Annabel Rivkin does a detox without the tears

Some people can do week-long juice fasts while living their lives.

They hop on the Tube to work, act like functional members of society and get the hell on with it. I am not one of those people. I do quite like a juice fast — shaves a bit off the waistline (temporarily), brightens the eyes (briefly) and presses reset on greed.

But, for me, it requires institutionalisation, dressing gowns, tears and, usually, a flight somewhere faintly disheartening. I used to do two a year but I got fed up with the crying, so I’m pressing pause on the insanitorium-in-the-mountains vibe.

As ever, there is a middle way. Detox food-delivery services have sprung up like weeds of late, but the key is not to waste your money on something preachy yet disgusting. Or something so dainty that — after a supper invisible to the naked eye — you raid the fridge at 11pm.

Spring Green, which starts from £36 a day, promises all the cleansing, all the intelligent eating, all the nutrient-rich, collagen-stimulating, wheat-free, plant-based virtue that you could ever desire with little of the deprivation. Honestly, it’s delicious and there is plenty of it. Zingy ‘tonics’ to gulp down first thing; salmon with crunchy raw salad and black rice; green burgers (loved these… who knew?) and a delicious eggy pancake thingy with chicken and butterbean hummus. There are teeny little snack pots (roasted beans and peas) that you sneer at but — oddly — hit the spot. 

After three days I felt considerably less toxic, less bloated and a little slinkier. A week or two could really do some righteous work. No great hardship.

And I didn’t cry once.

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