Love Your Liver :: Holistic Healing :: Detoxification and Cleansing

> Holistic Healing > Detoxification and Cleansing

Love Your Liver
by author Zoltan P. Rona, MSc, MD

An old friend you have not seen in over 10 years tells you that she thinks you need to do a liver cleanse.

Being an avid reader of alive magazine and a supporter of organic foods, health food stores, and nutritional supplements, you are both shocked and dismayed at her coffee-shop “diagnosis.” After a few depressing hours wondering what your friend was thinking, you consult your alive Encyclopedia of Natural Healing only to discover that you have at least 12 of the most common signs or symptoms of a toxic liver.

Advance Warning

A poorly functioning liver may not always reveal itself to your doctor during a physical examination or through blood tests collectively called liver-function tests. In fact, it may take years for an unhealthy liver to manifest a disease such as hepatitis or cirrhosis.

What kinds of symptoms might warn someone that they need to detoxify their liver before disease actually sets in? While there may be many different health issues or conditions that signal potential liver problems, some of the most common ones include a history of exposure to toxic substances, heavy drug and/or alcohol use, or the pre-existence of various diseases or conditions such as diabetes, high cholesterol, or chronic digestive disorders.

A Critical Role

What does the liver do, and why would it need to be cleansed?

The liver sits in the right upper side of your belly and performs thousands of tasks vital to life. Its most valuable role is detoxifying the body after exposure to or ingestion of harmful foods, chemicals, and microbes. The liver’s role in detoxification is achieved through complex enzyme systems known as phase I and phase II detoxification pathways. These enzyme systems require a number of vitamins, minerals, amino acids, and phytochemicals found in foods to work properly.

There are well over 100,000 different toxins found in our food, water, and air, including polycyclic hydrocarbons found in various herbicides and pesticides (such as DDT, dioxins, 2,4,5-T, 2,4-D, and PCBs). The medical profession contributes its share of toxins to our bodies in the form of mercury-containing vaccines, liver-stressing antibiotics, analgesics, narcotics, synthetic hormones, tranquilizers, and thousands of other damaging drugs.

In addition to detoxification, the liver is critical for many aspects of digestion (breaking nutrients down) and assimilation (building up body tissues). It stores many essential vitamins (B₁₂, A, D, E, and K) and minerals such as iron and copper. Red blood cells, responsible for carrying oxygen around the body, are also produced in the liver. The Kupffer cells in the liver filter bacteria and small foreign proteins out of the blood and help the body fight infections. Hormones and blood-clotting factors are also metabolized in the liver.

With its multitude of biochemical roles, it is easy to see how the liver can get into trouble either as a result of nutritional deficiencies or an overtaxing of its detoxification functions.

What can you do to help your liver? Periodic liver cleansing can be of value to even the healthiest of individuals.

Diet for a Healthy Liver

While there are dozens of different liver cleansing programs, they all include basic dietary changes and some health-enhancing supplements.

Drink plenty of water (6 to 12 cups/ 1.5 to 3 litres per day) because water helps the kidneys flush out toxins. Avoid multiple vitamins containing iron and high doses of preformed vitamin A, as these too can stress an unhealthy liver.

Regular vegetable-juice fasting with beets, celery, and carrots is ideal, but if juice fasting isn’t possible for you right now, emphasize high-fibre fruits, vegetables, seeds, nuts, and legumes in your diet. Include foods that support the liver detoxification pathways (see sidebar). Avoid animal products (meats, fish, and all dairy products), saturated fats, refined sugar, drugs, and alcohol.

Heat It Up

Your fat and muscle cells can store up to five grams of toxic environmental chemicals, drugs, and thousands of other poisons. Collectively, these have been termed xenobiotics (chemicals foreign to the body). Some of these are toxic to the liver, the immune system, the nervous system, or the kidneys. Some xenobiotics mimic hormones like estrogen, and some cause cancer.

1 2

Next Page >>>

Zoltan P. Rona, MSc, MD, is the best-selling author of several books including Return to the Joy of Health (alive Books, 1995) and Natural Alternatives to Vaccinations (alive Books, 2000). www.highlevelwellness.ca.

