Health is like money, we never have a true idea of its value until we lose it.
Josh Billings.
Hello, young Padawan
Following on my article on the anti-inflammatory diet, we will now talk about an organ that is worth its weight in gold on health since it is also one of the most important for your little body, one of those you must cherish the most if you want everything to go well: The liver.
What is the liver for?
«It makes changes on the organism whose main objectives are:
– The synthesis of most blood proteins.
– The production of bile.
– Storage and distribution of nutrients from digestion by metabolizing carbohydrates and lipids: Carbohydrates (glucose, fructose, galactose) are converted into glycogen and stored in hepatocytes. Depending on the needs of the body, the liver then retransforms glycogen into glucose and releases it into the bloodstream.
Lipids that reach the liver are converted to triglycerides and stored in liver cells.
– The degradation of toxic substances in our body: Some substances that reach the liver are toxic to the body: the role of the liver is to degrade these substances into non-toxic products. For example, the alcohol (ethanol) ingested also reaches the liver essentially. Once absorbed by liver cells, it is converted to acetaldehyde and acetate. But ethanol and acetaldehyde have a toxic effect on liver cells: they have chemical properties that seriously disturb their function. ”
Source : Hepato-Biliary Center – Paul Brousse University Hospital – Villejuif (94), France.
http://www.centre-hepato-biliaire.org/maladies-foie/fonctions-hepatiques.html
But today, our liver is more than brutalized on the daily, and this can lead us to diseases. Unhealthy meals, alcohol, food additives, pesticides, pollution, stress, sedentary lifestyle, unsuitable modern diet to our human body that is basically made for walking naked in the woods (be free to listen to your instinct, but send us a picture!).
Indeed, the nonalcoholic steatohepatitis, a.k.a. “fatty liver” disease, “NAFLD,” or “NASH,” is triggered by excessive fat or sugar eating and sedentary lifestyle.
Hepatic steatosis results from the accumulation of fat in liver cells. In fact, fatty tissue slowly accumulates in the liver when someone exceeds the amount of fat that his body can treat. Simple hepatic steatosis (about 5% fat in the liver) can be a completely benign condition and does not usually cause liver damage. However, once there is an accumulation of simple fats, the liver becomes vulnerable to subsequent lesions that can lead to inflammation and scarring on the liver. And it can progress to fibrosis, cirrhosis and liver cancer.
So we have to react.
Is liver detox bullshit or huge bullshit? (or a fashion? or fashion bullshit ??)
Hang on to your underwear because the only time you’ll read on this blog that “no, detox is not bullshit,” it is precisely on this article.
Yes, we can detoxify the liver because yes it can genuinely be intoxicated by our way of life. Yes, you can make sure to change the situation and “make a (sort of) new liver.”
Knowing that a liver cell lives between 300 and 500 days, we will say that if you change your lifestyle for a year, you will restart with a brand new liver. Approximately roughly.
We do not do medicine here, but you must be aware that a patient with cirrhosis who has a part of his sick liver removed sees the remaining part grow and return to its original size after a lapse of time, for example, it is the best-known regenerative capital so let’s use it.
This organ can, indeed, be reconstituted in a healthy way (or not).
It’s up to you to decide to leave the dark side of the force, to ignore bad habits to make good new ones, to shape your health and start a great relationship with this organ that is essential to your global health.
How do one care for one’s liver?
-You won’t believe it: By adopting an anti-inflammatory diet, of course! This article (here) will give you all the general keys on this simple subject but so effective on your overall health. Your whole body will thank you for these new eating habits.
–Then, detox. Attention, what will follow will not please you, but it’s really effective: An apple mono-diet (three days apple diet, then three days vegan diet). During three days, you eat apples instead of your meals and drink thyme herbal tea and water (see the writings of numerous German and Canadian studies having applauded the effects of fasting, intermittent fasting and mono-diet on health). Then on the 4th day morning, proceed on a light diet, gluten-free, without animal protein (meaning: vegan), plant-based, rice, healthy oils (rapeseed type, olive haha) in small quantity and oilseeds for the next three days. From the 7th day, you can reintroduce gluten, legumes or animal proteins for those who eat it. Try this once in your life, you won’t believe how energized you are after that! I do this four times a year, at each new season, to start again on a good basis, and I feel light, in shape, monumental energy, strong spirit as hell and (incidentally) the belly flatter than flat. Before judging, one must try.😉
A real health cure for the body in general and the liver in particular.
