BENEFITS OF DETOXIFYING YOUR LIVER
• Greater energy
• Clarity of thinking
• Luminous skin
• Flatter tummy
• Improved metabolism
• Weight loss
• Improved digestion
When was the last time you thought about your liver and the amazing job it’s doing to filter toxins, hormones, cholesterol, and more out of your blood? Your liver is one of the most powerful organs in your body, but chances are you haven’t given it a second thought. Few people consider the superorgan that sits just below their lower right ribs, working 24/7. Yet great health starts with the liver. If there was only one thing you did for your health, boosting your liver by doing the Love Your Liver Weekend would be a fantastic choice.
Claudia L., a soft-spoken forty-two-year-old woman, came to my office suffering from abdominal bloating, headaches, “brain fog,” fatigue, and excess weight that she found difficult to lose. Immediately I suspected that her liver was congested and needed a boost. I outlined the diet, exercises, and therapies she needed to experience a Love Your Liver Weekend detox. Eager to get started, she ran straight to the grocery store to buy the Top Ten Liver Boosting Foods and the herbs for the Liver-Enhancing Herbal Tea I recommended.
Having followed the Love Your Liver Weekend detox to the letter, she phoned me to share her experiences. Because the detox was only for three days, Claudia knew she’d have no problem sticking with the diet and exercise components. She explained that she felt a little tired and had a headache the first day, but by the end of the three days she had seen a difference in her abdomen—it was noticeably flatter. Her energy increased dramatically—something she thought was impossible, considering she had felt fatigued for years.
Claudia couldn’t believe that she had a flatter stomach, felt more energetic, and had already lost four pounds after only three days but exclaimed, “If I can feel improved in only a weekend, I’m going to make Love Your Liver Weekends a monthly occurrence.” She also enjoyed the Liver-Enhancing Herbal Tea and Liver Cleansing Juice so much that she wanted to keep drinking them every day. I instructed her to take a week off the Liver-Enhancing Herbal tea every three weeks so the herbs would have maximum effectiveness but to keep up her great work. I don’t think she needed any reassurances, though, as her health improvements were the best motivator.
Once you experience the Love Your Liver Weekend detox I’m sure you’ll understand why Claudia was so excited about her health improvements. Experiencing the detox is the best way to understand why the liver is so important.
WHY SHOULD I DETOXIFY MY LIVER?
Next to the heart and brain, the liver is arguably the most important organ in your body. With over five hundred functions to perform, it’s also one of the most overworked. Some of these functions include storing vitamins, minerals, and sugars for use as fuel; controlling the production and excretion of cholesterol; and creating thousands of enzymes that control almost every function in your body. It helps your body break down fat, proteins, and carbohydrates and processes haemoglobin in the blood to allow it to use iron. It performs more biochemical tasks than any other organ in your body.
Our modern lifestyle monumentally adds to the liver’s workload. The liver must filter any foreign substance that enters your body, including alcohol, tobacco, environmental pollutants, food additives, common cosmetic ingredients, household products, pharmaceutical and over-the-counter (OTC) drugs, caffeine, and food additives. It must also process internally created substances like byproducts of metabolizing food, stress or sex hormones, and much more.
The average person consumes fourteen pounds of food preservatives, additives, waxes, colors, flavors, and pesticide residues each year!1 Guess whose job it is to filter out all those potentially harmful substances? That’s right: the liver. Your liver filters all these chemicals and many more. Whenever you take an antibiotic for a bacterial infection you’re experiencing, the liver must filter it. When you pop an acetaminophen tablet to reduce a headache, the liver filters it. Actually, acetaminophen is also one of the worst liver-harming culprits. It can seriously damage your liver’s ability to perform its many functions, leaving you feeling less than great. But I’m getting ahead of myself.
The liver simply cannot handle the onslaught of toxic chemicals and harmful substances we throw at it. Yes, most of us do so unknowingly, but the liver-damaging effects are the same. In the Love Your Liver Weekend detox you’ll discover many liver-harming substances to start removing from your life, the top liver-healing foods to add to your diet, safe herbal medicines that have a proven history of healing the liver, and many natural therapies that I’ll soon share.
