To cleanse or not to cleanse, that is the first question.
The other question you want to ask yourself is what kind of cleanse you need and want, depending on your lifestyle.

If you feel like giving yourself some love and are curious about the effects of nutritional cleansing why not try this for yourself, I am about to embark on a 3 day fruit and veg (no pulses) cleanse myself and I already have a plan of action to stay full and happy during those three days as the idea is not to starve and be grumpy.

1. Buy lots, I mean LOTS of veg and some fruit (you may need to start stocking up a few days before the cleanse as depending on where you live fruit and veg may not be ready to eat when you buy them and you don’t want to give yourself a stomach ache with lots of unripe fruit)

2. Mix it up, buy veggies that you wouldn’t normally buy and eat them in unusual ways, hot or cold, in smoothies and juices, steamed, in a soup or ‘en julienne’ so you can surprise your taste buds and come out of it with new ideas of how to make vegan meals

3 Spice it up, most spices and herbs have countless health attributes, make the most of the cleanse to put them at the forefront of your diet, cayenne pepper on grated carrots with lemon, or cinnamon and nutmeg in a pear and banana smoothie will make things more fun

4. Think rainbow, we tend to think as taste being the main sense when it comes to eating but before we eat, we look at our food (or at least we should) having a pretty plate full of different colours will satisfy your visual appetite before you start eating

5. Drink, drink, drink, a common mistake that many people make is eating when they are thirsty because it’s not always easy to differentiate so keep hydrated to avoid overeating

6. Veggies over fruit, Fruit tastes great and is full of vitamins but most fruit are high in sucrose so avoid having too much fruit, however go crazy on the greens

7. Make a meal out of it, having food on the go often leaves us feeling dissatisfied so take the time to sit down and focus on your food as you eat it, putting your phone away briefly so you can enjoy the moment

8. Inspiration is everywhere, we are lucky to have access to many creative minds on instagram so why not see what others are doing with that veg you never buy as you are not too sure how to cook and serve, you may just stumble upon your new favourite recipe

9. Stronger together, I’d recommend doing the cleanse ‘with’ someone, it doesn’t have to be someone you will be physically close to during those 3 days but it can be helpful to have someone to share ideas with and talk about what you find hard or contrarily how much you are loving it

10. Adapt your activity levels, we may not need as much animal protein as we seem to think we do but you will most probably be ingesting less calories than usual and the idea is not to come out of the cleanse depleted but lighter and energised so listen to your body and give it what it needs

Last but not least, come out slowly, your stomach will have to adapt to the 3 day diet so take it easy on the few days following the cleanse and reintroduce other foods little by little.

Enjoy!