Source: alive #281, March 2006

Jane Siberry's Healthy Life
It's unbearably hot in a press tent in Edmonton. Jane Siberry's smile is gracious but tired as she greets the last of a number of media representatives who have been vying for a few minutes of her time.

A Little Help for the Liver
The liver is a remarkable organ and is the central chemical laboratory in the body. In a world in which new toxins are introduced daily, it's more important than ever to make sure our livers are happy and healthy.

Stories Skin Can Tell
Some of us might blame our bathroom lighting for the dark circles under our eyes and our pale faces. But eczema, psoriasis, blemishes, blackheads, acne and scarring can't be so easily dismissed.

Eat Away Arthritis
For some sufferers, arthritis is a minor irritation, a stiff finger or a mild ache in a hi.

Liver Restoration
Perhaps because there is no Western orthodox medical treatment for the liver, the liver is, unfortunately, overlooked as the cause of many health problem.

A Prescription for Drug Detoxification
If you've ever taken prescription drugs or are currently taking them, it's time to detoxify! Prescription drugs load the body with toxins. They deplete nutrients, disrupt metabolism and have the potential to cause addiction..

Out With The Old In With The New
Regeneration is the message of spring. Detoxification is one of the central concepts of natural healing. It's impossible to build healthy new tissue without eliminating the old cells and their by-products.

Spring Cleaning
The best support for your liver is to eat 75 per cent of your foods raw, enabling your liver to cleanse daily. Adding liver-loving foods such as fresh raw fruits, vegetables, nuts and seeds, fresh-pressed juices, whole grains, bitter greens and culinary and medicinal herbs encourages detoxification and aids digestion..

Liberate Your Colon
"Don't let your health be stolen by a congested colon! If a person is not being rewarded with good health, vigour and energy after proper sleep, good nutrition and dietary supplements, then there must be a thief, stealin.

Essential Oils
An Aromatic Perspective We have just completed a century marked by specializations in almost every field and profession.

Gain Without Pain!
Chiropractic Relieves Pressure Chiropractors are often asked what they can do to help conditions not normally associated with spinal problems, our basic consideration.

Fast and Simple
Summer is in full swing and both markets and gardens are brimming with luscious ripe fruits and vegetables! If you've ever thought about embarking on a cleansing program, now is the time to do it!But what exactly is a c.

Colonics
Cleansing and fasting are wonderful healing opportunities. When you fast, your body uses the energy normally required to digest food to eliminate toxins instead. But fasting may not eliminate the toxins, yeast and other harmful elements quickly enough to promote the healing you are attempting to achieve.

Can My Diet Survive the Shortbread Season?
It's that time of year when all those parties and social gatherings dot the calendar. Everywhere we turn, sweet temptation rears its ugly hea.

Jumpstart Your Body With Lympathic Drainage
Exercise of the lymphatic system is probably one of the most important outcomes of a good physical regimen-and one that we scarcely think about.

De-Stress Your Digestion
The most common health complaint in North America is poor digestion. Consumers spend billions of dollars each year on over-the-counter medicines and prescription drugs designed to temporarily relieve symptoms of gastrointestinal distress.

Detox the Natural Way
The best time for body cleansing is spring, when new life starts all around us in the kingdom of plants and animals. In spring our bodies also start a new cycle.

Cancer-Fighting Herbs and Roots
Plant roots may be out of sight, but they shouldn't be out of mind when it comes to dealing with cancer. Any physical approach to healing cancer must first concentrate on restoring both the organs of elimination and the circulation of nutrients in the body.

The Best Colon-Cleansing Diet
If you experience constipation, bladder and kidney infections, vaginal yeast infections, bad breath, body odour, abdominal cramps, or toe- and fingernail fungus, your colon may be calling for a cleanse. Some say disease begins in the colon.

Wisdom of the Human Body
You clean your house, wash your clothes and change the oil and filters in your automobile. You wash your hair and you brush your teet.

Spring Clean Your Liver
It may not feel like it yet, but soon the frost will melt and springtime will arrive--a natural time for growth, renewal and regeneratio.

Purify Yourself
Since ancient times, humans have incorporated detoxification practices to cleanse both the body and the min.

