Three shots a day keeps the doctor away

Happy new year! After eagerly blurting out that I was going to be blogging regularly every week, it’s with some shame that I notice the last time I posted here was nine months ago. Oops.

In my defence, I have been very busy with some amazing new projects, helping to edit a wonderful book called And Breathe with Rebecca Dennis, which is now in all good bookshops and currently flying off the shelves, as well as writing another book which is being published this spring…more on that to come soon.

Fresh from an amazing New Year spent in Vietnam en famille, I’m kicking off 2017 with a timely little heads up for anyone who is feeling the effects of too much carousing, drinking and eating over the festive season.

As we checked into our hotel on the beach in the glorious and unspoiled south of Vietnam a couple of weeks ago, I spotted the spa and hotfooted it over to check out the treatments before even unpacking my case. A daily massage was included – a choice of shiatsu with bamboo, aromatherapy, Thai tiger or hot and cold stone EVERY day – what joy!

Then I spotted a little wooden sign on the spa reception desk. ‘Pick up your daily three shots at My Soul spa before meals’, it said. Wow, this is a forward thinking spa, I thought, who knew it was good to neck tequila before being manipulated by the tiny but amazingly powerful and talented masseuses?

These shots are as powerful as any tequila but they are also a whole lot better for you. The Balinese spa manager Yoman makes up a potent cocktail of different shots every morning aimed at boosting metabolism, immunity and detoxification, combatting ageing, reducing inflammation, improving skin tone, digestion and bowel function. Yoman has spent years setting up holistic spas in Bali and Vietnam and what he doesn’t know about how to get your body working for you isn’t worth knowing frankly.

We all signed up on the spot as it is something the Vietnamese, and other Eastern cultures, have been doing since time immemorium to keep the doctor at bay naturally. My favourite was the ginger, turmeric and lemon shot. The apple cider vinegar and honey shot was an acquired taste but the ginger, lemon and cayenne was also quite palatable.

Within a few days, I felt energised in a way I didn’t expect, and my body seemed to be working at an optimum level, despite the odd cocktail or glass of bubbly in the evening. I wasn’t the only one to notice a difference. Everyone else reported feeling energised, with improved bowel and digestion function and this was after just a couple of days.

The trick is to stick to one type of shot all day and not mix them up, but you can make three in advance first thing in the morning and stick the other two in the fridge. Who knows if I will keep it up but even if I can do a three or four days a week, it’s got to be better than nothing, right?

You can see my efforts from this morning here. To make three ginger, lemon and turmeric shots, I blitzed three lemons, a large knob of ginger, two capsules of powdered turmeric and a tiny amount of water to loosen the mixture (if you can find fresh turmeric root, even better.)

Like tequila, it’s best knocked back in one go, with a small glass of water afterwards if you need it. Let me know how you get on!