If you did only one detox in the Weekend Wonder Detox, I would encourage you to choose the Love Your Liver Weekend. That’s because cleansing and strengthening your liver can have some profound effects on your health and well-being.
SIGNS OF A STRESSED-OUT LIVER
You don’t have to be diagnosed with a serious liver condition like hepatitis, jaundice, or fatty liver to have the signs of a stressed-out liver. Everyone’s body is different, so you may have only one symptom or you may have a handful or more. Check out the text box that follows to see some of the signs and symptoms of a stressed-out liver.
Most people are surprised that an overworked liver can be linked to so many undesirable health symptoms and conditions. But the flip side of this is that when you strengthen the liver you can also see improvements in many health conditions.
That’s why I say that if there were only one organ that could transform your health, it’s your liver. Tuning up this overworked organ is critical to great health. As the liver’s health improves, potentially over five hundred functions the liver performs also improve.
The liver even plays a role in serious health conditions like the pain disorder fibromyalgia and the serious immune system condition chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS), which is also known as myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME). A study conducted by Dr. Scott Rigden of over two hundred patients suffering from chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) and/or fibromyalgia found that 80 percent of sufferers of these serious disorders had significant liver impairment. He also found that as patient’s liver function tests improved, so did their symptoms, suggesting a correlation between liver stress and CFS and fibromyalgia.2 So even if there are many other causal factors involved in serious health conditions, by improving the health of the liver, you will likely see improvements in seemingly unrelated health issues as well.
SIGNS YOU WOULD BENEFIT FROM A LIVER DETOX
Here are some of the symptoms and conditions that are linked to reduced liver function or an overwhelmed liver:
abdominal bloating
alcohol intolerance
allergies
arthritis
asthma
bowel infections
“brain fog”
chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS)
colitis
Crohn’s disease
depression
difficulty losing weight
environmental illness or multiple chemical sensitivities
fatigue
fatty liver
fevers
fibromyalgia
fluid retention
gallbladder disease
gallstones or gravel
gastritis
headaches and migraines
hepatitis
high blood pressure
high cholesterol levels
hives
hypoglycemia (unstable blood sugar levels)
hormone imbalances
immune system disorders
indigestion
irritable bowel syndrome
mood swings
overweight or obesity
poor appetite
poor digestion
recurring nausea and/or vomiting with no known cause
skin diseases
slow metabolism
If you are severely ill or do not have at least one bowel movement daily, you should consider easing into the Love Your Liver Weekend detox or start with the Colon Cleanse Weekend. It’s fine to take days, weeks, or even a month or two to ease into this way of eating if that’s best for you. If you are having infrequent bowel movements (less than one daily), I highly advise you to start with the Colon Cleanse Weekend before diving into the Love Your Liver Weekend. This will ensure that the intestines can adequately remove any toxins the liver sloughs off.
DO YOU HAVE A FATTY LIVER?
A high-sugar and high-fat diet also put your liver at risk of becoming fatty. You may have heard of a fatty liver.
Fatty liver is also known as non-alcoholic steatorrhoeic hepatosis (NASH) or non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). It contains an excessive amount of fat, causing healthy liver tissue to be replaced with areas of unhealthy fats. When this happens, the liver becomes slightly enlarged and heavier. Fatty liver is a common problem, particularly in people who are overweight and over thirty.
So how do you know whether you have a fatty liver? Here are some signs you might have a fatty liver:
• You are overweight, particularly in the abdomen
• You find losing weight to be very difficult
• You may have Type 2 diabetes
• You may feel exhausted
• You may have immune system problems
• You may have elevated triglycerides or cholesterol in your blood
• You may have been diagnosed with Syndrome X or metabolic syndrome (by a physician)
It is possible to have a fatty liver without having any symptoms. Conversely, having the symptoms above doesn’t necessarily ensure that you have a fatty liver. When in doubt, consult your physician. He or she can conduct tests to determine whether you have a fatty liver. If you suspect that you have a fatty liver, diet and lifestyle changes like those mentioned throughout this chapter can help.
