Joshi's Holistic Detox: 21 Days to a Healthier, Slimmer You, for Life [Paperback]

The writing is clear and informative and the arguments Dr Joshi puts forward are forceful and, for the most part, fairly convincing. Be warned: the underlying philosophy is somewhat pick and mix, with Dr Joshi (who is a qualified medical doctor) citing Western and Eastern science in roughly equal measure.

I hadn't been on a diet before Dr Joshi's detox and my eating and food-shopping habits were rather erratic. Once I had decided to go ahead with the detox, I found that the book was less helpful as a practical manual than it might be. In fact, it takes some determination to come up with a shopping list for the first week.

For example, the book does not contain a simple list of the supplements you may wish to use. Instead, there is a chapter on vitamins and minerals from which you need to extract those that are required in supplement form. I ended up with a long list but, when I went to the health food shop, I discovered that a number of them were (and are traditionally) available in combined pills.

Similarly, the skimpy week-by-week detox guide and the limited recipe suggestions mean that you need to do a lot of advance planning of your own to make the detox work. I found that making a weekly chart of what I was going to eat and when helped.

Having done all that, I was surprised that I found the detox programme itself quite easy to stick to. The benefits were noticable almost immediately and, after a week, I found I was used to some of the tastes that had been challenging initially.

I hardly noticed giving up some things that I love (such as tea and coffee) while I missed some things that I don't really like (such as tomatoes). In practical terms, I found the use of the recommended soluble fibre drink helped regularise my eating habits initially (though it tastes awful) and I imagine I would have craved sweet foods more if I had not taken the recommended chromium supplement.

Overall, I think the detox programme is a good one but the book could be improved by including a greater number of recipe suggestions and some lists and charts so that the reader does not have to do so much hard work before they begin.