The best ways to get your liver healthy again
The best ways to get your liver healthy again are to live a healthy life and eat foods that are good for your liver on a daily basis. And for a good cause! Your liver breaks down everything you eat.
You may already know that the liver does more than 500 things in the body. It is the most significant organ for your metabolism, weight, skin quality, hormone balance, and energy levels.
But did you know that you may genuinely improve your liver health by changing your diet and way of life?
This essay will go into more detail about how the liver works, what foods, herbs, and lifestyle changes you can do to boost your liver function naturally. Let’s get started!
A healthy liver is the key to a fast metabolism, a strong immune system, and beautiful skin!
The heart is very essential, the brain is very important, and the lungs are very important. What about the liver, though? It doesn’t get much credit, even though it accomplishes a lot of good work.
The liver is the biggest organ in our body that cleans itself. The liver is likely the most advanced place in the cosmos for cleansing. The liver is in the upper right region of the belly, just below the diaphragm. It does a lot of vital things, including:
- It helps our body get rid of contaminants, which gives the other organs clean blood.
- It also makes some growth proteins and bile juice, which helps the body absorb fats and nutrients that dissolve in fat.
- When everything is working properly, the liver and muscles accumulate fat in the body. You should use this fat when you don’t have enough food or energy.
- The liver stores minerals and blood that can be discharged in an emergency.
- It is a big part of the digestive system. It is involved in the metabolism of carbohydrates, proteins, and fats. In short, it controls how our bodies make energy.
- The liver also works as a heat-generating organ, which helps keep our body at the right temperature.
Signs and Symptoms of Liver Dysfunction (Unhealthy Liver)
If you don’t take care of your liver, it could hurt all of the body’s organ systems. These are just a handful of the things that happen when the liver can’t detoxify itself:
- The brain gets worse because toxins build up and make it work less well.
- The eyes get yellow because bile, which the liver is supposed to control, can go out of control.
- The thyroid gland gets bigger, and the levels of thyroxine are not balanced.
- The kidneys could get inflamed and form stones.
- The bones get weak;
- Tiredness that won’t go away;
- Pain in the stomach;
- Problems with sleep;
- Weight change that isn’t normal;
- Confusion in the mind.
- Rashes, acne, and skin problems
- Swelling of the hands and feet and holding on to water
- Gaining or losing too much weight
- Poor fat metabolism that causes elevated cholesterol
- Hormonal imbalances, often associated with elevated estrogen levels.
- Not good for your gut system
That’s a huge list, but it’s not all of them.
Ayurveda’s Take on Liver Health
Our liver health is very essential, and it can affect all three doshas. If it is sick, though, the Pitta dosha is the most affected because the liver is a pitta organ.
The liver changes everything, just like the pitta dosha does. It changes harmful substances into harmless waste and food into energy.
Ayurveda has been classifying liver disorders for hundreds of years, and these classes are still used in modern medicine. There are two types of liver diseases: Pratyaksa (Direct) and Apratyaksa (Indirect).
Direct liver disease
- Hepatomegaly is when the liver is too big.
- Cirrhosis of the liver is damage to the liver caused by inflammation.
- Fatty liver disease
- Chronic hepatitis (inflammation of the liver) and infections that happen when the liver isn’t healthy
Indirect liver disease
The indirect liver disorders are:
- Yellow skin
- Hormonal Imbalances: Elevated Estrogen and Hypothyroidism
- Not enough vitamin D
- Resistance to Insulin
- Type II Diabetes
- Being overweight and having trouble breaking down fat
- Osteoporosis
- Low iron levels and anemia
- Sarcopenia or Muscular Degeneration
Ayurvedic herbs, healthy foods for the liver, and a healthy lifestyle can all help the liver work better naturally.
The liver is the only organ that can heal itself even if it is 75% destroyed. If you want to enjoy the benefits of a healthy liver, you need to pay attention to this and do the right thing.
In the past few years, the word “detox” has come to mean extreme things like pricey foods or no food at all and hard workouts. These often cause big problems with the body’s equilibrium and lack of nutrients.
Dietary Habits and Foods That Are Good for Your Liver to Help It Get Better
You may naturally make your liver healthier by eating foods and following eating habits that help it work properly. Let’s take a look at them.
- Bitters and green leafy vegetables
Bitters and green leafy vegetables are called “Pitta pacifying foods” because they naturally help the liver work better. They help lower inflammation, give you the antioxidants you need, and calm your body down.
