Understanding It and First Aid Moderation thrown out with the first champagne bottles, naughty you. You've feasted and drunk excessively over the holidays or your business lunches and dinners have been too much lately. Or you've binged. You feel sluggish, plump and miserable. So does your liver. Surprisingly, few people understand the liver's role and how it functions.
Clean out the build-up of toxins through seasonal (or years of ) overindulging. Give it first aid - now!
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Too much of a good thing! |
Everybody has done it, some admit it and others hide it. And even fewer understand the short and long term effect of too much of a good thing. Too much rich food, sweets, wine and far too much 'hard' alcohol overtax that hard working, multi-talented organ - the liver. Add not enough water intake and not only the liver, but the gall bladder, digestive system and the kidneys are sorely taxed to do their job. You will find first aid suggestions at the end of this article.
Everything we ingest, absorb through the skin or breathe must be detoxified and refined by the liver.
It is important to understand how several important organs interrelate and their roles - yet surprising that few people do. Without going into great detail, here's a brief explanation:
The major filtering organ, it is also the silent, valiant, most hardworking one - continuing to do its best even under extreme duress. It takes years of abuse before problems become obvious and by the time major symptoms show, you have a major problem or it may be too late. It is responsible in most part for the metabolism of fats, synthesizes around 95% of proteins as well as carbohydrates and sugars.
Roughly 1.7 liters of blood are 'cleaned up' by the liver daily. It stores iron, and other important nutrients, creates chemicals your body needs for good health and makes bile. It is easy to see just how crucial a healthy liver is to your health.
It also removes waste from the blood and is the major detoxifying organ. It must deal not only with excess accumulations of fats, proteins, etc, but all the environmental as well as the unnatural chemicals found in modern (commercialized) foods. Soft drinks, flavor enhancers, preservatives, artificial agents, color, emulsifiers, pesticides on foods, hormones in meat, chemicals in the water supply and cosmetics such as hairspray, creams and more all contribute to toxic buildup. Toxins, by the way, are stored in your body fat if your liver cannot get rid of it.
Combine dietary excess, a fat-food/fast-food and commercial food based diet with drinking excessively (alcohol is a major toxin) and one can understand the stress the liver is subjected to. Multiply this by years of abuse and the resulting health problems are not surprising.
But what are the more subtle signs of a sluggish, clogged liver? Metabolic problems such as difficulty in loosing or keeping weight off as well as:
And the list goes own. Even in an overfed society, malnutrition is not unusual due to inefficient liver, gall and pancreas function. Often vague and indefinable symptoms of a stressed liver are misdiagnosed as other diseases.
Attached to the liver and lying just below it, the gall bladder's job is to store and concentrate the bile produced by the liver and release bile by way of ducts into the duodenum where it is essential for lipid (normal fats) digestion. Approximately half a liter of bile is produced by the liver daily on average - by a healthy liver. When a stressed liver cannot function properly, it may not produce enough bile leading to digestive problems (and poor nutrient conversion) because the gall bladder does not have enough bile to release. Too concentrated bile can lead to gall stones.
Bile serves four functions: emulsifies fats (bile acids and lecithin), stimulates the release of lipases from the pancreas (enzymes to break down lipids), combines with lipids to form water soluble complexes so that it can be absorbed in the small intestine and lastly, stimulates peristaltic action (wavelike muscular action of the digestive tract-large intestine).
Digestion starts in your mouth (mastication and saliva) and continues in the stomach, the pancreas - which secretes digestive enzymes - the liver, the gall bladder, and the small and large intestines.
Eating/nourishing involves three steps:
Absorption happens through the small intestine. Minute particles of food and nutrients are absorbed through the small intestine's membrane into the blood which is then filtered by the liver and eventually metabolized by the body through various cellular processes and body fluids. Absorption continues even in the large intestine, the terminal phase of digestion, until feces is passed out.
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Foods for your liver health:
artichoke, Jerusalem artichoke, beetroot, broccoli, cabbage, dandelion, fennel, onions and garlic, parsley, radish, turnips
apple and pears, avocado, banana, grapefruit, grapes, lemons, papaya, pineapple, watermelon and fiber in any vegetable/fruit form. Other - whole grains, lentils, chickpeas, red kidney beans, linseed
The liver is very forgiving. Help it and it can heal itself. Respect it and you will find a general boost and improvement in every aspect of your health and well being. Eat for health!
Cleansing restores your body’s ability to absorb nutrients and allows your natural metabolism to work efficiently to burn fat and give you energy.
Isagenix™ 9-Day or 30-Day Cleansing and Fat Burning System is designed to feed your body, not starve it. It is a cleanse, not a fast. Your body is supplied with important nutrients while flushing toxins from your body. You will burn fat and retain lean muscle mass, giving your metabolism a tremendous boost! Don't forget to take a before and after picture!
Imagine being at your ideal weight, looking and feeling years younger, having more energy than a six-year old child, and getting lots of compliments from relatives, friends, and even strangers.
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