These top ten detox foods can help provide some great ideas on how to detox your body - they provide some of the best all round nutrients for a total body detox, and can easily be incorporated into a free detox diet plan. You can include them in part of a raw food detox diet, or juice them for some great tasting detox drinks.

If you can afford it I would recommend you buy organic where possible, but non-organic will be fine if you're on a tight budget. Either way, these foods are fantastic for a completely natural detox diet - why not create a week long menu plan for a really health 7 day detox program?

1. The Power of Apples

Here's something you may not know - scientists in the Ukraine have used apples to purify the area around Chernobyl after the nuclear leak in 1986. So they must be good. Apples contain vitamin C and quercetin - an antioxidant nutrient that lowers fat and cholesterol levels.

Another useful nutrient we get from apples is pectin, which is a soluble dietary fiber. Pectin is known to bind to heavy metals in the colon to help our body excrete them. It also has properties which help our body eliminate other toxins and food additives like tartrazine which has been linked with asthma and hyperactivity in children.

2. Avocados - My Favorite

Avocados are a real powerhouse of nutrients - rich in folate, fiber, potassium, vitamin E and the carotenoid lutein, beta-carotene and gluthathione. Lutein may be linked to maintaining healthy eyes and vision. An avo is one of a small minority of fruits that actually contain monounsaturated fat.

The natural levels of gluthathione in our bodies decrease as we get older, which is one reason why hangovers get worse as we age. Studies of "older people" have shown that those who had higher levels of glutathione were healthier than those with lower levels. The higher level group were also less likely to suffer from arthritis, which many experts believe is a condition aggravated by excess toxicity in our bodies.

3. Artichokes - A Natural Liver Detoxer

Artichokes are known to increase bile production. One of the roles of bile is to transport toxins to the bowel where they can be excreted. Recent studies have shown that eating artichokes can increase bile production by up to 127% (100% is the same as doubling) within 30 minutes of eating it.

Artichokes are also packed with powerful antioxidants, and are a great food for liver detox. In some European studies, tests showed that where free radicals have damaged the liver, this damage is greatly reduced with the use of artichoke extracts.

4. Beetroot - The Alternative Vampire Deterrent

Beetroot has been used for millennia (literally) as a blood purifying tonic. Roman civilisations were known to have used it extensively for total body detoxing over 2000 years ago. Beetroot is also believed to chelation properties and may help absorb toxic metals. At a polluted mine in Leadville, Colorado, USA, beets (as well as carrots and bananas) are being used to filter pollutants from the natural water supplies.

Beetroot contains methionine and betanin. Methionine helps to purify natural waste bodily waste products. Betanin works to help increase the rate at which the liver breaks down fatty acids. This action helps takes workload off the liver allowing it to fight the dangerous toxins.

5. Cruciferous Vegetables as Anti Carcinogens

The range of cruciferous vegetables are known to have anti-carcinogenic properties by helping our body to destroy carcinogens. These vegetables include Kale, Broccoli, Cauliflower, Spinach, Brussels Sprouts, Radishes, Cabbage, Watercress and several others.

All these vegetables are rich in vitamin C and vital minerals such as selenium and potassium and have been shown to help eliminate nitrosamines from your body - nitrosamines are produced from cigarette smoke.