Off to the Spa

No not today (but one can wish). I actually did just book my annual weekend get away to the New Age Health Spa in Neversink, NY (http://www.newagehealthspa.com/). It's a Mother's Day gift from my husband. He watches the kids for the weekend, and I get to rejuvenate.

I go to New Age for two reasons. First, it's less than two hours from my house by car. Second, they have a fantastic juice fasting program.

You need a somewhat calm, relaxing atmosphere when you juice fast, and needless to say, calm and relaxing are in short supply when you're taking care of a husband and two kids.

So, for the last three years, I go to New Age and Juice Fast for the weekend. I start the fast Friday morning before I leave and break the fast Sunday morning, so that I get a full two days of fasting in.

New Age's newsletter which you can find here: http://www.newagehealthspa.com/newsletters/NewsletterSummer09.pdf has a great article on juice faster.

I'm sure that many of you out there think that I must be crazy to spend a chance to get away from the husband and kids fasting, but I actually feel so great afterwards that it makes up for the little bit of unpleasantness I feel during the fast. My only regret is that my current lifestyle prohibits me from doing longer juice fasts.

Let's also not forget that while I'm away, fasting, I'm also enjoying a massage, sauna time, a hot tub, and hours of just lying in a hammock reading a book.

New Age has a designated spot in its dining room for those fasting. It creates a festive atmosphere of comraderie amongst the fasters. We're all in it together, cheering each other on.

If you want to learn more about juice fasting, there are a number of fantastic books on the subject, including Steve Meyerwitz's, and it's not as difficult or daunting as it seems.

I actually started out replacing single meals with juice then moved to two meals a day prior to working myself up to a full day. It's really not difficult.