The hardest thing about travelling is getting back to reality – leaving behind the carefree mindset and spontaneous adventure for a life of work and routine. What’s equally as predictable, and for me, the final insult to add to the injury of the return, is being faced with the inevitable weight gain.

What’s really outrageous is the disproportionate amount of time it takes to lose the weight that was so innocently gained. After a ‘standard’ one to two-week holiday, I normally return two to three kilos heavier, which can take three to four weeks to lose. Now you might be thinking ‘just take it easy piggy, one less croissant for brekkie’ but I can assure you, I am not particularly over indulging – I eat a sensible amount of food and try to avoid carbs while I’m away, the same as I do at home, plus I do a lot of walking and other activities, depending on what is available. The problem comes because I believe food is an essential part of any holiday – if you really want to experience a culture you have to try the local delicacies, and depending on which part of the world you have the fortune to be in, these can range from fairly healthy (such as Japanese cuisine) to positively gut-busting, (such as with Italian cuisine – don’t even get me thinking about gelato!)

My way of dealing with this is to still try everything while I’m away (in moderate quantities of course!) and then work extra hard when I get back to lose the resulting excess! I’m pretty certain this is not the healthiest approach but it’s the only way I can see to get my cake and eat it – literally!
Luckily for me, help is at hand and I have recently tried a range of different post-holiday fixes, from juice cleanses with Essentially to diets such as Dukan, and intense workout programmes with a personal trainer. I have to say that the juice cleanse was probably the most effective, and not just for weight loss. I felt great afterwards – during the week I could literally feel all of those holiday toxins being expelled, I had loads of energy and kicked the minor jet lag, my skin and hair lost the dull dry look created by a couple of weeks alternating between central heating and frosty mornings, and I lost the couple of kilos that I had put on – really feeling like myself again within a week. Of course, the other diets and increased exercise options had great results too, but over a longer period of time, and without the much-needed detoxification that the cleanse provided.

However, I must admit that these recent experiences  have left me wondering if we shouldn’t be considering preventative action in advance of the holiday, indulging in a juice cleanse while pulling together the packing list, in order to feel our best while we’re away – and hopefully less tempted to upset the apple (or dessert) cart during out time off!