Detox Your Liver: Try 5-Step Liver Cleanse

The well-being of a person largely depends on the health of the liver. This gland is responsible for the elimination and neutralization of toxins.

It processes alcohol, drugs, food additives, chemicals, and metabolic products. It also produces bile, which is involved in digestion and removing residual substances from the body. Metabolic products, toxins, if accumulated in excessive volumes, destroy cellular structures - indirectly through inflammatory reactions or directly. At deep stages, the changes become irreversible, and cirrhosis develops. That is why it is necessary to eliminate all inflammatory changes to prevent fibrosis.

Symptoms of toxic liver

The liver can work without failures for a long time, but if negative symptoms occur, you should take some measures. Some symptoms are:

• pain in the right hypochondrium
• dark urine
• apathy
• fatigue
• bleeding
• hand tremor
• memory impairment
• Moodiness, anxiety or depression
• a yellowish shade of the skin and eye
• High blood pressure
• swelling
• itching

It is quite possible to cure without complicated long-term therapy or visits to doctors. The main thing is to draw up a competent action plan and follow it until sustainable improvements are achieved. But first of all, you should know what harms your liver.

What harms the liver?

The following are the few factors that can harm your liver:

Overweight

If you have extra pounds, you are by definition full of toxins, because most of them are stored in your adipose tissue.  It is a cluster of aggressive, harmful cells that trigger inflammatory processes. In addition, fat can also accumulate in the liver itself: as a result, you get non-alcoholic fatty liver hepatosis.

Alcohol

Of course, alcohol is also a problem. 10-15% of drinkers develop irreversible changes in the liver.

Medicines

Medicines are no less toxic than alcohol. That's why many medicines categorically do not recommend combining with alcohol - because of the double toxic effect. By the way, some vitamins also act on the liver - for example, vitamin A or niacin (vitamin B3).

Pesticides

Do not believe the fables about clean farm fruits and vegetables.  In any modern orchards, in huge state farms, or in family farms, plants are treated with pesticides and fungicides. That is why doctors recommend always cutting the peel of the fruit.

Environment

But even if we only eat greens from our grandmother's garden, how can we avoid the fact that we go down the subway every day and go to the office. All these rooms are usually decorated with cheap, poisonous building materials? All of them are also a source of adverse effects on the liver.

 What to do? 

Some simple steps can reduce the toxic load on the liver and help it to do its job as it should.

1. FOLLOW A DIET

• Stop eating processed and canned foods. Minimize coffee consumption, lean on vegetables, fruits, whole grains, legumes, nuts, seeds, meat, fish, and eggs.
• Think about giving up allergens like gluten and lactose.
• Refuse refined sugar. The latest research has shown that sugar is just as bad for your liver as alcohol, even if you are not overweight!
• Limit alcohol. Women are allowed no more than one glass a day, and men - no more than two. And it is advisable not every day so that the liver can get time to relax.
• Drink 8-10 glasses of filtered water per day. Because of the cleansing body from toxic today, sales of detox juices in the United States reach $ 3 billion. Instead of taking expensive juices, you can increase water intake (with or without lemon), but it should be warm. It contributes to proper digestion and optimal functioning of the lymphatic system, which, in turn, supports liver health.  (Hua, 2017)

2. PRACTICE INTERVAL FASTING

Studies show that during fasting, liver cells produce more protein, which leads to better absorption of sugar and a decrease in the amount of adipose tissue in the liver. It's simple: hunger gives our body the ability to recover. (Owen, Felig, Morgan, Wahren, & Cahill, 1969)

3. HELP THE LIVER WITH DIETARY SUPPLEMENTS

Doctors warn: few of the many detox pills advertised in abundance on television have passed real tests in terms of effectiveness and safety. Therefore, we advise you to use old "folk" means that support liver health, reduce inflammation, protect against chemical poisoning, and stimulate the production of bile. Be sure to follow the dosage instructions or consult your doctor.

