The festive season is now a distant memory for most but for those in the fashion industry, we’ve only now gotten over the month long hangover brought on by the early January LFWM. From December’s Christmas parties to glutinous Christmas dinners and champagne filled fashion events, you’d be forgiven for letting your health regimes slide in the past months. However, it’s a new year and now it’s our turn to get back on our health kick with a good old fashion detox.

This is no way my first detox, but in truth, it is the first one I’ve ever kept to. I’ve found that with a hectic lifestyle and the lack of local restaurants offering nutritious selections that I’ve never been able to find the correct food to fit my diet. Whether shooting in studio or out on location with a very unhealthy 9am-9pm work schedule, I’ve never found to time to precook my meals for the days ahead.

Enter, ‘The Detox Kitchen’ – a food delivery service which promises to “take away the stress of planning, shopping and cooking healthy meals.” This certainly isn’t the first product on the market to deliver fresh food to your door but it is however, one of the few who will deliver the food pre-cooked and pre-packaged early each morning. In the past I’ve tried services who deliver fresh food once a week with cooking instructions but as everyone in the creative industry knows, finding time to cook a different meal every day is certainly a luxury we don’t have. In that vein, we imagine The Detox Kitchen will be a much welcome solution to our very common problem.

For my trial, I opted for the Green with Protein package which included three meals a day, three fresh juices as well as snacks, teas and natural wheatgrass, spirulina and ginger shots to keep the immune system and energy levels going strong each day. All in all, the package equalled 1200 calories with 50g of that being lean-protein which fit well into the workout meal plan that I was also conducting at the same time.

Before we continue it’s important that I mention that I like food; I really like food. I like spicy, well seasoned and often mightily unhealthy food so I was not at all expecting to enjoy the meals that came – I’m happy that I was proved wrong.

Starting my morning with a bean pot is rather unusual for me but all things considered, it was rather tasty. Enjoyed alongside a shot of wheatgrass and ginger I was satisfied with the portion size. In truth, a light breakfast was a far better way to start my day than the usual café pastry and overpriced coffee I’d become accustomed to.

Each meal also comes with a paired cold press bottle juice which I packed in my bag with the rest of my meals for the day. This day’s juices consisted of Apple, celery and ginger, Broccoli, kiwi and lime and Pear, celery, mint and lemon – all were pleasant. On other detox programs, I’ve found that their juices were far sweeter and more flavoursome than The Detox Kitchen and after totting up the grammes of sugar in the smoothies provided by other companies, The Detox Kitchen offerings were far healthier. It’s commendable to find a service who truly cares about the wellbeing of their consumers. Instead of supplying a crowd-pleasing sugar-rich smoothie, the Detox Kitchen have done their research and found a blend which is both pleasing to the palette but one that also fits into the dietary requirements of the customers drinking them.

Throughout the day I snacked on the nuts and grains included in the pack as an energy boost which took the place of my standard packet of “healthy” salted popcorn. They were a nice pick me up between appointments and a good addition to help you stick to the detox diet when you’re feeling a little peckish between meals.

The lunch was surprisingly filling, I couldn’t actually finish it in one sitting and as said, I love food! It was a celery and tomato salad which came with a dressing containing hints of lemon and coriander. At this point, I’d only eating salads and drank smoothies and a tea but I was never wanting for more or different foods. I’ve tried many…many diets in my time and always felt that I was forcing myself to stick to them. There’s something in the convenience of a pre-packaged lunch that made this detox so easy to stick to. Also note: you won’t just be eating vegetables for a week long detox! Depending on your selected dietary needs, you can expect to receive burgers and other foods previously thought to be on the detox blacklist.

Arriving home for dinner and it was time to eat the Salmon which as a fussy eater I was a little apprehensive of. The food packages arrive at around 5am (don’t worry they’ll leave it in a convenient predetermined spot of your choosing) and I usually would collect them at 6:30 and pop my dinner in the fridge and pack everything else into my bag. I was expecting the salmon to be dry and not well seasoned but to my surprise it was unbelievably fresh. This might seem like a small feat but remembering that it had been cooked at least 12 hours ago and no indication of when it was caught – the fact the dish tasted anywhere near fresh was an amazing discovery. Well seasoned and accompanied by a hefty salad, I was extremely pleased with the results.

After three days, I had enjoyed a wide variety of meals and juices from the service. It is important to fit the calories into your own daily routine. Be sure to do a personal health check to find out how many calories someone with your lifestyle should be consuming and match the plan to your results. As I was exercising and work an active job which doesn’t tie me to a desk, I did prop up my calories while on the plan to meet my macros.

Depending on your diet, The Detox Kitchen costs between £30-40 which might seem steep but after tallying up all the café bottled juices and sandwiches and snacks which I’d grab between appointments we found that all things considered The Detox Kitchen is in fact rather reasonably priced. The food you receive is of restaurant standard and on the high street alone, a pressed juice can set you back more around £5; we’d go as far as saying the price point is a great deal for the amount you’re receiving.

Would we recommend The Detox Kitchen I hear you ask? If you have an active lifestyle which doesn’t allow you to prepare your meals in advance – then by all means The Detox Kitchen is for you. We found that the times we really depended on the service was during London Fashion Week and other times when our schedules were anything but fixed. With a relatively low-calorie count for myself, it’s not a sustainable diet nor do I believe it’s meant to be. The Detox Kitchen isn’t a service meant to replace the standard ‘once a week food delivery services’. Instead, it’s most effective when you work your food orders around your own lifestyle. On their website, you can move your deliveries for the dates which best work with your schedule. If you’re looking for a short term detox or want to ensure that a day in your diary is filled with the nutrient dense and balanced meal, then look no further than The Detox Kitchen.

For more information, head over to wwwdetoxkitchen.co.uk/