Liver Detox Foods- Lovin Thy Liver

Detoxing is always a huge subject. And everyone is looking for life lessons to incorporate foods that will detox the liver. And with good reason. Besides your heart, your liver is the hardest working organ in your body—it has over 500 vital functions. This means it is constantly working to clear away toxins, wastes from the blood, cellular metabolism, excess hormones and bi-products from the food we eat.

Give your liver some love. Here’s why you need to include more liver detox foods in your diet

Liver Functions:

• for detoxing—naturally occurring all the time flushing toxins out from your body
• cleans out used blood an return it to the heart
• controls weight loss and gain
• processes nutrients from food
• stores energy
• makes bile to help with digestion of dietary fats
• filters toxic chemicals and bacteria from the body
• helps with blood clotting
• processing medicines
• regulates fat and sugar metabolism effectively

But when your liver is constantly overloaded and stressed, it resorts to storing fat within its tissues. If chronic, it leads to the development of a condition called fatty liver (becoming more prevalent today, even in children.) The great news is that the liver is one of the few organs in the body that has the ability to heal itself.

You know your liver is overburdened when

• Abdominal bloating pain. discomfort over liver
• Upper abdominal area under rib cage
• Excessive abdominal fat, pot belly or roll around the upper abdomen
• Trouble digesting fatty foods
• No gall bladder
• Constant heart burn, indigestions, acid reflux
• Dark spots on skin that just appeared. These are referred to as liver spots—A greyish yellow tone to skin.
• Constant over heating, excessive perspiration without much exertion
• Acne, dry skin, blotchy skin, itchy skin
• Unexplained weight gain, inability to lose weight
• You have Type 2 diabetes. This often a symptom of a fatty liver because a poorly functioning liver can no longer remove glucose from the bloodstream effectively. These two conditions  go hand in hand and often occur simultaneously. 
• Reoccurring headaches, impaired concentration, depression, a feeling of overheating and mood changes (anger &/or irritability).

So where are these toxins coming from? 

AIR WE BREATH: 

• Start by trying to reduce toxic load in the air we breathe. Smoke, gasoline, paint, glue, nail polish, perfume, cleansers, pollution, smoking all have a negative impact on our liver.

WHAT WE USE ON OUR SKIN: (our skin is our largest organ)

• Switch to paraben free, non-toxic plant based deodorants, shampoos, cleansers and skin moisturizers. 
• Eliminate petroleum based preservatives.

FOOD WE EAT: 

• Alcohol
• Preservatives
• Dyes + Food colours
• Pesticides: Go organic when you can
• Fertilizers
• Heavy Metals in large fish: Tuna, Swordfish, Shark
• Contaminated water—use a filtration system
• Chlorinated and brominated products: Found in almost every single commercially produces bread
• Sugar and Fructose
• Factory Meat and Conventionally Raised Eggs. These contain pesticides, herbicides, GMO, antibiotics, hormones and other medicine residue that clogs your liver. 
• Artificial Sweeteners
• MSG
• Soda drinks especially pop
• Pharmaceutical drugs
• Trans fats (found in baked goods, pastries, pies, fast food)
• Excessive use of salt
• Fast Food
• Excessive synthetic vitamin A
• Are Obese and diabetic
• Infections such as Hepatitis

4 Easy Steps To Eat More Liver Detox Foods

Change your eating habits by removing foods that are toxic. I made this super easy for you:

1. Eliminate processed foods. Crowd out packaged foods by Adding In whole foods. So instead of an apple bar, have an apple. Start reducing simple carbohydrates—white breads, muffins, pastas and even white rice. Try my amazing gluten-free blueberry muffins for your next sweet craving!
2. Reducing sugars. Do you put sugar in your coffee? Watch your habits. Do you have a sweet tooth? Why? Add more greens into your diet.
3. Focus on adding in more organic foods.
4. Limit or eliminate alcohol. Perhaps you are used to having a glass or 2 of wine every single night. Deprivation doesn’t work, so why not cut it back. Instead of 2 glasses a night, start by 1 a night, then cut to every other day. Cut yourself a little time to redefine your habits.  90-98% of alcohol is broken down in your liver. The rest is removed via sweat and pee. (In general, the liver can process one ounce of liquor (or one standard drink) in one hour. So, it would take approximately one hour to eliminate the alcohol from a 12 oz (355 ml) can of beer. Drink water after or with every drink

Foods that Naturally Detox the Liver Daily:

• Beetroot
• Carrot
• Grapefruit (if not on medications, especially blood pressure meds)
• Dark Green leafy vegetables including; spinach, dandelion leaves, beetroot tops, rocket and kale
• Citrus fruits. Lemon juice in warm water is great first thing in the morning. Instead of reaching for your coffee in the am, make warm water and lemon the first thing you reach for… Have you tried these 15 water-infused drink recipes to help detox your liver? Let’s take a minute and go back to the intake you took. Coffee in am? Has this just become a ritual? Lets take a minute to really think about that.
• Asparagus
• Artichoke Hearts
• Garlic
• Avocado
• Apples
• Salmon

Check out the easiest way to incorporate my Top 10 Foods to Detox your Liver with pantry essentials. 

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