DROP A DRESS SIZE
VIVA MAYR, ALTAUSSEE, AUSTRIA
Viva’s medical director, Dr Harald Stossier, wants to make one thing clear: ‘Weight loss is not the goal of Viva Mayr’s gut-cleansing programmes. It just happens,’ he says. But, heck, you’d be hard-pressed to find any kind of diet that has quite these kinds of de-bloating results. Set in a large, chalet-style building (scenes from the James Bond film Spectre were shot here), with sweeping views out to Lake Altaussee, the personalised week-long detox programmes change both the way you think about food and how you actually eat.
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Swap your usual Pret sandwiches for spelt rolls (chewed 40 times to start proper digestion), fluffy vegetable mousses and light broths (there’s a no-raw-after-4pm rule). Everyone also has to glug back gallons of bitter salts, the clinic’s famous acid-busting powders that work a bit like drain cleaner to spring clean your gut. Indeed, salt is a theme here; there are saline salt chambers that mimic the effects of walking on a beach to clear lungs, salt saunas, a large saltwater swimming pool and Watsu water massage in a salt tub.
To help keep you on the straight and narrow back home, the Viva empire has a new Harley Street outpost, for fine tuning and check-ups between visits, food-intolerance testing and intravenous vitamin infusions. OA Comfort Room costs from approx £158 per person, per night*. Medical check-ups at the Viva Mayr London Clinic cost from £170; vivamayr.com
