Does your body store up toxins to begin with?

I think they do. I see a lot of people suffering from an overload of chemicals coming through their food, which later begins to manifests as bowel and digestive disease. Much later, these foods begins to destablise their immune system by killing off good bacteria that resides inside their gut along with the bad. This opens up the body to all sorts of infections. I've noticed a sudden rise in childhood illnesses (such as ear and catarrh infections) in the patients that are brought to me and I strongly believe that these are due to environmental factors, especially to do with the growing craze for fast food consumption.

One common mistake people make while dieting is that they go on a crash diet or decide to skip meals altogether. This can be more harmful than accumulating all those fat within you. To begin with:

· There's no requirement for drastic, overnight changes in your diet

· There's no need to endure strong cravings for sweets or fats.

· There's no need to order any "diet pills" or pay through your nose for a weight-loss program who charge you depending upon the inches you lose.

All that you need to do to detox your body of various chemical overload is:

· You must intake the correct nutrients

· You must intake the correct ratios of these nutrients

· You must intake sufficient quantities of these nutrients

A significant part of any rapid weight loss will be water and lean tissue, so it's not sensible to follow any strict diet for more than two weeks. But if you are in good health there's no reason why you shouldn't be able to lose half a stone in a couple of weeks, settling down to a continued weight loss of 1-2 pounds a week if you then continue to eat healthily but at a slightly higher calorie level.

To achieve fast results healthily, eat All-Bran or a similar high-fibre cereal with yogurt for breakfast, and as many fruits and steamed vegetables you like during the day, supplemented with chicken or fish at one meal and pulses (canned beans in chilli sauce for flavour) at the other. Also, have one small grain portion (whole meal pasta or brown rice no bigger than your fist) with lunch and dinner. Drink half a pint of skimmed milk or soya milk on alternate days but no other fluids apart from water. Try to do some light weight-lifting exercise every day to preserve muscle.

In general if you want to detox your body, remember that:

· Your bulk food consumption should happen during the day; not late at night.

· You must start your day with a big and filling breakfast. It is the most important meal of the day. Don't skip your breakfast.

· Exercise but drink a full glass of water before and during a workout.

· Replace your fluid loss after every visit to the bathroom. Gulp in a full glass of water afterward.

· Each time you consume a beverage (such as coffee or black tea) that can have high diuretics effect (i.e. causes increased production of urine) consume a glass of water before or immediately after.

· Avoid coffee/caffeine/colas/stimulant drinks. Drinking lots of soda will get you dehydrated fast. Any drink with caffeine will dehydrate you. It will give you a caffeine/sugar high that will soon crash, which in turn will make you crave for more sugar.

· Avoid alcohol. For every glass of alcohol, take an equivalent amount of water. Alcohol dehydrates your body. Its diuretic effect is high.

· Consume one glass of water after every urination in order to replace fluid loss immediately.

· Eat at least three times a day or have five small meals daily. Have five portions of fruit daily. Eat five portions of veggies a day (one portion is one ladle/serving spoon).

· Take one portion of rice daily.

· Eat one portion of oil/cheese.

· Consume two portions of fish/beans/pulse per day.

· Eat as much raw food as possible. Raw food maintains total fluid levels as well as nutrients.

· Always serve soup at meal time. You get extra hydration that way.

· Employ cooking methods that retain fluid--baking, grilling, stir-frying.

· Make your own fresh juices/smoothies. Mix carrot and apple in a juicer. Add celery, then ginger. Throw in some lime juice into this concoction. Stir. This drink will immediately perk you up.