It’s no secret that our diets and lifestyles can put a lot of stress on our bodies, including our largest detoxification organ, the liver. With the holiday season just behind us, it’s natural to worry about what indulgences may have caused harm to our liver. To support optimal health, it’s important to understand how the liver works and what we can do to help it function effectively. In this blog post, we’ll cover everything you need to know about liver detoxification pathways and what you can do to support them.
The liver plays a crucial role in the body’s overall health and wellbeing. Its primary function is to receive, filter, and repack all substances into usable components for the body or to eliminate any harmful toxins. Any substance we take in via food, air, or skin goes through this pathway. Additionally, the liver plays an important role in digestive function.
Liver detoxifies harmful substances in two steps: 1) liver detoxification, which uses enzymes and oxygen to burn toxins, partially breaking down making them water-soluble for easier elimination. 2) combining these partially processed toxins with amino acids to make them less harmful and enable them to be removed from the body through fluids like bile and urine.
It’s important to note that the liver is always detoxifying every minute of every day; you can’t do a “liver detox” or “cleanse” despite what we see on Social Media. However, you can improve its function and efficiency by supporting specific detoxification pathways, reducing the stress load put on it. Signs that your liver may be struggling include tiredness, a white or yellow tongue, weight gain, poor digestion, intolerance to perfume, and sugar cravings.
To support a healthy liver, it’s important to avoid seed oils, excess caffeine, refined sugar, and alcohol. On the other hand, foods that support a healthy liver include leafy greens, beets, celery, and lemon hot water to name a few.
Leafy greens such as spinach, kale, and collard greens contain chlorophyll, which helps to eliminate toxins and supports liver function. Beets are especially beneficial for liver health as they contain betaine, which aids in liver cell function and regeneration. Celery is also high in antioxidants, making it an excellent choice for supporting liver health. Lemon hot water helps to stimulate digestion and supports liver function by flushing out toxins. Beet, lemon, celery and ginger cold pressed juice, anyone?
Reishi, Cordyceps and Turkey Tail functional mushrooms also support liver detoxification and health. All three of these can be found in Rainbo’s 11:11 Mushroom Multi Vitamin Tincture. RAINBO 11:11 SUPER-MULTI MUSHROOM SYNERGY 3.4oz / 100ml
These functional mushrooms contain potent bioactive compounds like polysaccharides and triterpenoids, which are believed to have anti-inflammatory and antioxidant effects.
In conclusion, the liver plays a crucial role in our body’s overall health and wellbeing. Its primary function is to detoxify harmful substances by filtering out toxins and eliminating them from the body through a series of detoxification pathways. To support the liver’s detoxification process, avoid substances such as seed oils, excess caffeine, refined sugar, and alcohol while including foods like leafy greens, beets, celery, and lemon hot water. Remember that the liver is constantly detoxifying, and while it’s not possible to do a liver detox or cleanse as such, you can support its function and efficiency by making healthy lifestyle choices.
