The daily barrage of alcohol, caffeine, sugar, salt, pesticides and pollution can place your body's detox system under so much strain, that health problems ranging from poor digestion and chronic tiredness through to far more serious illnesses can become almost inevitable.

Add to that the excesses of the Christmas period and it is a little wonder most of us want to spend January hiding under the duvet.

This plan sets out to change all that with a pound shedding diet, rich in free radical fighting anti-oxidants, disease preventing phytonutrients and health restoring vitamins and minerals coupled with lots of clever strategies to de-stress, invigorate and safely detox your mind and spirit too.

Simply follow the diet and detox plan, add in a morning and afternoon snack from the selection below, drink a minimum of eight glasses of water a day (hot or cold) and be prepared to look and feel like a brand new you in just 10 days.

[See also: Lose up to a stone a month without crash dieting]

With so many cold and flu bugs around it's hard to know the best way to try to avoid them.  Phytochemicals could be the answer.

During the first half of the 20th century diseases such as scurvy and rickets were common. Until that is, they were wiped out by the discovery of vitamins and minerals. Now, scientists are uncovering a wealth of new substances in foods called phytochemicals that are so powerful they could help to prevent up to a third of many lifestyle diseases and many more day to day ills. But just what are phytochemicals, where can we find them and how much of them should we be eating?

[See also: Colds and flu: what's the difference?]

What are phytochemicals?
Phytochemicals are non-nutritive plant chemicals that contain protective, disease-preventing compounds. They include the substances responsible for giving a plant its characteristic colour, flavour and smell. Many are antioxidants which mean that they help to block or suppress the damage that can be done in the body by

Over 40% of us regularly take at least one vitamin or mineral supplement but will they really improve our health or are they just money down the drain?  Yahoo nutritionist Rachael Anne Hill finds out.

There is a 'pill for almost every ill' in the supplement world and for those of us lucky enough to be fighting fit, there are even more pills and potions designed to help us stay that way. But do they actually work or are they just money down the drain?

The answer to that question depends largely on who you are. For some people, there are occasions when higher doses of certain nutrients will be beneficial.  These generally include pregnant women and women hoping to become pregnant who may reduce the risk of neural defects in their unborn child by taking a daily folic acid supplement until the twelfth week of pregnancy. Breast feeding women and infants under the age of two can help to ensure bone strength with a daily dose of Vitamin D as can people at risk of osteoporosis who should also