Photo courtesy of Dennis Wong, www.flickr.com

1. Use chocolate as body wrap treatment. You can melt your own at home or order a kit online (http://www.chocolatebodywraps.info/). Chocolate has long been known to reduce wrinkles and cellulite by plumping out skin as well as softening. Indulge in this tasty treatment while taking a little nibble yourself.

2. Long gone are the days of our mothers putting cucumber slices over their eyelids. Today, people are using cucumbers as all-over body treatments. By cutting up about four to five cucumbers in slices and covering your entire body for approximately 10 to 20 minutes, you can create a natural astringent and cooling agent for your skin. Cucumber helps to hydrate and refresh. Use it after a long day at the beach on a sunburn or in the winter when your skin is the driest.

3. Toss out that expensive conditioner and go to your kitchen cabinet for the olive oil. It’s not just to sauté your vegetables. That’s right; olive oil is a natural way to replenish your hair’s moisture. Approximately once a week, apply a small amount of oil and massage throughout your hair and scalp. Tuck your hair under a shower cap and chill out for about an hour or so. Wash your hair with your regular shampoo and show off your shine all day long.

4. There are a number of scrubs for your body on the market. Many are expensive but contain no more than what you would find in your spice cabinet. Grab that box of sea salt and make a scrub with water. Muddle some fresh fruit into the mixture for added benefit such as citrus or mango. Scrub the mixture over your entire body and let it soak for about a half hour in your bathtub while catching up on your celebrity gossip. This is a great exfoliator and will leave your skin feeling supple and refreshed.

Photo courtesy of Thomas Wanhoff, www.flickr.com

Throughout most of the year in our exhausting jobs and our other responsibilities as parents and caretakers, we tend to run ourselves down by eating a poor diet on the go and putting everything else before ourselves. The result is fatigue, irritability and an overall poor quality of life. How can we fix this? By returning to the basics and all things natural. A feel-good summer getaway is an excellent time to rejuvenate and rid our bodies of the impurities that plague us in our commercially-laden lives.

While you consider what you should do, think about restful solitude. Think no television or radio. No cheeseburgers or other processed food. Instead, think rest and relaxation.

• Rent a cabin in the woods. Practice yoga in the morning and afternoon to relax you. Meditation is also a great way to get in tune with your mind and body. Arrange to have at least one massage, which will relax your muscles and make you feel refreshed. Use this time to revamp your diet and cook meals (if a kitchen is available).
• Use only organic, fresh produce and no processed foods like ketchup or cured meats. A juice fast is also ideal to bring your body back to its optimal state. If no kitchen is available, eat locally-grown food. Many of the restaurants in rural areas or island communities use fewer commercially-produced foods then we do in urban America.
• Get a lot of winks. Sleep is refreshing as well and many of us don’t get enough of it in our normal lives. Enjoy the fresh air and take long walks. This will stimulate all of your senses and give you time to reflect on what’s important in your life. Many people complain of breathing troubles and sinus problems. These ailments are mostly due to the polluted air we breathe every day.
• Follow these steps and you will return feeling refreshed, energized and full of life. Of course in order to continue feeling this way you must try to incorporate at least a few of these practices into your daily life. You will feel so amazing that these healthy habits should be easy to maintain.

Try these retreats for a feel-good getaway:

Find a ranch: http://www.guestranches.com/

Find a tropical seclusion: http://www.travelrivieramaya.com/girlfriendgetaways.htm