How To Love Your Liver Every Day

Alright ladies... listen up, detoxification is a critical part of YOU being able to stay healthy, have good moods and energy. Unfortunately we live in a world bombarded by toxins at every turn, this is why we all could use some daily detoxification strategies. That's what I'm here to share with you today. You really can't heal your body and increase your energy if you are not detoxing well. In order to succeed with overall health  your lymph and liver need our daily attention.

Let's get educated, shall we?

The amounts of chemicals we are exposed to are unprecedented in history. The average American consumes 10 pounds of chemical food additives each year. Add to that the chemical burden caused by food sprayed with pesticides and from air and water pollution, you can see that our chemical burden is considerable.

Your body has systems designed to eliminate waste and to detoxify poisons. Your liver chemically converts toxins to be easily eliminated by your kidneys. Detoxification is an ongoing process. It's something your body is doing daily, but sometimes it can't do the job as effectively as it should. 

The sheer volume of chemicals in the environment and in the modern day diet has caused many people to reach their threshold of tolerance, which adversely affects their health. When your body is more burdened with more chemicals that it can efficiently detoxify, chronic health problems can occur. Problems like allergies, skin problems, digestive problems, headaches, fatigue, joint pain and a variety of ailments can be caused by chemical exposure.

Just like I shared how I used to experience myself before I ever did my first detox and then made daily detox a part of my life.

You see, your liver has over 500 know functions. It is involved with digestion, your endocrine system, controlling your blood sugar, as well as in protein and fat metabolism. It's your body's most important organ, functioning to cleanse toxins, metabolize proteins, control hormonal balance, and produce immune boosting factors. Many of these functions are essential to your overall health, for example, the liver's synthesis of fibrinogen and other blood-clotting factors to protect you when you are injured.

Your liver also produces a substance called bile that is stored in your gallbladder. Each day your liver produces about a quart of a yellowish green liquid called bile. Bile is essential for proper fat emulsification and is also a major route of elimination for the body. Bile contains water, bile acids and pigments, cholesterol, bilirubin, lipids, lecithin, potassium, sodium and chloride. The liquid is stored near the liver in the gallbladder, from where it is transported to the intestine as needed during digestion.

Your gallbladder will become more and more compromised as your liver becomes more dysfunctional. Your gallbladder stores the bile and when stimulated by the appropriate response (fat and protein in the GI and from the influence of a hormone called cholecystokinin) will contract and pump bile into the lumen of the GI tract. However, a couple of conditions exist that greatly impact the function of the gallbladder.

Mild liver damage due to fatty deposits within the functional units of the liver itself can greatly impact the production of bile. This leads to a situation called biliary insufficiency. Some of the common causes of biliary insufficiency include changes in metabolism within the liver itself. This is most often caused by the consumption of excess hydrogenated or trans fatty acids, excess refined foods, oxidative stress, and low fat diets. Other causes include overt liver damage due to hepatitis, chemical damage to the liver and liver cirrhosis.

Still with me?

Your liver metabolizes not only fats but also carbohydrates and proteins for use in your body. The organ has a triple role in carbohydrate metabolism. First, it converts glucose, fructose, and galactose into glycogen, which it stores. Second, when your blood sugar level drops and no new carbohydrates are available, your liver converts stored glycogen into glucose and releases it into your bloodstream. Third, if your diet is regularly low in carbs, the liver will convert fat or protein into glucose to maintain your blood sugar levels.

Your liver also converts amino acids from food into various proteins that may have a direct or indirect impact on your weight. Many proteins, for example, transport hormones through the bloodstream; hormone balances are crucial to avoid water retention, bloating and cravings, as well as other health problems. Proteins also help transport wastes, such as damaged cholesterol and used estrogen and insulin, to the liver for detoxification and elimination through the kidneys.

Perhaps your liver's most important function, and the one that puts it at greatest risk for damage, is to detoxify the myriad toxins that assault your body daily. A toxin is any substance that irritates or creates harmful effects in your body. Some toxins, called endotoxins, are the natural by-products of body processes. For example, during protein metabolism, ammonia is formed, which the liver breaks down to urea to be excreted through the kidneys. Other toxins you consume by choice, such as alcohol, caffeine, and prescription drugs. Still others are the thousands of toxic chemicals we breathe, consume, or touch in our environment: pesticides, car exhaust, secondhand smoke, chemical food additives, and indoor pollutants from paint, carpets, and cleaners among others.

