Nutrients That Support the Liver
One of your liver’s jobs is to filter toxins from your blood stream and pass them out of your body through your urine and bowel movements. In order to do this, the liver needs support. With a natural, healthy diet, your liver will easily get the help it needs, but if you haven’t been eating well, or if you have been exposed to certain environmental toxins like heavy metals, pesticides, herbicides, and preservatives, your liver can become bogged down and inefficient.
When this happens, your liver can no longer remove the same amount of toxins from your blood stream. These toxins remain in your body, build up over time, and cause all kinds of problems. To prevent the liver from becoming over-loaded, there are certain nutrients that you should incorporate into your diet.
The most important of these nutrients is vitamin C. Vitamin C is an antioxidant and an immune booster. It helps with general body cleansing, including detoxification of the liver, and it lessens some of the symptoms of a heavy detox, like headache and nausea. Vitamin C can also ward of illnesses and fatigue.
Another powerful liver support supplement is milk thistle. You can buy this in pill form or drink it in a liver support tea blend along with dandelion root, another important liver detoxifier. Milk thistle assists in liver cell regeneration. It is an antioxidant, and can help reverse damage from too much alcohol consumption or exposure to chemical or industrial pollutants. No, this doesn’t mean you can drink more often if you take milk thistle!
Caffeoylquinic acids and betaine are two other nutrients that support your liver. You can get these from food sources, such as artichokes, which contain caffeoylquinic acids, and beets which contain betaine. Betaine, like milk thistle, helps the liver regenerate cells, and caffeoylquinic acids increase the flow of bile and help protect the liver.
Healthy, clean sources of protein are also important for your liver function, and required for detox. The best sources of liver-detoxing proteins are beans, nuts, seeds and quinoa. Although small amounts of fish are okay, it is best to avoid meat for a while if you are on a liver support program.
Instead of meats, stick with beans, grains, nuts and seeds, and eat plenty of fresh fruit and vegetables. Broccoli, Brussells sprouts, and other members of the brassica family are great foods that help support and multiply the liver’s detoxification enzymes. Other fruits and vegetables which are great food sources of vitamin C and contain glutathione, are important for liver detoxification. Eat plenty of garlic and onion, two vegetables that help remove environmental toxins and heavy metals from your blood and liver.
Your liver supports you and keeps you healthy. As you age, you will need it more and more to fight off free radicles and keep you young and energetic. So treat it well and give it the nutrients and support it needs. You will notice that you feel and look better when your liver is functioning optimally.
