Welcome to wellness island: The healing retreat in the Adriatic where a Sea Tox programme and mineral rich air will give you that Gwyneth glow

Every woman my age (I’m in my fifties) is aware of the fashion of cleansing, which is most visibly championed by the appearance of Gwyneth Paltrow, who drinks bone broth and says that her life’s purpose is to support her detoxification, like Detox a poor little rescue donkey.

I lean more toward the “Find what you eat, eat what you like” system, but am willing to try anything to avoid the inevitable. So an invitation to ‘Sea-Tox’ (it’s both a noun and a verb) on a pristine Croatian island in the Adriatic Sea sounded hopeful. I’ve never met a spa treatment that I didn’t want to last forever. And I was told that the air on this island has magical properties, thanks to its location, flora and climate. I would lose weight, sleep like a top and never feel what the doctors call TATT (always tired).

Because my dream is to live by the sea and swim every day, I participated.

But let’s start at the beginning: the 3am emergency call for the 6am Easyjet flight to Rijeka, a port city in the northern Adriatic that I had never heard of. There are other ways to get there, but I was sure this was the best. A sign in the arrivals hall welcomed me to ‘the healing garden of Europe’, which was promising as I felt half dead.

From Rijeka airport, drive to a ferry that will take you to an island called Losinj (pronounced losshin), declared a climate-healing resort by the Austro-Hungarian Empire. As I kept being told, the entire island is indeed an outdoor spa. Why? Well, every lung full of moist, salty, mineral-rich sea air, scented with jasmine, pine, sage, myrtle and rosemary, is manna for your lungs. And since we breathe around 20,000 times a day, it is said that just five nights of sleeping in Losinj with the window open will help with conditions from asthma to high blood pressure.

The nine-hour journey from my front door was more than worth it when we arrived at the airy modern Bellevue Hotel, Cikat Bay, with its herb gardens, tree line against a deep blue sky and its very beautiful view: the clear turquoise sea. This place seemed to invite me to tox as soon as I had lunch on a sunny terrace overlooking the Adriatic Sea.

The creator of the Sea-Tox program is a stunning blonde wellness guru named Melissa Mettler, who, over grilled fish and veggies, told me I was packing at least seven days of activities and treatments into four days.

She explained that Losinj’s reputation as a healing island dates back to the 19th century, when a man named Ambroz Haracic determined that the site was intended to showcase what the Galápagos Islands are for wildlife. There is a high concentration of moisture and minerals in the air, enhanced by the scents and oils of the Aleppo pines, whose canopy forms a lid on this airy cocktail of natural goodness, plus olive, juniper and tamarisk trees. There are 1,200 species of wild herbs on the island, many of which have medicinal properties.

My Sea-Tox started with an analysis in a medi-spa, which lasted a matter of seconds. By standing on a high-tech scale and gripping the handles, the machine somehow took measurements of my body’s extremities regarding fat, muscle and skeletal mass. I’m within the normal range, but my waist – that’s for sure – has all but disappeared and at 78cm was just two centimeters short of the danger zone for diabetes, heart attack and stroke.

“Women with a waist circumference of more than 80 cm and men with a waist circumference of 94 cm are at increased risk,” said the young woman in a white coat and glasses. My total body water was also a little on the low side (normal level is 50-55 percent for women), so that was a reminder to keep my fluids up.

After my checks it was straight to the treatment room for a Sea-Tox massage using essential oils produced on the island in special stills from local pine and herbs.

The wellness momentum really picked up on day two: a walk from the top of the island to a bay where we did lymphatic drainage exercises in the clear sea, a shade cooler than body temperature. After lunch, more treatments consisted of a variety of massages, with cupping and rollers for extra wellness.

The four days passed in a blur of activities, treatments and meals. Cryotherapy (three minutes in a box full of dry ice) resulted in the best high ever. Cold water immersion – fill a jacuzzi with ice and sit in it for at least three minutes, Wim Hof ​​style. It was so busy that I never opened my book and almost groaned at the sight of the massage bed and the sound of tinkling music.

Losinj’s reputation as a healing island dates back to the 19th century, when a man named Ambroz Haracic determined that the place is meant to showcase the Galápagos Islands’ nature.

The creator of the Sea-Tox program is a beautiful blonde wellness guru named Melissa Mettler, pictured

What about the meals, I hear you ask?

The official Sea-Tox diet plan was low in carbs and sugar, but I was allowed to have whatever I wanted: cocktails, wine, pudding, bread. It is up to the patient to resist the temptation. Which I didn’t do.

After four days I felt bursting with health, vitality and energy. I slept deeply, with the windows wide open, swam every day and was never hungry. But – full disclosure – this was because I ate my body weight in grilled fish and vegetables and after two nights moved to the Alhambra Hotel next door to continue the Sea-Tox. Unfortunately, the restaurant there has a Michelin star, and it would have been a crime not to try everything on the tastings and signature menus, including paired wines and puddings. So I did. However, my Sea-Tox was so successful in terms of rest and sleep that I didn’t want to re-poison the moment I landed back at Gatwick.

I was too greedy to lose any weight, but if I had followed the 500 calorie a day regimen for a full week or two weeks (it starts with supergreens and ends with bone broth and nothing in between, apart from something called psyllium colon cleansing tea ), I’m sure I would have lost a few pounds. And probably a decade of my face.

A room at Hotel Bellevue starts from around £235 per night; a three-day Mini Sea-Tox starts from around £515; losinj-hotels.com

TRY A DIY SEA-TOX

How to get the benefits without a spa stay

Ideally you live by the sea. If you are lucky enough to do this, try to spend an hour in it every day.

This could be swimming, freediving meditation or simply floating. Do your own lymphatic drainage by shaking and turning in the sea. Use sea minerals and sea plant products on your skin at home: magnesium and iodine play the leading role, because iodine stimulates the thyroid gland, which regulates metabolism and body temperature.

Magnesium is responsible for more than 300 synaptic functions in the body and plays a crucial role in converting the food we eat into energy that our cells can use, and in keeping glucose levels stable. Magnesium is not naturally produced by the body and is best absorbed through the skin.

If you can’t easily reach the sea, try outdoor yoga, breathing exercises, forest walks or simply enjoy a long bath with essential oils.

Ideally you live by the sea. If you are lucky enough to do this, try to spend an hour in it every day. stock image used