The Liver.
Enjoy life: Eat, drink and be merry! Do your habits support a healthy liver? The key is to counter-balance the bad with the good.
Maintaining or developing self-care is essential to enjoying life as Audre Lorde discovered.
“The late poet laureate of New York State, Audre Lorde, was diagnosed with metastatic breast cancer that had spread to her liver and was given six months to live. She continued to thrive for another eight years. She wrote, ‘I had to examine, in my dreams as well as in my immune function tests, the devastating effects of overextension. Overextension is not stretching myself. Caring for myself is not self-indulgence, it is self-preservation, and that is an act of political warfare'.” Northrup, Dr. Christiane. Goddesses Never Age: The Secret Prescription for Radiance, Vitality, and Well-Being (Kindle Locations 554-558). Hay House, Inc.. Kindle Edition.
Below I will list the nuts and bolts about the liver. Keep in mind, this is only part of the equation. The other part is how your process your thoughts and emotions. Do you hold onto anger? Do you repress it and think you are fooling others, mostly fooling yourself? An essential key to healthy living is letting your emotions move on through. Above all let them fly, just don't harm another in the process.
Here are lists to aid you in valuing and nourishing your liver!
Why is the liver so important?
The Liver -The Command Center for the Body
Supports almost every organ in the body
Regulates levels of most of the main blood chemicals
Produces energy by breaking down food into glucose
Helps rid the body of waste and toxins
Produces bile to help digest fat
Produces many essential amino acids and proteins needed for growth and repair of all bodily tissues and metabolic processes
Vital role in fighting infections
Able to regenerate, but extensive damage can impair this function
These Foods and Nutrients Support the Liver
- Organic foods help decrease the toxic burden. (Some common toxins in your food: herbicides, growth hormones, and pesticides.)
- Sulfur foods! Garlic and Onions
- Cruciferous veggies increase the levels of glucosinolate (important for liver metabolism)
- Beets are a super food for the liver (betaine found in beets is a methyl donor and protects against fatty liver)
- Whole grains for detoxification. (B vitamins in whole grains aid in methylation and create the master antioxidant, glutathione)
- Nutrients that support methylation and thus liver function: Zinc, B2, B6, B12, Magnesium, Folate
- Shiitake mushrooms
- Zinc (oysters, whole oats, pumpkins seeds, pecans, brazil nuts)
- B2 (yeast, orang meats, oily fish, whole grains, avocados, millet, wild rice)
- B6 (lightly cooked animal products, whole grains, legumes, nuts)
- B12 (meat, dairy, fish – B12 supplements for vegans)
- Magnesium (leafy greens, dried apricots, avocados, most nuts and grains)
- Folate (raw green, liver, sweet potatoes, bean sprouts)
These Habits have the Potential to Hurt the Liver
- Poor diet
- Proton Pump Inhibitors (long-lasting reduction of gastric acid production)
- Corticosteroids (any of a group of steroid hormones produced in the adrenal cortex or made synthetically)
- Estrogen containing drugs
- Excessive alcohol (decreases glutathione, leading to toxic build up in the bloodstream and tissues)
- Processed foods including: smoked and cured foods
- Food allergens or sensitivities
- Harsh household chemicals, soaps and shampoos
- Anger
- Lack of exercise
- Unresolved or continuous stress
Liver Imbalances may show up as:
- Skin disorders
- Irritable bowel syndrome
- Chronic allergies
- Autoimmunity diseases
- Chronic inflammatory disorders
- Hepatitis
- Cirrhosis
- Gallstones
Love life and love your body! Be easy on yourself.
