Build Your Own Juice Cleanse

The few days beforehand make the rest easier. If you drink a lot of coffee, start cutting back two or three days ahead rather than stopping dead on day one. Caffeine withdrawal is the most common reason people feel rough early on, and it has nothing to do with the juice.

Eat a little lighter the evening before, leaning towards vegetables and away from heavy, salty or very rich food, and drink plenty of water. Pick your days sensibly: starting on the morning of a packed work day or a night out sets you up to struggle. Your bottles arrive frozen, so move the first day's juices to the fridge the night before to defrost.

Honest answer: the first day is usually the one you notice most. You're used to chewing, and drinking your intake doesn't occupy you the same way, so hunger tends to come in waves. It's strongest around your usual mealtimes, then it passes. Water or a herbal tea between juices helps you ride those out.

Most people can work and go about a normal day, though some prefer to keep the first day lighter on commitments. You might feel a dip in the afternoon, the way you can on any day. If you hit a wall and have a small, simple snack, a handful of nuts or a piece of fruit, you haven't ruined anything. Just carry on to the next juice. The point is the few days as a whole, not a perfect score.

Each day's juices are meant to be drunk in sequence, not grabbed at random. That's why they're numbered in the Inside the Box list above. Space them roughly two to three hours apart across the day, starting once you're up and finishing in the early evening.

The ginger shot is small and sharp. Most people take it when they want something with a bit of a kick rather than first thing. Keep the next day's juices in the fridge overnight, and give each bottle a shake before drinking. Separation is natural when there's nothing added to hold it together.

The day after matters as much as the cleanse itself, and it's the part most people get wrong. After a few days without solid food, going straight for a large, heavy meal tends to feel uncomfortable.

Ease back in. Start with something light, like fruit, a vegetable soup or a simple salad, in smaller portions than usual, then build up over the day. Keep drinking water. If the few days have left you thinking about eating a bit differently, the morning after is a natural moment to carry some of that on rather than snap straight back to old habits. That's a choice, though, not a rule.

A juice cleanse is a short stretch of eating very differently, and it doesn't suit everyone. We'd suggest giving it a miss, or speaking to your GP first, if you're pregnant or breastfeeding, under 18, managing diabetes or anything else that affects your blood sugar, or taking regular medication, since some medicines are meant to be taken with food or at set times.

If you have any history of disordered eating, a structured stretch of restriction isn't a good idea, and we'd gently point you away from it. None of this is the fun part of a product page, but we'd rather you begin knowing it's right for you.