Love thy liver
/As we head into the holiday season, we tend to give ourselves permission to indulge more than we normally would. Why? Because "tis the season!"
So I thought I would catch you as the season “officially” starts, and give you a few tips on how to handle that inevitable situation... being over-served ;-)
Top tip
Aside from not drinking as much (that really should be the top tip - just saying), we need to focus on one of the most under-appreciated and hard working organs we have - our liver. This organ needs love! When it isn't working properly, we suffer.
A few facts
the liver is approximately the size of a football
it's the only organ that can regenerate itself (good news for us!)
the liver is literally a little factory, responsible for over 500 functions, one of the most important being to process any toxic substances we ingest or absorb
Unfortunately, our liver is working overtime nowadays - it's far more burdened today than it was in our parent's generation. We have toxins in our water, pesticides in our food, chemicals in the air we breath, "stuff" in the medications we take, and toxins in our hair and body products, perfumes and other fragrances. And then there is alcohol on top of all that.
And if the liver can't detoxify efficiently, the toxins (or partially broken down toxins, which can be even more dangerous) remain in our body. In addition, the liver can't perform its other essential functions properly.
What happens when we drink?
In the most basic of terms, there is an enzyme called alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH), which metabolizes (breaks down) alcohol, to the point where it's turned into other less harmful products and eventually eliminated from our body.
The liver is only able to metabolize one drink per hour, so the alcohol will enter our blood stream and then sit and wait to be processed (that's when we get the classic side effects: decreased brain function and motor skills, flushing or redness, decreased blood pressure, breath smelling like alcohol, etc.).
Sadly, as we age, we produce less ADH. And for women, studies say that the hormones associated with menopause intensify the impact of alcohol on our body. So women get a double whammy. Men on the other hand, have substantially more ADH than women. Sigh.
In order for the liver to do its job effectively, so it can deal with our sometimes bad behaviour, we have to show it the love it deserves.
Love thru Food
Eat your vegetables! As a general rule, to keep our livers functioning well on a regular basis, there are a variety of foods and herbs that support it.
Vegetables and fruit (esp berries), preferably organic (check EWGs Dirty Dozen and Clean Fifteen) to reduce the toxic load on the liver, are packed with vitamins and minerals.
Our liver has two detoxification phases, and seven detoxification pathways. Each phase and pathway literally depends on the nutrients packed in these foods, especially antioxidants.
Think colours of the rainbow - these vege and fruits are rich in antioxidants such as beta-carotene, vitamin C and vitamin E - all needed to help scavenge free radicals that can damage the body's cells including the hepatocyte cells of the liver.
Eating the rainbow is also great for your gut bacteria, which depends on diversity of vegetables (tip: remember to eat your vegetables with a fat to ensure the fat soluble vitamins (ADEK) are absorbed fully).
Finally, there are some great antioxidant supplements* on the market - I like Cyto-Matrix ACES+zinc.
Eat sulphur rich vegetables - Sulphur is one of the key precursors to glutathione, the master of all antioxidants (produced in our body), essential to both the detox phases and detox pathways of the liver. Try to eat more sulphur rich foods such as garlic and onions, and cruciferous vegetables like broccoli, cauliflower, rapini, kale, Brussels sprouts, cabbage etc.
Eat bitter greens - Our liver LOVES bitter (and so does our digestive system). Note - as a general rule of thumb, if our digestive system isn't happy, our liver probably isn't all that happy.
Include bitters in your salads (or smoothies) such as chicory, dandelion, endive, kale, arugula, radicchio, watercress or mustard greens. Dandelion leaves, for example, act as a gentle diuretic which help encourage the excretion of toxins from the body (helping the liver out) and the root of dandelion is useful too as it helps with bile secretion, which eliminates toxins from the body and is particularly good for people with gall bladder issues.
Love thru B Vitamins
Eat foods rich in B vitamins - they too are precursors to glutathione, the master antioxidant. Top sources include meat (esp organ meat), seafood, poultry, eggs, dairy, legumes, leafy greens, seeds and many grains.
As for supplements, I like AOR Advanced B Complex.
Teas
There are some great teas such as milk thistle, dandelion, ginger, turmeric or CCF tea (coriander, cumin and fennel, which you can easily make yourself). All are cleansing for our liver.
Other tips
Eat before you go out - A healthy protein and/or fat is best, to slow down absorption and give your liver time to process
Take a B complex alongside food - helps with detox phases and pathways
Drink water between drinks - I know - obvious but always a bit of a effort. Just do it. It works.
Drink colourless booze - Congeners are the by products of fermentation in alcohol and are more abundant in darker coloured alcohols. Vodka or tequila, with soda and citrus/berries is always the best choice.
Have water and vitamin C at your bedside table to drink just before bed
Replace your eleytrolytes in the morning - coconut water or Ener-C are two good options. At the very least eat a banana ;-)
Eggs for breakfast - you can never go wrong with eggs for breakfast (unless you are vegan!) as they are chock full of nutrients. The bonus is they are high in cysteine, an amino acid important in supporting liver detoxification.
And if you are really keen, make yourself one of these liver cleansing drinks, a few times a week, or when you feel your liver needs a boost:
Liver Cleansing Drink #1
1 cup parsley
1 english cucumber
10 celery stalks
1-2" pc of ginger
Blend and enjoy :)
Liver Cleansing Drink #2
3 beets
3 carrots
1/2 cucumber
1 apple
1 lemon
1-2" ginger
Blend and enjoy :)
On that note, I'm hoping you incorporate at least some of these suggestions, as I'm off to warmer weather and won't be around for the next few weeks to act as your personal "liquor control board".
Happy holidaying - see you December!
Gillian
*Always remember that a supplement supplements ones diet. Plus you get what you pay for. Great brands in general include: Pure Encapsulations, Douglas Labs, Thorne, Cytomatrix, Seroyal/Genestra, AOR. There are certainly more, but these are the ones I tend to stick to.