There I was, scooting awkwardly across the floor of the warmed pool, lifting my water weights high in the air, palm trees swaying in the background, when a woman next to me leaned in and whispered: "This place is a miracle. It's changed my life."

Caroline Pinkus, 53, of London, wasn't kidding. Nearing the end of her month-long stay at the Pritikin Longevity Center + Spa, she was losing weight and feeling better, and more importantly had gone from taking five blood pressure pills a day to half a pill.

"I'd gone through life burying my head in the sand. I thought if I dressed nice and fixed my hair and my nails, I still looked good, but I was carrying this weight and I wasn't healthy," she said.

"This place has reformed me."

Pritikin has been changing lives for nearly 40 years. In the 1970s, Nathan Pritikin was among the first to assert that diet and exercise, not drugs and surgery, should be the first line of defence against cardiovascular disease.

He brought that philosophy to the first Pritikin Longevity Center, which opened in 1975 in California.

Today, the Pritikin Longevity Center + Spa calls Miami home. About two years ago, it moved into the spa portion of the Doral Golf Resort. The resort itself includes a large spa, suites, meeting rooms, several pools, a fitness centre, dining and golf.

For most of us, part of enjoying a new city or country involves sampling local fare. Often, we sample lots of it. But what if you actually lost weight on holiday? Pinkus did.

In my three-day stay at Pritikin I lost 1.4kg and my husband lost 2.3kg. (Yes, much of it was water weight, but I didn't feel bloated and disgusting on the flight home as I normally do after a holiday).

Most of the people I talked with at Pritikin were on a return trip or an extended stay, and many said the reason for their trip was to become more healthy.

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Pritikin helps visitors unwind, get healthy