How to Nourish your Liver for Balanced Hormones

Today I want to dive into the details of how critical your liver is to your body and what you can do to nourish your liver for balanced hormones. 

Let’s Get Clear about the Word “Detox”:

The word “Detox” is thrown around all the time in the health industry.  And unfortunately, it is attached to things that do not really detox you..just because you ingest a box that cleans out your bowels– doesn’t mean you actually helping your body detox.  You are just emptying your bowels lol so you feel “detoxed”.   

That is why instead of using “detox” I used the word nourish in this post. Because nourish is exactly what you want to do to support liver detoxification.

Why We Need to Support Our Liver in Detox:

Our body naturally detoxes on its own.  As you are sitting here reading this, your liver and other organs are working hard to detox your body and complete 500 other processes!! It is working hard for you!  So why do we need to support it? Unfortunately, the environment we live in today has our body bombarded with chemicals. Just think about our world 100 years ago…we didn’t have an abundance of processed foods, body care products, pollution, pesticides, cell phones (EMFs), plastics,and prescription drugs.  We work inside and barely breath any fresh air.  Our liver works hard, but by helping remove the toxic load we can give our body the tools to further heal our body.

3 Functions of the Liver: 

Next, I want to dive into a 3 processes of the liver, so you can further understand its wonder:

1. The liver takes amino acids and converts them into specific proteins.  The proteins have various roles a few include: transporting hormones or transporting wastes.  Amino acids come from the protein we eat which is why eating protein is so critical to liver support.

2. The liver metabolizes carbohydrates and manages your blood sugar level.  Your body works to maintain a steady level of sugar in your blood. If it gets too low or too high, you start not feeling good. The liver does this by turning protein and fat into glucose if you have low blood sugar.  And it stores excess carbs if the blood sugar gets too high. 

3. The liver removes toxins by transforming them in to water-soluble chemicals.  This allows them to be removed from the body through urine, feces, sweat, and even breath! For the liver to do this, it works in 2 stages known as Phase 1 and Phase 2.  Each phase requires different nutrients that need to be available for these 2 detox phases to fully complete.

As you can see, just from understanding these processes you can see how vital your liver is to your health.  And I only listed 3 processes –  and it has over 500!! By understanding how the food you eat and the life you live impacts your liver – you can support your body to better health and balanced hormones. 

Let’s dive into 11 simple ways that you can support your liver:

1.  Eating Real Food Balanced Meals

Just from understanding 3 liver functions, you can see how important eating real food is for supporting liver detox. Not only is eating real food essential by managing your blood sugar levels.  You can do this by eating 3 meals a day that include protein, fat and vegetables.  And limiting processed foods and refined sugar products.

2. Support Phase 1 and Phase 2 Detox with Food.

Our liver needs all required nutrients to support complete detoxification. 

Foods that Support Phase 1 include: quality protein, dark leafy greens, cocoa, avocados, liver, eggs, beef, salmon, tomatoes,asparagus, kale, broccoli, tomatoes, sweet potatoes, sunflower seeds, spinach, greens, and beets

Foods that Support Phase 2: gelatin, bone broth, organ meats, beef, pork, seafood, chicken,red peppers, brussels sprouts, onions, brazil nuts, and eggs

3. Support Open Detox Pathways

Besides the liver our pathways of detox include: our skin, bowels, kidneys, and lymph.  So if you aren’t pooping daily, all those toxins are staying in your body. It is VERY important to make sure you have 1 bowel movement a day.  Another simple way to open the pathways is sweating daily to release toxins through your skin.  You can sweat by movement, sauna, or infrared sauna.

4. Stay Hydrated.

Make sure to drink water daily and if possible filtered water. Add lemon and sea salt to your water to keep water in the cells. 

5. Eat Livers!!

I know nasty…I don’t eat liver, but if you like it – eat it!It is one of the most nutrient dense foods because that is where so many critical vitamins are stored.  If you want to enjoy the benefits, but not the taste – try beef liver capsules!

6. Remove Unnecessary Toxins from your Environment.

A simple way to support your liver is to ditch your cleaning products and use safer cleaning products. I like the company Norwex for my cleaning needs.  Another way includes using more glass products instead of plastics and switching over to safer beauty products.  Personally, I committed to slowly switching to everything that I can.  For me, switching my cleaning products was not challenging because you are already buying products! No reason why you cannot upgrade.

7. Take Magnesium Salt Baths.

Most of us are deficient in magnesium and a simple way to relax is by taking a salt bath!  Not only that, you will absorb some magnesium which can promote better sleep and better bowel movements. 

8.Oil Pulling 

This is a great way to pull toxins out the mouth and blood. All you do is take your favorite cold-pressed oil like coconut or sesame.  Then swish it around in your month for 15-20 minutes. Make sure not to swallow the oil because it is holding all the toxins you are pulling out. Ideally, you want to do this right away when you wake up before eating/drinking.  But honestly, I think any time is better than none. 

9. Eat Probiotic Rich Foods 

I recommend that everyone take a probiotic supplement.  But what is even better is eating lots of probiotic foods. This includes fermented veggies, sauerkraut, kimchi, kefir, tempeh, and miso.  Our good bacteria has been wiped out with excessive use of antibiotics, medications, and toxic load. It is critical to support the body in this way for detox and a healthy gut. Read more about leaky gut here. 

10. Castor Oil Packs 

Castor oil helps to increase lymph production in the body which is supports the immune system. It helps to clear up liver congestion which happens easily when we sit most of the day.  Castor oil helps to turn on the parasympathetic systems which allows the body to heal. Learn more about how to apply castor oil packs here. 

11. Coffee Enemas 

This is on my to-do list to try! lol I am a bit nervous, but the benefits sound amazing. An enema helps to clear out excess toxins stored in the colon.  It supports liver detox by creating glutathione which is the main nutrient our body needs for liver detox! You can read here about how to do a coffee enema. Let me know if you try one! 

There are so many more ways that you can support your liver, but adding in just a few of these will make a big difference.  No need to be overwhelmed, but instead take this information and try adding in 1 new thing! See how good you feel and then explore some more.  And have fun! 

xoxo

chelsea J

PS! If you are looking for personalized support on your healing journey, I am now accepting 1:1 clients!  I support my clients through specialty lab testing to find EXACTLY what their body needs and use my detective skills to connect the dots on their unique past and develop a simple to follow plan to get them back to feeling amazing! Just click here to apply (so I know a bit more of what is going on) and we can chat about exactly how we can restore your health! yay!

Questions? Email me at chelsea@cjwellness.com . xx