Liver Health

Many people are surprised to learn that their livers are overstressed and this can cause a variety of different symptoms and conditions in the body. Keep in mind when you get your lab tests done for your liver; the test is only identifying if you have inflammation; it is NOT testing for optimal function. As you may have already experienced there are many lab tests out there that are covered by insurance that are not that accurate. Unfortunately by far the most accurate and detailed lab tests are not covered by health insurance; if anyone can explain that one to me. I am all ears.

One of the most important factors in liver and gallbladder health is fat, yes fat; many of the fats we eat are highly processed with low nutrient value; this causes immense stress on the liver and gallbladder.

So what do we need to do to stop stressing the liver so much; the answer is to eat good fat; good fats you get from olive oil, almonds, walnuts, pecans, sunflower seeds, fish, flaxseed oil, soybeans, sesame; legumes, leafy greens, and organ meats. Why is there such a low fat craze right now? what they should really say is avoid hydrogenated fats or trans fats; these are the bad fats. Trans fats you will find in fast food, highly processed food, sugary snacks, baked foods etc.

Your body needs fats; did you realize that over 90% of the energy stores in your body are fat and over 80% of your daily energy comes from the metabolism of fat. Besides being a great source of energy, fat is a part of every cell membrane and can help decrease inflammation in the body.

The liver as well as the kidneys acts to clear the blood of toxins that would otherwise build up in the body. The liver performs many functions including filtering the blood, metabolizing hormones, and processing metabolic toxins to make them more water soluble, (just like detergent does for grease). You can think of the liver as a vacuum cleaner; you have to change the bag on the vacuum cleaner periodically otherwise it will not work properly. Your liver is acts as a big filter and if it gets too clogged up it will not work properly.

The liver also produces bile salts and acids, which are stored in the gallbladder and released. When you eat fat, the gallbladder contracts releasing bile salts into the small intestine which makes the fats easier to absorb. Because fat is an important source of energy for the body, fat mal-absorption forces the body to look to carbohydrates for energy. If you feel like you need to eat frequently, or crave carbohydrates; this could be because of a problem with the liver and gallbladder.

The liver is not only stressed by carbohydrates, but it has to deal with the highly chemically processed American diet; hydrogenated and partially hydrogenated oils, chemically processed oils, rancid and reused oils.

How do avoid severe stress on your liver you ask? The most important thing to do is avoid refined carbohydrates and bad oils; for e.g., donuts, cookies, chips, fast food, French fries, white bread etc. A very big problem is that the liver tries to relieve the body of the toxic oils by dumping them into the gallbladder, along with the bile. This results in the bile being too thick and does not pass easily through the gallbladder. As the bile thickens, the liver becomes congested and many problems occur because of this. As the liver becomes more sluggish, it is challenged to perform many of its important functions. Failure of the bile to flow normally causes digestive problems, fatty acid metabolism and critical uptake of nutrients.

The take home message here is; this liver is the headquarters for biochemistry in the body; so when you do something to improve liver function, i.e. liver cleanse, supplements, diet, you have done a lot to balance the entire body's chemistry. I would venture to say that everyone's liver is congested or clogged to some degree.