In terms of sustaining good health, no organ is more important to your wellness than the liver. It is always working away to keep you healthy.
The liver is a unique vital organ with many crucial roles to sustain life, from circulation to digestion to detoxification. It is also the body’s toxic disposal plant.
Of all of your organs, the liver is the most regenerative. It has an amazing ability to reverse all forms of disease that may affect it; that is, if proper steps of restoration are taken.
You heard right. Even late stage liver disease can reverse and regenerate. In fact, with correct supportive action, the liver has the ability to literally regrow itself in a matter of weeks.
But let’s take a closer look at some of the many functions of your workhorse liver…
• Filters and detoxifies the blood used by the entire body
• Neutralizes harmful toxins and waste
• Converts food into substances the body needs for growth and life
• Makes enzymes and bile for food digestion
• Metabolizes hormones
• Stores nutrients, vitamins and minerals
• Regulates body functions
• Stores blood glucose
• Destroys old red blood cells (makes feces brown)
• Breaks down insulin
• Controls production of cholesterol
• Controls blood sugar
And that’s the short list!
As with many cases of illness, your good health is often not appreciated until disease sets in. The real issue here is to keep your liver healthy to begin with before serious degeneration delivers your wake up call.
Years of unhealthy lifestyle habits can turn your once healthy organ into a “fatty” liver. This means your liver has become compromised, all bogged down with years of too many processed foods (those bad carbs) and fatty foods (like animal products).
Now your liver can no longer break down all those excess fats and toxins so it begins to send them to be stored in your fatty tissue. That’s right! Your excess body fat is a hotbed of toxicity.
At first, this fatty liver condition is silent, with no real symptoms to warn you. Elevated liver enzymes in a blood test can be your first clue to liver breakdown from a fatty liver.
Since traditional medicine has no treatment to offer this condition (since their focus is on prescribing drugs to suppress symptoms), they will take a “wait and watch” approach. Once your fatty liver advances into a variety of diseases, the prescription merry go round can begin.
Does this make sense to you? Why not get busy making the correct lifestyle changes that caused the problem to begin with so your liver can restore itself and say goodbye to that diagnosis you never wanted to begin with?
From here, the problem gets worse. Inflammation of the liver follows, along with scarring and the inability of the liver to perform its many duties, including metabolizing proteins and neutralizing toxins.
If fatty liver disease is allowed to progress, there are more serious and life-threatening liver diagnoses that can manifest.
Here are a few signs of liver dysfunction and possible impending disease as a result of continuing to do what caused the symptoms …
• Depression
• Bad breath
• Colon problems
• Hormone issues
• Being too hot
• Flush complexion
• Thyroid problems
• Poor vision
• Elevated cholesterol
• Headaches
• Jaundice or yellowing of the skin and eyes
• Dark urine
• Vomiting of blood
• Tenderness in the abdomen
• Itchy skin
• Insomnia
• Fatigue
• Brain fog
• Yellow, gray or light-colored stools
• Loss of appetite
• Loss of sex drive
• Chronic anger
Here is a simple DIY test to see if your liver is happy or congested. Press with one finger between the lower part of your shoulder blades. You may need to have someone do this for you if you can’t reach back there.
Now release the finger, and you will see a white spot from loss of blood due to the pressure applied (use a mirror). Count how many seconds (one-one thousand, two-one thousand, three-one thousand, etc., OR use the timer on your phone) until the blood returns and the white spot is completely gone.
If the white spot disappears quickly in a second or two, your liver is happy. If it takes three, four, five seconds or more, your liver is NOT happy and ain’t no organ happy.
Of course, this DIY test is not definitive, but it is a simple home test just to see how congested your liver might be.
Now, just in case you are thinking, “But I don’t even drink alcohol, how could my liver be in trouble?” Too much alcohol consumption definitely harms the liver, but the fatty liver problem I’m describing to you has nothing to do with whether you drink alcohol or not.
So, what to do if you know or are concerned that your liver is fatty or even more advanced in the disease process?
First, reduce your fat intake! Lots and lots of fruits and vegetables. All that healthy fiber will start clearing out the fats, clean out your colon, and support healthy cardio function.
Bring in leafy greens, have a salad a day, and especially add bitter greens like dandelion and milk thistle. Add fresh squeezed lemon to your daily water intake to help clean the liver, and make sure you are adequately hydrating to flush out toxins and curb those aches and pains.
You will also need to do a deep liver cleanse, but steps must be taken in advance to make sure your elimination pathways are ready. Otherwise, you may get intense detox reactions.
Following the guidance of a skilled holistic practitioner is your best and safest bet on your way to a cleaned out and restored liver.
And if your liver is happy, well, you know…
Are you concerned you may have fatty liver or have you received a scary diagnosis? There’s a good chance I can help. Schedule a one-time complimentary call with me to sort out your situation.
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