From mindful eating to fun workouts, a five-day wellness retreat reshaped how I think about health and travel.Show Caption
The wellness tourism market has grown significantly and is projected to reach $1.4 trillion by 2029.Wellness retreats like Hilton Head Health offer guests a customizable schedule of fitness classes, workshops and healthy meals.The program emphasizes a sustainable approach to wellness, focusing on whole foods and consistent movement rather than an "all-or-nothing" mindset.HILTON HEAD, SC – There’s a term in my extended family for when you’ve eaten so much that you have to sit back at a 45-degree angle. It's called "Eve-ing," my natural state after any big meal.In truth, I'm sedentary most of the time – eating breakfast and lunch at my desk while working, spending evenings on the couch.I know it’s not good for me, but "It becomes easy living easy," as Holly Toelke, fitness manager at Hilton Head Health, told me during a recent stay at the all-inclusive wellness resort in South Carolina.A growing number of travelers have turned to wellness destinations to help improve or maintain their wellbeing. According to data from the nonprofit Global Wellness Institute and analysis by travel research experts PhocusWright and its sister company Web in Travel, the wellness tourism market has more than doubled in size from $438 billion in 2012 to $894 billion in 2024. It’s projected to hit $1.4 trillion by 2029.Here’s how my first wellness retreat got me moving.Choose your own adventureI didn’t know what to expect before I arrived. I imagined a rehab or one of the religious retreats I’d been on, where everyone moves through prescribed activities together.There are specific seminars for guests taking part in Hilton Head Health’s GLP-1 Support or longevity-focused Blue Zones Experience, but mostly, guests pick and choose what they want to do from a slate of daily offerings. They can also use the resort’s equipment and facilities on their own when classes aren’t in session.On my first full day there, I chose an hour-long aqua exercise class, a 45-minute yoga class, three workshops totaling 2.5 hours and an hour-long cooking demonstration. Without the usual responsibilities and distractions of home, I still had time and energy for a 3-mile bike ride to and from the beach, 30 minutes on a treadmill and a long, leisurely dinner where I met the first of several new friends who made my experience extra memorable.Doing nothing is fine, too. I met several guests who just rested. No one keeps tabs, other than staff checking that guests are enjoying themselves and have everything they need.Some activities cost extra – like cooking classes, spa treatments, private lessons and select outings – but most things are included in the all-inclusive pricing, which starts at just over $3,900 for a seven-night experience with a single occupancy Comfort King room at the on-site Sweetgrass Inn. Pricing varies by length of stay, time of year and choice of accommodations.Get movingWhile guests may do as much or as little as they please, Hilton Head Health offers a few recommendations.One is to take a short, leisurely thermal walk after every meal, to help boost metabolism instead of succumbing to food coma, like I would normally.Another recommendation is to try different types of movement and exercise. I already knew I'd love the yoga, but I also enjoyed a drum fit class where we pounded exercise balls with drumsticks to the beat of boisterous music, a TRX strength class where we used our body weight for resistance, and trying tai chi on the beach."We all can find something, some way to move that we enjoy, and that’s what I think this place does so well," said Anne Poirier, director of Behavioral Health at Hilton Head Health.Instructors make sure everyone feels supported, no matter their level, and happily offer extra explanations and modifications as needed."We do have a variation of skills and abilities that do come through here," Toelke said. "Maybe you've had numerous knee surgeries or maybe your back; we do offer a pool. We do offer chair yoga for people that maybe can’t move on the floor as easy."Because everyone is focused on their own wellness journey, no one batted an eye when I chose the lightest possible free weights for an upper body sculpting class or stepped out of time in dance cardio."If anything, everybody’s going to cheer you on because we’re all here for the same purpose of we want to get stronger, we want to get better, we want to learn," Toelke said.Eating wellMealtimes are just as varied. Menus change every few days but always feature fresh, whole, plant-predominant foods. During my stay, options included street corn avocado toast for breakfast, ahi tuna sushi bowls for lunch, and garlic and herb beef kabobs for dinner, all with lots of veggies.Everything was chef-made and tasty."It’s got to taste good or people aren’t going to keep eating it," said Elizabeth Huggins, a registered dietician, nutritionist and certified diabetes educator at Hilton Head Health. "Prior to here, I’ve always been in a hospital setting, and I definitely did hear, 'Oh if it tastes good, spit it out,' which is sad. Or 'if it’s healthy, it’s probably going to taste like cardboard,' and that’s not true at all."The resort made it easy to make good choices, because there aren’t any bad options.Beverage selections are generally limited to water (flat, sparkling or infused), iced and hot tea, coffee, espresso drinks and V8.Sugar and salt are only available by request, but Stevia and spices are kept on hand at the coffee station.Dessert is only offered twice a week.Between meals, guests are welcome to grab pre-portioned snacks like fresh fruit and veggies, nuts, yogurt, hard-boiled eggs and a peanut butter hummus I liked so much, I asked for the recipe and made it as soon as I got home.Food for thoughtGuests are also offered food for thought in workshops on topics like mindfulness, self-compassion over self-criticism, finding your why and how to get better sleep.Poirier notes wellness is about a lot more than food and exercise. She helps guests connect the dots between thoughts, emotions and behavior and tries to set them up for continued progress when they leave."It’s not all or nothing. I think that all-or-nothing mindset is diet culture," she said. "I use the term mostly sometimes ... So, I mostly eat like this, and sometimes I have pizza. If we do it that way and we use quantity and frequency – how often and how much – we can really make it much more sustainable."She said the same goes for movement."Can we divorce exercise from body shape and size and weight? Because our cultures put those two things together ... then all of a sudden exercise becomes a need to, should do, and that sometimes can impact some of the thoughts around it," she said. Instead of the old no pain, no gain adage, she suggests, "Let’s just move. The best movement is the one you’re going to do.""Those are kind of the things we talk about here," she said. "Shifting the perspective of food and then the perspective of exercise and the finally the perspective of ourselves."Me timeI thought a lot about myself over my five-night stay and what I want my future to look like. I want to be healthy, agile and strong.Our bodies naturally start losing muscle mass at age 30, with a 3-5% loss every decade after that, according to the National Institutes of Health."It is our job and our responsibility to make sure that we keep it on," Toelke said. "Now that doesn’t mean we have to body build all the time, but just incorporating a strength routine... anything you can do."Knowing my time there was limited, I tried to do as much as I could, without overdoing it. Between all the exercise and healthy eating, I felt better than I had in years. It made me want to feel that way all the time.In the two weeks since I’ve left, I've indulged here and there, but tried to keep at it: sticking to mostly unprocessed foods, looking more closely at nutrition labels and drinking more water. I haven’t taken any fitness classes, but I've tried to move a little every day and just bought a resistance band to keep working on my strength. And there has been no "Eve-ing."Baby steps, but it’s a start."There’s no right time to start a routine," Toelke said. "Better late than never."USA TODAY reporter Eve Chen was provided access by Hilton Head Health. USA TODAY maintains editorial control of content. This story was updated to adjust formatting.
