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Two Things I Don’t Leave Home Without & Healthy Travel At The Four Seasons Nevis

Recently, I had an opportunity to take a much needed break and go on vacation! If you follow me on facebook, you saw lots of impromptu pics and stories of my trip to the island of Nevis in the West Indies, where I stayed at the Four Seasons Nevis. I wanted to take a moment to share more details about my trip (in case you want to go!) and specifically how I stayed healthy while traveling.

First of all – staying at any Four Seasons Property, where they have the best people and service on the planet is a treat in itself. I’ve always found myself making conversation with their employees because they are so freaking nice & entertaining – it makes being on vacation that much more amazing and fun. You know what I’m talking about if you’ve ever saved money and time to go on a vacation and then ended up having bad service at a hotel or restaurant and it ruins the whole experience!

We arrived in Nevis on the tiniest of planes… just an 8 seater prop plane:

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When I go on vacation, I always follow my habit of drinking lemon water before the day starts. The Four Seasons Nevis, as well as many other hotels will gladly provide a lemon and hot water usually for free via room service! By the end of my stay, the room service operator had my order down pat, which was really cute.

I also started each morning with a cup of tea (pictured below is one of my favorite fermented teas called “Pu-erh” by Numi – I like cardamon and ginger the best) and an organic green power. I always carry my own tea with me and always take green powders with me on vacation when I know I won’t be getting as much greens in – it’s a safety net I cannot live without! I gulp mine down with just water, but many people need something to help get it down, so I recommend using coconut water in that case.

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The first day in Nevis, The Four Seasons and The Tourism Authority arranged a tour to Manza’s Organic Farm. There we met Manza himself and Angelique France. This experience was definitely a highlight of the trip and to quote Manza after he heard my husband had some pancakes at breakfast (which I took a several bites of!) “People were not meant to eat invented foods made by man, but plants made from earth.” and points to his surroundings – smart man!

We sampled, smelled and learned about all the ins and outs of the seasons and what grows when. Bugs were all over me, which was a good thing (but not the bites later!) because they don’t spray chemicals that kill living things on Manza’s.

One of my favorite plants we learned about was Soursop, which is known worldwide to be a natural cancer remedy. Soursop was growing plentifully on Manza’s farm, along with a bunch of other amazing fruits and vegetables. I got to take home a couple of items home, like this eggplant (pictured below) and drink fresh beet & ginger juice. Beet juice is a natural blood cleanser, improves blood flow and helps the body improve stamina during exercise. It was pretty cool to find beet juice other places on the island too, not just at this organic farm. Beet juice is popular in Nevis!

Manza

After we visited Manza’s, we had a chance to sit down with Angelique from Nevis tourism for a truly local meal at a place called the “Paradise Drive Thru.” I was a little nervous at first considering the name of the place! I can tell you this was not typical drive thru food – it was gourmet Nevisian cuisine! We had local fish & lobster, salad, vegetables and rice – so good and healthy. If you’ve been following the blog for some time now, you’ll know I tend to eat like the locals when I travel – life is too short not to experience all the goodness different cuisines and cultures have to offer. So naturally I ate lots of lobster on this trip – the water surrounding Nevis are teeming with them!

Paradise Island

We ate many dishes at the Four Season’s restaurants throughout our stay – they have a two restaurants near the beach and pool (Cabana and Mango), and 3 on the main property (Neve, Coral Grill, and The Library). We enjoyed the different sceneries, but loved eating at the beach and pool the best – where they have service available at all 4 pools on property and on the beach. The amenities beach and pool side included fresh water refills with lemon or fruit infused water, slices of fruit, frozen homemade yogurt, and other complimentary snacks.

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My favorite breakfast was a vegetable roti, and I pretty much had the same avocado and chickpea cobb salad every single day for lunch because it was so good! Instead of meat, they used chickpeas – what a great touch. Looking back at the pictures makes my mouth water. The salad was divine and I’ll definitely be recreating it at home. Snacks included lots of guacamole and of course we had dessert pretty much every night. My favorite was fresh coconut ice cream with coconut chips available on the menu at the Library Bar menu. We hung out a lot in the library at night playing backgammon listening to live music and DJ’s in the lobby that was right next door.

