A slice of pecan pie contains around 800 calories — even before the whipped cream. Given all the fattening holiday cheer you’ve just gone through, plus scant exercise, you, friend, are in need of an overhaul.
That requires going above and beyond the local juice bar and gym — and heading south for a life reboot. These two spas will help you get on the road to healthy eating and exercise, with some pit stops for a bit of pampering.
Hippocrates Health Institute | West Palm Beach, Fla.
With early-winter temps in the mid-70s, West Palm is a welcome respite from a nippy New York.
HHI’s gorgeous sub-tropical 50-acre campus will school you on wellness — after all, it’s where wheat grass juice was invented. And that whole raw/vegan food movement? The institute’s directors, Drs. Brian and Anna Maria Clement, have been doing it since the ’80s.
Guests check in for one to three weeks, entering a “life transformation program” that removes 68 percent of all the toxins and waste in your body within the first seven days. How’s that achieved? By drinking a whole lot of juice — wheat-grass, along with other green vegetable juices — and following an organic diet of raw/live sprouts and vegetables grown on the property.
No salt is served, but necessary sodium is gotten via kelp. Coffee? No. Dairy? No. Sugar? No. Foods heated to more than 112 degrees? No. All of this is designed to deliver nutrition to your cells in the healthiest possible way. (Guests are thrilled when vegan pizzas are served at dinner.) Days are filled with lectures about health and healing, yoga, far-infrared saunas (which emit healing infrared light), swimming in various therapy pools, colon hydrotherapy (a fancy term for enemas) and even psychotherapy sessions.
Info: Rates for the Life Transformation Program start at $2,700 for one week, without accommodations, or $2,911 with lodging. Both include meals and wellness treatments and lectures.
The Greenbrier | White Sulphur Springs, W. Va.
This mountain getaway is the world’s only five-star mineral-water spa. The resort dates back to James Monroe, who came here to “take the waters” in 1815 when he was serving as secretary of state.
Located in the Allegheny Mountains of West Virginia, the Greenbrier’s 10,000 acres include four golf courses, a massive guests-only casino and a vast and imposing grand hotel reimagined in 2010 by noted interior designer Carleton Varney.
The Greenbrier also boasts a world-renowned, 40,000-square-foot spa that features one of the most extensive lists of treatments in the world. The two distinct types of waters — sulphur and mineral, which Monroe’s doctor recommended — are available via such signature hydrotherapy treatments as the 25-minute Sulphur Soak, to ease tired muscles and minimize aches and pains while stimulating the circulatory system ($50). The 25-minute Mineral Mountain Bath features the rejuvenating waters of Alvon Springs, which soothes and rebalances your body’s natural minerals while rehydrating skin ($70).
Guests may also check into the famed Greenbrier Clinic, founded in 1948, which offers state-of-the art medical checkups and evaluations. It offers speedy tests and results that would normally take up to a week. Many guests return every year to face the medical music, getting evaluated by a team of doctors with sub-specialties including cardiology, gastroenterology and radiology.
Info: Two-day sessions begin at $1,500. The Clinic also features the Laser & Aesthetic Center, open to the public for those who want a cosmetic touch up (prices upon request). Rooms start at $209.