I recently spent three days doing a newly launched detox retreat in Phuket that's centred around drinking, breathing and relaxing, three things I previously thought I was already expert at. But it turns out that the drinking was copious amounts of specially prepared juices five times a day, the breathing was pranayama, ie breathing exercises done before a spot of detox yoga and meditation, and the relaxing was spending three and a half hours in the spa a day - none of which were quite as easy as they sound.

I Was Allowed Food!

Created by Thai herbalist Premchit Prateap Na Thalang, Experience Premchit Natural Detox Retreat is different to any other detox I've ever done. Over and above the above, I was allowed food. And as the retreat was at luxurious Paresa Phuket, the menus, divided into Italian and Thai, were tomes of forbidden fruit, gourmet pornography titillating my taste buds as I devoured page after page three times a day. And then tried to make healthy choices.

My days started with a shot and two glasses of juice. These are where Premchit's twelve generations of knowledge of medicinal herbs and plants came in. Crammed with goodies like chlorella, gotu kola, guava, ginger, holy basil, lime, spirulina, beetroot, apple, lemongrass, radish, cabbage, garlic, cucumber, parsley, cilantro, they kick-started my detox and filled me up with intense nutrition. And despite the new flavours it didn't take long for my palate to like them as much as my body - the Small Spiral of Long Life shot with paprika for a bit of a kick, and the greener than green New World of Youth and bright purple lemongrass and beetroot Upper Crust Beauty juices were the winners. 

Optimal Breathing

The breathing, yoga and meditation were lead by Paresa's fitness instructor Khun Nan. He valiantly guided me through panting like a dog, holding my breath, ‘sizzling' my breath, blowing at a candle without snuffing it out, breathing smoothly and silently... I felt a bit stupid but apparently most of us aren't breathing ‘optimally' and while I wouldn't call it an exact science, mindfulness is the key and practicing various exercises were strengthening my breathing strength and control. 

I felt a little more comfortable with the yoga poses specially chosen for their detoxification, although as a sporadic yoga fan the mountain pose, cat and cow, a side pose and a twist - downward dog was the most exigent - weren't at all challenging. Personally I prefer something with a bit more power, but as they were chosen specifically for their detox properties, I focused. And the meditation - was meditation; always a challenge, but always good.

Spa Elixirs

And so to the relaxing. Premchit's spa elixirs (skincare products) are amazing. Like the shots and juices they are crammed full of amazing ingredients, this time ideal for helping the skin detoxify itself, muscle tension melt and the mind sleep. They smell like they are full of goodness - they smell real. Each day included various combinations including skin brushing, a foot wash and scrub, a body scrub and wrap, an aromatherapy massage, a lymphatic massage, a facial massage, a facial, and of course one of her detox tisanes to finish. 

These three activities punctuated my days. Three days later I was loving the juices and wanted to buy a juicer once back home and make my own; eager to get back to my usual yoga practice even though there are many poses that sort my fellow pretzel-bendy-Asian-yoginis (the wheat) from the only-just-hanging-on-in-there-western-girl-at-the-back (the chaff); and loving the spa treatments but no longer able to lie down for three-and-a-half-hours of fabulousness at a time. 

And, What About the Food?

After the juices you're not that hungry, but it's almost impossible for me not to eat if I've been told I can. The catch? I must practice trophology ie food combining. I can eat protein but only with vegetables. I can eat carbs but only with vegetables. I can eat vegetables with everything. Basically I can wave goodbye to green curry chicken and rice, spaghetti Bolognese, ham sandwiches, fish pies topped with potatoes etc. 

Instead I can eat the green curry chicken on its own, but better to choose green curry vegetables instead. I can eat spaghetti arrabiata, for example, and sandwiches filled with salad, or steamed fish with vegetables. You get the idea. I stumbled through this philosophy, seemingly so simple and yet it turned my typical British idea of what makes a meal on its head. I ate fruit for breakfast, seafood salads for lunch and hot soups, curries and poached fish for dinner. Hardly roughing it. 

