Whenever we thumb through recipes in a cookbook or magazine, we tend to run through the same mental routine, which looks something like this:

When I think "detox," I think torture. In a frantically dramatic fashion I picture myself trapped inside a grass hut yogi den for days on end with a bunch of highfalutin' hippies dry brushing each other between massive gulps of kale smoothies. Thanks, but no thanks.

Detox. It's a word that carries so much hope -- and so much fear. Detox the smart way and you're in for clearer skin, more energy, and a smaller number on the scale. Detox drastically (Master Cleanse, anyone?) and you're likely to do more harm than good. But with so many detox plans out there, and so much conflicting evidence on the effectiveness of each, how's a girl to choose the cleanse that's right for her?

You know how you think things out loud, and don't really realize what you're saying until it's out there? Well that's how I got roped into this detox diet. At our last brainstorming meeting, I mused aloud that it would be interesting to follow real people as they attempted detox diets. Next thing I knew my editor was handing me the book "Clean" by Dr. Alejandro Junger and telling me to take my before photo. Um, what?

If you refuse to give up fast food (or have to eat it in a pinch), at least pick the best options for healthy skin

Antioxidants. We hear this word every day as it relates to maintaining a healthy skin diet and we assume we also need them in our skin care regimen. But what are these antioxidants exactly and what do they do?

This season's hottest anti-aging ingredients can be found in the grocery aisles. Add them to your healthy skin diet now

You live to eat; you eat to live. But eating a healthy skin diet to reduce acne? Indeed. It's not quite the adage of, "you are what you eat," but it is true that what you eat affects the way you look -- and feel.

You aren't alone in your never-ending quest for the magic diet that will melt body fat and give you perfect skin. You also aren't alone in wanting that diet to be as quick and effortless as possible. Celebrities like Beyonce, Gwyneth Paltrow, and Anne Hathaway (to name drop a few) have been known to try temporary fasting or detox diets in order to clear up skin, rid their body of toxins and lose weight. But before you jump on the trendy bandwagon by swearing off solid foods or downing large quantities of lemon water, you should know what short-term body starvation actually does to you.