How to detoxify the liver naturally
The liver helps the body eliminate toxins, store nutrients and digest fats. It is like the laboratory of our body, since it purifies the blood and helps eliminate harmful chemicals and bacteria, creates the bile that breaks down fats, stores different essential nutrients (vitamins, minerals and sugars), metabolizes fats, proteins and carbohydrates, is useful in the assimilation of fat-soluble vitamins and can contain up to 10% of total blood of the body.
Along with the liver works the gallbladder, whose main function is to produce bile, which in turn serves for the digestion of fats.
For general health it is essential that the liver is in optimal condition and functions properly.
Precisely in relation to the disorders that affect it most today, we can name the fatty liver, hepatitis C, hemochromatosis and cirrhosis.
Our eating and health habits can influence the liver both positively and very negatively. The accumulation of toxic elements makes it advisable to detoxify the liver naturally at least once a year.
How to detoxify the liver
As a first step, it is fundamental and very important to stop producing hepatic intoxication, avoiding those substances that contribute to the accumulation of toxins that seriously damage the health of our liver. The most important are alcoholic beverages, coffee and tobacco. In addition, we must not forget different drugs, waters high in nitrates and other substances, toxic products such as aerosols and gases as well as food additives.
The diet also has a great influence on the intoxication of the liver, so it is necessary to avoid excessive consumption of red meats, stimulants such as coffee and drinks with caffeine, and foods very rich in both sugars and fats (industrial pastries, sweets, junk food etc …).
The objective is to reduce to the maximum the level of toxicity in the organ, which is achieved by previously eliminating the contribution of external toxins and helping the different organs to carry out their function of eliminating toxins.
How do you tell if your liver is intoxicated?
Since it is sometimes possible that your liver may not cause symptoms when you are intoxicated, it is best to see a healthcare professional who will recommend testing to see how your liver is doing.
Liver function tests are blood tests that check the levels of certain parameters such as the activity of liver enzymes. They look for liver damage and can help diagnose diseases such as hepatitis and cirrhosis. These tests consist of measuring certain proteins, enzymes and substances, including:
- Albumin: A protein produced by the liver
- Total protein
- Enzymes found in the liver, including alanine aminotransferase, aspartate aminotransferase, alkaline phosphatase, and gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase.
- Bilirubin: A yellow substance that is part of bile. It forms when red blood cells break down. Too much bilirubin in the blood can cause jaundice. Urinalysis is also used to study bilirubin.
- Clotting time: The liver produces the prothrombin, which is responsible for blood clotting.
You may have liver function tests as part of a regular checkup or if you have symptoms of liver disease. Doctors also use them to control some liver diseases, treatments and possible side effects of medications.
Detoxifying the Liver: Stages
Your doctor or dietitian will advise you on how best to detoxify your liver. Generically, we offer some recommendations that will help you get started with liver detoxification:
Food
- Fruits: rich in sugars, they favour hepatic functioning. Outstanding are apples, grapes, plums, cherries, strawberries and medlars.
- Vegetables: provide potassium and other important nutrients in case of liver disorders. It is best to eat them raw or cooked with very little salt. Highlights artichokes, cardoons, radishes, endive, endives, chicory and eggplant.
- Lecithin: it is rich in choline, an important nutrient in the metabolism of the liver, which helps to prevent fat from being deposited in this organ.
Herbs and plants
They are useful for promoting the detoxification process. They stand out:
Milk thistle: (Silybum marianum, milk thistle) is rich in flavonoids known collectively as silymarin. Silymarin helps improve normal and healthy liver function through three primary actions:
- It inhibits the entry into cells of unwanted toxins by binding silymarin to the outside of the cell membrane.
- It protects the liver thanks to its antioxidant action. The liver generates free radicals and reactive oxygen species (e.g. peroxides) as a result of its normal metabolism and detoxification. If not controlled, these radicals can interfere with normal cell functions. Fortunately, silymarin provides support to palliate free radical damage. Silymarin also helps maintain healthy levels of glutathione and superoxide dismutase, two primary antioxidants in the liver.
- It stimulates altered liver cells to return to their normal physiological state.
- Artichoke (Cynara scolymus ) has been used medicinally for centuries. It is beneficial for the liver, as it supports its environmental detoxifying function. Artichoke extracts help withstand oxidative damage to cells and can stimulate the flow of bile from the liver. it is believed that the usefulness of artichoke in liver health is due to its content in caffeoylquinic acids, such as cynarin and flavonoids.
- Curcumin has shown potent antioxidant properties and can also provide important health support.
- Dandelion (Taraxacum ) has traditionally been used as a detoxifying herb that works primarily on the liver and gallbladder and is believed to stimulate the elimination of toxins.
Nutritional supplements.
Dietary supplements are advanced products. The FDA (US Food and Drug Administration) has established quality standards for dietary supplements to ensure their identification, purity, concentration, and composition.
A dietary supplement such as LIVDETOX™, which contains plant extracts and various lipotropic nutrients (which promote the elimination of liver fat) such as choline and betaine, involved in the metabolism of the methyl group, which is essential for normal liver function, can be of great help in the process of detoxification and liver support.
Some tips to remember.
- The first step to detoxify the liver is undoubtedly to reduce alcohol and coffee consumption. This will free the liver of a large amount of toxins and other dangerous substances.
- Another natural aid to detoxify the liver is to drink a large amount of water: the liquid will keep the liver hydrated and promote cell regeneration, filtering more waste and substances thus increasing its ability to work.
- Include lemon in your daily diet. If you consume lemon juice with certain regularity you will stimulate the production of bile, helping in this way to improve the process of elimination of toxins.
- Drink green tea, it works as a natural antioxidant stimulating the functions of the liver freeing it of fats.
- Natural fruit smoothies such as strawberries, blackberries, blueberries and raspberries help prevent some liver diseases, as these fruits contain beneficial acids that reduce blood sugar levels.
- Natural foods such as garlic, avocado and turmeric contain certain compounds that protect the liver from any overload of toxins.
Since the liver is one of the most important organs of our organism, it is important to follow these guidelines in order to help our body function properly.
Livdetox can be a very useful dietary supplement for people who want to maintain the structure and function of a healthy liver.
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