Now that spring is officially here and Easter has come and gone it's the perfect time to embrace some clean and healthy habits to coincide with the fresh new season -- and to get you on track to have an awesomely fit summer (bikini panic anyone?).

Some people swear by detoxing and doing regular "detox diets" in order to flush toxins out of their bodies, but even if you're not ready to commit to something that serious you can still get some of the benefits just by incorporating certain foods into your diet and boosting your body's own natural detox system: the liver.

The top 10 detox foods(click thumbnails to view gallery)

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Are "detox" products worth it? I like to hear the word "detoxification" in relation to dieting and eating right, since the word alone implies that everything else if actually a "toxifier" of sorts. In many cases these days, that is very true. The gamut of chemicals and other junk in so many foods could easily be classified as "toxic" to anyone who has researched all the specifics.

But, to detox yourself from all these products, do you need some magical supplement or pill? Hardly. It's pretty obvious to state that the human body was designed for the efficient processing of good nutrition while actively detoxifying the body of bad food components -- no drugs needed here (in most cases).

Are all these products worth it? I've you've bought one and had success, I'd like to hear your story in a comment. It's hard to be objective here sometimes, since buying a detox product and it being attributable to your body's detox process is a pretty loose connection unless you're really paying attention to all other variables.

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Fasting has a very negative connotation for me. It conjures up images of starvation, being weak and shaky, feeling lethargic and nauseous. Call it Fastophobia, but I just don't think I could do a full-out fast.

I have read for years about all of the benefits, both physical and spiritual, and something about depriving my very needy body of food for even a few hours gives me the shakes. Maybe if I was concerned about weight loss I would be more motivated to fast, as that is touted as one of the benefits of fasting. And then there is the question, if you eat well enough all of the time, is there really anything from which to detox?

The information in a new article I read from ThirdAge, though, is fascinating, all about how fasting puts the body in survival mode and can even increase life spans up to forty percent. Not enough for you? Well, how about reducing free radicals, preventing diabetes and heart disease? Believe me, this article is worth the read to see all the amazing things fasting can do for your body.

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