– Anti-inflammatory foods (organic or without pesticide) particularly excellent for the liver:
Lemon. ½ lemon (if your weight is less than 155lbs, or a whole lemon for the others) pressed every morning in a glass of warm water, on an empty stomach, 15 minutes before eating anything else (you can take a shower during this time. No, you don’t smell the coyote, it is the time the lemon works! You smell as good as the morning dew on a bouquet of lavender, of course! Take a shower, ed).
Black radish. It’s one of the most potent veggies for liver detox, with its buddy coming in below … If you want my super black radish soup recipe here is the link. Black radish is a powerful liver detoxifier, it helps to drain it, and it promotes the production of bile, allowing better elimination of toxins.
Magic fennel. (fresh, juiced, in herbal tea or all three!) You can make yourself a little juice if you have an extractor, an investment that I advise you for your health (invest in your health, it is priceless, your body and your mind will thank you, ed).
Recipe juice: cut in small pieces one fennel, one lemon (with its skin), an apple, a piece of ginger, fresh turmeric and a pinch of pepper. It’s tasty, fresh and your liver will be delighted, from the first juice you will feel it. To do on an empty stomach, don’t eat anything for at least 15 minutes after drinking it.
Apple. Pectins and other components of the apple contribute effectively to the elimination of toxins found in the digestive system. This task makes it easier to clean the liver.
Avocado. The Japanese have discovered that avocado flesh contains active ingredients protecting the liver gland from all kinds of aggression. Mister avocado is definitely a good guy; he has good fat.
Artichoke. For the liver specifically, we talk about the leaves of the artichoke. They stimulate the biliary secretion, and your liver is happy.
Garlic. Again, of course. Garlic is composed of a large amount of allicin and selenium, which are very useful in cleansing the liver.
Beets. Superfood by nature, it will delight your liver with its cleansing and detoxifying virtues, because it accelerates liver functions.
Turmeric. Indeed, turmeric is everywhere when we talk about good foods for health! It has a recognized hepatoprotective effect.
Ginger. Where there is turmeric, ginger is never far away. Ditto: use and abuse of ginger and your liver will thank you (and your partner too, lol. ed). It enhances immunity and improves digestion.
Grapefruit. It is rich in vitamin C and antioxidants. It increases the natural ability of the liver to eliminate toxins.
Nuts. Walnuts contain high levels of L-arginine, glutathione and omega-3s that help detoxify the liver.
Milk thistle. The silymarin contained in milk thistle is one of the most potent hepatoprotective substances.
– Drink fennel herbal tea, milk thistle, burdock: because, in addition to the recognized virtues of these plants, hydrate one’s body will help the process.
– Sport. Let’s help our liver eliminate toxins and more because our body, in general, is made to move. Being sedentary is against nature, we must return to our instincts (running naked in the woods is not an obligation, of course, unless you have lost a bet with me).
Give yourself at least 30 minutes of brisk walking a day, find a buddy, a colleague, a good puppy, your favorite music or podcast and stretch your legs. This is the minimum. The typical ideal week is 30 minutes of walking a day and sports activity three times a week (choose the activity or activities that makes you happy, it can be one-hour swimming, walk, bike, yoga, boxes, lift, or Tai-chi. At your own pace and at your level, we are not at the Olympic games … Or one hour of bedroom activities why not? Or you can start Peruvian dance! (does it exists? ed.)
– Make regular fasts to rest your liver: For example, from time to time do not eat between 7 pm and 10 am (night fasting, easier for young Padawans with an intrepid mind). Try to do a day of fasting a week (for example do not eat on Sunday). No, we do not die from it, and we don’t have any deficiencies. This is our very essence of Homo Sapiens Sapiens. We are made for walking miles and miles and not find food every day. At the time the supermarkets were not easy to access, microwaves either. Lol.
– Listen to your body: We put the fork down when you are no longer hungry. Even if the dish is not finished, if you’re not sure you’re still hungry or not, wait for 10 minutes, that’s about the time it takes for the hormones of satiety to reach us. When we were kids, we were encouraged to finish our plates, to have a huge appetite, and it’s a shame because we are naturally programmed to feed us to satiety. With the years, by dint of eating more than appetite, the stomach widens, and many of us lose their feelings of satiety and eat beyond their hunger. We are not mad at our parents who thought to do well, but that’s where overweight generally start. We must learn to recover these natural sensations that are vital to our health. It takes time and patience to find them, but the game is worth the hype.
And your cute liver will thank you for it.
Well, if with all this you do not have a brand new liver, I quit!
Detox kisses 🍋
Fennel, lemon, apple, ginger and turmeric juice, with Hurom juice extractor.