Rediscover Fasting
Fasting has been used for thousands of years as a medical therapy to help the body detoxify and rejuvenate from all kinds of health problems. It is defined as "voluntarily not eating food for varying lengths of time.: Many of the world's oldest medical systems have relied upon fasting for healing and as a way to prevent disease..

Scrub Grub
We are exposed daily to hundreds of chemicals ranging from naturally occurring gases and heavy metals to agricultural and household chemicals. We can be exposed through the air we breathe, the water we drink and the food we eat.

Cleansing With Common Weeds
Although cleansing is an ancient tradition, the necessity of doing so is more important today than ever befor.

Herbal Detox Kits
Detoxification is one of the basic foundations of natural healing. A good detox improves health by cleansing the intestinal tract, urinary tract, liver, gallbladder, blood and lymphatic system of unwanted toxins.

Supporting a Healthy Liver

The Mystery of Oxygenated Water
Water was once considered the most sacred of elements. The foundation upon which all civilizations are built is tied directly to the presence of water.

Medicinal Teas
There is something almost mystically refreshing about a just-steeped cup of tea. Year-to-year tea sales in health food stores tell us that Canadians are looking for more than mere refreshment.

Living in the Fasting Lane
Fasting on water for a period of one to ten days is a safe and powerful way to rejuvenate the mind and body. Long used as the primary detoxification method by naturopathic physicians, there are many benefits to fasting, both emotional and physical..

Rejuvenate With Detox
In today's polluted world, even with the best dietary habits and lifestyle we are susceptible to toxic overload through the air we breathe, the water we drink, and the food we eat.

It's Spring-Ceaning Time
We live in a toxic world. Trillions of pounds of chemicals are released into the environment each year, and some of them inevitably make their way into your bod.

Eight Weeks to Wellness

By cleansing regularly we can feel healthier, reduc.

The Flaming Heart
We all know what inflammation is. We recognize it as the redness, heat, and swelling that accompany injuries or infections. Although we may not like how it feels, inflammation is actually a beneficial process.

Gut Instinct
Almost all disease can be traced back to poor digestion. Good digestive health is more than just breaking down your food properly-it's essential for nutrient absorption, immune function, detoxification, and chemical and hormone production..

Flush Away Toxins
Imagine what would happen to your car if the exhaust system couldn't remove toxic fumes from the engine. It's the same in our bodies.

Do it Daily

The body works in a cooperative balance. When we aim to detoxify specific organs, we upset that balance and experience upsetting results..

Detox and Weight Loss
What do food additives, caffeine and alcohol, medications, herbicides and pesticides, and household chemicals all have in common? Each must be rendered harmless by your body's detoxification system in order for you to stay lean and healthy.

Parasite Cleansing
Parasites occur not only in Third World countries or in those who have travelled extensively. Eighty-five percent of North Americans have at least one form of parasite. Some authorities believe that the true figure may be as high as 95 percent..

Four Easy Steps
It's springtime and we all have the urge to greet the new season with the best of healt.

Aromatherapy Detox With Essential Oils
Detoxification is a natural and constant bodily process. We are continually eliminating excess toxins through our digestive, urinary, integumentary (skin), circulatory, respiratory, and lymphatic systems.

A Detox Menu
Detoxification can mean different things to different people. A seasonal body cleanse can take a variety of approaches, so I encourage people to find what works for them. It might be simply increasing fibre and fluids in your diet.

A Cleansing Sweat
No doubt about it, exercise makes us sweat. Although uncomfortable to many, sweating is essential to our health. Perspiration helps the body stay cool despite the increased internal temperatures produced by exercise.

Coming Clean in a Toxic World
Many of the purification rituals used in ancient cultures - water or juice fasts, herbal cleanses, and other more traditional approaches - may not effectively minimize our exposure to the thousands of chemicals in our world today.

Reduce Your Toxic Load
Toxins come in many forms and from many sources. They're everywhere. It's hard to avoid them. They're in our food, water, soil, and air. Toxins are in our pharmaceutical drugs, our bottled drinking water, our children's school playgrounds, and our shiny new cars.

Colon Cleansing Made Easy

Spring Cleaning

Detoxing the Java Junkie

Be Kind to Your Liver This Holiday Season
Nothing leads to a diminished metabolicrate faster than regular alcohol consumption, and for many people alcohol is a bigpart of holiday season celebrations.

