The liver is the primary organ concerning weight loss and is used for detoxing the body. Not only does it burn fat, but the liver also regulates the body’s fat metabolism. It does this utilizing many biochemical pathways. Excess fat is then disposed of via the small intestines.
It is, therefore, possible that if you seem to have accumulated an inch or so of body fat around the torso, and repeated exercise cannot seem to do the trick, the liver may be to blame.
People rarely consider their liver when doing a self-assessment of their health. Yes, you may express concern for the organ when you go on a weekend vodka bender, but not generally when referring to how you feel each day. However, the health of this very important internal body part and detoxing the body is key to not only your internal well-being, but the maintenance of healthy weight as well.
Your liver is responsible for many bodily processes: it is the body’s filter, removing toxins from the blood such as drugs and alcohol, and nutrient byproducts such as nitrates and ammonia. Toxins are filtered out by the liver and either broken down or sent to be disposed of via the gut. However, if your gut or your diet is not healthy, the toxins will eventually make their way back to the liver. This takes place through enterohepatic circulation. During this process, approximately 95 percent of the bile acids are reabsorbed from the small intestine. This leads to a cycle. If high in toxins or fat, this contributes to weight gain.
An overtaxed liver, meaning one that is not able to carry out the body’s detoxification optimally, could have a few serious repercussions. A dysfunctional liver does not manufacture enough good (HDL) cholesterol. A healthy liver, when detoxing the body optimally, shunts dietary cholesterol into the liver. From there, it is usually excreted by means of the bile. It is, therefore, essential for the regulation of cholesterol levels in the blood.
A liver that has problems with the detoxification process in the body also increases your chances of contracting cardiovascular diseases due to dyslipidemia. These include heart attacks, high blood pressure, strokes, and atherosclerosis.
Weight gain around the middle may also be the result of an improper functioning of the liver. Because the liver is under stress, it does not regulate fat metabolism properly. This fat is just about impossible to get rid of until the liver starts working properly once more. Once the cause is addressed the liver will once more be able to burn fat efficiently, making weight loss easier.
When the liver is, for any reason, more sluggish than normal and is not adequately detoxing the body, adrenal fatigue may be the culprit behind it. In adrenal fatigue, the adrenals are not able to continue producing hormones to sustain your body. As a result, energy levels can decrease. As energy levels decrease, the liver may not have sufficient fuel to carry out all its duties and may become overwhelmed. Liver congestion may result, creating a vicious downward cycle of ever increasing toxicity within the body. When the liver is overworked because of adrenal fatigue, it can greatly hinder weight loss, regardless of calorie restriction or vigorous exercise.
“Fatty liver’ is a condition that is ascribed to many middle-aged people by practitioners of conventional medicine. The result is an enlarged liver due to the deposit of fatty tissue. Other signs that are related to a adrenal fatigue and a congested liver are nausea, chronic fatigue, jaundice or yellowing of the skin, loss of sex drive, dark urine, and seemingly random headaches.
At this point, you may be considering a liver cleanse. Indeed, these cleanses are meant to help detoxing the liver and alleviate symptoms of a congested liver, i.e. one that is not detoxing the body as it should. It is, however, important that you first evaluate yourself. See if you can recognize any other symptoms associated with your body in which the detoxification function is not working properly. This may lead to adrenal fatigue syndrome. Conditions such as exhaustion, trouble sleeping, a foggy feeling in the head, acne or other obvious skin conditions, constipation, heartburn, indigestion, bloating, and signs of prediabetes are all indicators that another condition exists.
After carefully considering all of your symptoms, you may be wise to ask your doctor to perform tests on the liver to assess whether it is functioning properly. Ask specifically concerning your body’s detoxification process. Your doctor can do so in a few ways. Imaging tests include the CAT scan and MRI scan, while blood tests for liver function are the aspartate aminotransferase (AST) test and alanine aminotransferase (ALT) test. Your doctor will discuss with you which of these particular tests offer the most benefits to you. Nevertheless, keep in mind that results for the liver function test might all come back normal, even if you have subclinical liver congestion. It is important to rule out other major liver diseases first, however.
