Jane Alexander's Blog, page 4

Raw vegan hot cross buns? Happy Easter Bunday

So.  Sometimes when I feel low, lost, alone, I take myself back in mind to places where I felt secure and serene.  I know, I know - one should be able to feel secure and serene anywhere - for, really, it makes no difference where one is, does it?  But still...

Yobaba Lounge was such a place.  I'd love to take you there.  It might not suit, of course - we are all different, we all have varying tastes, inclinations, desires.  But, for me, it was a refuge for the min...

Dear Thief...

When I was at VIVAMAYR I met a wonderful woman called Carla.  We bonded over breakfast, bowels and barren nights of zero sleep.  Look, I'm sorry about all this alliteration which is plaguing my posts of plate - I just can't seem to help myself.  Anyhow, it turned out we also shared a love of Latin, catholic tastes in literature and the capacity to read very fast.  We squabbled (politely) over Snowdrops
and she passed on Dear Thief. Now, she didn't like it but, while I would...

Team Empty or Team Full? On Giving Up...

Now, I don't do Lent.  I just don't.  But it's been making me wonder about what (or whom or when or where) we give up, and how, and why.
It ties in very neatly with this book about habits I've been reading.
Better Than Before: Mastering the Habits of Our Everyday Lives
It's not just about learning how to get healthier habits in your life; it makes you ask curious questions about yourself.For example:

Are you a simplicity lover or an abundance lover?  Do you want to feel empty or t...

Abstainer or Moderator? The One Square of Chocolate a Day Test

What I should have had instead of wine and chocolate!So I went down the pub.  Had a glass of red wine.  So far, so not so bad.  Cos, see, the Viva Mayr regime doesn't exclude the odd glass of wine.  However, of course, I didn't stop at the one.  I had another.  And then I went home and, before I knew it, I was sitting watching Poldark with my paw in the bag of mini eggs I'd bought for James.  Okay, let's step back there - I had metered out a small bowl of th...

How to eat - the Viva Mayr way - for weightloss, energy and good health

I did feel pretty grim during most of my week at Viva Mayr.  But then, it was only a week, and one is supposed to take the 'cure' for two or, preferably, three weeks.  Over the last couple of days, however, since I've been home, I have been feeling much better.  I'm continuing with the dietary programme and finding it an interesting process.

It's totally different from most detox programmes on offer.  Forget juicing and raw vegan regimes, the Mayr doctors believe firmly tha...

The Pale, Paler, Palest Diet

So, I'm not feeling good.  Not good at all.  But then, as the charming Dr Sepp Fegerl (the clinic's medical director) says, 'If you want to feel better, you have to feel worse to begin with.'  The Mayr Cure goes deep, it seems, and plucks out all kinds of old nonsense from the body.

So, today, as he massaged my poor groaning abdomen, he told me about the 75 year old woman who spontaneously had LSD flashback while undergoing the Mayr.  And a similarly aged man who was mighti...

High-tech and low-choice at VIVAMAYR

Yes, I'm hugely lucky that my job lets me travel so much and go to such incredible places.  But, you know, it's not all pampering massages and luscious facials, no sirree.
Sometimes you get what you need rather than what you'd really like.  Here at VIVAMAYR, there's no perusing long menus of spa 'journeys' and beauty treatments; no umming and aahing about which massage to have.  You see the doctor, who orders a battery of tests.  Actually I got off quite lightly with just...

Scorching my ladycarriage by remote at the new VIVA MAYR at Altaussee

So, I was shown round my room at the brand new VIVA MAYR clinic, and it all looked pretty standard.  Nice bathroom - all the usual gear except...
'The toilet has a remote control,' said my guide with a flourish.  I frowned. Something was surely lost in translation.

She logged the look, reached to the wall and plucked out, yup, a remote control.  'Very high-tech,' she said.  'Just like in  Japan.'

Okaaay.  But this is Austria.  Back at the original clinic I seem...

Tazeka Aromatherapy - a dose of optimism, balance and motivation in shiny pretty bottles!

Remember, all those years back, when I talked about flirting?  Not about how people flirt (well, not necessarily) but how things can flirt with you?  Well, that’s what happened with Tazeka Aromatherapy.  

I was kicking around on Twitter, as you do, and noticed this woman tweeting about aromatherapy oils.  Not just any old aromatherapy oils but little phials that looked for all the world as if they’d been dropped by fairies, or fallen out of a treasure chest from the 1001 Ni...

Peter Oborne, the Telegraph, travel writing and Queen of Retreats

So, following Peter Oborne’s resignation from the Telegraph there has been a lot of debate about whether there is any form of independent journalism left.  He said:  ‘It has long been axiomatic in quality British journalism that the advertising department and editorial should be kept rigorously apart.’  Absolutely.  I remember, when I started in journalism at City Limits magazine, there was an absolute insistence that advertising could not, and must not, influence our writ...