Cuisine

What You Can Eat Before, During and After Your Spa Treatment

05.08.2022

Spa experiences are invaluable me-times devoted to our self-care to let our body rejuvenate, and our mind and spirit recharge…

In today’s congested, ultra-busy lifestyle, we usually don’t get to indulge ourselves in spa experiences as often as we’d like, so when we do get the chance, we naturally want to get the most out of our treatments.

To be able to immerse in these benefits throughout our entire being with the wondrous tranquility of returning to inner self, the significance as to what we do and do not consume before and after our spa treatment is much greater than we think. Thus, we wanted to provide you with some insight regarding the matter and prepared this mini guide. Let's begin exploring…

Lighten Your Body

Avoid foods that could overfill your stomach an hour before your spa treatment. If you’re planning on using heated wet areas including sauna, steam room or hammam, try to refrain from eating one and a half or two hours before. The reason for this is that while your body will focus your blood stream on your digestion to metabolize what you eat, the hot therapies you receive will move your blood circulation to the surface of your skin. This’ll both put unnecessary strain on your digestive organs, and will prevent your blood circulation from getting in order, making it harder for you to get the intended results from your treatment. As for massage therapies, if you enter a session with an overstuffed stomach, your body probably will not be able to relax enough during the treatment and you’ll feel discomfort, or even some local pain and ache, due to feeling heavy and swelling in your stomach.

Eating right after your treatments may also prevent you from absorbing the positive effects you’d gain from the experience. Therefore, instead of consuming solid foods, prefer consuming water and herbal teas at least half an hour after the treatment.

Drink Water

Before and between your treatments in the Spa’s transition areas, don’t forget to drink water in small sips -but not as much that would cause bloating- as your body will become gradually dehydrated, particularly after hydrotherapies and hot treatments. In spa centers, you may notice that in addition to plain water, specially prepared spa water based on the treatment’s target to help detoxing, boost metabolism, beautify skin or relax muscles, etc. are also served. Many water mixtures, such as spa waters with cucumber, lemon and mint, or strawberry and kiwi, or blueberry and orange, can indeed be more beneficial than plain water to support the efficiency of your treatment, thanks to the electrolytes and vitamins they contain.

After your spa rituals are fully complete, regardless of the main concept of your treatments, your body will definitely need a clean hydration to dispel the toxins. Remember to drink your water calmly, with small but frequent sips.


Consume Herbal Tea

Drinking a calming chamomile tea after your last meal prior to your treatment can be a valuable preparation for a soothing spa treatment.

Before your treatment and while you unwind in the relaxation room, lounge or sleep pod, your Spa will most possibly serve you a glass of herbal tea alongside water. That’s because herbal teas are very useful liquids to indulge in-between your treatments, as they aid in your body’s ability to remain calm, remedy for water loss and start to expel toxins, not to mention what a valuable courtesy it is.

Also, drinking only water after your spa experience may not suffice to maintain the efficacy of your treatments. Such that your re-regulated blood circulation and stimulated metabolism to cleanse itself from the inside out may expect a slightly stronger booster than water. In this regard, you can for example try tea mixtures like mint tea for its relaxing effects or St. John's wort tea for its benefits that stabilizes digestion and helps flush away fat.

If the question “Can I have some caffeine now?” is spinning around in your mind, we recommend you try antioxidant-rich green tea, which will energize you enough but without harming the effects of your treatment thanks to its low caffeine. Who knows, maybe you’ll find it even yummier than black tea or coffee in the serenity of the moment!

Avoid Heavy and Too Solid Foods

If you consume heavy and extremely solid foods such as pastries, fried foods, processed sugary or very spicy foods in your last meal before treatment, besides the feeling of swelling it will cause in your stomach, your blood pressure won’t have the chance to relax for the increase in the energy your body will need to spend on digestion, which may harm your relaxation during the treatment. Thus, during your last meal, it is beneficial to consume foods rich in omega-3 and magnesium, which can slow down your blood circulation. Like a salad with salmon and lots of greens!

Of course, cutting down on food before your treatment should not mean starving yourself, as the feeling itself can also prevent you from relaxing in your treatment anyway. If you are feeling hungry right before your treatment or between your spa rituals, you can eat “calm” fruits like bananas and snacks that stabilize your blood pressure, such as raw almonds. Having this in mind, Spa mostly during their relaxation times, offer its guests a palate of light snacks, consisting of some raw nuts and fresh and dried fruits like almonds, walnuts, apricots which are rich in vitamins and antioxidants and thus aidful for your therapies.

Following your treatment, your metabolism will need to work “undisturbed” to heal itself. Therefore, instead of tiring it out with heavy meals, preferably consume light foods that are rich in vitamin C and antioxidants that can help repair your cells and balance your stress level. Light dishes from Asian cuisine crowned with natural antibiotics may be a suitable choice, to this end.


Avoid Alcohol and Caffeine

In some ads, you may have seen people enjoying their glass of champagne while relaxing in a thermal pool. Don’t let this mislead you… Drinking alcohol before and during your treatment, especially when it comes to heated therapies, can increase the speed and strength of alcohol getting mixed into your blood, causing you to suffer intense fatigue, headaches, and even alcohol poisoning. Besides, it usually takes 24 hours for your body to actually absorb your treatment. So, it may not be a good idea to drink alcohol while your metabolism has just begun removing toxins with a newly found calmness and to suddenly charge it with a new stream of workload which will apparently disrupt its peaceful functioning.

Likewise, coffee… Heavy caffeine-loaded drinks can adversely affect your relaxation during your care, as they make your heart rate suddenly and unstable. They can also over-tense your muscles that have just relaxed after your treatment.

Moreover, these drinks are diuretic. In other words, they will cause your body to fail to absorb effectively and flush away all the water and herbal teas you’ve considerately taken for your metabolism’s cleansing process.

Last but not the least, alcohol and caffeine can harm your sleep pattern. We really don’t think that you will wish to say farewell to the relaxation you’ve just embraced as early as to say hello to another sleepless night.

Therefore, we suggest you avoid alcohol for at least 24 hours and heavy caffeine like coffee and black tea for at least 12 hours after your spa treatments. Instead, a freshly squeezed juice may be a good option.

Some Meal Suggestions to Support Your Treatment

If you are receiving a targeted therapy or program (such as weight loss, detox, sleep) your Spa will most likely serve you with some suitable lunch and/or dinner options. Even though you cannot spare enough time to for such a program, you may keep your tranquil state at home with these suggestions: 

Before Your Treatment: Salmon with Asparagus

If your treatment is not in the morning, you may eat salmon beforehand because it is rich in magnesium, which can help you stay calm and feel Zen. It is also beneficial in lowering blood pressure due to its richness of omega 3 fatty acids.

After Your Treatment: Brown Rice with Chicken and Broccoli

In addition to being a powerful source of vitamin C, broccoli is a fantastic natural “muscle relaxant” with its calcium, folic acid and vitamin K compounds. For this reason, it is advised to be eaten after intense massages like post-work out massage and Thai massage. Also, brown rice and chicken breast can be very useful accompaniments to broccoli given how loaded with protein and mineral contents they are.

In Your Relaxation Times: Dark Chocolate Almond

Provided that the cocoa level is not lower than 70%, dark chocolate is not only a good stimulant for your “happy” hormones, but also an ace supporter for your toxin elimination with the flavanols and antioxidants it contains. To strengthen its benefits, you can snack on them especially after your treatment, in a delicious form like chocolate covered almonds, since almonds are rich in omega 3 and protein.

Hope to see you in our other articles on spa cuisine, where health blends with taste…


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