We don't get to hear much about the role played by the liver in digestion, but I assure you, successful digestion is all about the liver. It processes everything we ingest (including medicine). When your liver is sick, your digestive system malfunctions, then other systems in your body malfunction. In absence of a healthy liver, metabolism is slowed, blood doesn't circulate well, hormones are in a state of imbalance, blood doesn't get detoxified thoroughly.
When your liver is healthy, you'll enjoy clearer skin, fewer infections, stronger immunity, easy digestion, increased energy levels, optimal oral health, a sharper and apt mind, and a happy mood. The following tips will help you protect and rejuvenate your liver:
Avoid alcoholic drinks
An abusive consumption of alcohol is likely to cause Alcoholic Liver Cirrhosis - which is a replacement of healthy liver tissue with scar tissue, as a result of consuming large mounts of alcohol over decades. The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism defines heavy drinking as the consumption of 5 or more alcoholic drinks in one day, on at least five of the past thirty days.
According to the American Liver Foundation, between 10 and 20 percent of heavy drinkers will develop the disease. Symptoms typically develop within the 30 to 40 years age range. Women face a higher risk of developing the disease as they do not have as many enzymes in their stomachs to break down the alcohol particles. As such the alcohol travels to the liver and causes scarring (on the liver).
Do not Take Unnecessary Medication
Taking unnecessary medicines predisposes you to a category of diseases known as drug-induced liver diseases. Such include: drug-induced hepatitis, drug-induced cholestasis. Drugs could cause liver disease directly or indirectly. Liver toxicity can be classified as either dose-dependent, idiosyncratic, or drug allergy.
Drugs that easily cause dose-dependent toxicity could easily lead to liver disease. A common example is the intake of an overdose of Tylenol (acetaminophen). Liver injury/diseases resulting from drug intake include:- Blood clots in the veins of the liver
- Fulminant hepatitis accompanied by severe life threatening liver failure,
- Cirrhosis which hails from either chronic hepatitis, cholestasis, fatty liver disease or a combination of all three,
- Cholestasis - decreased bile secretion,
- Steatosis - accumulation of fats in the liver,
- Mixed liver disease - a combination of two or more liver diseases,
- Hepatitis - an inflammation of liver cells,
- Necrosis - death of liver cells, possibly resulting from severe hepatitis.
Some herbal medicine and natural supplements can also be harmful to the liver when consumed excessively. An overdose of vitamin A, for example, is a well known cause of liver toxicity. Discussing all your medications and supplements wit your doctor is advisable.
Do not Smoke
Alongside the inhaled cigarette smoke, smokers inhale over 7,000 carcinogens, which travel through unimaginable organs of the body. Smoking dramatically increases a person's cancer risk. Smoking may turn your liver cells into scar tissue - cirrhosis. The smoking of cigarettes indirectly harms the liver, the toxins in cigarettes penetrate the liver and cause oxidative stress to the liver, which produces free radicals (that are harmful to the liver).
Eat Organic Crops
The quality of your diet has a direct impact on your liver. Crops sprayed with chemicals carry synthetic hormones, antibiotic residue and toxins that the liver needs to extract, which cause more strain on the liver.
Reduce Stress and Practice Forgiveness
Most of our organs are linked to a specific emotion. The liver is connected to anger, but most people are unaware of this connection. The more we et angry, the more we strain our livers. Emotional troubles ave typically been tied to liver damage. Chronic stress disrupts the endocrine, reproductive, digestive and immune systems.
Recent research sows that stress-induced chances in the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (PA) axis causes an inflammatory response in the liver and worsens liver damage. Cortisol, which is a stress hormone, can increase the risk of having a fatty liver, hence fatty liver disease. Cortisol is known to promote the accumulation of fat deposits in the liver.
Move Your Body
Regular exercise boosts health overall, and as a positive impact on your liver. Bot aerobic exercise and weight training are recommended. Aerobic exercises increase your oxygen intake thereby speeding up delivery to your vital organs (like the liver). Weight training prevents the accumulation of fats in the body. Excess fats can build up on the liver and cause nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH). NASH may cause liver cirrhosis in the long run.
Avoid Liver-damaging Foods
The following foods cause damage to the liver:- Moderate to high amounts of alcohol and high amounts of caffeine,
- Factory-farmed animal derivatives,
- Packaged foods with refined vegetable oils, artificial colors, artificial sweeteners and colors, and other artificial ingredients,
- Non-organic fruits and vegetables, sprayed with chemical pesticides, herbicides and fungicides, and
- Sugary drinks and snacks.
Consume more of liver-friendly foods such as: leafy greens, sour foods, cruciferous vegetables and greens, high anti-oxidant fruits, raw honey, coconut oils, apple cider vinegar and green tea.
Other tips for enhancing your liver's health include:
- Drinking enough water.
- Sleeping long enough (as required for your age group).
- Getting tested and vaccinated for viruses which affect the liver, such as hepatitis A and B.
- Avoiding the consumption of oral hormones such as birth control pills and anabolic steroids (usually taken by bodybuilders).
- Avoiding the consumption of raw or undercooked shellfish (oysters, scallops, mussels, clams and the like), as they could be contaminated with Vibrio vulnificus (a bacteria), which is very toxic to the liver.
- Avoiding the consumption of molded foods as these may be contaminated by aflatoxins, which are a known risk factor for liver cancer.
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