What the liver does
One of your liver’s most important functions ” and the one most crucial to your weight loss ” is chemically breaking down everything that enters your body, from the healthiest bite of organic food to the poisonous pesticides that linger on your salad; from a glass of wine to a cup of coffee; from your daily vitamin and mineral supplements to your doctor-prescribed blood-pressure medication.
It’s your liver’s job to distinguish between the nutrients you need to absorb and the dangerous or unnecessary substances that must be filtered out of your bloodstream. But when the liver is clogged and overwhelmed with toxins, it can’t do a very effective job of processing nutrients and fats.
The liver produces bile, which lubricates our intestines and works with fiber to prevent constipation. Bile is also where the liver dumps all the drugs, heavy metals, medications, pesticides, industrial chemicals, and other toxins, so they can eventually be eliminated from the body. Cleansing the liver helps it produce better, more efficient bile. That helps your body flush toxins and break down fat more effectively.
• Detoxifying the blood to rid it of harmful substances (like toxins, drugs, alcohol, and more)
• Stores vitamins and iron
• Converts stored sugar to usable sugar when the body’s sugar levels fall below normal
• Breaks down hemoglobin as well as insulin and other hormones
• Destroys old red blood cells
• The liver performs so many vital functions, and as a result it is very prone to disease.
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When your liver is overwhelmed, you’ll feel:
• sluggish
• tired
• may gain weight
• suffer headaches
• have odd digestion
• have pain in your right side
• may have skin discoloration
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What affects your liver…
• Alcohol
• Cigarettes
• Illicit drugs
• Some herbal remedies
• Large doses of vitamin A
• Some prescription medicines
• Some over-the-counter medications
• Fatty foods
• High levels of saturated fats
• High calorie intake/obesity
• High salt intake
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Detox your liver with these 15 super foods
1. Beets and Carrots: Carrots are rich in Glutathione, a protein that helps detoxify the liver. Both are extremely high in plant-flavonoids and beta-carotene. Eating beets and carrots can help stimulate and improve overall liver function.
2. Tomatoes: They have abundant amounts of Glutathione which again, are a great detoxifier for the liver. As a side effect, Lycopene in tomatoes will protect against breast, skin, and lung cancer
3. Grapefruit: Another source of the liver cleansing glutathione. It’s also high in vitamin C and antioxidants, which boost the production of liver detoxification enzymes and increase the natural cleansing process of the liver.
4. Spinach: Raw spinach is also a major source of glutathione, triggering the toxin cleansing enzymes of the liver.
5. Citrus fruits: Lemons and limes contain very high amounts of vitamin C, which helps stimulate the liver and aids the synthesizing of toxic materials into substances that can be absorbed by water.
6. Cabbage: The isothiocyanates (ITCs) made from cabbage’s glucosinolates provides liver detoxifying enzymes that help flush out toxins.
7. Turmeric: Turmeric is the liver’s favorite spice and helps boost liver detox. It does this by assisting enzymes that actively flush out dietary carcinogens.
8. Walnuts: Walnuts are a good source of glutathione, omega-3 fatty acids, and the amino acid arginine, which supports normal liver cleansing actions, especially when detoxifying ammonia.
9. Avocados: A nutrient-dense superfood, avocado helps the body produce glutathione.
10. Apples: They are high in pectin and other chemicals essential to cleansing and releasing toxins from the digestive tract. Apples make it easier for the liver to handle the toxic load during the cleansing process.
11. Garlic: Garlic is loaded with sulphur, which activates liver enzymes that help your body flush out toxins. Garlic also holds high amounts of allicin and selenium, two natural compounds that also aid in liver cleansing.
12. Leafy Green Vegetables: Green veggies are extremely high in plant chlorophylls that absorb environmental toxins, increase bile production, and neutralize heavy metals, chemicals, and pesticides, which lowers the burden on the liver.
13. Cruciferous Vegetables: Eating broccoli and cauliflower will increase production of glucosinolate in your system, which helps flush out carcinogens and other toxins.
14. Green Tea: Green tea is full of plant antioxidants known as catechins, a compound known to assist liver function.
15. Olive Oil: Cold-pressed organic oils such as olive, hemp, and flaxseed offer great support for the liver, providing the body with a liquid base that can suck up harmful toxins in the body.
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Important!
There's also concern that a liver cleanse may affect your health. A detox diet may alter your electrolyte balance, and in extreme cases it may lead to a heart attack. Detox diets may also cause diarrhea, dizziness or fatigue. In addition, you should not do any type of liver cleanse or detox diet if you have an underlying health condition, such as diabetes or heart disease, or if you're pregnant.
*Please speak to your doctor or dietician before undertaking detox measures or diets
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What is hepatitis?
The term hepatitis means inflammation of the liver. It can develop when the liver is damaged by viruses, alcohol, drugs and over consumption of other toxins. In less common cases, it can be a breakdown in the immune system that sparks the onset of hepatitis.
There are five viruses known to cause hepatitis: hepatitis A, B, C, D and E. The symptoms of all five viruses can be similar and all can infect and inflame the liver. The main difference between them is the way they are transmitted and the effects they have on your health. There have been reports of two other viruses, named hepatitis F and G “ neither are true hepatitis viruses as they do not cause or exacerbate liver disease.
How serious is hepatitis?
Hepatitis viruses can lead to an acute or a chronic illness. An acute illness will only last a short time and although it may be severe, most people recover from the illness within a few weeks, with no lasting effects. A chronic illness is one that lasts a long time, often for a lifetime.
With chronic hepatitis the virus reproduces in the liver and can cause liver damage. As more liver cells are damaged and destroyed, scar tissue takes their place “ a process known as fibrosis. Severe fibrosis can cause the liver to become hardened, preventing it from functioning normally. This is called cirrhosis of the liver. In a small number of cases, serious damage to the liver can lead to liver failure and liver cancer.