Taking bitters and greens on a regular basis will help your liver work better and clean it out. Some of the greens and bitters you should eat are spinach, moringa oliefera, amaranth, bitter gourd, kai lan, mustard greens, beet greens, argula, spinach, and sprout greens.
These are great providers of magnesium, potassium, and manganese. They also have chlorophyll in them, which helps the liver by getting rid of heavy metals and other harmful substances. - Vegetables with crucifers
Cruciferous vegetables include broccoli, cauliflower, mustard greens, kai lan, kale, and brussels sprouts. They are full of antioxidants that help the liver work better and detoxify itself naturally.
Cruciferous vegetables also have glucosinolates, which assist get rid of heavy metals and cancer-causing substances in the blood. They give you a lot of fiber, vitamins, and prebiotics that help bind and get rid of the toxins that the liver flushes out. - Beetroot for a healthy liver
Beets are full of nutrients and antioxidants, like folate, pectin, betalains, and betaine. Eating beets on a regular basis will help enzymes work better and get bile flowing from the liver.
Beets are a good source of fiber, manganese, potassium, vitamins A and C. They improve the liver’s ability to work, break down harmful wastes, and help the body get rid of them more quickly. - Fruits with citrus
Antioxidants, vitamins, and minerals found in citrus fruits are great for the liver in many ways. They help the liver get rid of toxins, improve circulation, and flush them out.
Grapefruit, green lime, lemon, orange, and clementines are all types of citrus fruits. Citric acid, potassium, vitamin C, folic acid, phenolic acid, potassium, calcium, and iron are some of the nutrients and antioxidants in these fruits. - Vegetables with sulfur
Garlic, leeks, onions, scallions, and shallots are all sulfur vegetables that are good for your liver and should be eaten often. They turn on liver enzymes that help get rid of pollutants and make the liver’s natural cleaning process work better.
They also have a lot of the mineral selenium, which is a natural antioxidant that helps the body do important things like fight off infections and make hormones.
Sulfur and selenium help the liver detoxify itself better. This helps make the right amount of enzymes and bile that are needed. - Oils and fats that are good for your liver and pure oils
Sesame, ghee, olive, coconut, and flaxseed oils are all pure oils that give our bodies the Omega 3 fats that need to keep our livers working well. They stick to the fat-soluble poisons and help our bodies safely get rid of them.
It helps the body burn fat and keeps fats and toxins from building up in the liver and other parts of the body. - Spices and herbs
Some of the healthiest foods for your liver are herbs and spices like turmeric, rosemary, dill, cumin, coriander, cardamom, licorice, cinnamon, and fennel. These herbs and spices help the digestive system work better and are involved in the liver’s detoxification processes.
They help the liver work better and get rid of extra toxins. Herbs and spices in your food or as herbal teas on a regular basis give you the micro nutrients and antioxidants you need. - Eggs and Fish with a Lot of Fat
Antioxidants, Omega 3, and minerals that help the liver do many things are found in eggs and fatty fish like salmon and mackerel. But the most important thing is to eat it in moderation and often.
Eggs and fatty fish are good for the liver because they help the liver get rid of toxins, lower inflammation, and protect liver cells from damage caused by free radicals. If you don’t acquire the organic and chemical-free version, you’ll wind up with a lot of toxins that are often too much in both eggs and fish. - Beans, lentils, and whole grains
This type of meal gives you complex carbs and is an important part of a diet that calms pitta.
Complex carbs should make up about 50 to 60 percent of the calories in your meal. You should focus on this group of liver-healthy foods because it is the main part of your meal.
Beans, lentils, and whole grains are all foods that are astringent. They have B vitamins, complex carbohydrates, prebiotics, minerals, and antioxidants that your body needs.
These nutrients help the liver detoxify itself, make bile, bind with more toxins, and get rid of them. In short, they help the liver work from one end to the other.
Whole grains, beans, and lentils are other important sources of inositols. These substances help regulate hormones, trigger ovulation, and get rid of extra hormones in your body. - Watercress
Watercress helps detoxify the liver and keeps it safe from harm from free radicals. It has 50 important vitamins and minerals. It has a lot of glucosinolates, which are phytochemicals that dissolve in water and have sulfur in them.
Watercress has more calcium than milk, more folate than bananas, more vitamin C than oranges, and more vitamin E than broccoli when you look at it in terms of nutrition.