Under ordinary circumstances, your body handles toxins by first, neutralizing them, as antioxidants neutralize free radicals, and then by transforming them, as fat-soluble chemicals are transformed to water-soluble ones, and then eliminating them through urine, feces, sweat, mucus and breath. Working with your lungs, skin, kidneys and intestines, a healthy liver detoxifies many harmful substances and eliminations them without contaminating the bloodstream.

The detoxification process has two phases that should work in close synchronization. Phase 1 uses a group of enzymes to break apart the chemical bonds holding the toxins together. Known as hydroxylation, phase 1 makes some toxins more water soluble and temporarily more chemically active. Phase 2, known as conjugation, attaches other enzymes to the chemically altered toxins, or intermediates, producing substances that are non-toxic, water-soluble, and easily excreted.

I know that was kinda nerdy, but I find it's so helpful to understand how your body works so you can really know WHY you would want to work so hard to support it. That shared, here are some practical ways you can do just that.

How To Support Basic Daily Detox & Flush Your Liver

• Hydration  You must keep properly hydrated to keep the body flushing appropriately, moving bowels and urine regularly. Proper hydration keeps your blood fluid so that toxic material may be delivered to the lymph and liver. Water flushes toxins and removes wastes. Since we are more toxic than ever we must drink enough pure filtered water (free of chlorine/fluoride, chemicals/metals/pathogens). Lemon water is great to support liver detox. 1/2 your body weight in ounces per day plus electrolytes (a pinch of good quality sea salt in each glass of water will do). Or cran-water (4 ounces of pure organic cranberry juice in 28 ounces pure water) this mixture eliminates water retention and cleanses accumulated wastes from the lymphatic system and also helps to clean up cellulite. Start each day with a mug of hot lemon water using half a lemon to assist your kidneys and liver.
  
  
• Diet  Processed lifeless foods are seen by the body as a toxin. Removing all food sensitivities is key. Avoiding sugar/caffeine/alcohol will take a burden off of your liver. Eating plenty of liver loving foods in your diet -including LIVER itself. Liver loving foods include; beets and radishes (they help build healthy bile), cruciferous vegetables contain substances that improve the ability of the liver to detoxify harmful chemicals and pollutants, Inulin Foods (if you tolerate them)
  
  
• Fiber removing grains/legumes from the diet removes a heck of a lot of fiber. So only take them completely out if you need to and choose the best quality if you do tolerate them. It will be critical to consume plenty of vegetables at every meal, 2-3 cups, along with supplementing with fiber in some cases to help sweep those toxins out of your colon. Flax (soaked or sprouted - Go Raw is a good brand of sprouted) and chia seeds are great options. They need to be ground AS YOU USE them since they can rancidify quickly. Buy only in whole seed form and grind as you need (you can even purchase sprouted flax seeds which is a more digestible way to consume flax). If you do choose to grind a bunch at once you will need to keep them in the freezer. You must consume them ground to get the benefit or you will just excrete them out whole in your stool. You can make a daily cocktail in the am and pm to increase elimination and balance hormones. Mix 1 Tbsp. of ground flax or chia seeds in about 8 ounces of water or cran water. Mix quickly and drink immediately or use a straw. I like to do one dose in a smoothie. You can also try doing a daily dose in a glass of kombucha if you enjoy kombucha. (*NOTE- If you are taking any exogenous hormones or medications, make sure you take them at least 45 minutes before or after your flax or chia drink. The fiber component can interfere with the absorption of medications). If you don't tolerate these seeds just be sure to include sources of fiber in your diet that you do tolerate. Low glycemic veggies are great for this -eat as many as you want and with every meal if possible. Some people with gut issues don't tolerate raw veggies well as cooked veggies. Play around to find what types of veggies work best for you and your current health.
  
  

Game Plan To Support The Liver

The following tips/strategies would be a good way to support general detoxification and support the liver.

• Eating an organic real foods diet and way to reduce inflammation and enhance metabolic cleansing as this helps to address toxic overload, harmful bacteria, heavy metal toxicity and leaky gut. It will not address it 100% for everyone, but it's a great starting point and could be a plan to try seasonally in a deeper more committed way. Like with my one of my seasonal detoxes, currently you can join my spring detox starting May 2nd. Here's more on how to create a healthy diet.

