Nutrition-Friendly Retreats

Our Naturopathic Nutrition Wellness Expert Hollie Bailey shares her guide to healthy eating and vegan food in Bali

When you look in the mirror, how youthful is the face staring back? Proving that age really is nothing but a number, in recent years there has been a growing focus on what our biological age, rather than our chronological age, can tell us about our overall health and longevity. Determined by lifestyle approaches to stress, diet, exercise and sleep; recent studies reveal that one in five people in the UK were found to have a biological age more than eight years older than their chronological age , effectively losing almost a decade of their life.

Letting you in on the biological longevity secret, Health and Fitness Travel, the leading experts in healthy holidays worldwide, take a look at how health and fitness can help to turn back the clock in the battle of biology vs. chronology. Whether pressing pause on ageing by learning to let go of stress or sweating your way to a more youthful you, reducing your biological age is the new mantra of the ‘ageing gracefully’ gurus.

De-stress to stop the clock

Whether it is linked to work, family or money, we all get stressed and anxious. Unfortunately, in addition to sleepless nights and unwanted worry lines, stress can also increase our biological age dramatically by shortening the telomeres in our bodies. Reduce this effect by escaping on an educational stress management holiday where healthy lifestyle practices such as mediation and mindfulness will smooth away those frown lines.

Top 3 De-Stress Holidays: SHA Anti-Stress (Spain), Ananda Stress Management (India), Kamalaya De-Stress Asian Bliss (Thailand)

Sweat your way to a youthful you

With the power to take years off your biological age, sweat your way to a more youthful you whilst improving your skin tone with the post-exercise face flush. As well as maintaining good cardiovascular health, boosting your metabolism and improving your memory, exercise also slows down our cells basic ageing process. Through the emerging science of DNA fitness testing, pre-arrival DNA analysis can reveal an insight into your genetic makeup, allowing fitness holiday programmes to be tailored with the appropriate training response for your body.

Top 3 Fitness Holidays: The BodyHoliday Body Science (St Lucia), Phuket Cleanse Detox & Fitness (Thailand), The Body Camp (Ibiza)

Sleep to turn back time

As well as being an enjoyable way to stay cosy in winter, spending an extra hour in bed can actually increase your lifespan. Our bodies need sleep to carry out vital cell repair, so we awake the next morning fresh and re-energised. Without the recommended 7-8 hours, our bodies are not able to complete this repair, meaning that over time the cells break down faster. Sleep also lowers the stress hormone cortisol, which is a significant barrier to achieving youthful longevity. If you struggle to fall asleep, learn to banish insomnia on a sleep retreat and wake up with youthful energy.

Top 3 Sleep Retreats: Absolute Sanctuary Sleep Well (Thailand), SHA Sleep Well (Spain), Kamalaya Sleep Enhancement (Thailand)

Reduce ageing with healthy nutrition

Processed foods encourage the formation of free radicals, which will have your biological age soaring above your chronological one. Get a radiant complexion by eliminating these foods and replacing them with nutrient packed fresh fruits and vegetables, which will cleanse and detox your body, lowering the risk of diabetes and heart disease. With nutrition experts and educational cooking classes, learn about healthy nutrition on holiday to make changes to your diet which will reward you with a lasting feeling of youth and vitality.

Top 3 Healthy Ageing Nutrition Holidays: SHA Healthy Ageing Women (Spain), The Farm Healthy Ageing (Philippines), Longevity Anti-Ageing (Portugal)

Learn healthier habits to feel younger

The first step towards biological longevity is swapping bad habits which damage your body for healthy habits that nourish it. It needn’t be all at once, make small and lasting changes and notice how your body begins to defy your chronological age. Discover healthier habits on a healthy learning holiday where wellness experts will introduce you to practical lifestyle changes and how to maintain what you’ve learnt long-term, for a healthier and more youthful you.

Top 3 Healthy Learning Holidays: Kamalaya Embracing Change (Thailand), Shreyas Silent Retreat (India), Grantley Hall Fitness & Wellness (UK)

Laugh away the years

There is a good reason that laughter is often known as nature’s best medicine. Prompting a flood of serotonin into the body, laughter can boost your mood, relieve pain and release tension. Releasing positive energy through a smile or laugh can not only have a healing effect, but can also make you look younger as it lights up your face and brings a glow to your skin. Discover the healing benefits of laughter yoga on a yoga retreat and feel the years disappear as you laugh away your stress and worries.

Top 3 Yoga Retreats: SwaSwara Rejuvenation & Yoga (India), Absolute Sanctuary Yoga (Thailand), Paradis Plage Yoga (Morocco)

Talk to one of our travel specialists today on 0203 397 8891 or contact us here to discuss your tailor made healthy ageing holiday

Ever wondered how your face can reveal what you eat? Naturopathic experts take a different approach to explaining how your diet plays a major role in the aging process, through a method called ‘skin mapping’. This is an ancient idea which suggests that parts of the face are linked to particular organs in the body. The redness, puffiness, dark shading, sagging, lines or spots on certain parts of the face can reveal a lot about a person’s diet, and so naturopathic experts use this information on anti-ageing holidays to suggest the necessary supplements and diet changes to promote healthy ageing. Naturopaths have found that sugar, wine, dairy and gluten are often the underlying cause to people’s inner problems which can result in the onset of premature ageing. Naturopaths therefore use the skin mapping technique to reveal which type of ‘face’ or ‘faces’ a person has, with different faces indicating different issues.

Shining the spotlight on the role of the digestive system in weight management, Amanda Holmes, visiting food expert at Marbella Club in Spain, shares the benefits of adapting our diet to help with weight loss.

