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.

I love all the information about the effects different foods have on your body and I've really enjoyed trying out his detox. At the end of it I do feel lighter inside and very calm. I've also lost weight (which wasn't the point of doing it). But dropping wheat, dairy and alcohol from your diet also seems to mean dropping weight!

The only thing I would say was disappointing are the lack of recipes (especially vegetarian ones). To take wheat and dairy out obviously takes away pasta and cheese. So as a vegetarian it makes it quite a challenge thinking of what to have for tea!