1. If you can't read it, don't eat it.

I used to give a yearly lecture on nutrition to third-graders in our local school. . Here is one of my recommendations to those kids is relevant for everybody: If you can't read it, don't eat it.

You know what I'm talking about: ingredients on food labels that are virtually unreadable, like acetaldehyde phenethyl propyl acetal (a "fruit" flavoring found in ice cream, candy, cookies and sodas).

I don't think I need to do much convincing on this point, because not eating a lot of food with ingredients you can't read is common sense. Why barrage your body with toxic chemicals if you don't have to?

2. Take supplements that support detoxification.

Various stages of phase II liver detoxification require specific nutritional compounds to do their work. How can you make sure you're getting those nutrients? Take a good daily multivitamin powder. It's one of the easiest ways to purify!

3. Drink up.

Water plays a key role in daily detoxification. In fact, drinking enough water is probably the best action you can take to support your kidneys as they clean up your blood.

How much water should you drink every day? Just check your lips and mouth. If they're dry, you need to drink more water. Another simple method: take a look at the color of your urine. If it's a dull yellow color, there's not enough water diluting it, so you should drink more.

4. Take a probiotic supplement.

Probiotics provide the same friendly, health-giving bacteria that typically inhabit your gut (like Lactobacillus acidophilus). These good-guy bacteria combat bad bacteria and fungi which, if allowed to multiply, make you toxic.

All probiotic supplements are not created equal, however. Many don't contain the number of bacteria advertised on the label. Or the bacteria in the supplements are dead. Or they die in the acid environment of the stomach. Any of these mean the probiotic isn't doing you much good.

5. Sweat it out in a sauna.

Sweating for health is a worldwide tradition, from Native American sweat lodges to the Finnish sauna, and I think "sweat therapy" is a great way to aid detoxification. I recommend (and use myself) a type of sauna called the "far infrared sauna