• Milk thistle. Its active ingredient silymarin has anti-inflammatory properties. Studies show that milk thistle stimulates the regeneration of liver cells and protects them from damage caused by the same alcohol or paracetamol. It has also been demonstrated that silymarin increases the level of glutathione, an antioxidant that works in the liver, which helps to bind toxins and remove them from the body with urine or bile. Look for a milk thistle supplement that contains 70–80% silymarin. (Abenavoli, Capasso, Milic, & Capasso, 2010)
• Turmeric. Turmeric is being actively studied as an immunomodulating and even anti-cancer agent, but animal studies have already shown that curcumin protects the liver from damage, reduces oxidative stress, and increases the production of glutathione, and also stimulates the production of bile. Look for a supplement that contains 95% curcuminoids. (Reddy & Lokesh, 1994)
• Chlorella. Algae, in particular chlorella, is a powerful chelator. Laboratory studies have shown that chlorella absorbs 40% of heavy metals because it contains antioxidants - vitamin C, chlorophyll, beta-carotene, lutein, and lycopene. Add half a teaspoon of chlorella powder from a trusted manufacturer (2-3 g) to your morning smoothie - and you will be happy! (Shim et al., 2008)

4. TRAINING!

Sweating on the sports ground is the first thing for the liver because the skin is the main organ of detoxification. In addition to this, exercise increases the production of glutathione in the body. (Sullivan, Kirk, Mittendorfer, Patterson, & Klein, 2012)

If you are still not engaged in physical education, start with walking and a simple half-hour exercise once a day with the smallest dumbbells. The main thing is to have the effect of a "wet shirt."

5. AVOID STRESS!

It is the stress that does indirect harm and contributes to digestive problems. In addition, under stress, the hand itself reaches for a glass or pill for a headache.

Take an aromatic bath 1-2 times a week, for example, with "Epsom salt" (magnesium sulfate, also known as Epsom salt), baking soda and a few drops of essential oil. Massage your body with a brush or wipe it with a hot towel - this helps to improve lymphatic circulation, which, in turn, helps to remove toxins from the body.

In a word, do everything that brings you joy, and send to hell everything that upsets you.

References

Abenavoli, L., Capasso, R., Milic, N., & Capasso, F. (2010). Milk thistle in liver diseases: Past, present, future. Phytotherapy Research, 24(10), 1423-1432. doi:10.1002/ptr.3207

Hua, K. (2017, January 03). Why Juice Generation and the Juice Cleanse Trend Have Survived So Long. Retrieved July 07, 2020, from https://www.forbes.com/sites/karenhua/2016/12/30/2017-new-year-resolutions-why-juice-generation-and-the-juice-cleanse-trend-have-survived-so-long/

Reddy, A. P., & Lokesh, B. (1994). Effect of dietary turmeric (curcuma longa) on iron-induced lipid peroxidation in the rat liver. Food and Chemical Toxicology, 32(3), 279-283. doi:10.1016/0278-6915(94)90201-1

Shim, J., Shin, H., Han, J., Park, H., Lim, B., Chung, K., & Om, A. (2008). Protective Effects ofChlorella vulgarison Liver Toxicity in Cadmium-Administered Rats. Journal of Medicinal Food, 11(3), 479-485. doi:10.1089/jmf.2007.0075

Staff, M. C. (2019, July 16). Toxic hepatitis. Retrieved July 07, 2020, from https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/toxic-hepatitis/symptoms-causes/syc-20352202

Sullivan, S., Kirk, E. P., Mittendorfer, B., Patterson, B. W., & Klein, S. (2012). Randomized trial of exercise effect on intrahepatic triglyceride content and lipid kinetics in nonalcoholic fatty liver disease. Hepatology, 55(6), 1738-1745. doi:10.1002/hep.25548

Owen, O. E., Felig, P., Morgan, A. P., Wahren, J., & Cahill, G. F. (1969). Liver and kidney metabolism during prolonged starvation. Journal of Clinical Investigation, 48(3), 574-583. doi:10.1172/jci106016