Watercress has nutrients that help keep our digestive system healthy and get rid of pollutants in our bodies. - Don’t eat late at night.
Eating late at night is hard on the liver. This is the first dietary habit you should work on if you want to be more disciplined and keep your liver healthy. Don’t eat after 7 PM. Allow your digestive system enough time to process all the food you’ve eaten.
This is because our liver is most active at detoxifying from 8 PM to 2 AM. And if you fill it with food, it won’t be able to clean itself or the rest of your body. So, pick it up and you’ll see a difference in only a few days. - Hot Water
Warm water helps the digestive fire and cleanses the body naturally. Drinking warm water throughout the day increases blood flow throughout the body. It keeps you hydrated and helps get rid of water-soluble pollutants in the body. - Take Out Processed Foods
It’s just as vital to eat items that are good for your liver as it is to stay away from things that are bad for it.
If you want your liver to work well, you shouldn’t eat processed foods because they have all the extra stuff that you don’t want to give it.
Food coloring, preservatives, taste enhancers, bad fats, processed carbohydrates, too much sugar, salt, and fake flavorings are just a few examples. Your liver can’t turn them into anything useful for your body.
So, what does it do? These molecules either become stuck in your adipose tissues and stop your fat metabolism. Or they just move around your body, producing inflammation and eventually disease.
Ayurvedic herbs that help your liver get rid of toxins
There are a lot of Ayurvedic herbs that can assist clean the liver and make it work better. At Medhya Herbals, we employ Ayurveda to improve the liver’s ability to detoxify itself and stop any further harm from happening. At the same time, we try to fix any damage that has already been done.
The Ayurvedic herbs below have been shown to improve the performance of several organs in the body, not only the liver, by working on multiple biochemical pathways.
- Andrographis Leaves: This herb lowers the chance of oxidative damage to liver cells. It also keeps you safe from hepatotoxicity.
- Ginger Root: It helps digestion and makes other Ayurvedic herbs work better.
- Bhringraj is used to help the body get rid of bile and to clear up blockages in the body’s pathways. It is also used to treat liver enlargement, jaundice, gall bladder/bile duct blockage, and other conditions.
- Embella Fruit (Vidanga): Embella has a huge influence on making the liver feel young again.
- Giloy: It protects the liver from damage caused by alcohol, cleanses the liver, and works well to cure hepatitis, biliousness, fevers, and poisoning.
- Amla fruit is used to treat an enlarged liver and to make the liver stronger.
Long pepper fruit, bhui amla, bhringraj, neem, curry leaves, and black pepper are some other plants that are good for the liver.
Ayurvedic tips for living a healthy life with a healthy liver
- Don’t Drink Alcohol
If your liver is healthy, you probably wouldn’t be reading this essay or drinking alcohol in the first place. NO amount of alcohol is good for your liver. Alcohol damages liver cells and puts unneeded stress on the liver as it breaks down and absorbs the drink you just poured down. - Stop taking pills all the time
Don’t take painkillers or fever-reducing medications at the first sign of pain or a rise in temperature. These drugs are addicting, and they make the liver work harder to get rid of toxins.
Your body is telling you that something is amiss if you experience pain or a fever. Don’t try to fix your body’s signaling system; try to treat the health problem. - Take less pharmaceutical drugs
Take less prescription drugs, concentrated forms of health supplements, and any other unnatural substances that may be advertised as good for your health. Your liver will eventually be the one that has to break down these medicines and drugs.
So, if you don’t want to harm or overload your liver, choose supplements that are natural and healthy and take as little drugs as possible. - Get Enough Rest
Get between six and seven hours of sleep every night. Sleep is the time when your liver detoxifies and naturally rejuvenates, so make best use of this period. - Be Active
Regular exercise helps to burn calories and avoid buildup of extra fat to burden the liver with. In fact, sweating is one of the finest ways to get rid of water soluble toxins out of your body.
And as you push toxins out, it minimizes the waste material inside the body. This makes it easier for your liver to be healthy on its own. - Get rid of chemicals in your food and the environment.
Eat less packaged food, especially anything that comes in plastic. Plastic contains bisphenol A, which is hazardous when consumed.
Be careful with even typical household chemicals like fibers, adhesives, pesticides, gas stoves, etc, that you breath. They get into the blood stream and offers your liver additional strain of detoxifying.