Your liver is so powerful that, even if it is 80 percent impaired, it will keep working. It won’t be working optimally, however, and you won’t feel your best at only 20 percent liver function. Detoxifying your liver can improve its functioning. Perhaps the best thing about the liver is its incredible ability to regenerate itself if given the critical nutrients, a healthy liver rebuilding diet, liver-strengthening herbs, and natural liver-healing therapies.
THE DIET
It is essential that you follow the dietary suggestions as closely as possible for maximum benefits. The diet comprises the Ten Love Your Liver Weekend Essentials and the Top Twelve Liver-Boosting Foods.
Ten Love Your Liver Weekend Essentials
1. Start every morning with a large glass of water with the fresh juice of one lemon. Sorry, but Realemon or other bottled lemon juice won’t do—it must be the real deal. If you can’t bear the taste of the lemon water, add a few drops of pure stevia to sweeten it—it will taste like lemonade.
2. Avoid processed, packaged, and prepared foods. As you know, these foods are forbidden on the Weekend Wonder Detox, but I want to reiterate its importance here in the context of liver health. Because your liver needs to process any food additives, colors, artificial sweeteners, preservatives, or harmful fats, eating them during this weekend will simply negate your best efforts. Eliminating processed foods, artificial food additives, colors, and preservatives from your diet gives your liver a well-deserved break.
3. Avoid eating large meals. Instead, eat small meals made up of plenty of easy-to-digest foods. Your liver works tremendously hard to aid digestion. Eating smaller meals frees up energy from digestion for the liver to detoxify your body.
4. Eat steamed vegetables and bitter greens. The bitter greens help to cleanse the liver. The phytochemicals (“plant chemicals”) in greens cause the gall bladder to release a substance called bile. Bile emulsifies fats and many toxins so the intestines are able to eliminate them. If you are eating bitter greens like spinach, collard, chard, or dandelion, you may notice that your stool has a greenish tinge the next few days. This is nothing to worry about and is just a sign that your liver is cleansing.
5. Eat raw salads full of greens. Salad greens are full of chlorophyll and enzymes that assist the liver with its detoxification duties. Chlorophyll is the substance that gives leaves and vegetables their green color. The chlorophyll molecule is similar in structure to red blood cells (haemoglobin), helping the body to make healthy and clean blood. Because your liver is the main organ that filters the blood, chlorophyll helps in this regard. The enzymes found in salad greens and other raw fruits and vegetables aid digestion, allowing the liver to focus more on detoxification and less on digestion.
6. Eat two to three raw fruits during the day, preferably on an empty stomach. Raw fruit also contains enzymes, which are special types of proteins that aid the digestion of the foods in which they are found. Cooking kills enzymes, so eating fruit raw (and chewing it well to release the enzymes stored in the fruit) helps clean out the bowels and improve digestion. If you’re trying to lose weight, skip the high-sugar fruits like pineapple and bananas.
7. Eat whole, raw, unsalted nuts and seeds. Nuts and seeds are excellent sources of protein. The liver needs adequate protein to function properly. Without sufficient protein, various processes that comprise liver detoxification can break down or become impaired. Some of your best options include walnuts, almonds, Brazil nuts, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, or sesame seeds. The key is choosing raw and unsalted nuts and seeds. Ideally, they are found in the refrigerator section of your health food store.
8. Avoid eating heavy, fatty foods. They just create more work for the liver. Avoid margarine, shortening, commercial oils, or any foods made with them. The allowable fats include cold-pressed oils, raw nuts and seeds, and avocado.
9. Avoid eating for at least three hours before bedtime. The liver needs adequate time during the night to perform its many functions, unimpeded by other bodily processes like digestion.
10. Drink at least one-half quart or one-half liter (almost the same amount) for every fifty pounds of weight you’re carrying, up to about three quarts or liters. Although this may be more water than you’re accustomed to, it is needed to flush toxins from your body. Without adequate water, toxins can absorb back into the bloodstream. Try not to drink right before or after meals. Vegetable and fruit juices you consume count toward your total water intake. Emphasize vegetable juices over fruit juices because the latter can be high in sugars.