Four Seasons Food

One night we walked down on the beach to Double Deuce, a beach restaurant & karaoke bar really close to the Four Seasons. The food was excellent and the place was happening! I had pumpkin soup, a salad, and some french fries off my husband’s plate – note the “no high fructose corn syrup” Hunts ketchup they had on the table. I normally skip the ketchup at a restaurant, but I had no problem indulging this time. It was interesting to find out that the chef has his potatoes flown in from Europe – considering there are so many organic potatoes available at Manza’s farm.

Double Deuce

As the trip went on, our meals kept getting more and more fabulous. The meal that I caught myself with my little lasso definitely tops the charts. I have been scuba diving for a long time, but I’ve never caught anything to eat before (in water or on land!), so when the Manager of the Four Seasons offered this experience to me, I couldn’t pass it up. Chef Kai, who is on point to prepare your lobster also dives with you! What an incredible bonding time – to be under the sea with your own personal chef! Catching a lobster was quite easy once I understood how the lasso worked. It was really fun and I will definitely be doing it again one day if given the opportunity. Chef Kai brought snack boxes with a fruit, cookies and chips to enjoy between dives too – I swear the Four Seasons thinks of everything!

Lobster

Back on land, the chef prepared a delicious feast, freshly caught fish ceviche and the lobster. We enjoyed a special beach bungalow to dine in and relax for the rest of the afternoon. The beach bungalows have everything you need – tropical breeze, endless supply of drinks, magazines, even a TV (which we ended up turning on to watch the US Open). I don’t watch much TV, but it was nice being in the shade on the beach watching tennis.

Lobster

Another favorite meal included this spread of amazing Indian food from a restaurant called Indian Summer. It’s the number one restaurant on the island and I can totally see why. Indian Summer was actually closed for renovations during our visit, but the Four Seasons went above and beyond the call of duty for me to try this cuisine. The chef from the restaurant cooked this meal in his own kitchen and brought it to the Four Seasons for us to experience. Being Indian and all – the meal was incredible and a nice change of pace from the Caribbean cuisine. The Four Seasons staff arranged this dinner in our own private bungalow on the beach under the stars – it was SUPER ROMANTIC.

Indian

Of course with all the eating going on, I had to stay active. I’m definitely not a “just sit on the beach” kinda traveler, so we made use of all the activities offered. We went scuba diving, rode bikes all over the mountainous terrain (the Four Seasons has absolutely gorgeous hiking trails where white faced monkeys hide!), went paddleboarding, after watching all the US Open we had to hit some balls on the tennis courts (one day we used the clay courts and one day we used the hard courts) and we walked and swam a lot! I almost always exercise on vacation or hit the gym. This trip I only hit the gym one time (which was fully equipped with everything by the way!).

Staying Active

Towards the end of our stay, we enjoyed a couple’s massage in the cutest little private spa hut. They have their very own co-ed whirlpool which I thought was very cool, because often times they are separated by gender – which totally kills the romance!

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Reliving these memories makes me want to be back there. The Four Seasons Nevis is an incredibly beautiful resort to visit if you get a chance. It’s one of those resorts, you never want to leave. A big thank you goes to the entire staff of the Four Seasons Nevis and Angelique from Nevis Tourism for making our stay so memorable, fun and delicious! We’ll definitely be back soon, hopefully sailing up to the island for a stop next time!

If you have any question about healthy travel or Nevis – I’m all ears and have answers so ask away in the comments below.

Food Babe

P.S. I want to plan another trip soon, any ideas?

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103 responses to “Two Things I Don’t Leave Home Without & Healthy Travel At The Four Seasons Nevis

  1. Hey Vani,
    Thanks for all of your hard work keeping us informed. I just so happen to read your article on beer. Since then I have reduced my beer drinking and started doing more research on what is in our food. I am eating more healthy with alot more room for improvement.
    Thanks
    Jack from Chicago

  2. Loved your story and images about your trip to Nevis!
    I live on the island of Anguilla / which is very near Nevis.
    A ‘foodies’ dream and gorgeous, turquoise beaches!
    Lots of friendly people too…

    Come visit!