Back in the Real World

On my last day I met with the orchestrator of the retreat, Premchit, and we talked detox. What I was really keen to understand was how I was going to manage to keep up the good work when I was allowed out of my Premchit-Paresa bubble and into the real world. I'll be visually seduced at every turn by restaurants, bars, cafes and above all sky scraper-high ads all tempting me to eat and drink the most delicious yet unhealthful things at home in deep-fried, sugar-sprinkled, caffeine-rich, alcohol-fuelled Hong Kong. How do you resist these things when they are literally surrounding you?

Premchit has lived her whole life eating well. Born into a family that traces their herbalist roots back to 1592, she learned recipes and habits at her mother's knee, and went with her father to the mountains of Phuket, where she grew up, to pick plants and herbs. She pointed out how bad processed food is, how filled with chemicals, preservatives and other nasties they are, how far from what nature provides they have come. And she's always at the end of an email for future advice. But how do I train my brain not to instinctively leap at the chance of scoffing a pepperoni pizza, a burger, a bar of milk chocolate, a bag of crisps, when they are literally a few steps away?

Well, I didn't do too badly - at first. I just had to have a square of brie that I'd been ogling for my entire Paresa stay for my leaving breakfast along with my fruit and my indulgent poached egg. But I don't think that rated too highly on the Richter scale of unhealthiness.

Then I was suddenly staying at a different resort and thrown into the deep end big time. Lunch was a glass noodle spicy salad. I managed to hold off eating crisps washed down by a Chang by drawing on some inner self discipline I never knew I had during the day, and had bbq fish with lime, fresh coconut and lime soda for supper. That's a resounding success in my book. 

But the next day came the ultimate test. The breakfast buffet has always been a high point of a holiday day for me. They're my weakness, my undoing, my first thing in the morning indulgence. Sausages, bacon, eggs and hash browns are laid out in delicious lines; chocolate croissants, Danish pastries, crusty bread are just begging to be eaten despite my gluten intolerance; cheeses, salamis and hams... 

I looked around me at the other guests, and the more overweight people I saw the more I realised how fundamentally unhealthy the western diet is. Of course there are unhealthy choices to be made in any country's cuisine, but it is the westerners with their meat-, wheat- and sweet-heavy diets, their stressful inner city living, general lack of exercise and cold climates who just seem to be waddling advertisements of how not to live your life. 

I tried to distract myself with cereal, nuts, raisons with soy milk, with pineapple and watermelon (which should be eaten separately for some reason I haven't quite figured out). So far so ok-la. Then... sorry Premchit but I just had to have a sausage, rasher of bacon and even worse, some bread. But in my defence, before my trophology-busted breakfast I had gone for a run along the beach. 

It's Not Easy

Back in Bangkok I talked over the inevitable ‘back to reality' crash with nutritionist and Spa Director of Earth Spa in Hua Hin, Lisa Jody Manser. She gave me some invaluable tips, which while they haven't kept me completely on the straight and narrow, have certainly helped.

Firstly she told me to eat mindfully. If you eat something less than healthy then at least know why you chose it, savour and enjoy it, and only eat as much as you really want. (I only ate half that sausage and rasher of bacon at the breakfast buffet - but then was consumed with worries about the waste. Aiyaa!)

Secondly - don't treat every meal as if it is your last. This comment has already worked wonders for me. Instead of going straight for my first choice at every meal, I've managed to make healthier choices that previously I'd never have gone for - ie salads.

Returning to Hong Kong in the middle of the Rugby 7s threw up its own brand of temptations, not all of which I managed to ignore. But worse were the mountains of deadlines that had me rushing to grab easy take-away meals. I need to focus to eat healthily and when I'm up against the wall work-wise, my diet and exercise routines suffer the most. But Premchit's detox did leave me with some ammunition against all the alien food stuffs around me - most importantly cutting down on my white rice intake, and being able to peruse a restaurant menu and then choosing something a little less indulgent than my first choice. It's a rocky road for sure, but once I've managed to finish this review, I'll be back to my healthier diet and my too-difficult yoga. Err, eventually.  

For more information: www.experiencepremchit.com, www.paresa.com.