JUICE detoxes have been popular this January as people have bid to lose weight and get healthy fast. But do they work? Health reporter Kate LIPTROT discovers how to survive on juice, fruit tea, and water.

Following in the fashion of celebrities such as Jennifer Aniston, Drew Barrymore and Sarah Jessica Parker, I dedided to try a juice detox diet.

Consuming nothing other than water, fruit, tea and about as many juiced vegetables or fruit as I would probably eat in a month, I hoped it would kick-start my healthy-living regime.

Caffeine, alcohol and any food were all off the menu.

Before I started, the only thing I really knew about juice detoxes is they have become something of a health fad. Not a week goes by when a celebrity isn’t pictured clutching a cup of green juice.

But the fad for juicing isn’t just an inaccessible diet for rich people, it has gone mainstream with Lakeland reporting a 4,000 per cent sales rise in juicers.

With the help of Simon Long at the Shambles Kitchen in York, which provides freshly made juices every day, I tried the Five Pounds in Five Days detox.

Compiled by juice master Jason Vale, the carefully formulated range of drinks aims to help you lose 5lbs, but states that many people lose seven.

It also promises to rejuvenate your body, resulting in improvements in sleeping, energy, skin, moods and beating your cravings.

The elaborate list of preparations which are juiced – not just pureed fruit and veg – contained a wide variety of ingredients in each drink. I had four drinks throughout the day with a ginger shot to start.

My favourite was Minty Sunshine with oranges, carrots, ginger and mint, while a definite down-in-oner was Ruby Tuesday, an unusual combination of pineapple, basil, beetroot, ginger and carrot.

Halfway through day one the hunger hit me. Things felt especially bleak when I was in the cinema surrounded by people eating popcorn and my stomach rumbled. I later watched my boyfriend eat fish and chips as I sipped a thick green juice.

Throughout the whole time, the hunger was undoubtedly the most difficult thing to deal with.

On day two I caught myself staring into space at work, thinking about my favourite meal.

The diet states you are supposed to remind yourself you are not as hungry as you think, and what you are experiencing are cravings, rather an hunger.

Summoning every scrap of willpower I had, I tried to think of it that way, and by day three, as predicted, I was starting to feel better. I could get out of bed more easily and felt clear headed and alert.

By days four and five, I was starting to feel good and beginning to think of ways to improve my day-to-day diet. I went from craving carbohydrates to wanting salads.

Most impressive of all however, was that I lost 7lbs. I was delighted at how quickly it had happened and so surprised I double checked to see if my scales had broken.

Simon said: “We see an improvement in everyone that does it. They are always beaming by the end, even people who had a tough time at the start.

“A student's mum came in to thank me recently because, for the first time in 18 years, her son asked for broccoli with his dinner after doing the diet. I've had texts from people months after doing the diet saying they “still haven’t had any chocolate”.”

But despite the popularity of juice detoxes, understandably, some people are dubious about the benefits. TV doctor Dr Christian Jessen last week questioned the lack of fibre and minerals in some juice-only diets. Others have said it’s an unsustainable quick fix.

Simon, who said he only tried a juice detox after witnessing how well they worked, said a carefully prepared and thought out diet helps improve health.

He said: “I went from drinking four cups of coffee a day to having none for about four months.

“All I wanted to eat after doing it was lots and lots of greens. The benefit of juicing is that you can consume more micro-nutrients than you could possibly eat your way through. It takes a lot of fruit and veg to make one juice. It’s a huge boost of nutrition that reboots your body and tastebuds.”

The Five Pounds in Five Days detox certainly seems to mean you were getting more than your five a day. For example, the Green Blend drink contained broccoli, half a lemon, kale, spinach, cucumber, apples, celery and avocado.

I don’t know whether I would undergo something as drastic as a juice detox again. But it did help me feel good and I can definitely understand how it would spur people on with dieting.

My next challenge is whether I can keep the health kick going...