Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, I ask you to please examine the two photographs provided. The first was taken on the third day of a ‘Nosh Detox’ Diet – you will see that I have a body brush in my hand, don’t let that concern you, it’s irrelevant. What is relevant is my ridiculously flat stomach (hasn’t looked quite that sculpted since….can’t actually remember) and conspicuous absence of waist bloat. I’m not breathing in, or doing anything weird. That’s just exactly how I looked on that morning.

Now take a look at the second photograph, taken a few weeks before the detox. Now, before everyone is up in arms about eating disorders, skinny models and body dysmorphia, I just want to clarify that I AM NOT SAYING THAT I LOOK FAT! I am merely pointing out the (quite obvious) difference between the waistlines. See how it’s not so defined on this photograph? The tummy is rounder, there is more weight just above the bikini waistband, and, come to think of it, the thighs look slightly heavier too.

As there was no significant difference in activity level during the period of time between the two photographs, I can only conclude that the changes to my body were caused by the Nosh Detox – a three day trial of the ABC Programme, which was liquids only, apart from one very healthy evening meal. Everything that I was allowed to consume during the three days (apart from the daily 2.5-3 litres of water and the herbal teas) was delivered by Nosh straight to my door. Here’s a taster of what a typical day would be like:

Breakfast: large smoothie,  Mid-Morning snack: small smoothie,  Lunch: vegetable smoothie, disguised as ‘Soup’,  Mid-Afternoon snack: small smoothie,  Dinner: Oriental Vegetables with noodles. 3 litres of water throughout the day, and four peppermint teas.

So you can see that it’s not a whole barrel of laughs, this detox business. It’s not meant to be, I suppose, but I was pretty shocked when my day’s rations turned out to be four plastic bottles of liquid and one vacuum-packed bag of food! Taste-wise, the evening meals were actually quite delicious, and the soups were equally flavour-packed. The smoothies came as a slight shock – when I think of smoothies, I think ‘Innocent’, which are ridiculously sweet compared to the Nosh smoothies – but now that I think of it, this only goes to show how my palate has become accustomed to very sweetened foods!

I did find the detox hard; I was hungry for the first two days out of three, and I had terrible headaches and mood-swings on the second day. I don’t normally drink tea or coffee, so I didn’t even have caffeine withdrawal! However, I woke up on day three feeling incredible – really slim, light and healthy.

The Nosh Detox is designed to cleanse and balance your digestive system, to press the ‘restart’ button and get your body ‘in synch’ with the food that you eat. Personally, I think that it does much more than this; I think that it makes you totally rethink your attitudes towards food and eating. Take the ‘hunger’ that I felt on the first day – by noon it was really severe. Why? I mean, on a rushed day, I might not eat breakfast – I’d probably be peckish by noon, but not experiencing terrible hunger pains! So why would I have them after consuming two nutritionally balanced juices? Over the course of the detox, I began to note when my hunger was psychosomatic, and when it was real. It was quite an eye-opener, because I realised that my ‘hunger’ was often triggered by a sense of panic that I couldn’t have access to food.

Another realisation was that I overload my digestive system on a regular basis. I’m a pretty healthy eater – I don’t particularly like junk-food – but even so, when there’s great food on offer, I’ll eat like there’s no tomorrow, rather than listening to what my body needs and then stopping. I love food, and I love cooking, but I’ve realised that the portion sizes that I dish out can be a little excessive – because it’s ‘healthy’, I’ll allow myself more! It makes no sense, really, when you think about it.

Anyway, I don’t want to bore you with details of my eating habits, I just want to tell you the results of the Detox! Overall? Very good. It was as though my insides felt clean and new. What’s more, I felt as though I had a completely fresh outlook on food; savouring each lovely thing that I was eating, and really taking time to appreciate it. If this sounds hippyish then I’m sorry, that’s not my intention; I suppose what I’m trying to get across is that it could be possible that by simply changing our attitude to food, we could have a kind of ‘diet for life’ – one where there are no restrictions, because you only really want to eat food that’s good for you. (With a few exceptions, naturally – mine being: Haribo Tangfastics, Coco Pops, Strawberry Yazoo).

I would thoroughly recommend the ABC detox to anyone who needed to kick-start a diet, or prepare for a special event (such as a wedding). My body became leaner and bloating disappeared really quickly, and because I felt differently about my eating habits, I’ve not felt the need to ‘make up’ for lost calories by eating a bucketful of pasta! This detox is by no means a walk in the park, but after your body has adjusted, it’s not difficult to stick to at all. There’s nothing complicated to remember, all you have to do is drink and eat what’s in the bag that they deliver. Easier, mentally, than a point-counting diet or a “no carbs after five” kind of regime, I think.

The ABC costs £38.50 per day. If you’re thinking that’s quite expensive for some juices and one meal, that’s exactly how I felt at first. However, you soon realise that the whole thing has been very cleverly balanced out; each juice does a certain thing at a certain time, and there are absolutely no additives whatsoever – I think it’d be very hard to replicate this diet using your own ingredients! Every night the next day’s package is delivered right to your door, so the detox is absolutely effortless. I shall be doing it again, at some point – for the recommended six days this time (don’t worry, juice gets replaced with raw foods for the last three days!) and next time I will be fully prepared, hangover-less, and more mentally stable. If that’s at all possible.

For more info on the ABC, or to book a detox, here’s the website:  www.noshdetoxdelivery.com