temple and having a light sleep now andagain.
But what about my day job? Hasmira agrees to "narrow down" myschedule, so I'll only have to take the cleansing drink of clay andpsyllium first and last thing, and sends me out with a bewilderingshopping list (what exactly is acidophilus?).
If I get really desperate on day three, I can add in some fruit andsalad, she promises. Maybe even an Innocent Smoothie. But it's whenI read about the sideeffects that I get nervous. These includefeelings of lethargy, bad breath, bad skin and weight gain for noapparent reason.
"By day three you have the libido of a teenage boy," a friend warnsme. I eat my last supper as a condemned woman (pasta, red wine) andprepare to become an explosive, sexually incontinent husk…
TUESDAY
Up at 6am, squeezing lemon juice, body scrubbing.
At 8am mix up the frothing clay and psyllium - awful fleetingmemories of chemistry O-level. 9am, start on my scary juices.
Do they all taste of beetroot?
Have a lovely, sensual Qi massage with Neil at Hydro Healing to aiddigestion. It's a Chinese massage technique that supports optimumfunction and energy of the internal organs.
Also have acupuncture to strengthen the digestive system and relaxand calm the mind. 3pm, very hungry and grumpy.
Start to have terrible headache.
Go to see Michael Frayn's Afterlife at theatre (three hours!)almost unable to speak or interact.
"Perhaps you shouldn't come out until you're more fun," my artseditor says acerbically.
But feel so otherworldly I hardly notice bumping into tricky oldflame at the theatre.
Go straight home to bed. Have flax seed tea. Cry.
WEDNESDAY
No headache today.
Miss getting juices first thing because I have to review The LastDebutante exhibition at Kensington Palace.
Am near delusional when the debs start describing all the champagneand cream teas.
Back in office get hit with tricky feature. Have raw salad out ofdesperation. Broken detox already.
Have more energy in afternoon: walk to Knightsbridge.
See The Chalk Garden at the Donmar (two-and-halfhours) - fantasticproduction but falling asleep.
Have supper with friend with very painful love life. It feelscompletely insensitive just drinking water.
Have salad and veg instead of last two juices, which I am startingto loathe.
End day stewing flaxseed tea.
"Are you sure you don't want a Twix with that?" asks my housemate.
He has never seen me do so much in the kitchen.
THURSDAY
Second massage with Neil - more intensive on vital organs.
It's a Qi massage for detox purposes that opens up the four gatesaround the navel and speeds digestion.
Also have supportive acupuncture - "when you're purging yourselfyou can feel a bit knocked out," he says kindly. This time theneedles in my legs are buzzing like mad.
Feel like walking electric storm. Another nightmare copy day. Havesneaky canteen soup out of desperation.
Go to see The Ugly One at Royal Court. Gripping play about bodybeautiful - and worryingly autobiographical. Have to file late copyat home. Resort to eating an avocado. I am realising just howimportant food is as a social, emotional ritual.
There really is so little point to life without it.
FRIDAY
Manage to get through Pilates without collapsing.
But God, I hate those juices. Especially the carrot, apple,beetroot, ginger formula.
They just sit in my fridge reproaching me.
Researching piece at home - so experiment with vegetable broth.
To my horror you're supposed to throw all the lovely potato andcarrot away - and just drink the liquid.
4pm interview Lucinda from The Apprentice in Marylebone.
Am I still using verbs?
Can't join colleagues for birthday champagne. Walk home from BondStreet to Peckham in growly mood - everyone having pizzasdelivered.
Go to bed in despair.
SATURDAY
Skin clearer and it is lovely to say hello to waist (last glimpsedin 1983).
Not strictly hungry.
But so very bored. Stay in writing up interview.
Then off to National and supper with friend at trendy Skylonrestaurant. Have salad with spinach and aubergine.
Remember not to ask about friend's handsome teenage son, now I'mofficially a sex pest. Home to last dose of clay and psyllium andflax seed tea.
SUNDAY
Real food! Though interestingly I don't feel like anything much butfruit. Go to Hydro Healing for my last visit.
Have finally agreed that I will try one hydrocolonic session.
But as Hasmira advances with the pipe, I rear up like nervoushorse.
After third failed attempt, I gather my dignity and suggest I'mjust not that sort of girl.
Secretly relieved - but are there any more depressing words in theEnglish language than "If you'd just like to put your skirt backon"?
Walk from Notting Hill to Victoria, so fired up by embarrassment.
CONCLUSION
Feel thinner, though not as much as the other journalists who hadall three colonic sessions (on average they lost 6lb in weight andreport feeling greater mental clarity and digestive health).
Amo is worried that I haven't been able to go on the same"psychological, physical and emotional journey" as the otherladies.
But you know I'm not sure having a pipe up your bottom doesconstitute a spiritual journey for me. It has, however, inspired meto revamp my diet. I'm still not eating as much carbohydrate.
Food tastes fresher, cleaner.
And yes, I can go five days without red wine. I'd definitely goback for Neil's massages, which can be tailored to suit yourphysical/emotional state.
But I hated starving - never again.
At least the massage and acupuncture definitely helped with thecomedy of errors that is my love life.
The Urban Detox, Hydro Healing, Notting Hill, W11, costs from
Related News »
In Focus »
footwear exports
Last month, European footwear manufacturers proposed extending anti-dumping measures against ..
B2B Keywords:
International market Chinese Importer Wholesale trade Wholesale products World trade Wholesale distributors International trade Foreign trade Wholesale distributor Importers Import export business Sell online Help u sell Global trade How to market a product Online supplier Wholesale product
International market Chinese Importer Wholesale trade Wholesale products World trade Wholesale distributors International trade Foreign trade Wholesale distributor Importers Import export business Sell online Help u sell Global trade How to market a product Online supplier Wholesale product
Feature Products»
Hot Products: A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z | 0-9
-
-
About Us -
Links -
Privacy Policy -
Terms of Use -
Site Map -
Contact Us -
Call Center: 0086-95105561 © 2007 Tootoo.com -
