We all know how vital our liver is to our survival but do you really know what the liver is responsible for? If your answer is that the liver does just about everything, you’re not that far off from the truth.
While modern medical science can mimic the functioning of kidneys through dialysis or replace a human heart valve with a pig’s valve and still have it work, the multitude of complex functions that are guided by the liver cannot be manufactured by any piece of technological advancement.
The liver has over 500 known functions. One of the most notable responsibilities is the metabolism of every morsel of food that passes our lips. Additionally, once your body has produced and used a hormone, that hormone gets sent to your liver where it is broken down before it gets recycled or eliminated from your body.
The list of hormones that circulate our body every single minute are almost too many to count. From stress hormones to estrogen to adrenaline, all of these key products are eliminated by liver. The liver also regulates the hormone insulin and it manufactures cholesterol and fats like triglycerides. Even though we consume cholesterol in some of the foods we eat, the liver actually makes most of our body’s cholesterol.
The liver also produces and regulates blood clotting factors which are needed to stop the bleeding whenever we cut our finger. The liver is equally responsible for making proteins that are used to keep our immune system working powerfully.
The liver is also a storage house for glycogen, the main form of carbohydrate storage and it also maintains our stores of vitamins and minerals like iron and Vitamin B12. One of the most important roles that the liver plays is its ability to detoxify our system and rid ourselves of harmful substances we may have encountered from the food we eat to the air that we breathe. Rather than just expelling these harmful substances, the liver protects us by diluting the impact of these potentially dangerous substances and then removes them from our body.
The liver is a veritable work horse!
So what can you do to help your liver out and relieve it of some of its immense burden? Rather than indulging in heavy dishes, fried pastries and bottles of wine add some of these nutritious foods to your diet and give yourself and your liver a true gift.
- Fresh vegetable juices
- Chlorophyll-rich foods: Wheat or barley grass juice or powder, along with chlorella, spirulina, or wild blue-green algae have in many cases proven to be useful in jump-starting up a sluggish liver.
- Garlic and onions: Garlic contains allicin, which is a sulfur-based compound needed by the liver for effective detoxification. Garlic helps the liver rid the body of mercury, certain food additives and hormones.
- Fresh vegetables: Eat plenty of fresh, lightly cooked, or raw vegetables, especially dark green, leafy vegetables such as parsley, kale, watercress, alfalfa sprouted and collard greens. Orange, yellow, purple, and red-colored fruits and vegetables are also good, as they contain living enzymes, fiber, vitamin C, natural antibiotics and cancer-fighting phytonutrients.
- High-antioxidant fruits: Blueberries, blackberries, strawberries and raspberries are all high in antioxidants, which help to protect the liver from the high levels of free radicals that are naturally produced during the process of detoxification.
- Bitter foods: The bitterness of foods such as dandelion, arugula, endive, radicchio, sorrel and watercress helps to stimulate bile flow within the liver.
- Herbs: Dill, caraway seeds, garlic, onions, boldo, turmeric and cayenne are easy to use in your food and can help protect the liver.
- Dandelion root tea: This simple tea enhances the entire digestive track and it is particularly effective at relieving digestion after a high-fat meal. Dandelion is also an excellent herb for weight loss, as the leaves are a diuretic and the root improves fat metabolism.
- Omega-3 fatty acids: Good sources of these important fats are ground flaxseed, flaxseed oil, walnuts, borage oil, krill oil, chia seeds, purslane, acai, algae, hemp seeds, grape seed oil. Water: Drink 8 to 12 cups of pure water each day. Water helps the kidneys get rid of the toxins that the liver has broken down.
- Nuts, seeds, avocados: These are good food sources of polyunsaturated fats and monounsaturated fats, all less harmful to the liver than saturated fats.
- Hot water and lemon juice: This easy and healthy tonic works wonders for sweeping the bad stuff out your liver.
Don’t be fooled by expensive supplements and products that claim to cleanse your liver. Making sure your liver is working as best as it can depends largely on giving your body nutrient-rich fuel that can and will keep you healthy from the inside and out.
Pay attention to your liver and work with it as well as for it. By protecting your liver, you might be giving your body one of the best gifts of all this holiday season.
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