Detoxification typically means getting rid of harmful substances like alcohol or drugs from the body. However, it also can refer to ways to detox your liver from the effects of alcohol or other toxins.
Your liver comprises the primary filtration system of your body. So, its primary job involves changing toxins into waste products, cleansing your blood, and converting medications and nutrients into proteins your body needs.
When you detox your liver, you help keep your liver healthy. Especially if you overindulge with some foods or alcohol.
With the presence of so many toxins in your environment, your liver sometimes works overtime helping rid your body of them. When your liver becomes overwhelmed or weakens due to some condition such as Adrenal Fatigue Syndrome (AFS), it no longer can adequately deal with these toxins. And an overload of toxins in your body becomes another source of stress for your adrenal glands which can already be overburdened if you suffer from AFS.
The NEM makes up your innate mechanism for dealing with stress that attacks your body. Six circuits of three organ systems each work together in an inter-related manner to deal with stress. The detoxification circuit works to rid your body of excessive and unwanted reactive metabolites occurring as a result of stress.
And your liver bears the brunt of this process.
Metabolites result from the metabolism of substances you consume or that find their way into your body. These substances include toxins. Metabolizing them allows them to be excreted from your body.
With conditions like AFS, this system can become weakened and slowed, resulting in a buildup of metabolites. This buildup can become toxic. So, this becomes a significant reason for you to detox your liver.
However, you should use caution when you go through this process. With an effort to detox your liver, you may experience a retoxification effect. This may result in a rise in toxin levels because of increased liver function including metabolizing substances. More metabolites will accumulate in your system which may be harmful to your body, leading to a huge buildup of toxins.
This may become especially true if you suffer from advanced stages of AFS. Your heart rate may increase and stay high for hours, you may experience days of fatigue and headaches, and sleeplessness and hypoglycemia may occur for weeks.
You can find numerous fad diets that purport to cleanse your liver and improve your overall health. However, none of these diets give you any scientific support for their claims. So, what do you do to detox your liver successfully? The following make up successful ways to help your liver function better.
Numerous research studies show overconsumption of alcohol leads to liver damage. This can include a buildup of fat, scarring, and inflammation. And with this kind of damage, your liver can no longer function well, leading to increased toxins in your body.
The best way to deal with this condition involves limiting the amount of alcohol you drink. Detox your liver by preventing damage from alcohol.
That’s right! Detox your liver by drinking coffee. The anti-inflammatory properties in coffee can reduce your risk of liver disease by up to 70%.
While some liver supplements can provide important vitamins and minerals and specific herbs may help strengthen your liver, eating well is the key to a healthy liver. Drinking green tea and water rather than soda with all that sugar and cooking with anti-inflammatory spices can provide you with the vitamins and minerals you need. And foods such as Brussels sprouts, cauliflower, and kale contain chemicals that help your liver break down hormones and chemicals.
Along with eating better, cut out sugary foods and those that go through a great deal of processing. Sugar-filled and overly processed foods can lead to obesity, cancer, diabetes, and heart disease. These conditions interfere with your body’s ability to detoxify itself.
In addition, consuming a lot of sugary drinks can lead to fatty liver, harming your liver’s ability to function well.
Antioxidants help protect your body from free radicals and the oxidative stress they bring on. Alcohol, pollution, a poor diet, and tobacco smoke promote the production of free radicals. These molecules can lead to liver disease among other illness conditions.
Therefore, eating foods high in antioxidants can work to protect your body from oxidative stress. Fruits, nuts, cocoa, spices, berries, vegetables, coffee, and green tea provide you with a lot of antioxidants.
A sedentary lifestyle and poor diet can lead to a buildup of fat around your liver and to liver disease. So, eating good foods in moderation and getting sufficient exercise will do to help you detox your liver than buying advertised liver aids.
In addition, if you enjoy drinking, keep in mind that muscle absorbs alcohol better than fat. So go to the gym and work out to keep down the effects of alcohol on your liver.
Research shows an association between regular exercise and longer life as well as a reduced risk of developing a number of chronic illness conditions. In addition, regular exercise helps reduce inflammation. Lowering inflammation will help your body’s detoxification system work better.
Getting good and sufficient sleep every night helps support not only good health overall but also improves your body’s detoxification system. Good sleep allows your brain to rid itself of beta-amyloid, a waste product that can contribute to the development of Alzheimer’s. Insufficient or poor sleep leads to a buildup of toxins and increases your risk of developing anxiety, high blood pressure, stress, obesity, Type 2 diabetes, and heart disease. Therefore, you need seven to nine hours of good sleep per night.
Water not only alleviates thirst, but it also helps detoxify your body by removing wastes, regulates body temperature, helps you digest food and absorb nutrients, and lubricates your joints. Your body’s normal processes of repairing cells and breaking down nutrients releases waste products. These products then go through elimination from your body through urination, breathing, and sweating. So, your body needs water for all of these processes.
A healthy gut means a healthy detoxification system. The cells in your intestines also help to detoxify and eliminate toxins such as chemicals. Consuming prebiotic foods help the good bacteria in your gut produce short-chain fatty acids that improve your health overall.
Without these prebiotic foods, the bacteria in your gut can become unbalanced leading to a weakened immune system and a detox system that doesn’t function well. So, these factors can then lead to increases in inflammation and an increased risk of illness conditions.
Some good sources of prebiotics include artichokes, bananas, onions, tomatoes, oats, and garlic.
To detox your liver successfully, you need to get rid of excess water. Limiting the amount of salt you consume can accomplish this.
Eating too much salt in your food can lead to retention of excess fluid, particularly if you suffer from conditions like AFS in which your liver is weakened. Increased salt can lead to your body producing an antidiuretic hormone that reduces urination. As a result, you don’t detoxify your body adequately. Increasing your water intake reduces the level of this hormone.
Increasing consumption of potassium-rich foods counteracts increased sodium. Some foods in this category include bananas, squash, kidney beans, spinach, and potatoes.
Because of the high levels of toxins that can impact your body daily, knowing how to detox your liver successfully can help you maintain good health. A large number of fad diets claim the ability to support your liver, but no scientific backing shows their ineffectiveness.
Natural ways to detox your liver prove much more effective and healthy. If you suffer from AFS and your liver is already weakened due to this condition, knowing how to detox your liver may help you deal with the condition. However, you must exercise caution due to the potential overstimulation of your liver, leading to a retoxification effect. Also, understand that there are many liver supplements that could be used to help detox the liver, but should be encouraged only with a practitioner's guidance.
If you consider how to detox your liver successfully, here are some things to keep in mind.
Whatever course of action you decide to take, however, please do so with the guidance of your healthcare professional. He or she can help you decide which of the options you face will prove best for your health.
If you would like to know more about or require assistance with how to detox your liver, the team at Dr. Lam Coaching can help. We offer a free** no-obligation phone consultation at +1 (626) 571-1234 where we will privately discuss your symptoms and various options. You can also send us a question through our Ask The Doctor system by clicking here.
You can successfully detox your liver using natural methods. Reduce alcohol intake, eat prebiotic foods, become more active, get sufficient sleep, and choose better foods to help detox your body and live a healthier life. However, be careful if you suffer from AFS, because there may be an increased risk of retoxification effects and overstimulation.