Digestion and your Bones
You are not necessarily what you eat, but you are…
Liver Love For Liver Health
- make a compress from large square of undyed cotton or wool cloth
- drizzle the compress with ~1Tbsp of castor oil
- apply the compress over the liver (the right ribcage above the waist)
- a second layer of cloth and/or a layer of thin plastic applied over the COP helps to prevent messiness, as does a large, dry towel placed over the plastic
- a hot water bottle over the compress can increase both the comfort of the treatment and the effect of the COP
- leave in place for 30-60 min and repeat 3-4 times per week
- begin the day with a cup of hot water and 1/2 a lemon with the rind in order to stimulate bile flow
- eat a wide variety of vegetables daily, raw or lightly steamed in order to boost fibre and nutrients
- include bitter foods and detoxifying foods each day to support liver health (think “side salad”)
- limit grease, processed foods, sugar, excess meat or dairy, and alcohol to no more than 20% of your diet, for the purpose of preventing non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD)
- eat mindfully; do not eat while standing, rushing, working, watching TV, or in a bad mood (this can be soooo hard! I do my best to live by this advice too but it’s not easy!)
- use castor oil packs over the liver whenever you can (working online, reading a book, in the bath, watching a show)
- identify stressors in your life that make you angry or irritable and develop a healthy way of addressing and releasing them
Liver health is involved in everything from comfortable digestion to balanced hormones to clear skin; consequently, a happy and healthy liver has broad effects on our whole body.
Considering all that your liver does for you day and night, every single day of your life, you would do well to thank it once and a while by giving it a lighter work load. As the liver is the one organ we have that is capable of regeneration, then giving it the tools and time it needs to restore itself will contribute to a long and healthy life.
What Does The Liver Actually Do?
Of course, what we consume factors into our overall health. And since what we swallow, from foods and liquids to medications and supplements answer first to the liver, we need to choose wisely. Everything that is taken into the body by mouth is shunted through the liver after absorption from the intestines in a process called “first pass”. Only those nutrients and compounds deemed necessary or essential for the body are allowed to pass into the circulation of the rest of the body.
Through first pass toxins are either neutralized by the liver and either excreted in bile to be expelled from the body in stool, or made water soluble for excretion by the kidneys.
When the liver is overwhelmed by work then its efficiency decreases and the body is exposed to more harmful substances than if the liver is not stressed. A tired liver may sing out to get your attention using menstrual irregularities, fatigue, acne, muscular pain or tension, headaches, insomnia, and digestive issues.
Foods For Liver Health
Eat foods that support liver function for awesome physical as well as mental health!
Think Bitter…
Bitter herbs stimulate the release of bile from the gall bladder, and bile helps with digestion.
Bitter is one of the five flavours but tends to be underrepresented in the modern Western diet. Therefore, we need to be more conscious of eating it than say, sugary or salty foods. Add bitter foods into your diet each day, ideally at each meal (it’s as easy as a side salad).
Bile assists in the digestion of fats, acts as your body’s natural laxative, and is also used to carry excess cholesterol and toxins out of the body so bring on those bitters!
Bitter foods: romaine lettuce, dandelion leaves, asparagus, artichokes, radishes and their leaves, rye, quinoa, amaranth, citrus peels, arugula.
Eat Foods That Support Detox
One way that the liver neutralizes toxins is to add sulphur to them. [Note that sulphur-rich foods are not the same as “Sulfa drugs” or sulphites in wine and that an allergy to those compounds does not mean that sulphur-rich foods should be avoided.]
Foods rich in sulphur: onions and their family (garlic, leeks, chives, shallots), cruciferous vegetables (broccoli, cauliflower, turnips, kohlrabi, mustard greens, cabbage, kale, Brussels sprouts).
Another detoxifying compound used by the liver is found in betaine.
Foods rich in betaine: beets and their leaves, spinach, shrimp, wheatgerm, whole grains.
Sugar, Fat, and Alcohol
Alcohol as a detriment to liver health is well known fact with fatty liver and cirrhosis (scarring) of the liver common in heavy drinkers.
However, NON-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is on the rise in Western cultures even among those who avoid alcohol. The problem is the typical diet of high sugar, high fat, and highly processed foods along with high stress and lack of physical activity. Because these diet and lifestyle factors lead to the build up of fats within the liver organ itself, and if not addressed early and reversed then consequently there can be scarring of the liver. Liver failure is the worse case scenario.
Other Tools For Boosting Liver Health
Stronger methods of liver cleansing and rejuvenation are available. There are many wonderful herbs to help heal the liver, move the bile, encourage detoxification, and help with digestion.
Commonly Used Liver Herbs
Milk thistle – hepatoprotective (protects liver cells from various toxins)
Dandelion root (Taraxacum officianalis radix) – the leaves are intensely bitter and can be eaten (by braver palates than mine!)
Turmeric (Curcuma longa) – beautiful bright yellow herb that is easily incorporated into foods with benefit to the liver and digestion, as well as being anti-inflammatory. Many of the healing compounds in turmeric are fat soluble, and black pepper is a well-studied adjunct to improve absorption. I like making this turmeric paste to improve absorption (but you can also sprinkle the powder into oil along with other spices when cooking).
The list goes on from there with many wonderful herbs available to get the bile flowing, support the liver’s many jobs, and improve liver health.
Castor oil has a remarkable ability to penetrate skin, fat and muscle up to 10 cm and to stimulate blood flow as it passes through the tissues. To make a COP:
A Spring Cleaning
Since many of us use the spring to declutter our homes and give it a deep cleaning, similarly, as the Liver corresponds to the season of spring in TCM (Traditional Chinese Medicine), it makes sense to focus our attention on liver health during the spring with a liver cleanse in order to give it some love and allow it to restore. Think of a liver detox as a time to declutter the bile ducts and give the liver cells themselves a deep cleaning!
In order to lighten the load of the liver for a few weeks or months in the spring we can look to some dietary changes, and either separately or simultaneously bring some herbal support. These cleanses can absolutely be tailored to your individual needs taking into consideration your current state of health and your health goals.
Exercise
Exercise stimulates circulation of both blood and lymph encouraging them to be filtered by the liver. This allows the removal of more toxins from the body. Move that body in the ways that you enjoy most!
Energetics and the Liver
Anger is stored in the liver and spews from the liver. It’s your classic catch-22.
Strong feelings of anger or frustration lead to the stagnation of energy through the liver, and congestion of the liver from poor diet and lifestyle habits adds to your irritability and the expression of anger!
Firstly, open your mind during any degree of liver cleanse to feelings of anger or irritation, then observe them, and finally process them appropriately (meditation, journalling, connection with loved ones, counselling, whatever works for you!). Keep working to release them from your mind – it’s a constant practice rather than a quick fix! Allow your liver to regenerate and rebuild itself in the absence of anything that does not serve your highest good.