Love your Liver
The liver is the body's second biggest organ after our skin. It sits behind your right ribcage and helps the body to process everything we eat, drink and filter any harmful substances from the blood- Its primary role is detoxification.
One way to imagine the detoxification power of the liver as Dr Libby states it perfectly: is to imagine a triangle shape, inside that triangle are billions and billions of little circles, each one of them a liver cell. Imagine thats inside each liver cell is a wheel spinning. Each turn of the wheel drives your liver function.
When we treat our liver unkindly, one of those circles can die, and for a time the liver can regenerate a new cell to replace the dead cell, but after a while this is no longer possible, and a globule of fat can take up residence where once that fat-burning, detoxification wheel was working. When those fat globules take over (this is known as fatty liver) your health can suffer significantly!
What is FATTY LIVER:
Fatty liver is basically a build up of fat in your liver. It is normal to have some fat in your liver, but too much can cause you to have major health problems. The process of detoxification can be interrupted if there is too much fat in the liver. Fatty liver is when fat accounts for more than 5 to 10 percent of your liver’s weight.
Fatty liver is a reversible condition however that can often be resolved with changes to your lifestyle, those lifestyle changes can be things like adding in regular movement and exercise to your day, cutting back on processed foods and refined sugars, drinking more water and cutting back on alcohol intake.
Unfortunately today fatty liver is not just caused by too much alcohol, as a matter of fact they are now finding teenagers who have never touched alcohol with the disease. This is caused by a poor diet of too much refined sugars, processed foods, fizzy drinks and sugary juices. The effects and defects of the liver are the same except high amounts of alcohol in your diet hasn't caused it, processed food has!! How scary is that, to know that teenagers today are suffering with fatty liver because of the food that they consume. I am all for a bit of balance, but if processed foods and drinks are going to cause this kind of harm to our younger generations, then some major changes need to take place in our lives and education on what is healthy!
Indications you Liver may need support:
These are some of the indications that your liver may need support and is suffering that I sourced from self study a Dr Libby book:
- Eczema, rosacea
- Overheating easy
- Elevated cholesterol
- Bloating easily
- Daily alcohol consumption
- A preference for coffee to start your day not food
- Skin rashes
- Mood swings
- Sugar cravings
- Low or inconsistent energy
- Fluid retention
- Binge eating or drinking
- Cellulite
- Daily long-term consumption of caffeine
- Waking in the middle of the night around 2am
- Skin outbreaks related to the menstrual cycle
- A liver roll- which is a roll of fat underneath the bra-line (for women).
What you can do to make your liver happy and healthy:
-Drink plenty of water
-Limit alcohol comsumption
-Drink a lemon water every morning as soon as you wake up
-Little-no processed foods or refined sugars in your diet
-Eat more foods such as: asparagus, celery, broccoli, parsley, fennel, kale, ginger, radish, sprouts, fresh lettuces, wheatgrass, basil, grapefruit, tummeric and fermented foods (sauerkraut) just to name a few.
When it comes to making better choices to nourish your liver think: GREEN, FRESH, SOUR,
In conclusion, do not think that giving up processed foods, drinks and refined sugars is just to loose weight and "look good", it is simply to look after yourself from the inside, which will then show on the outside. (Weight loss and glowing skin will come in the end) Think about the long term harm you are doing to your body if you are choosing to live an unhealthy lifestyle. There is so much more to being fit, healthy and strong than just "diets" and "workouts". We need to take more care of ourselves and start nourishing our bodies. Don't self harm by causing diseases and poor health upon yourself. Make better choices and start living a healthy, active, balanced lifestyle- it's something you will never regret, trust me!!
-Renee xx