Cleansing In Phuket

From probiotic drinks to raw superfood grain-free crackers, this intimate wellness resort in Thailand has been creating it all – and now they’re inviting guests into the kitchen with a new retreat.

- Danae Mercer

Phuket Cleanse isn’t a place for a starvation diet. It’s not one of those detoxes where you sip water during the day and have maybe, just maybe, a bit of coconut at night. They don’t feed you only elixirs made with mud and salads with three chickpeas served alongside a tiny sliver of carrot.

Here at this intimate retreat in Rawai, Phuket, food is a focus. Three meals a day are served communal style, with guests invited to help themselves then sit at a long, shared table. At breakfast, fresh fruits are offered beside coconut chia seed pudding and vegan egg omelettes. Lunches and dinners focus strongly on vegetables, offering up some combination of high fat, low carb, low sugar, mostly raw salads. Sometimes there are protein bread crackers or pretend sushi (without fish, without rice) or faux burgers made from mushrooms. On very special occasions, there’s a raw vegan cake, something rich and decadent but chopped into tiny portions.

All this means Phuket Cleanse has plenty of food – yet most guests still end up losing weight.

Part of that is linked to the simple low calorie, nutrient dense nature of the dishes served. Part of it is tied to the wealth of physical exercise (Phuket Cleanse offers over eight hours of fitness a day for those who want it, spanning everything from yoga to Thai boxing.). And part of it, explains Phuket Cleanse cofounder Melanie Procter, is tied to gut health.