The Nosh diet - I ate no solids for nearly a week
Can it really be nutritious to go six days without eating solids? In the latest of our `Challenge Charly' series, Charlotte detoxes by taking to the bottle - all 30 of them.
Introducing Nosh
‘Feel tired and bloated?’ ‘Want to release weight painlessly without feeling hungry?’ ‘Need to boost immunity the easiest way?’ Then the good people at Nosh have just the thing for you – a specially designed ‘juice fast’, which promises to transform the dieter into a lighter, happier and less bloated person in just six days.
Never one to say no to a challenge, and feeling the drag of too much Christmas pudding, I decided to give the juice detox a go. I went into it objectively – the Nosh team made a convincing argument about the benefits of just juice, but at the same time I couldn’t help but wonder how not eating would make me feel better. Especially when food gives me such pleasure.
The rules
It works like Diet Chef – the juices (four a day, one of which contains added protein, plus a smaller bottle of tonic a day) are delivered to your door, and you mustn’t consume anything other than what they send you (just what you see in the photos here and above) apart from herbal teas and slices of fresh ginger in hot water. No little snacks, no cups of tea, and certainly no alcohol – even a beneficial glass of red wine.
Most of the juices, which come in an array of pretty colours (bar the sludgy green ones), just contain fruit, but some have added ingredients such as green leaves, avocado and flaxseed for Omegas and protein. Of the 20+ juices I drank during the experiment, I enjoyed the taste of at least 75% of them… but any with ‘green synergy powder’ in were downed as quickly as possible, and the morning ginger and lemon tonic (taken to kickstart your metabolism) was drunk with pinched nose.
One last thing: you must drink at least three litres of water a day to, ahem, ‘flush out’ all the toxins your body will release over the period.
And so that was my life for six days. Although I had Team Nosh on hand to help me if things got tough – they operate a 24-hour telephone support line. Would I feel emaciated, lethargic and grumpy by the end, or light, rejuvenated and re-born? Here’s what happened…
Day 1
The juices arrived late on Sunday evening and today I’m feeling excited for my new challenge. A cheery email from Nosh congratulates me for my ‘courage and dedication’ and reminds me that, if I don’t like any of today’s juices, I can request them not to be sent again – chef makes the juices fresh each day.
You follow the same schedule for six days (there are also two-, three- and five-day detoxes available): drink the tonic between 7am and 11am; have your first ‘Rehydrator’ juice at 11am; the second ‘Eliminator’ juice at 1:30pm; a ‘Healer’ juice at 4:30pm; and a final ‘Rejuvenator’ juice at 8pm.
I love my coconut milk, pineapple, banana and flaxseed 11am juice but, used to pastries and coffee for breakfast, I’m rumbling by midday. Plus after my 1:30pm juice I get stabbing pains in my stomach due to all that fruity acid, so I crack open the Rennie. The 4:30pm juice is miserable – it takes me three hours to finish my green leaves, kiwi, green synergy powder and apple concoction. By bedtime, two litres of juice and three litres of water has had me running to the toilet a record 12 times today (yes; I counted).
It takes me time to get to sleep, because I’m hungry and the rumbles are loud.
Day 2
Next morning, and my Nosh email tells me that the most important thing to do today is drink as much water as possible. I’m not feeling rejuvenated yet – just hungry and lacking in energy. I realise that chugging the tonic down is better than delicately sipping it and my 11am juice today was fantastic: passion fruit, strawberry, orange, parsley and flaxseed. 1:30pm was great too, but by now I’m beginning to miss chewing. Nosh does keep all the fruity pulp in their juices for fibre, but it’s still so smooth. My kingdom for a Fruit Pastille.
Interestingly, despite not drinking caffeine for two days I’m yet to get a headache – the complete opposite of what happened when I was living below the line. Must be all that water, keeping my body and mind hydrated.
The 4:30pm juice (aka ‘the dreaded green one’) takes another three hours to finish, and my poor boyfriend was forced to eat his tea locked in the kitchen with the extractor fan on, so I couldn’t pick up on the scent. Again, I go to bed hungry, and sleep talk about scrambled eggs.
Perhaps this detox diet wasn’t meant for the likes of me? All I’ve felt is emotional (not in a good way) and tired; although I am, on the other hand, feeling much lighter in body.
Day 3
‘Getting ready to throw your toys out of the pram?’ says the little Nosh leaflet that comes in my bag of juices today. YES! Yes I am! But apparently I shouldn’t despair, because today my system ‘chucks out three years of junk in one go’ – it’s going to be a big day.