When it comes to fertility, being too thin can be just as detrimental as being overweight, which is why it is so important to achieve optimal well-being through healthy nutrition. Studies have shown that unexplained infertility can often be improved by lifestyle changes, especially nutrition; highlighting the importance of a healthy diet when trying to conceive. For a healthy pregnancy, a healthy diet should contain the appropriate vitamins, minerals and antioxidants needed to help protect the egg and sperm from damage caused by free-radicals. Fat is also a vital nutrient for fertility as it is necessary for the body to ovulate and for hormone production.

If you have a particular health issue that you just can’t shift after many attempts of trying different methods, then the answer could be in the hands of a detox holiday. People often go about their everyday lives suffering from low energy, stress or digestive problems. Discover just how much a detox retreat could solve all your health problems, simply by flushing out toxins that build up through a combination of things including poor diet and lack of exercise. Remember, you are what you eat so embrace the powers of detoxing and reap the rewards of feeling much lighter and more alert, with higher energy levels, good sleep pattern and weight loss as well having learnt invaluable advice about nutrition and detoxing.

The essential minerals in salt act as important electrolytes in the body. They help to balance fluids in the blood and are essential for nerve and muscle function. But too much salt can cause anumber of health issues, including high blood pressure and an increased risk of heart disease and stroke. We offer our topnutrition-friendly retreats and tips for reducing your salt intake so that you can be your healthiest self.

Slowly but surely, we as a society are removing the unfair stigmatism that surrounds mental health issues and those who suffer from them. According to recent statistics from 2020, one in four people in the UK will experience some form of mental health issue over the course of a year, with one in six suffering from a common mental health problem weekly. So, what are these mental health problems? Some of the main contenders include anxiety, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder and obsessive-compulsive disorder to name but a few on a vast list of varying conditions. Today we want to shine the spotlight on the importance of mental health self-care, it is imperative that the conversation continues on this topic so that we might all live happier, healthier lives for body and mind.

Sam Turnbull is the creator of the popular recipe blog It Doesn’t Taste Like Chicken which receives over 1 million pageviews monthly. She is the author of the cookbook Fuss-Free Vegan published by Appetite by Random House which has over 250, 5-star reviews on amazon.com. Additionally, she hosts a YouTube show also called It Doesn’t Taste Like Chicken. Sam and her recipes have been featured across TV, radio, magazines, newspapers, podcasts, public speaking events, prominent websites sites, and in notable cookbooks.

Nutritionist atSHA Wellness Clinic, Dr. Maria Romeralo, developed her expertise in the field through her extensive studies in Biology, Nutrition and Dietetics.After a number of years working as a researcher and nutritional consultant at several universities in the UK, USA, Sweden and Spain, Maria decided to create her own nutritional consultation to help people to change their lives using holistic practices combining Eastern and Western knowledge. Maria brings her passion for nutrition to her work at SHA Wellness Clinic, where she constructs personalised health plans to support her clients’ needs and give them the tools to develop and maintain a healthy diet throughout the detox retreat and beyond.

It is rare that any products or diet plans can offer the proven benefits of a supervised fasting retreats. Unlike the gimmicks that fill our bathroom cabinets, fasting offers an almost unrivalled variety of health and mind benefits without the hassle. Detox holidays offer fasting and juice cleanse programmes to fight off the easily accumulated toxins picked up in the world of takeaways and ready meals. Single holiday goers can fast and socialise with the friendly and open atmospheres of these retreats while fostering lasting health benefits. Couples can sustain mutual weight loss with each other’s support and as part of a larger group. Even entire friendship groups can book nutrition-friendly retreats to de-stress and bring back a collective Zen. The ancient spiritualistic practices of fasting are no longer the virtue of a handful of Buddhist monks, we can all experience the benefits.

Are you aware of the connection that your brain and gut share? What about the pivotal impact it has on your mental and physical wellbeing? Many people aren’t, and they’re often surprised to learn just how crucial the relationship these organs have is to their lives and to how they feel. Understandably, they're often equally amazed to find out just how much they can benefit by focusing more attention on this area.  

Finding time for health and well-being can be challenging in our fast-paced modern lives. However, a captivating trend known as "snackable wellness" has emerged, showing how individuals cleverly incorporate small, manageable doses of healthy habits into their busy schedules.

Relax into yoga sessions, wellness consultations and indulgent treatments with our ultimate vegan travel guide that ensures you can satisfy your holiday needs in a vegan-friendly environment. As the vegan community is growing, it’s becoming increasingly important to cater to plant-based diets and ethically conscious travelers, and we’ve found our best wellness holidays that make your dietary and wellbeing requirements as much of a priority as everyone else’s.

Our modern day lifestyles have really started to take a toll on the health of our bodies and how our organs function. A regular intake of sugar-rich, fatty and overly processed foods can have a negative effect on our lifestyles, leaving us feeling bloated and fatigued. The most effective way to detoxify our organs, kick-start weight loss and revitalise our energy levels, is with a juice cleanse. Keep reading to discover our top 10 juice detox retreats.

When it comes to a healthy lifestyle, regular exercise and medical check-ups are just one part of the equation. Giving your body an appropriate diet and nutritional intake to go alongside these great active habits is key to aim for faster, higher vitality. A healthy gut can make a substantial difference to your immune system and many other vital health aspects, helping control digestion and balancing hormones for example. Keeping these aspects of your health in check is very important to provide your gut with healthy bacteria and immune cells which help ward off infectious agents like viruses and fungi. 

With many fad diets offering nothing more than a short-term fix and unsustainable practices, losing weight and keeping it off can be two very different things. Offering long-term solutions, we share our top healthy eating approaches to nourish your body rather than starve it. Explore the realms of a raw food plant based diet that will allow you to retain all essential nutrients, or delve into the balanced lifestyle of the Ayurvedic diet aimed to reunite your body’s humours.