Giving up alcohol is essential of you want to detox. Your liver is your main organ for detox and it is the only organ that metabolizes alcohol and it takes precedence over other functions. So. if you want to detox you need to avoid anything that gives your liver extra work.

What’s wrong with alcohol?

Alcohol is a drug and a poison, a toxin in fact, that has been used for thousands of years to relieve pain and inhibitions. Although many people believe it to be a stimulant it is in fact a depressant decreasing your digestion, thinking, judgment, reaction time, and muscle contraction.

It increases blood fats and can increase blood pressure. Regular drinking can result in a fatty liver as the carbohydrate content is converted to fat in the liver cells which builds up and damages the cells.

Evidence of weekend binge drinking among hard working and stressed women and men is causing a huge increase in liver disease. Continued heavy use of alcohol, of course, results in cirrhosis of the liver. In fact alcohol can cause a rise in the stress hormone, cortisol, which in turn reduces the body’s ability to burn calories.

Alcohol feeds Candida and other yeast infections.

Alcohol affects fertility in both men and women

New research shows that wine can reduce the chances of the embryo implanting and increased risk of miscarriage when women have IVF treatment. Beer is known to affect the quality of a man’s sperm. Experts extend the warning to all couple trying for a baby. Eggs & sperm take three months to develop so both partners should stop smoking and drinking for 3
months before trying to conceive.

Alcohol & nutrients

Alcohol has adverse effects on almost every nutrient especially the B vitamins and Vitamin C. The minerals calcium, magnesium and zinc can be depleted in people who drink large  quantities of alcohol.  Fatty acids become deficient too. There is increasing evidence that many cases of alcoholism are due to a deficiency of nutrients and hypoglygemia.

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Glutathione (pronounced gloota-thigh-own) is a powerful antioxidant and a key nutrient for the detox process. It is found in virtually every cell in your body and without it poisonous toxins that you take in every day would have a devastating effect on your liver cells.

Glutathione is made in the body from the amino acids glycine, cysteine and glutamic acid which you get from protein foods in your diet and it can be obtained directly from fruit and vegetables – one reason for the high intake of fruit and vegetables on a detox diet.  It is found in high levels in your liver, kidneys, spleen, pancreas, stomach lining, the organs that are most likely to be exposed to toxins. It is also high in your eyes where it protects the lens.

Stress, excessive exercise, poor diet and toxic overload cause deficiency of this vital substance. Water fasting for more than a few days depletes glutathione levels according to research. The amount you have in your body gets less as you get older and many diseases including cancer, liver disease, cystic fibrosis, heart attack, stroke, Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease disease, diabetes and HIV/AIDS have been linked with low glutathione levels. Many people take various supplements to increase glutathione levels to try and prevent aging.

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The death of Michael Jackson has highlighted the problem of toxicity of the drugs that people regularly take without a thought about the impact on their livers or immune systems.  Many people regularly take over the counter (OTC) drugs like aspirin, ibuprofen or acetaminophen, the main ingredient in Tylenol, (known as paracetamol or Panadol in the UK)  for colds or aches and pains without being aware of the dangers.

Virtually all drugs need to be detoxified by the liver and the side effects experienced by some is due to the damage caused directly buy the chemical to the liver or their effect on the metabolism of other drugs. Adverse side effects are experienced by 15 – 30% of those taking both over the counter medication and prescription medication. Some research has found that 8 million people (28% of all admissions) are hospitalized each year for conditions caused by prescription drugs. A frightening thought.

The liver detoxification tests that are used by some laboratories use aspirin and acetaminophen (paracetamol) as the agents to determine how the detox pathways are working.  Drug companies who produce these drugs always study how the drug is detoxified so the way aspirin and acetaminophen are detoxified is well known.

The Two Step Detox Process

The liver converts drugs in a two step process called Phase 1 and Phase 2 pathways into substances that can be more easily excreted in the urine. For most drugs the liver uses the route that will get rid of the chemical as rapidly and safely as possible but in cases where the preferred pathway is not working efficiently often other pathways can be used with the danger that it is not eliminated so quickly or efficiently. The result here is that toxin stays in the system longer, may get turned into a more toxic form or may not get completely detoxified so it can cause damage to health.

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Scientists have recently discovered a link between a toxic protein in the blood, known as A-beta, and Alzheimer’s Disease. The liver is the main organ that clears toxins from the body including the toxic A-beta so they concluded that improving liver detox could play an important part in preventing Alzheimer’s, one of the most common forms of dementia.

Alzheimer’s Disease which causes progressive memory loss is the fourth leading cause of death in America where 3 million people over 65 are affected. In the UK it is estimated that the condition affects over 400,000 with 1 in 100 people at risk of developing it.  Researchers do not yet know the exact cause of the disease but have discovered that the brain cells (neurons) of sufferers have been replaced with plaque containing amyloid proteins (A-beta).

