Give your body a deep cleansing detox to reboot your health.

A short detox can make a massive difference to how you feel for weeks afterwards. Not only is weight loss inevitable, as you’ll lose excess fluid, but a cleanse will also reset your energy, improve your concentration and clear up skin niggles.

We don’t advise diving in at the deep end straight away – you’ll get better results if you do some prep work first, so we recommend putting a few pretox strategies in place at least five days beforehand. This involves phasing out certain types of foods, along with undertaking a few lifestyle changes. We’ve also listed handy what-to-do advice in case you get stuck and some simple after-care tips. Ready to feel great again? You’re just three days away from a new you!

Pretox Must-Dos

Prepare for your cleanse with these top tips

Sleep more

Sleep is a prerequisite for renewal and rejuvenation of your body’s cells. Aim to get around eight to nine hours of shut-eye to support your immune system and nourish your cognitive health.

Say goodbye to sugar

Five days before starting the detox, cut out the obvious sources of sugar like ready meals, chocolate, sweets, biscuits and the biggie: booze. Whatever your tipple of choice, alcohol will dehydrate you and deplete your body of important nutrients.

Limit wheat

Wheat is difficult for your body to digest and can cause inflammation and some digestive discomfort, so instead try to replace wheat from breads and cereals with protein-rich foods like yoghurt and eggs.

Go plain and simple

Five days before starting our food plan, keep your diet simple with easy to digest foods. Think porridge with berries and seeds for breakfast, baked sweet potato with tuna and salad for lunch and lean meat and steamed veggies for dinner. Make a shopping list before hitting the supermarket so you load up on healthy food rather than treats.

Drink up

Keep your body hydrated with water – around 1.5 litres per day should do it. This will help to flush out toxins, clear skin and reduce bloating. Aim to cut caffeine too, as it releases the stress hormone cortisol, which increases abdominal fat.

During The Detox

Healthy advice to help you get the most out of the plan

Wake your body

Kick-start your digestive system by drinking a cup of warm water with lemon first thing.

Body brush

Dry brush before your bath or shower, starting from the soles of your feet and moving upwards, as this kind of lymphatic massage helps to detoxify, too.

Sip water regularly

Continue to drink 1.5 litres of water and sip on nurturing herbal teas.

Have an Epsom salt bath

Have a hot bath or foot soak with Epsom salts in the evening to help your body release toxins.

After-care rules

Top tips to maximise your results post-detox

Take it slowly

Ease yourself back into three meals a day slowly, keeping the good stuff in your diet as much as possible. Leafy salads and white fish, veggie soups and chicken with roasted veggies are all excellent choices.

Green up your diet

Eat something green at every meal (think kale, spinach, watercress) as the green veggie family can really help to keep your liver ticking over. Plus, greens can help regulate your body’s natural pH and may even help ward off disease.

Try eating fermented foods

Gut-friendly fermented foods like sauerkraut and kimchi are a useful addition to a balanced diet, as they increase levels of healthy bacteria, which help to keep bloating at bay.

Get sweating!

Exercise is just what the body needs following a detox. A good sweat session helps to remove unwanted toxins from the body, so combine high-intensity workouts like running, cycling with low-key yoga for the perfect balance.

Stay off sugar

If you find it difficult to control your sweet tooth once you’ve finished the detox, try swapping out nasty sweeteners and ordinary sugar for stevia. This naturally sweet plant extract won’t spike insulin levels or create any of the roller-coaster energy crashes that come with regular sugar. Xylitol is another good sugar substitute.

The 3-day Super Cleanse

Our diet involves replacing breakfast, lunch and snacks with juices, soups and smoothies, while still allowing a nutritious dinner at the end of the day. Breakfast is a cup of lemon water followed by a different green juice every day to help kick-start liver health. This is followed by a filling mid-morning smoothie snack, a hearty soup for lunch and a protein-rich healthy dinner. Our diet is designed to revitalise rather than restrict, so if you feel very hungry between lunch and dinner you can add in a cup of miso soup.

You should refrain from intense exercise while undertaking the diet (relaxing yoga and meditation is fine).

Please note: If you have a medical condition, please seek advice from your GP before embarking on the diet. Do not follow this plan if you are pregnant or trying to get pregnant.

Day 1

Breakfast: Super greens juice

Cup of hot water and lemon upon rising then juice the following ingredients:

Chunk of cucumber 1 pear Handful of spinach Handful of parsley Juice of ½ a lemon ½tsp grated ginger

Mid-morning: Coconut delight smoothie

Blitz together:

1tbsp chia seeds 250ml coconut milk Handful raspberries 1 banana

Lunch: Pea and mint soup

Sweat 1 onion, 1 celery stick and 1 carrot. Pour in 300ml vegetable stock, 200g garden peas and a handful of fresh mint. Add 1tbsp low-fat crème fraîche and blitz until smooth.

Dinner: Baked cod and steamed vegetables

Scatter ½tsp ground cinnamon and ½tsp ground nutmeg on 1 cod fillet. Add the juice of half a lemon, wrap in foil and bake in the oven. Serve with unlimited steamed mangetout and kale.

Day 2

Breakfast: Balancing greens juice

Cup of hot water and lemon upon rising then juice the following ingredients:

1 apple 1 Cos lettuce Half a head of broccoli Handful of kale

Mid-morning: Nutty goodness smoothie

Blitz together:

1tbsp cashew nuts 250ml almond milk Handful strawberries Handful blueberries

Lunch: Super-spicy roasted squash soup

Place 1 red onion, 1 garlic clove, 170g butternut squash, 1 large tomato on a baking tray. Scatter with ½tsp turmeric, ½tsp cumin seeds, 1½tsp coriander seeds and ½tsp mustard seeds. Roast in the oven. Place the ingredients in a blender with 300ml veg stock and blitz until smooth.

Dinner: Tofu stir-fry

100g tofu cooked in 1 tsp coconut oil. Add 1 red onion, 1 garlic clove, ½tsp grated ginger, 100g baby corn, 100g mangetout, 100g garden peas and 1 red pepper. Add 1tbsp reduced-salt soya sauce and a handful of coriander. Serve on a bed of steamed, grated cauliflower.

Day 3

Breakfast: Revitalising greens juice

Cup of hot water and lemon upon rising then juice the following ingredients:

1 small avocado Juice of 1 orange Juice of ½ a lemon Chunk of cucumber Handful of watercress Handful of spinach

Mid-morning: Tropical purity smoothie

Blitz together:

1tbsp mixed nuts 250ml coconut milk Handful pineapple chunks Handful strawberries

Lunch: Carrot and coriander soup

Sweat 1 onion. Add half a sweet potato, 3 carrots, 1 large tomato and 300ml vegetable stock. Boil until soft and add a handful of coriander to finish. Blitz until smooth.

Dinner: Soya and ginger salmon with roasted veggies

Top 1 fillet of salmon with 1tbsp reduced-salt soya sauce and ¼tsp grated ginger and bake in the oven. Serve with a side of roasted tomatoes, mixed peppers and steamed spinach.

This article first appeared in Women’s Fitness

Written by Coach for Coach and legally licensed through the Matcha publisher network. Please direct all licensing questions to legal@getmatcha.com.