Just take it as read that I’m hungry. I’ve had a gentle, continuous hunger since I started my detox, but luckily not one which makes me feel like fainting – the cereal diet was worse. “Aren’t you supposed to just stare at your navel when you’re detoxing?” said my concerned mother. She’s right; perhaps it would have been wiser to detox when not commuting into London every day… especially when your work involves organising sausage and croissant taste tests, like it did this week.
I go to the next notch on my belt this morning – this diet certainly works for losing weight. But I’m not yet convinced that it makes you feel better in yourself. Plus I’m almost out of Rennie, and all that fruit makes me worry for my teeth! To be fair though, Nosh did warn me in their morning email that I would be eliminating ‘both physical and emotional toxins’ today, and that ‘whatever I’m going through, don’t worry – it will pass’.
I’ve only got the energy to slump on the sofa in front of Midsomer Murders tonight, whilst fantasising about cheese and marmite sandwiches. Boyfriend accidentally eats a Ferrero Rocher in front of me. I do not react well.
Day 4
After being late for work due to can’t-get-out-of-bed syndrome, I feel the need to ring Nosh and ask for help. The super cool Tatu (who has just finished a 72-hour water-only fast) answers the phone and tells me that if I’m desperate I’m allowed “small amounts” of carrot, cucumber or, in extreme circumstances, avocado. Later that day, and in secret, I scoff two carrots and a whole avocado (sorry, Tatu).
She also reminds me of the benefits of detoxing – after the pain has gone, my skin will shine, I’ll feel more energetic, and “I’ll be a more glowy person”. That’s all very well, but what about now? Is there any way to banish these food blues, other than by eating a Kit Kat Chunky? “Be quiet in your mind and reflect,” says Tatu. “Accept your more vulnerable side”. I think I understand what she means – but it doesn’t make me a very fun person to be around.
I’m losing the will. I do feel a bit jollier today than yesterday, but it’s the absence of eating that gets me down… simply because I love it so much! I now realise that it was overly ambitious to try something which strips my favourite thing out of my life for six days. It may sound melodramatic, but imagine how a fitness freak would feel if she couldn’t exercise for nearly a week… or how someone really into music couldn’t listen to tunes for that long. Despair!
On the plus side, however, my skin is unusually soft and clear, I’ve lost at least two kilos (around four pounds), and I haven’t had any headaches or bloating, both of which I’m susceptible to.
Day 5
This morning I make the decision to cut the detox short. Today will be my last day instead of Saturday, because I just can’t take any more juice, and five days is long enough to get the point. Plus my friend is cooking macaroni cheese tomorrow.
In all seriousness, six days is too long to deprive your body of food, in my opinion. It’s affected my mood too much – instead of feeling like ‘a powerhouse of lightness and energy’ (which is what today’s Nosh note promised), I am bored and ready to eat, eat, eat. I do, however, feel unusually energetic considering what I’ve eaten over the last few days, and am better than I was on Thursday.
The juices wash down much easier today, because I know the end is nigh! I’m still consistently hungry – but not to the point of feeling uncomfortable, and I don’t mind the fish and chips aroma coming from the office kitchen.
Tonight, I might have a midnight feast. With cheese and marmite sandwiches. And crisps. And chocolate. And wine. Oh yes. Although, of course, leaping into fatty foods straight after nothing for six days isn’t the best idea. According to Nosh’s ‘What to do after your detox’ guide, I should keep my nutrient intake high so that I don’t crave sugar and fat, and before midday I should only eat fruits, raw foods and smoothies. A vegetarian evening meal is best, because it makes your body less acidic. Let's see how well I stick to that...
What I learnt
The most valuable lesson was the cheapest one: drink more water. I was taking in at least double what I normally have, and my head felt so much clearer for it. Even my eyes look shinier, although that may be because of the detox itself.
As for Nosh’s juice diet… well, it’s an expensive way to lose four or five pounds (my trial cost £283.62, putting each juice at just over £10). I lost more than that doing the cereal diet for a week. But Nosh does say that with their diet, you don’t put the weight back on – drinking the juices ‘increases your metabolic rate and improves your overall dietary pattern’, so with any luck the weight will stay off, more or less.
I’m also concerned about my teeth. They don’t feel so good, and aren’t as white as they were last week. Perhaps drinking the juices through a straw would have helped? And although I do feel energetic and my skin is shining, for me the results aren’t impressive enough to outweigh five days of misery.
But in some ways I’m a misleading case – I took the detox particularly badly, because I’m so in love with food. If you’d happily sacrifice food, or tend to eat more to ‘fill a gap’, then you’d find the Nosh juice diet much easier. Mind you, if you’re not fussed about food, chances are you aren’t reading this article!
Have you ever detoxed? Do you see the point in it? And do you think you could have handled six days of juice better than Charlotte? Talk to us in the comments box below.
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