Liver Detoxification and Alzheimer’s

The liver has two main phases of detox known as Phase 1 and Phase 2. Previous studies have shown that patient’s with Alzheimer’s disease have a problem with one of the Phase 2 detox pathways that involves sulfur (sulphur),  This detox pathway known as sulfation (sulphation),  like the others, makes toxins easier for the body to get rid of through the urine and sometimes the bile.

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The term fatty liver disease covers a range of conditions where there is a build-up of fat in the liver cells and liver spaces. It is usually associated with obesity but may be caused by diabetes, alcohol excess, certain drugs, rapid weight loss or poor dietary choices.  Fatty liver is very common and the only treatment usually  recommended by doctors is a low glycemic diet and exercise.  This diet consists of whole grains, whole fruit and vegetables which of course are the same foods eaten on most liver cleansing diets.

Fatty liver is diagnosed in about 1 in 4 people in the US and is often found during routine blood testing for routine check ups or other problems. A fatty liver rarely causes symptoms itself in the early stages although it can become enlarged and may cause some discomfort over or just below the ribs on the right side.  A liver cleansing diet can soon ease this.

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Your liver is your best friend and superhero. Knowing how to look after it is the key to your health. Liver dysfunction plays a part in most diseases. Your liver is a multi-tasker performing over 500 functions which help keep your body in balance. The modern stressful lifestyle, alcohol, environmental chemicals, medicinal drugs, processed foods and fats can all damage your liver. A liver detox can go a long way to help reduce symptoms of an overworked or damaged liver.

What does your liver do?

Your liver relies on a number of nutrients to work efficiently. If you do not eat the right kinds of foods to provide the liver with everything it needs for the elimination of the extra toxins you are exposed to daily your health will suffer.

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If you hate psyllium, have not got time to make P & B shakes or don’t like herbal colon cleanses then you might want to try Oxy-Powder, an revolutionary oxygen based colon cleanser.

Powerful detox effects

Oxy-powder oxygenates the bowels and body by releasing oxygen into the digestive tract with powerful detoxifying effects. It cleanses the colon in an entirely different way from other products by liquefying old sludge, mucus and deep seated waste build up.

Your digestive system is of paramount importance to the health of the rest of your body.  Processed and junk food diets lacking in fiber and nutrients and lack of exercise slow down the time food stays in your colon. Antibiotics and stress alter the ratio of good bacteria and bad bacteria in the bowel resulting in poor digestion and fermentation.

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A herbal liver detox consists of following a specific diet high in fresh fruit and vegetables that eliminates foods that tax the liver and bowel. It incorporates foods that contain nutrients that support liver detoxification together with a herbal supplement containing herbs that stimulate bile flow and help rejuvenate liver cells .

The herbs usually used to support liver detox are:

• Milk Thistle (Silymarin) – helps stimulate glutathione production, is an antioxidant  and helps with liver cell regeneration.
• Dandelion Root (Taraxacum officinale)  – Increases bile flow.
• Schisandra (Schisandra chinensis)-  A Chinese herb used for liver protection. It may help to lower liver enzyme levels and improve the symptoms of chronic viral hepatitis.
• Bupleurum  – A Chinese herb that helps to neutralize liver toxins.
• Globe Artichoke (Cynara ) – Increase the production of bile from the liver and the flow of bile from the gallbladder, and to increases the contractive power of the bile duct.
• Turmeric (Curcuma longa) – Helps to protect the liver against damage stimulating bile flow and supports liver detoxification.
• Burdock (Arctium lappa) – A powerful antioxidant and a blood purifier. Can help to restore liver and gallbladder function.
• Chinese Wormwood – increases bile production and flow while increasing liver cell regeneration.

Liver Detox Diet .

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This liver flush is aimed at getting the gallbladder to contract to empty the stored bile, sludge or gravel and “stones” that can form in it. It can also help cleanse the liver ducts of the “stones” that form there. Many people have cleared numerous small pellets or balls of cholesterol/bile from their livers even if they no longer have a gall bladder.

Controversy over the “stones”

There is a lot of controversy over these pellets or stones that are eliminated during the flush.  Critics claim that the balls are not really gallstones but are soft complexes of mineral, olive oil and lemon juice produced within the digestive tract. People who understand chemistry say that this is not possible.

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A liver detox or cleanse is one of the most important things you can do for your body. The liver is one of the body’s most important organs of detoxification and although it has a very sophisticated and complex detoxification system there is no doubt that its capacity can become overwhelmed by the amount of toxins it has to deal with from today’s toxic environment.

A liver detox aims to cleanse the liver of toxins by increasing bile flow or supporting the two major detox pathways with specific nutrients from food and supplements. Before you do any liver detox it is vital that your bowels are working well as one of the routes for getting rid of toxins is via the bile which carries the poisons out of the body in the feces. If you are in any doubt then you cannot go wrong by doing a bowel cleanse before you start a liver detox.

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