While the term “cleanse” may bring up thoughts of water fasting and other intense methods made to enhance your liver’s function, cleansing your liver is actually just supporting its natural processes. Since the foods you eat directly impact various organs and functions in your body, it’s good to know which items can make way for a healthier liver.
Caring for your liver is important for a multitude of reasons, including the fact that it supports your body’s healthy expulsion. Charles Passler, DC, tells Well+Good, “When the liver is working optimally, it can take toxins stored throughout your body, convert them into their water-soluble form, and efficiently excrete them from your body.”
In other words, your liver needs your help. Since humans today have an increasingly heavy toxic load from various self-care products, air pollutants and the food supply, our livers bear the brunt of the burden more than ever before. By supporting this organ with the foods that you eat, your body can more readily support a healthy detoxification process — giving you clearer skin, better digestion and even a better mood. MindBodyGreen reports that a healthy liver cleanses your blood, manufactures proteins, and processes nutrients you ingest. While it naturally cares for itself, it may get overloaded depending on what types of toxins you’re exposed to.
Start with drinking more water
Of course, any time you’re trying to “flush” something, water will be involved. Getting an adequate amount of H2O is pivotal to releasing toxins that no longer need to be in your system, MindBodyGreen explains. From here, curtail your amounts of processed foods and alcohol to take some of the load off of your liver. Instead, the outlet recommends, head to the produce aisle to pick up organic fruits and vegetables. Focus on whole grains and anything that grows to limit your exposure to toxins that the liver will have to flush.
As far as liver-enhancing foods go, these are anything that absorb heavy metals, spur bile production, and increase glutathione, the outlet reports. Stock your pantry with berries, almonds, fermented foods such as kimchi or sauerkraut, lentils, leafy greens, and other fortified foods. Essentially, anything that’s good for your gut will impact your digestion and thus your liver. Well+Good explains that garlic, sprouts, and apples are also great additions to your palate since they provide healthy probiotics and increase glutathione production. Plus, avocados are known to protect the organ while lowering cholesterol, the outlet reports. So, choose a few other liver-healthy foods and add them to your avocado toast for a boost!
The bottom line is that the liver can cleanse itself, but it needs your help to make sure its work load is manageable. Luckily, you can do that during your next trip to the grocery store.
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