Dr. Michelle’s Top Twelve Liver-Boosting Foods
The liver requires high amounts of vitamins and minerals to perform its many functions. As you’ve already learned, your diet should be high in fruits and vegetables as well as fiber-rich foods. Here is a list of my top liver-boosting foods. Try to eat at least five of these foods every day as part of the Love Your Liver Weekend. Feel free to eat more than that. Of course, you can continue eating them after your detox is over, as they are delicious and health-promoting additions to your daily diet as well. Don’t worry if you’ve never tried these foods before—I’ve included many recipes in Chapter 10 to help you incorporate them into your diet.
Avocado—Research shows that avocado supercharges other foods eaten alongside it. In other words, it boosts the nutrient absorption of other foods, particularly of a group of nutrients called carotenoids. You may have heard of beta carotene (forms vitamin A in your body) and lycopene. The absorption of both of these nutrients is increased with avocado consumption.3 Avocados contain a type of fat that is found in seafood, but not much is found in most foods found on the land. Although they have a reputation for being “high fat,” the fats they contain are beneficial and even reduce inflammation in the body. This translates to many liver health-boosting properties. If you’ve never eaten avocado, it tastes like butter. Use it in place of butter on bread, wraps, or sandwiches, on top of a salad, or to make a delicious guacamole or veggie dip. Simply cut lengthwise around the avocado, twist slightly to release the flesh from the pit, then, using a chopping action, hit the blade of a knife against the pit, twist, and the pit will pop right out.
Beets—These purple vegetables are powerful liver-cleansing and rebuilding foods. They contain compounds that increase the liver’s ability to remove damaged cells before they can become cancerous. They contain a substance called betaine, which improves digestion, allowing the liver to redirect its energy away from digestion to focus on detoxification. Beets also help purify the blood—one of the liver’s many jobs—making this hardworking organ’s job easier. Enjoy beets raw (grated), steamed, boiled, and in soups and stews.
Dandelion greens—Not just a weed, dandelion greens are delicious food and powerful medicine. They contain blood-building chlorophyll, which gives them their green color. They also contain bitter compounds that help cleanse the liver. Choose young dandelion greens, as they are more palatable; the older ones become extremely bitter. You can steam, sauté, or juice the greens. Roast and grind the root for a delicious coffeelike caffeine-free beverage. I love dandelion greens chopped and sautéed with some minced garlic and olive oil, then topped with some fresh lemon juice and a dash of unrefined sea salt.
Eggs—High in a substance called lecithin, eggs help the liver metabolize fats and reduce cholesterol. They also contain phosphatidylcholine and essential fatty acids that help keep liver cells healthy and prevent fatty deposits from building up, which, as you learned earlier, can cause a fatty liver. Choose organic eggs to avoid hormones and antibiotics found in most eggs that negate their liver-boosting benefits. Enjoy scrambled, soft boiled, or in many recipes found at the back of the book.
Flax seeds and flax seed oil—Flax binds to hormone receptor sites, preventing excess hormones (including synthetic xenoestrogens from plastics and other chemicals) from floating around your bloodstream. One of the liver’s five hundred jobs is to filter excess hormones. By eating flax seeds and flax oil you are helping it function more efficiently. Flax seeds can be sprinkled on cereal, toast, salads, or blended into smoothies. Flax seed oil can be used as a salad dressing.
Garlic—Rich in sulfur compounds, garlic ensures a steady rate of liver detoxification. These sulfur compounds also bind to heavy metals to escort them out of the body. Typically, people with high blood pressure often have low levels of sulfur compounds in their blood. Garlic also improves the liver’s ability to lower cholesterol and blood pressure levels (when they are high). Scientists believe that garlic’s compound prostaglandin A may be the effective ingredient that inhibits harmful liver enzymes and improves the way fats are metabolized in the liver.
As a bonus: garlic kills viruses, bacteria, and fungi and protects against heart disease too. Raw garlic is best, as some of the beneficial compounds break down with cooking. But cooked garlic is still helpful. Ideally, try to get at least one to two cloves of garlic daily. I’ve included many garlic-containing recipes at the back of this book to help you get started.
