I recently read that British Scientists have devised a new blood test that can reveal hidden liver damage caused by drinking and obesity. They hope it could soon be used by doctors to identify people at risk of life-threatening liver disease before it is too late.
Why wait until it gets this far? With a natural liver detox you can ensure that your liver will serve you well for many years.
Your liver is an amazing organ that works night and day to cleanse your blood of of chemicals, poisons, bacteria and other foreign invaders that can damage your health. You may not know it but your diet, your lifestyle and the toxic environment could be gradually damaging your liver even if you are not a heavy drinkers nor are overweight.
It can come as a complete shock if you are told that you have hidden liver damage. This is because your liver is remarkable in the fact that it can soldier on for many years in spite of this damage.
You have it in your power to provide your liver with with all the help it needs to work at peak efficiency and keep you healthy with a change of diet, lifestyle and a natural liver detox.
Doctors always look for signs that indicate that something is not quite right in the body. You can be your own doctor and watch for signs that your liver is not working at peak efficiency before it’s too late.
Some of the signs are:
- Coated tongue
- Bad breath
- Bitter taste in mouth
- Poor skin tone
- Skin rashes
- Itchy skin
- Itchy, swollen, red eyes
- Brittle finger nails or craked toenails
- Yellow discoloration of eyes
- Offensive body odor
- Negative emotions of anger, depression, irritability
Some of the health problems that are linked with a toxic liver are:
- Auto-immune diseases such as rheumatoid arthirits, lupus.
- Crohn’s disease and Ulcerative colitis
- Chronic Fatigue
- Psoriasis
- Acne
- Food Allergies
- Chronic infections or recurrent infections.
- Constipation and diarrhea
- Heart disease, angina & high Blood pressure
If you have any of the above symptoms or health problems you would certainly benefit from a natural liver detox.
Many people with hidden liver damage have been living on a diet consisting of mainly processed, refined and fast foods. They lack the necessary vitamins, minerals, amino acids and other nutrients needed for the liver to perform its vital function of detoxification.
To detox your liver naturally you will need to change your diet and lifestyle to reduce the amount of toxins you are taking in. Then you will need to improve your body’s ability to eliminate toxins.
A natural liver detox involves making liver friendly diet choices.
You will need to avoid:
- Processed foods
- Refined foods
- Deep fried food
- Hydrogenated fats
- Processed vegetable oils
- Preserved meats
- Simple sugars including honey
- Fast foods such as burgers, hot dogs, fried chicken, pizza, tacos
- Alcohol
- Coffee and other caffeinated drinks
- Chocolate
- Tobacco
Decrease:
Meat (choose lean, organic or free range meat and poultry)
Dairy products (eat live yogurt, kefir and choose organic or raw milk if you must have it)
Saturated fat such as cheese, fatty meat. (have a little organic butter)
Good Food Choices:
Fresh vegetables both raw and steamed
Vegetable soup
Legumes ( all types of beans and lentils)
Brown Rice
Rice pasta
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Flax seed oil
Fresh raw nuts but not peanuts
Drinks:
Plenty of filtered water with fresh lemon or lime juice (more about this here: The Morning Lemon Detox Drink)
Fresh vegetable juices
Green tea & herbal teas
Certain foods are particularly good for enhancing liver detoxification:
Vegetables – Cabbage, broccoli, Brussels Sprouts, cauliflower, collard greens, mustard greens, turnips, rutabaga (swede), beets (beetroot),carrots, dandelion greens, apples
Protein – organic salmon, halibut, free range chicken, turkey, grass fed free range beef. organic eggs
You can get some liver cleanse recipes on this post I wrote previously: Liver Cleanse Recipes
For more about treating a fatty liver with detox read this article: Will a Liver Cleansing Diet Help Correct a Fatty Liver?
If you take over the counter medications try to find natural alternatives. Once the health of your liver is improved you are likely to find that you don’t need the medications. You should of course never stop any prescription drugs without consulting your doctor. It may be that you could reduce some drugs or even discontinue them after you have been on a natural liver detox for a time.
To complete a natural liver detox you should avoid chemicals as much as possible. This means using natural household and personal products.
