One of the biggest questions I get asked is, what is the main organ we need to look after when it comes to our health, and it is without a doubt our LIVERS. The liver has over 400 different functions in our body, so it’s an overworked, overtaxed organ. The next question I get asked is, why is the liver so overburdened these days, what has changed? Well, that’s simple. It comes down to four different areas – our environment, our home, our diet, and our bodies.
Our environments have changed. We are dealing with pollution, petrol fumes, all sorts of different things are happening in the air that we’re breathing.
In our home environment, we have the chemicals we are cleaning with, the artificial lights in our houses, EMFS, wifi, the makeup we’re using, our personal care products, the indoor air that we’re breathing. All of these things are creating toxins in our home environment, not to mention mould, our teeth with mercury fillings, etc.
Then in our diet, there is no escaping it. For a lot of us, we are being exposed to pesticides and GMOs. It doesn’t matter if you’re eating organic, it’s turning up in our water supply. And a lot of us aren’t filtering our water. So guess what? Our liver has to do this job.
And finally, we’ve got our bodies. We’ve got the lotions and potions that we apply to our skin and our hair, the perfumes we spray onto our bodies, and the make up we wear. Not to mention the light sources that are in our working environments, and around the streets. There is so much pollution coming into our bodies
So how do we support our liver? What are some things we can do at home? Obviously, eating organic if we can, and using apple cider vinegar to rinse off the chemicals from the vegetables we’re eating. There’s also the Clean Fifteen (that’s a great list of the best non-organic fruit and veggies). We’ve also got some extra foods that we can be eating, and extra herbs.
When it comes to foods, you want to eat your cruciferous vegetables. Which are your brussel sprouts, broccoli, cabbage, and cauliflower. You want to make them a part of your daily diet. Beetroot is another key one that you want to be incorporating, along with stewed apples (because the pectin in the apple is fantastic for your gut bacteria). Basil, artichokes, garlic, ginger, grapefruit, are also some of the main ingredients in our supplements that we bring into clinic, so make sure you are incorporating them into your diet. Along with turmeric and avocados, which are also very useful. When it comes to herbs to support your liver, you want to have milk thistle, turmeric, dandelion root, burdock root, and you can use all sorts of different herbs that you can break down from the seed form – eg. chewing on coriander seeds is very useful. As well as the above you can also use a liver support supplement from clinic.
Next, we have the different DIY liver supporting activities that you can be doing at home. The first one you have probably heard of is dry skin brushing. You know that I love talking about that one. The next one (and I did a series of videos on oral health) is tongue scraping which is key, along with rinsing and flossing with baking soda in your mouth each day. Castor oil packs are amazing liver support. Hot yoga, or any source of sweating therapy is amazing for your liver. So we do that in clinic with the sauna, with the red light therapy. We’re doing that throughout the 21 day detox, with the foods and the drinks that you’re having. We’re also doing that with the extra liver support, which is the AMD ion foot cleanse, the pulsed electromagnetic field therapy (which is phenomenal if you’ve been exposed to mould), along with the red light therapy, and the saunas. You’ve also got the gua sha, which I like to use all over my body to help support my liver, but it’s also supporting my lymphatic system at the same time.
Then another little sneaky trick that my osteopath taught me, is moving your lymphatic system too, which is basically hitting your legs. That’s how I like to think about it. So those are some of the things that you can be doing at home that are simple and easy. And also, detox baths – baking soda, epsom salts, etc. to get all the detoxification benefits.
The key message here is, we need to be looking after our liver. We need to create a regular practise that supports our liver health and detoxification pathways. I get asked all the time, why do I do the ‘21 Day Liver Detox’ regularly? Every time I offer it, I do it with clients. Why? Because, as careful as I am with my diet, as careful as I am with every environmental toxin, with everything that I put into my body and onto my body, I’m still exposed. We know I get exposed to dirty light in the office. We know that I breathe the same air as you all do, when I walk down the street. My water is filtered, but you’ve seen how dirty the filters are. So there are so many ways that I’m getting exposed, and that’s why I invest in looking after my liver. I make it a daily practice. And then I do the extra spring clean twice a year.