There are many ways you can assist your liver’s healing process in order to help it detoxing the body at its optimal level once more. Lifestyle changes, such as increasing exercise to improve circulation, can affect not only your overall well-being, but help your liver maintain optimum efficiency. While carrying out its detoxification process of your body efficiently, you will see noticeable resulting decreases associated with adrenal fatigue.
Common ways to help your liver recover include the cessation of tobacco consumption, whether through smoking or other means, avoiding medications that are processed by the liver such as acetaminophen (brand name Tylenol), and severely decreasing or stopping the consumption of alcoholic beverages. These steps, as well as a general attempt to lead a clean lifestyle by eating a diet rich in antioxidants from fruits and vegetables, getting plenty of exercise, and drinking plenty of water can greatly improve your liver function and help to alleviate the symptoms associated with a congested liver, such as adrenal fatigue syndrome and obesity.
A healthy diet with fruits and vegetables in abundance can have a wonderfully positive effect on the liver, as well as the rest of the body. Socrates is attributed to the old adage “Let thy food be thy medicine.” Indeed, proper diet is all too often neglected in the land of fast food cheeseburgers and coffee drinks that can have as much sugar as a milkshake.
It is important to eat as many fruits and vegetables as you can. These foods are full of nutrients and should make up the majority of your caloric intake. Cruciferous vegetables in particular, such as kale and broccoli, are shown to be extremely useful in aiding the liver’s detoxification process. They can be consumed in smaller quantities if you are in a state of estrogen dominance. Opt to flavor foods with different herbs and spices, because they are nutrient powerhouses.
Studies have shown that a number of supplements support the liver’s metabolism and detoxification process in the body. For example, milk thistle is used as a treatment for chronic hepatitis, cirrhosis, and toxin-damaged hepatocytes. Glutathione is also a major endogenous antioxidant, used in metabolic and biochemical reactions in every system of the body, especially the liver.
Many individuals find adding psyllium husks, unprocessed muesli, and wheat bran to their diet helps boost their fiber intake significantly and assist in detoxing the body by removing toxins via the gut. A body that is not detoxified efficiently because of a damaged liver is less able to remove fats from the blood.
A low-fat, low-calorie diet is thus not really the answer when deciding on lifestyle changes. In the end, the most effective way of improving your diet is by eating the correct foods, thereby gaining the correct nutrients needed by the liver in order to function correctly. This, essentially, assists the liver in its fat burning process.
The neuroendometabolic (NEM) stress response is the body’s way of handling stress, whether from internal or environmental causes. When this process is hindered by liver congestion, which is due to it not being able to carry out the body’s detoxification process adequately, and resulting in adrenal fatigue, the body’s metabolism is unable to keep up and weight gain may result.
Aside from the thyroid and pancreas, the liver is one of the main organs participating in the metabolic pathway. A healthy metabolism allows the body to burn a proportionate amount of calories to meet the needs of energy required by your body. The liver is also key in the detoxification of the body as a whole, along with the ECM and the Immune system. Without a clean route for all the hormones and food to be metabolized and excreted, there is no way the body can overcome its weight gain. This is why it is so important to look at all the systems working together under the NEM stress response and be able to tackle the whole body at once.
While keeping the liver in optimum health is a good concept to strive for, those with advance fatigue may find it easier said than done. Sufferers of advanced AFS often experience adrenal crashes after detoxification attempts. This can be quite serious. Proper liver support requires a comprehensive program and ongoing supervision. Self-navigation efforts can backfire.The more advanced the state of AFS one is in, the greater the risk. The right thing done at the wrong time is wrong, and the body can be damaged as a result and recovery reduced or even reversed…
What works for one person may make another person worse. Always consult an AFS literate practitioner before embarking on any liver detoxification program.
Your liver is an incredibly important part of your body and if it's unhealthy you'll suffer from a range of symptoms and problems. This is especially true when an unhealthy liver is combined with adrenal fatigue, resulting in ongoing problems such as weight gain and an excess of body fat. Detoxing the body is one of the best ways to overcome these kinds of problems, and you can do this gently and naturally by:
For support and health with your adrenal fatigue and liver health journey, talk to our staff on +1 (626) 571-1234 or click here.
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