Leafy greens—As you learned earlier, salad greens are full of chlorophyll and enzymes that assist the liver with detoxification. Because chlorophyll is similar to red blood cells, it helps the body make healthy and clean blood. Because your liver is the main organ that filters the blood, chlorophyll helps in this regard. Leafy greens like spinach, spring mix, mustard greens, kale, collard, chard, and others are good sources of fiber and are nutritional powerhouses. Because the liver needs lots of nutrients to function properly, leafy greens are a serious asset. Obviously you can enjoy leafy greens as salads, or sauté kale, collard, and chard. You can add a handful of salad greens to a smoothie to ramp up its nutritional value. Check out the recipes in Chapter 10 to enjoy some liver-boosting green smoothies.
Lemons—The limonene found in lemon can boost your body’s production of glutathione, a critical nutrient in liver detoxification that helps ensure toxins are neutralized. Lemons also contain over twenty anticancer compounds, so by enjoying fresh lemon in your water or a bit of grated rind in your baked goods (from organic lemons only), you’ll help your liver eliminate cancer cells from your body before they can do damage.
Nuts and seeds—Consuming nuts can be as effective as cholesterol-lowering drugs to reduce high cholesterol levels, without the nasty side effects.4 Walnuts, Brazil nuts, hazelnuts, almonds, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, sesame seeds, and so forth are all great options. Be sure to choose raw, unsalted nuts and seeds, preferably those found in the refrigerator section of your local health food store.
Onions—Onions contain sulfur, which is required to increase enzyme activity that, in turn, boosts liver cleansing. Like garlic, onions also kill viruses, bacteria, and fungi.
Soy foods—Lecithin, found in soy foods, helps the liver metabolize fats and reduce cholesterol. Like eggs, it contains a substance called phosphatidylcholine and essential fatty acids that help keep liver cells healthy and prevent fatty deposits from building up in the liver. Lecithin also helps reduce high blood pressure by allowing the blood vessels to relax to allow better blood flow. Lecithin is naturally found in soy milk, tofu, and miso as well as organic eggs.
Turmeric—Not just for Indian curries anymore, this super-spice is potent medicine for the liver. It contains the highest known source of beta carotene, which helps protect the liver from free radical damage. It helps the liver metabolize fats by decreasing the fat storage rate in liver cells.5 Enjoy turmeric in curries, soups, stews, or on its own in some water. For the latter, add one teaspoon of powdered turmeric to a cup of water, and drink—through a straw if possible, as turmeric can stain your teeth. It’s liver-boosting properties are worth it, though, as turmeric is one of the best, if not the best, liver-boosting foods available.
Check out the recipes in Chapter 10 to discover many delicious foods, juices, and smoothies that contain the top twelve liver boosters. Be sure to try my Liver Jumpstart Juice on page 242.
In this section you’ll discover the best nutrients and herbs that assist the liver with detoxification. You don’t need to take all of them; just two or three is great. Reading the following section may give you some insight as to which ones might be best for you. Follow the dosage recommendations mentioned later in this section to maximize your chosen nutrients’ liver-cleansing benefits.
Critical Nutrients for Liver Cleansing
There are many essential nutrients needed to ensure that liver detoxification can occur without a glitch. A single deficiency can impair proper liver cleansing and may result in seemingly unrelated but uncomfortable symptoms. So be sure you’re taking a high-quality multivitamin and mineral. Keep reading to learn whether you might benefit from supplementing with one or more of the additional nutrients mentioned below. But, don’t worry: the last thing I want is for you to be popping handfuls of supplements. You can choose two or three for your weekend.
Boost Your Liver with Vitamin C
Glutathione is one of the most important nutrients for maximum liver health and to feel great. It is a powerful ally for anyone looking to eliminate harmful toxins. Not only does it boost the liver’s ability to detoxify harmful chemicals; it destroys free radicals all on its own. Although glutathione levels can become depleted over time or in the face of excessive toxins, it is fairly easy to boost the levels of the essential nutrient in your liver. Research shows that supplementing with at least 500mg of vitamin C daily boosts blood levels of glutathione by nearly 50 percent in healthy individuals.6
Supplement with 500 to 2000mg of vitamin C daily. Of course, there are many foods that can help boost glutathione levels as well, including asparagus, avocados, walnuts, cabbage, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, lemons, dill, and caraway seeds.
