5 Liver Cleansing Foods You Need to Eat

Your liver probably doesn't get the recognition it deserves.

Being your body's largest gland, it plays a major role in keeping us healthy and energetic.

Yet, it does not get as much attention as the heart or brain. It's high time to show your liver some love!

Here are some of the key things your liver does for your body:

  • Helps digest fat by producing bile
  • Stores sugar (as glycogen), vitamins, and iron
  • Produces endocrine hormones responsible for growth & energy release
  • Converts stored glycogen to glucose in the absence of fuel
  • Cleanses toxic wastes from medications, alcohol and digestive byproducts

The liver works around the clock, using 1.5 quarts of blood per minute to function. A healthy liver gives you stable blood sugar, clear skin and healthy body weight. A well-functioning liver will never fail your health.

So, one of the best things you can do to help your liver help you is to eat right!

Eat right, eat clean

Choosing to eat clean, healthy foods is the first step towards a healthy liver. Your goal is to reduce the liver's daily toxic burden and make its job easier.

Overwhelming your liver with toxins can make its job a lot harder! Cut back on unwanted toxins like smoke, alcohol and drugs and choose foods that support liver health.

5 Foods for Liver Health

1. Beets

Beets contain plenty of cleansing nutrients. Betaine, betalains and pectin are only some of its important nutrients. Betaine is an amino acid that helps the liver to rid itself of toxins. Betalains are the dark pigments that give beets their color.

They're anti-inflammatory in nature and aid in the liver's detoxification process. Pectin is a soluble fiber which binds with the toxins removed by the liver and removes them from the body.

2. Lemon

Lemon is rich in phenolic compounds, vitamins, minerals, fiber, essential oils, and carotenoids. All these compounds support optimal liver function. Fresh lemon juice in a glass of warm water, on an empty stomach, is one prescription for a healthy liver.

Lemon contains limonoids, a nutrient that is a potent anti-cancer agent.

Lemon is an excellent source of vitamin C, which helps rejuvenate the liver cells. Vitamin C is an antioxidant that protects the liver from oxidative stress. Deficiency of vitamin C leads to poor liver function.

3. Cruciferous vegetables

Broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, bok Choy etc fall under the cruciferous vegetable category. These are sulfur-containing vegetables, which are the reason for the characteristic odor when cooked. These veggies contain sulforaphane, a type of nutrient that improves liver function.

Studies show that sulforaphane increases the liver's action to remove toxins and cancer-causing agents. In particular, sulforaphane increases the action of the detoxification enzymes secreted by the liver.

4. Turmeric

Turmeric is a spice, that's a powerful anti-cancer agent. Its anti-inflammatory and antioxidant effects make it a perfect add-on to detox recipes.

Curcumin, the yellow pigment in turmeric is a powerful antioxidant and anticancer agent.

The anti-inflammatory nature of turmeric helps repair damaged liver cells. Ayurveda (an ancient science of holistic healing) uses turmeric as a key ingredient to treat liver cirrhosis.

5. Garlic

Garlic is nature's best antibiotic and an anti-infective agent. Garlic is rich in Diallyl sulfide (DAS), one of the sulfur-containing nutrients. DAS helps to activate the detoxifying enzymes in the liver.

When garlic is crushed, it releases allicin. This nutrient helps protect liver cells from damage.

3 Takeaways to Protect Your Liver

Choose organic foods: If organic produce is too expensive for you, consider growing your own chemical-free vegetables.

Rotate your greens: They are rich in chlorophyll which is another detoxifying pigment your liver loves.

Avoid environmental toxins: This includes many cosmetics, paints, air pollution, alcohol and drug overuse.

Personally, I use this all natural and gentle detox a few times a year. It renews my energy and resets my hormones. I always feel amazing after I finish a detox.

Yours in health,

Danette

P.S. Pleased share this info. with your loved ones and I welcome your comments below.