Meet the diet dominatrix
She whips, steams and starves her clients in the name of weight loss. Here GALIA GRAINGER talks us through the regime you can’t try at home
GALIA GRAINGER, the star of new Channel 4 programme The Extreme Diet Hotel, says: “What doesn’t kill you makes you thinner.” When it comes to weight loss, the Uzbekistan-born slimming retreat boss takes no prisoners.
“My clients cry, they shout. But after a week with me they leave a stone lighter, feeling better than they have done in years,” she says.
Self-confessed “diet dominatrix” Galia is the founder of Slimmeria, picturesque weight-loss retreats set in Crowhurst, East Sussex and Merlin Court, Ilfracombe in Devon.
The website describes them as “luxury slimming, detox, spa and weight-loss holidays”.
It all sounds very nice but the reality is quite different.
“You find out quickly who hasn’t done their research,” laughs Galia, 60, who lives in south London. She has one grown-up son.
On a strict diet and exercise regime, a week at Slimmeria can see clients lose up to a stone.
“If you have the weight to lose you can shed 12 to 14 pounds. But it’s not easy,” says Galia, who is the woman behind former Emmerdale star Lisa Riley’s incredible 12 stone weight loss.
She describes a typical day at the retreat: “Clients start with a two-hour brisk walk, followed by a high-intensity fitness session and a yoga class, with a cup of hot lemon and a slice of apple in between.
“Lunch is a small bowl of crunchy vegetables, after which comes another walk in the afternoon so they don’t fall asleep.
“A tiny portion of berries and a detox tea keeps them going until their dinner of steamed vegetables or soup.
“Finally there is a dance class and a group nutritional workshop. We educate our guests so they can sustain their weight loss when they leave.”
IT DOESN’T sound like much food because it’s not. “It’s 400 calories per day, preferably less. We practise a low-calorie, low-carb, non-starchy, cleansing diet full of antioxidants, with nothing processed,” explains Galia.
She says that eating raw vegetables provides the crunch we psychologically need to feel like we’re eating.
“Clients are encouraged to chew properly and consciously at the dinner table to make the most of the meagre portions.
“It’s a short-term plan and a system kick-start and it needs to be done under supervision. You most certainly can’t try it at home.”
If you don’t eat your dinner you can expect short shrift from Galia.
“I am the bad cop. I do shout at the guests. I step in and say, ‘I’ve heard you’re not eating your food’ and they usually do after that,” she says.
“There’s only room for one drama queen at the retreat, me.”
And forget any notion of relaxing massages or soothing facials. At Slimmeria you can expect to be hit with tree branches, locked in a hot barrel and slapped.
“We practise birching, a gentle whipping with birch twigs, done after a sauna or steam room when the pores are open,” says Galia.
A Scandinavian treatment this is said to help harmful toxins leave your body.
“This is ideally followed by jumping into the freezing cold pool,” she laughs.
Then there is the cedar steam barrel, into which clients are locked.
“It speeds up weight loss, is a great detoxer and strengthens the immune system. Your head remains outside so you can breathe.”
Finally there comes the somewhat unpleasant-sounding honey slapping.
“You are covered in honey and slapped with hands on the areas you have cellulite. It’s a deep tissue, detox treatment. People think it’s a spa treatment. It’s not.”
I tell Galia it all sounds horrendous and she laughs.
“What is good is that the British have a sense of humour,” she says. “And here, if you don’t laugh you will cry.”
After growing up in Uzbekistan and then spending some years in Latvia, Galia moved to the UK in 1989 to start a new life.
At first working in Littlewoods on London’s Oxford Street, she had several jobs including selling advertising space. “I had a nice life,” she says but admits her happiness came at a price. “Eating and drinking, I got fat. “I have a petite frame and I ballooned to a size 18.”
In an attempt to shed the pounds she tried several diets but nothing worked.
Then in 2006 Galia had a brainwave.
“My grandma had fasted all her life for religious reasons and lived to 100. I thought OK, there must be something in this.
“At the time there was no 5:2 diet, fasting wasn’t something people did to lose weight.” And so she gave it a go. “I lost four stone and went down to a size eight. My energy was amazing.
“I thought, ‘I’m sitting on a winner here’.”
Buying a dilapidated property in Sussex, Galia spent her life savings doing it up. And in 2010 Slimmeria opened its doors.
She says the premise of weight loss is stunningly simple.
“Eat less, drink water, move more. But people just don’t do it.
“In an ideal world we’d all be sensible but sensible doesn’t work, shocking does. My methods are extreme but essential.”
And Galia says the obesity crisis in the UK leaves us no choice but to take drastic action.
“Desperate times call for desperate action, we are losing the battle of the bulge.
“People need to wake up and I’m the person to do it.”
The Extreme Diet Hotel will be shown on Channel 4, Wednesday September 5 at 8pm