Apologies for the delay in updates – have just returned from a holiday in France with my parents!
On return there was a real need for detoxing the liver, so let’s hit a post on the importance of this?!
The Liver does MANY jobs for the body ;
– Converts everything eaten and drunk into a format your body can use
– Stores Glycogen (carbohydrates) for energy use
– Filters and can store toxins from the body
– Creates Bile, used to digest fats in your diet
– Stores the majority of your B Vitamins, used to release energy from food.
If you’re eating a lot of un-natural, processed food, alcohol, fruit, and sugar, your placing a lot of strain on the liver, and in turn your health.
Because the liver processes EVERYTHING you consume, and a healthy liver is crucial for health and weightloss, I often advise against the regulated “Eat every 3 hours” as this just places more stress on the liver, when we’re trying to give it a rest! Often 3 decent meals is enough for most people, especially if it’s including good protein and fats.
Alongside this intermittment fasting can be useful. I’d definitely advise a healthy eating plan for 4 weeks before fasting as otherwise you’d body won’t know what hit it!
But once you have try something like a 19hour fast. This doesn’t have to be as hard as it sounds. If you eat your evening meal at 6pm, 12 hours is already 6am the next day, so you only need to wait until 1pm to eat again, and during the morning you can consume water and green teas. This will not only give your liver a rest and process undigested foods, but will help regulate hormone levels and insulin/blood sugars.
Alcohol and fruit sugars can only be processed by the liver, if it’s being stressed from many other factors and your intake of these 2 is high, you’re seriously placing stress on your body
Some signs of a toxic liver can be sluggishness, small white pimples on the skin, black lines under the eyes, waking regularly between 2am and 4am (time when most peoples liver detoxifies), feeling sick after a fatty meal.
So what can you do to “detox the liver” or maintain it’s health?
Well some of the best are;
– Half a lemon in warm water first thing in the morning, during the day and before bed
– Milk Thistle
– Glutamine and Taurine
– Dandelion extract
– Higher Protein diet, with plenty of vegetables.
-Intermittent Fast 16-20 hours once a week or every other week
The liver is a CRUCIAL organ for health and weightloss. Don’t abuse it continuously and value yours and it’s health!