A Cleanse for All Seasons
Cleansing eliminates the toxic effects of our diets as well as the poisons we absorb from the environment. During a cleansing program we clean our body's muscles, organs, and fat tissue. But which cleansing program should you choose?

Drive to Revive
Have you ever noticed that many people treat their cars better than their bodies? If you aren't sure where to look for your body's warning lights, ask yourself a few questions.

Protein Up Your Detox
Most North Americans begin their daily ritual with a shower. We place significant importance on the products we use to brush our teeth, wash our hair, and cleanse our bodies. Yet many of us do not practise the same stringent guidelines when it comes to what we ingest and how we cleanse our bodies from the inside.

Milk Thistle
For hundreds of years, medicinal plants have been used to protect and support liver function. Of these, the best known and currently the most well-researched is milk thistle (Silybum marianum), a rather ominous looking plant covered in sharp spines pointing in all directions.

Natural Products for Detoxification
Cleansing and detox kits line the shelves of health food stores. Every time you walk past them you think, I should do a cleanse...one of these days. Do it soon!

Who're You Calling "Toxic"?
Whenever I hear the words "cleanse or "detox, it reminds me of an old friend. This friend enthusiastically and diligently undertook an intense program of cleansing and near-fasting for a full 14 days.

Get to Know Your Liver
The liver is one of our most vital organs and, next to our skin, the largest. Optimal function is essential to dealing with the abundance of toxins that are processed through the liver.

Renewing Life
In with the good, out with the bad. It's simple physiology, but when the digestive system doesn't function properly, optimum health can be elusive.

Six Steps to Detoxify
Detoxification is a healing technique that has been used for centuries by cultures all over the globe. Through various types of detoxification, we can allow the body to heal itself, thus bringing it to a purer, healthier, and more vibrant place.

Proper Detoxification
We live in an increasingly toxic world. Toxic substances are everywhere-in the air we breathe, the food we eat, and the water we drink. In addition, we face a dramatic increase in electromagnetic radiation from cellular phones, power lines, and a depleted ozone layer.

Cleansed? What's Next?
Congratulations! You've cleansed your body's vital systems of toxins. Now you're feeling good, and it's time to get back to a regular diet that doesn't include the foods that were responsible for creating toxicity in your body.

Spring Clean Your Body
It's time for spring cleaning, and to tackle this job, many of us will be cleansing, detoxifying, and revitalizing our bodies with natural products. In preparation for detoxifying, common sense dictates we eliminate caffeine, alcohol, and smoking, and incorporate exercise in our daily routine.

The 4-Week Ultimate Body Detox Plan
I am partial to books that deliver a heavy dose of practical, useful information. This new book is one of those, and it gets extra points for being easy to follow. Author Schoffro Cook is a natural health professional with many credits to her name.

Detoxification
Did you know that we are exposed to an estimated 600 billion pounds of synthetic chemicals every year?

Spring Cleaning
Good health depends on our ability to effectively eliminate toxins. This is where a cleanse or detoxification program can help.

Top 10 Foods for Detoxing
Pollution kills up to 25,000 Canadians every year. A 2007 UBC study shows that pollution is linked to 24,000 cancer cases and costs our health care system nearly $2 billion annually.

Clean It Up!
With the advent of spring, we seem naturally inclined to freshen and renew ourselves. Internal cleansing and detox systems can provide a convenient and regimented way to support the healthy elimination of accumulated body toxins and waste.

5 Tips for a Successful Detox
Watch late-night television and you'll notice several commercial breaks featuring ads promising relief for digestive woes. Over 20 million Canadians are affected by digestive disorders; tummy troubles cost about $8 billion a year.

Herbal Cleansing
Plants cleanse and revitalize our bodies from the inside. Our body systems are designed to utilize the benefits of plants, and we may suffer chronic illness and premature aging if we do not consume enough botanical bounties.

Milk Thistle
Even though milk thistle (Silybum marianum) is not a new herb to the health food industry, the studies and clinical evidence of this amazing medicinal botanical continue to expand each year.

Optimize Your Kidney Function
Often overlooked when starting a cleanse, most people are unaware of the important role the kidneys play in removing toxins from the body.