  3. How do you guys get to travel so much? You seem to both get a lot of time off (I know Food Babe is your job, but what about your hubby?)

  4. Vani,
    We were in Nevis a few weeks before you, and enjoyed many of the same things. We loved the fresh food too. It seems like most of the food from the island is organic, just as a way of life. The Four Seasons is gorgeous – I definitely recommend it too!

  5. According to Cancer Research UK, “Many sites on the internet advertise and promote graviola capsules (soursop) as a cancer cure, but none of them are supported by any reputable scientific cancer organisations” and “there is no evidence to show that graviola works as a cure for cancer” and consequently they do not support its use as a treatment for cancer.

      1. Roger, it’s a charity not a corporate. They have no reason to favour drug companies. If they thought it would work they would support it.

      2. I had to laugh because Mike, who do you think funds the “cancer research” charities? The drug companies! And there is no money to be made from a natural cure for cancer since it can’t be patented. So you won’t see studies from “reputable scientific cancer research organizations” until the drug companies make people, not profits, their priority.

      3. I read an article about soursop you have to be very careful when using it like replacing the good bacteria in your stomach and there were all kinds of things you had to incorporate with soursop to make sure it was beneficial, so I am thinking there is more to it than just eating the fruit :/

  6. There are beautiful organic resorts in Ubud, Bali Indonesia with yoga and meditation courses and this christmas I am going in to Guatemala with a guide to look at eco tourism there with my children so will forward you some of the places we stay with the best food!

    if you are interested in why organic agriculture is THE solution to the climate issue check out my simple ebook at http://www.sickclimate.com

    keep up the great work Vani!

  7. Come to healthy happy peaceful Flinders Island for summer Vani!!! Check out the photos on the website!! Stay as our guests… a 2 kilometre beautiful beach right out in front… loads of organic food on the a Island…. peaceful & tranquil. Only a limited number of tourist can fly in so no big crowds…. beaches all to yourselves!! Imagine that…. in peak season!!

  8. I just bought my first container of Green Vibrance and it has one of those California warning labels saying it contains a chemical that causes birth defects or reproductive harm.
    Any idea what the chemical may be? I’m breastfeeding so I thought I’d check. Thanks for your hard work!

  9. Love your pink shirt and purple pants in the cover photo…where did you get those? Love all your postings….you’ve truly changed the way I eat and view the world. Thank you!

  10. Hi Vani!
    I’ve been following you from http://www.100daysofrealfood.com and just happened to google, “Nevis healthy traveling” and up this popped! My husband and I are leaving this Friday to stay at The Four Seasons Nevis! I was admittedly nervous about going and eating terribly and gaining a good 10 just delighting in the local grub! I am SO glad I came across this blog! I will be trying all the things you’ve mentioned and can’t wait! I am nervous however, about the weather… it’s calling for thunderstorms for our entire 5-day trip! 🙁 I noticed there are complimentary yoga classes offered, did you try one? What a great way to start the day! Thanks!

  11. Hi Vani!

    I bought the green powder drink a few years ago after seeing it on your blog, but I seriously can’t stomach the stuff. Are the vitamin pills they over just as good or should I keep trying the powder?

    Thanks,
    Lindsey

  12. Since you’ve been to Nevis and I’m sure you’ve visited the sister island St.Kitts/ StChristopher why not take your next trip to the beautiful island of ANGUILLA…..where tranquility is wrapped in blue…google it and come on over trust me you are gonna LOVE it

  13. Lol how much did they pay to say “any Four Seasons Property, where they have the best people and service on the planet is a treat in itself.”?

    Stick to facts and don’t tarnish your blog with such subjective material.

  14. Hi Vani!
    As I type and drink my green smoothie, I am wondering about seafood. I get the whole “eat like the natives” philosophy but do you normally eat seafood? I keep reading about the chemicals and heavy metals that accumulate in the tissues of sea animals. What are your thoughts about that?
    Thank you and love your blog!
    Ingrid

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