It's time to spring clean your diet

With spring finally here, it's time to give your diet a thorough cleaning. Changing the types of foods you eat on a daily basis can help your body rid toxins and absorb new nutrients — giving you that fresh new feeling just in time for warmer weather.

The first step is getting rid of “dirty” foods. This list seems to be never-ending, but includes most processed foods, fast foods, sugary foods and drinks, foods containing enriched flour, alcohol and artificial sweeteners. Nonorganic foods also contain chemicals that can slowly poison the body and put added stress on the liver, kidneys and other vital organs. All of these foods seem to make the body dirty by causing inflammation, digestive problems, inadequate detox, weight gain, dehydration and lack of energy.

Once you throw out the dirty foods, you'll have room for the “clean” replacements. Eating more of these foods will actually aid in your body's natural cleansing process. These clean foods include raw vegetables, fresh fruits, omega-3 fats, green tea and filtered water. Organic foods are also clean foods that give your body valuable nutrients without all the chemical garbage.

By eating more raw vegetables and fresh fruits you are increasing fiber and plant nutrients. Fiber will capture toxic particles in the body and improve bowel movements. Other foods like lemons, spinach and olive oil will help to support a neutral pH balance. Maintaining a neutral pH will help minimize many problems that exist in an acidic body, such as the growth of bacteria and fungus, which could lead to allergies, fatigue and even obesity.

Increasing your water intake will help flush your system by accelerating fat loss and toxin elimination.

A general recommendation would be to drink at least half your body weight in ounces of water every day. So a 150-pound person should aim to take in at least 75 ounces. More is even better.

All these factors will help your body do its job of absorbing the “good” and excreting the “bad.”

So take a look at how you can improve your body's ability to keep itself clean and healthy. You will see and feel the difference!

• Joshua Steckler and Mark Trapp are co-owners of Push Fitness, a personal training studio in Schaumburg specializing in weight loss, muscle toning and nutrition. Contact them at PushFitnessTraining.com.