Liver and Kidney Cleanse

Let’s continue discussing the cleansing process in our bodies after our holiday indulgences. The colon cleansing starts first because it’s the main pipe out of the body.

You may want to review the  colon cleansing article.

If the colon is clogged, then anything dumped into it by other organs may just sit there and be reabsorbed adding to our toxic problems. So let’s squelch that vicious cycle.

Once things are moving smoothly out of the bowel then we can give the liver some help.

Remember drinking plenty of purified water helps the cleansing process in all of our organs including the liver.

Every day help for the liver

 Since certain foods help the liver get rid of toxins, we can incorporate them into our daily diets.

Simply add lemon juice and olive oil to salads, stir cooks or other food to help the liver regularly move the toxins out of itself.

Incorporate beets into your meal plans since they also help detoxify the liver. Some folks drink fresh pressed beet juice and carrot juice as a way to concentrate the nutrients and deliver them to the liver in a more powerful way.

Most folks recognize silymarin (Milk Thistle) as the major herb that supports the liver. However many other herbs help the liver including black radish extract, dandelion, yellow dock root, barberry, ginger, cramp bark, fennel, peppermint, wild yam and catnip.

We could include some of these herbs in our meals to liven up the taste of our food.

Why is liver cleansing so important?

Because it’s such a huge factory!

The liver converts the nutrients delivered to it from the blood stream into vitally necessary building blocks for your body, including amino acids, sugars, fatty acids and cholesterol  (a very necessary nutrient despite its bad rap from the press).

It also oxidizes fat so we can burn it for energy. Of course, if we don’t burn up all that fat energy, the liver converts the excess fat to fatty acids and sends them to the fat tissues for storage.

Can you see how a decline in liver function can lead to fatigue and just not feeling good?

And it’s also the major organ that detoxifies our bodies!

The gut produces ammonia as a by-product of digesting protein. Bacteria fermenting food in the gut add to the ammonia production. A well-functioning liver gets rid of this toxic by-product.

It also keeps us from dying from the regular assault on our bodies from toxic substances in our food and external environment. The liver transforms toxic substances like insecticide residues, chemicals, drugs, and alcohol into less toxic forms so they can be excreted by the kidneys.

So what’s the next step in detoxification?

 That’s right. Be sure to support and cleanse the kidneys too. Liver and kidney cleansing go hand-in-hand.

Obviously the kidney needs optimal amounts of water as one of its major cleansers. Two quarts per day works for most folks.

Make one quart of that water allotment per day into marshmallow tea to cleanse the bladder and kidneys and strengthen the bladder. And don’t get excited – that’s the herb marshmallow that you will use to make the tea, not the awful purely sugar marshmallows that you roast over the campfire.

If you want more support for your kidneys consider golden seal, juniper, uva ursi, parsley, ginger and lobelia.

If you find a liver support product with a combination of herbs and supplements, it will probably help the kidneys too.

Blessings,

Dr. Jo