Superfoods for Detox, Pregnancy, Weight Loss and Beauty Monday, March 26, 2012 ~ 9:51 a.m.

I don't know about you, but sometimes it can be so ridiculously confusing to keep up with all of the science out there regarding diet and nutrition. One day, I'm hearing that coffee is bad for your heart; the next day, I'm hearing that it's good for your brain! I've stopped paying attention to most of it at this point, because it seems like everyone is always saying something different, and really, every food seems like it's going to have some good and some bad points!

With that being said though, I do take some food advice under consideration. I've never done any sort of extreme maple syrup and lemon juice diet, but I do think it's a good idea to drink water with lemon every day to help detox. I guess I tend to stay away from the bigger gimmicks, and enjoy sticking with the ABC's of nutrition, which is essentially, eat your fruits and veggies! I definitely see a whole lot of room for improvement in this area though. I tend to have less of a problem with eating fruit regularly, and more of an issue working veggies into my diet. Not because I don't have access to them, but because 1) I think it's hard to find meals that I actually enjoy that have a significant amount of fresh veggies, and 2) They go bad so quickly, I feel as though I barely have enough time to work my way through them before they're molding in my fridge! These are excuses though, and I know it! It's a constant work in progress for me, personally.

One of the most important ingredients to maintaining a healthy, well rounded diet is education. There are a million and one choices out there for what to eat, and if you try to eat all of them, all the time, you'll drive yourself crazy. For that reason, I thought I'd take the opportunity today to narrow down the major food groups to a few (somewhat) short lists of "super foods," that are said to be best for detoxing, weight loss, beauty and pregnancy. I noticed that there were definitely some repeat foods on all of these lists, so I've bolded these few foods to help you out! I know that I will definitely be keeping these lists in mind when I take a trip to the grocery store this afternoon.