Your liver is the largest organ in your body and is your bodies filter for chemicals, pesticides, toxins, drugs and alcohol. It processes food and helps your body digest and absorb nutrients. The Liver also Metabolizes and stores carbohydrates(sugars), proteins, fats and hormones, so your body can use them properly for their specific needs. As you can see your liver is extremely important role in your body functioning to keep you alive and healthy. In order for the Liver to function properly we need to Love It and treat it well. It doesn't take much to make the liver un-happy and damage it to create havoc and spiral into certain cancers, cirrhosis(scarring) which can lead to liver failure.

Symptoms your Liver is trying to tell you its not doing well:

• Pain and soreness in the upper chest region and mid back

• Dark Under Eye Circles

• Skin Rashes

• Psoriasis

• Constipation

• Anxiety

• Brain Fog

• Mood Swings

• Can’t loose weight

• Sluggishness

• Poor Sleep

• Dark colored urine

• Tendency to bruise easily

• Skin and eyes that appear yellowish

• Swelling of the legs and ankles

Female Centric Symptoms:

• Irregular Periods

• Fibroids

• Period Blood Clotting

• Hot Flashes

• Irregular Periods

In Chinese Medicine they have a saying about people that are normally even tempered that suddenly snap at people. They say that when someone has sudden mood swings it is that their Liver is angry. So sit back and take a minute and think “have I snapped at anyone lately?” If you have or have felt any of the above symptoms there things you can do to improve Liver Function and make your Liver happy.
Steps you can take to help your liver repair and perform at optimal levels:

• Sulfur occurring foods i.e. Cruciferous Vegetables like Brussel Sprouts, Broccoli, Cauliflower, Kale, Cabbage. Just make sure the foods are steamed, cooked, boiled and drained in a ice bath otherwise you get negative effects to your thyroid.

• Turmeric in supplement form also add to your dishes your create at home

• Avocados, Nuts and Fatty Fish high in antioxidants and great anti-inflammatory effects on the liver

• Grapefruit can help counter act the effects of moderate alcohol consumption and helps produce the enzymes in the liver that help burn fat

• Blueberries and Cranberries helps reduce the formation of cancer sells in the liver and gives the liver health power packed antioxidants

• Beets and Beetroot juice reduces oxidative damage to the liver and inflammation

• Milk Thistle in supplement form and in teas helps detox the liver for better performance

• B12 in supplement form

• Exercise to keep you Liver trim, not Fat! Sweating and getting oxygen through your body is a great way to detox your body.

• Drink decaf coffee(not the sweet Starbucks/Dutch Bros stuff) and black, green tea. Studies show drinking these beverages lower your risk of cancers and prevents the build up fat and collagen, two of the markers of liver disease.

What you can avoid or habits you can kick to help your liver repair and function properly:

• Number one is alcohol consumption. I know I love my wine and gin martinis, but even having a few drinks a week can cause serious long term damage. Keeping it to occasionally will keep your liver healthy and happy.

• Cut out anything processed or boxed, packaged shelf stable foods they are full of preservatives and chemicals that are hard on your liver to process

• Avoid Toxins including Pesticides sprayed on fruits and vegetables (wash your fruit well if you can’t get organic), synthetic scents like in air fresheners. Your liver has to work hard enough with all the smog in our air and toxins we cant avoid, so anything you can do to lighten the toxic load on your body your Liver will thank you.

• Dont over medicate like relying on Tylenol, Ibuprofen and Pain medications look for what is causing the pain before you over medicate to make the pain go away

• Dont over consume antibiotics. Antibiotics are hard on your liver and your gut. They wipe out all the good enzymes and bacteria that actually fight off disease. Take them for serious bacterial infections and conditions only.

• Use earth friendly non-toxic cleaning supplies, laundry and dish detergents in your home. Again we are trying to lighten the toxic load your liver has to filter for your body.

• Wash your hands not to just be clean, but one of the leading causes of getting Hepatitis A is not washing your hands!

• Be careful getting tattoos, sharing needles even razors and un-protected sex. You may have to learn a hard lesson by learning you have not only contracted a STD but Hepatitis B and C.

I wanted to give you more information about how important that you detox your body of toxins and keep your Liver happy. A few years ago I read this book called The Rain Barrel Effect by Dr. Stephen Cabral a Board Certified Naturopathic Doctor. The book is a in-depth look at Dr. Cabral’s life and what brought him to becoming a Naturopathic Doctor. Dr. Cabral’s health journey was a a long one. He suffered from multiple diseases caused by over use of Antibiotics and living in a toxic environment. He came to his theory that we our bodies are rain barrels on the sides of houses that collect rain water to be used to water plants in our gardens. The issue is the barrel keeps getting filled and never emptied and then over flows and the water never gets used for the garden but waisted. Our bodies take in everything from the air we breath, water we drink, drugs, alcohol, food and beverages we consume. We keep taking in more bad then good and the good stuff never gets to where it should and over flows and creates havoc on our immune system. Its a fascinating read and life changing.

Dr. Cabral has a thriving practice out of Boston and is not limited to that area. You can go to his website and actually order test and get consultations or Health Coaching directly from his team to figure out what is going on in your body or just to learn more about how your bodies is functioning. If you want to get to know more about Dr. Cabral I have a great podcast interview to share with you and a few others regarding Liver Health.

The first Podcast I want to share is by The Skinny Confidential. The podcast by Lauren and Michael Bosstick is a married power couple. They get into the life story of Dr. Stephen Cabral and you find out how he came to become a Physician and his dedication to helping people with unexplainable health conditions. Lauren has a huge fallowing because of her blog called the Skinny Confidential that over time turned into a social media platform. Michael is a successful entrepreneur that has developed many brands. He and Lauren together have created a Digital Media company that is Female-Focused called Dear Media. Don’t let this couple fool you they are cheeky, but they interview some heavy hitters and do a good job getting the information that will help develop you into a better and more informed person.

Next I wanted to give you a curated list of podcast by Dr. Cabral about the liver. His Podcast the Cabral Concept has been around for years and has longtime, loyal and international fallowing. He talks about the liver in actually quite a few podcast episodes which shows how important having a healthy liver is and how extremely important in creating a healthy and balanced body.

Below is a link list of Dr. Cabral’s Podcast that focus on Liver Health:

Using Exercise & Detox to Combat Weight Gain & Liver Issues

How to Clear Toxic Estrogen from Your Fat & Liver

How to Do a Liver & Galbladder Cleanse

The 9 Vegan Foods to Fix Your Liver

High Eosinophils, Kidney Filtering, Elevated Liver Function

Have a wonderful Wednesday and love your Liver!

Shara

Sources:

https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/wellness-and-prevention/5-ways-to-be-kind-to-your-liver, https://www.sfadvancedhealth.com/blog/6-simple-ways-to-detox-your-liver, https://www.webmd.com/digestive-disorders/picture-of-the-liver, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK279393/, https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/liver-problems/symptoms-causes/syc-20374502, https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/11-foods-for-your-liver#TOC_TITLE_HDR_1, https://www.healthline.com/health/hepatitis#diagnosis,