• Exercise (aka: MOVE) daily even if it's only a brisk walk or something minimal to start. Daily movement is very important. It keeps the lymph flowing and toxins moving out of the body. The more you can move the  more your lymph move too -they dont' move on their own.

• Sweat Daily- this should occur if you are getting daily exercise, however you can head to a sauna as well. If you have low thyroid function you will find it harder to sweat.

• Move your lymph  Use one or several of the following: daily dry skin brushing or saunas, regular massages, rebounding or just movement with sweat. Rebounding is great. I love following Chasing Pain on Instagram, he is obsessed with the lymph and teaches a lot on how to support your lymph.

• Clean out the toxins in your home. Check your cosmetics and personal care products (use the Environmental Working Group website to find out how toxic your products are), your cleaning products, how much plastic your foods are in (switch to using more glass), never microwave in plastic, never use products with fluoride, check your water and filter the whole house if you can, at the very least get a water filter for ALL water you drink or cook with and a filter for your shower.

• Detox Showers or Baths  Detox baths or even showers are an excellent way to promote cleansing and can be done regularly -even daily. Any form of chronic illness, allergies included, is a sign of a sluggish and overloaded liver.You can assist elimination of toxins through the skin with detox baths in a gentle, non-invasive way. It's a simple as adding 1 cup of Epsom Salts to your bath. Here are 5 natural ingredients to add to your detox baths.

• Castor Oil Packs- Castor oil is effective in helping remove cellular waste products. When Castor oil is absorbed through the skin, it helps it increases the lymphocyte count of the blood, and improves the lymph flow throughout the body (can even reduce swollen lymph nodes), as well as helps with general overall improvement in organ function and a lessening of fatigue and depression.  

• Oil Pulling  Oil pulling is a great method for pulling toxins out of the blood as well.  The chewing action done during oil pulling can trigger enzymes that draw toxins from the blood. It is important to note that the oil has become very toxic by doing this and by no means should you ever swallow it. There are many reports and findings that indicate the practice of oil pulling can cure many ailments and diseases. 

• Consume Probiotics Daily  Probiotics help to neutralize toxins, break down and prevent synthesis of bacterial toxins. They also help to break down bile acids. The #1 probiotic I recommend is Mega SporeBiotic -I've been using it personally for 4 years now, as well as supported hundreds of clients with great results.
  
  
• Nettles Tea: One way to get natural vitamins and minerals daily would be with Nettles Tea. Nettles is a wonderful overall support tonic and could be considered an excellent food based multi-vitamin. Nettle stimulates the lymph, boosts immunity, helps with GI disease, IBS and constipation and much more. Loaded with minerals, b vitamins (assimilable forms) and quite a good source of vitamin K – nettles are a very balancing food for health. Grab my recipes HERE.
  
  
• Vitamin C I recommend everyone take both daily at least in a maintenance dose. Vitamin C has many detoxifying jobs -it's like a kind of universal anti toxin. Not to mention it helps support your adrenal glands and your immune system. All of my clients are recommended to take vitamin C supplementally every day, even in addition to the vitamin C they get in their diet. HERE is my favorite vitamin C - you can start out with 1 capsule twice a day at different times.

To achieve health, radiance, energy, balance, and permanent weight loss, it is helpful to understand the underlying causes of diseases and obesity, which are toxins and inflammation.  I hope now you have a little bit of a better understanding of how this occurs.

The good news is that we can reduce and minimize these causes by choosing to take an active role in feeling and looking better. A great way to do this is with daily detoxing as well as seasonally focused detoxes.

These are all things I incorporate into my seasonal detoxes to give you structure, resources, recipes, meal plans, shopping guide and support so you can enjoy amazing benefits. I love supporting women to turn things around for their health, if you would like to join you can do so HERE.

I love helping my clients learn how to more effectively detox, because it brings balance to your body, increases your energy, improves your digestive system, enabling you to be more successful with future health goals.

Now I would love to hear from you!  Let me know in the comments below what insights you have gained, what questions you might have for me, and the ways in which you applied this information. Thanks!

Also, I offer a detox every season. My seasonal detoxes are done in a group format so you can benefit from virtual commoraderie to spur you on. The detoxes includes a guide book, meal plans with recipes, shopping lists, handouts, a private coaching group, an Live Q&A session and once you are done you will get a 30 minute bonus session with me.

Join the wait list: so you can get all the details for when I offer my seasonal detox right HERE !