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.
There are several different types of liver detox.
Let’s start by looking at the lemon and oil morning drink.
The Liver Lemon Detox Drink
There are various versions of this and it is a matter of picking one you like the look of. It involves drinking a lemon juice and oil drink every morning on an empty stomach for 5 days. It can be repeated several times.
Some versions recommend drinking a glass of room temperature pure water first thing in the morning then follow an hour later with the lemon drink. You can start with the lemon and olive oil drink if you prefer or cannot wait the hour.
Blend together the juice of 1 medium lemon with 8 oz water, 1 tablespoon virgin olive oil, 1 clove of garlic and a small amount of grated root ginger to taste until well mixed. Drink slowly and follow with a small glass of water or juice to cleanse the mouth of the oily taste. Apple or other fruit juice can be used in place of the lemon juice although lemon juice is good for making the system more alkaline .
We’ll look at the evening liver flush next.
I heard lemon juice will weaken our teeth. Any idea how to solve this problem if we drink lemon juice everyday?
You are right. Any acidic food can erode tooth enamel if you eat or drink it regularly. To help prevent this you can drink your lemon juice drink through a straw and rinse out your mouth afterwards with plain water. Always wait at least an hour before brushing your teeth after drinking or eating cirus fruit or you could wear away the enamel.
Good health
Sandy
Can you use Limes instead of Lemons as it seems impossible to get lemons where I am now?
Yes, Jimmy, you can use limes. They will give the same benefits although they taste sharper.
Good health
Sandy
Thanks, that was great this morning, I can’t seem to find a link to the evening liver flush? Is there one?
Hi Jimmy, do you mean the Epsom Salt liver/gallbladder flush? You can find that here: https://thedetoxspecialist.com/blog/?p=28
Good health
Sandy
Hello,
Thanks for your articles. I have one question: does the garlic need to be grated or smashed?
Thank you!
Hi Jaime,
If you are using a strong blender like a Vitamix you can add the garlic whole. Lesser powered blenders may not blend a whole clove smoothly enough so you may hve to chop it first. Hope that helps.
Sandy
Warm or room temp water is great but lemon is aggravating recently developed esophageal ulcers. Anything I can use in place of lemon? Turmeric was suggested to me but I’ve seen almost nothing about its morning detox value.
Sorry to hear that you have developed esophageal ulcers Janet. You will certainly have to heal these ulcers before you will be able to tolerate lemon juice. Turmeric contains curcumin which is the substance that helps stimulate the phase 2 liver detox enzymes. You have to take a lot of turmeric to get enough curcumin to be effective but you could make a turmeric tea with turmeric, coconut milk, ginger, raw honey and cinnamon to help soothe the ulcers while having some detox benefit. It’s important to make sure that your turmeric has been tested for and is free of heavy meatals as some was found to contain lead a few years ago.
Aloe Vera is soothing and can help heal ulcers. The cells of the gasto-intestinal tract use the amino acid L-Glutamine to renew themselves so taking that as a powder in water several times a day can help heal the ulcers. Kefir is good to to replenish the good bacteria.
Of course you have to get to the root of the problem too. Esophageal ulcers are usually caused by reflux which can be due to low stomach acid rather than too much acid as mainstream doctors tend to think and treat with acid blockers. You will find plenty about this if you do a search. While many people find that apple cider vinegar works it may aggravate your ulcers. Cabbage juice has been used to heal stomach ulcers but I don’t know it it will have the same effect on esophageal ulcers. It does not however taste very good and it takes a lot of cabbage to produce enough juice.
Hope some of these ideas may help you.
Best wishes for a speedy resolution to your problem.
Sandy
I am very grateful for your information. I feel sure some of the suggestions will be helpful!
Thanks very much.
How many hours until you can eat after the detox drink? Thank you!
Hi Dana,
I would leave it about 30 – 40 minutes before having something to eat. Make sure it’s something that is easy to digest. Water gets absorbed quickly from the stomach and intestines but oil slows down digestion but there is not a lot of oil in the drink.
Good health!
Sandy
The Detox Specialist
I tend to fill really sick when I do a drink like this. What would be a general time frame that this sicky feeling could lift. Is there anything else I could do to stop feeling sick. Thanks
Hello Natalie,
So sorry for the late reply but your comment went into my spam box and I’ve only just come across it. Some people’s livers can’t handle the oil mixture and feel nauseous. There is no general time frame for this to lift as everyone is different. You may have to work on your liver in other ways first such as using the Liver Cleansing Diet or try reducing the amount of oil you take and make sure you sip the drink slowly. Hope this helps.
Wishing you the best of health.
Sandy