Top Sante November issue

Go On Holiday Come Back Thin

The Extreme Detox Break

The Lowdown For the kind of body overhaul Celebs endure in preparation for a movie role, and extreme detox at the Moinhos Velhos health retreat in Portugal´s sunny Algarve is the way to go. For seven days, no solids, will pass your lips and you'll be committed to a complete fast, drinking only vegetable and fruit juices (but they come straight from the retreat's organic gardens and orange groves, so they taste delicious). You'll also be guided through a programme of Yoga, meditation and twice-a-day DIY cholonics designed to help flush out waste material that may have been lurking in your colon for years. You may well shudder at the thought, but people have been known to recover stray marbles they swallowed when they were five - and apparently it's not that hard to stick a tube up your own bottom!

After a few days, you'll start to feel fantastic and full of energy - a feeling that stays with you once you're home, according to former detoxees, so it's a great kickstart to a new healthy you. What's more. the programme can help release any negative emotional blockages, so you may come back with a new mind to go with you hot new body.

Whats the place like? Beautiful, you stay in a converted mill with pretty wooden outbuildings. all fragrant with the scent of eucalyptus trees and with its own sea-salt swimming pool and sauna. Surrounding so pleasant, in fact, you might not even notice you haven't eaten for a week!

Does it really work? Extreme detoxees have lost 10lb - a whole dress size - in a week without putting it all back on the minute they get back home. 'I'd totally lost my cravings for unhealthy snacks and the motivation lasted for ages. 'says Rachel Walker who went last year.

Costs and contacts Prices start from £980 for a week with accommodation and meals. For more information, call 351 282 687 147 or visit Moinhos Velhos