Wining and dining is a big part of city life in Hong Kong, however, once in a while, it gets all too much and switching your phone off, flying away to a health retreat and enjoying the beauty of radio silence is just what you need to recoup. Or for the less radical, perhaps it’s simply a detox you need.

While the Master Cleanse is probably one of the most popular and effective cleanses (the diet constitutes of cutting out foods and drinking a potion of cayenne pepper, lemon juice, maple syrup and warm salt water) to flush your body, lately in Hong Kong, we’ve seen a wave of juice diets come around. Punch Detox, the first juice regime to launch in Hong Kong by Ann Cha and Angela Matsuzawa, followed by the most recent addition, Genie Concepts, by Australian-duo Cara Grogan and Melanie White.

I’m sure like myself, you’ve all heard mixed reviews of juice detoxes, I’ve certainly heard my fair share: I had a friend who was hospitalised in Japan after she fainted while on the master cleanse and learnt that her colon was ill-functioning; but then I also have a friend who swears by it and does it quarterly. She gives the Master Cleanse heaps of praise, boasting how it gives her abundant energy and clears her skin.

Locally, girls in the office have tried the Punch diet, and while one member fell ill, they both raved about how though they didn’t lose weight in the process, they certainly felt better and their skin was both significantly clearer after the detox.

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To get to the bottom of it, once and for all, to learn how it works and the effectiveness of these detoxes, we put them to the test, one juice diet at a time. In our two-part series we give you a day-to-day account of our juice diet; from the quality of customer service to the effects the juice had on our body during the cleanse to the post-detox effect, we break it down for you day by day.

Punch Detox

To purchase the HK$1,680 package which includes the six juices which will replace your meals for three day, the18 juices can be ordered online via credit card, or by a bank transfer, where you simply take a photo of the ATM screen to confirm the payment. In total the juices represents about 20lbs of fruits and vegetables, and through six drinks a day, you consume 1,100 calories.

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Service:

The 18 bottles of juices arrived at my doorstep promptly the day before with a guide on how to go about drinking the juices and most importantly, a cheat sheet of food I’m allowed to eat (mashed avocado, sliced cucumber and other similarly uninspiring items) if I should feel the urge to consume anything outside of my six bottles of juices. Every day, including the day before the diet, we’re emailed each day, to check in on our progress with encouraging tips on how to stay on the detox and acknowledging common symptoms, which I found very reassuring and considerate. The only glitch we had was an extra bottle of juice five was delivered to us in place of a third juice six, however this was quickly ratified, a bottle of juice was arranged to be delivered promptly after this was brought to their attention. Also, we emailed them to ask about certain questions we had throughout, all of which were promptly and thoroughly addressed.

See Part 2 of our Punch Detox review here.