The Power Of Purity

Avril Mair Chews, Cleanses And Purges Her Way To Wellness At Austria’s Vivamayr Altaussee.

I COME TO MY SENSES deep in a snowdrift, having somehow strayed off the narrow path that winds its way picturesquely around Lake Altaussee and ended up embedded in several feet of pristine, crystalline powder. The air is cold and crisp, the pine trees are hanging low with ice and I am stuck in a hole with dusk falling. For what it’s worth, I’m also starving. I could die out here, I think. Is the pursuit of wellness really worth it?

To explain: I’m at Vivamayr in Austria, perhaps the world’s leading centre for detoxification, where the emphasis is on strict cleansing of the digestive system and re-education of eating habits. What this means in practice is an enforced diet of dry bread and herbal tea, relentless chewing — 40 times per mouthful — and the unfortunate effects of taking what are euphemistically called passage salts before breakfast (that is, if you’re allowed breakfast). Also, gentle exercise. Which is why I am ravenously hungry while trying to walk for several miles in the middle of winter. This is less of a spa trip, more self-flagellation.