Three Days of Kindness with Kindness & Co

It's cold. It's grey. It's wet. Ugh… January blues. It's easy to look past the rubbish weather as you near the end of the year; all the twinkly lights and dazzling decorations are a good distraction whilst you count down the days until there's "NO MORE WORK." Get your coat, you're on holiday.

Christmas is all fun and games - fine foods and festive drinkies galore - but you don't come out the other side unscathed. It's the extra glug of brandy and the extra pour of cream - 'cause Christmas - not to mention the mountain of chocolate that could be rationed for the entire year (definitely won't), the never-ending cheese board (not another cheese sauce?), and the open bottles of port and sherry that demand to be drunk before they go past their best (yes, that's a thing).

And so we find ourselves in The New Year Awakening. The merry mischief's over and you're noticing a few more of those unwanted lumps and bumps. "Curse you mince pies!" *shakes fist* Thankfully, Cheltenham's health food gurus Kindness & Co are here to prise you out of that post Christmas gluttony rut with their new food program.

Branded as Three Days of Kindness, the town centre café prepares you three days of nutritious breakfasts, lunches and dinners, with snacks to curb those hunger pangs. Everything is made fresh daily, boxed up in recyclable packaging, and you can either collect or have it delivered.

Health kicks are all the rage at this time of year, and as we see the back of dry January - phew - it's about now that people give in to their fad diets. Whilst you're encouraged to avoid caffeine and alcohol over the three days, Kindness & Co's package is more of a focus on wellbeing rather than restricting yourself. The time you'd normally spend planning, shopping and cooking meals is now free to concentrate on your own health, and taking the decision making out of eating means you're more likely to stick to the plan (the £105 price tag is a good incentive too).

They say that by eating three balanced meals a day - no coffee, sugary snacks or post-work glasses of wine - and drinking 1.5-2 litres of water a day should not only help you get a better nights sleep, but you should feel lighter, energised and more alert. So before Kindness & Co officially launched their plan, I got the chance to test it out to see if it was as good as it sounded.

I'm no stranger to these kinds of programs, I've done juice cleanses with Jay Halford at The Core before (who's coincidentally now working with Kindness & Co) and also with Applebar in the centre of town (which I'd highly recommend). I'm used to cutting out the crap when I need to, and in doing the 5:2 Diet, I can feel satisfied on not a huge amount of food. And that's the first thing I noticed; there was quite a lot of food! Here are my Three Days of Kindness menu boxes:

Breakfast: Muesli, yoghurt, fresh fruit
Lunch: Quinoa Tabbouleh with coriander, mint, tomato and red onion
Dinner: Veggie chilli served with roasted sweet potato

Breakfast: Raspberry smoothie bowl with nuts and banana
Lunch: Butter bean puree, tomato salsa, wilted kale and roasted courgette
Dinner: Sweet corn fritters with baby spinach and tomato salsa

Breakfast: Fresh berry overnight oats
Lunch: Baked cauliflower, chickpea, rocket and cranberry salad with tahini dressing and pistachio
Dinner: Garden pea and mint soup

Snacks each day: A piece of fruit, a pot of nuts and two Kindness Energy Balls... I'm a sucker for an energy ball.

I looked forward to picking up each day's food; there's something exciting about being cooked for (The Chap should take note). And not having to think about meals for a few days felt like I gained some freedom (because I basically think about food 24/7). What a luxury. 

None of the boxes contained those free-from substitutes or lengthily-named ingredients, they were all just packed with familiar, inherently healthy foods. The cauliflower, cranberry and tahini salad was a joy to eat - I'm going back to Kindness & Co to get my hands on some more - and there was no chance you'd miss meat in the spicy bean loaded chilli. 

I tend to eat a lot of these things at home anyway, so for me it's not something I'd splurge on, but for those that want to hit the ground running, it's a great way to get a head start. That said, I was inspired to make a big batch of overnight oats for the rest of the week's breakfasts, and tomato salsa has been creeping into our dinners much more than it did before.  

I personally didn't lose any weight, but Kindness & Co isn't really about that. I did, however, feel more in tune with myself and really enjoyed having some "time off". Healthier and happier; that's what it's all about, right?

If you're interested in the Three Days of Kindness program, then check out Kindness & Co's website or pop in to chat to them. It's £95 if you collect - they're pretty flexible - or £105 to be delivered within a certain radius of Cheltenham. Easy.