Taurine to Eliminate Excess Cholesterol
If you are suffering from high cholesterol or heart disease, then I recommend supplementing with the amino acid taurine because it not only helps with liver-related disorders but also helps the liver break down excess cholesterol. A typical cholesterol-lowering dose is 500mg twice daily.
Lecithin for a Fatty Liver
If you’re trying to lower your cholesterol levels or to heal from a fatty liver, you may wish to supplement with lecithin. As you may recall, it is naturally found in eggs and soy foods, but sometimes the liver needs more lecithin than is found in these foods, particularly to heal a fatty liver. A typical fatty-liver healing dose is 4000mg of lecithin daily. It comes in capsules for convenience or granules that can be added to your liver-boosting smoothies.
More Liver-Boosting Nutritional Supplements
As you learned above, many nutrients, including vitamin C and S-adenosylmethionine (SAMe), are involved in liver detoxification. Of course there are many others, but most of these nutrients are found in a multivitamin and mineral supplement, so it doesn’t need reiteration here. If you are suffering from fatigue, mood swings, or depression, take a 50 to 100mg B-complex supplement in addition to your multivitamin. You’ll notice that some of the B-vitamins will be measured in micrograms, not milligrams—that’s how some B vitamins are measured. For those vitamins, the dose would be 50 to 100mcg. If you’re prone to PMS, you may wish to supplement with choline, vitamin B12, and folic acid, as these nutrients are needed to detoxify any excess hormones from the body. Because they are all B-complex vitamins, take a single 50 to 100mg B-complex supplement to avoid any deficiencies of these critical nutrients. If you’ve been on antibiotics several times in your life, you may benefit from supplementing your diet with vitamin B2, pantothenic acid (vitamin B5), and vitamin C, as antibiotic drugs can deplete these nutrients in the liver. All of these nutrients, with the exception of vitamin C, are found in a good B-complex supplement.
Most multis contain fairly low amounts of vitamin C. If you’ve been under a lot of stress, are suffering from fatigue, or have taken antibiotics a few times in your life, you may benefit from extra vitamin C. An additional 1000mg is helpful taken at least a few hours away from other C vitamins you’re taking.
If you’re suffering from depression and want to boost your liver, supplementing with SAMe may be beneficial for you. Follow package instructions.
Select two nutrients and note them on the worksheet at the end of this chapter. (You can photocopy it for your use through the preparation stages and during the Love Your Liver Weekend detox.)
Herbal Liver Boosters
When it comes to strengthening the liver, herbs really shine. Most people don’t realize how powerful herbs are, but pharmaceutical companies do. That’s because many drugs are originally extracted from herbs. They become dangerous and potentially toxic once the pharmaceutical companies try to reproduce in a laboratory the substances nature created in a plant. As herbs, however, they are much safer and provide powerful medicine for the liver.
Although there are many great liver herbs, some of my favorite ones include milk thistle, dandelion root, globe artichoke, and turmeric. If you are pregnant or nursing, have a serious health condition, or are taking medication, consult a qualified health practitioner before using herbs.
Read the following herb descriptions. As you’re reading them, pay attention to any that you feel particularly drawn to. Intuition goes a long way on a detox or health program, so I encourage you to trust your instincts. Of course, if you’re taking any medications or have any serious health conditions, you should consult a qualified health professional prior to taking any herbs. Choose one to three herbs that feel right for you.
You can make the Love Your Liver Herbal Tea on page 244 if you’d like. You can use capsules of milk thistle and turmeric (or its extract, curcumin) if you prefer. The weekend detox is about flexibility, so go with what feels right for you or what’s available in your local health food store, and then follow the suggested dosages for each herb below.
Milk Thistle (Silybum marianum)
Milk thistle is commonly referred to as a “weed” because of its prickly leaves and burrs that stick to clothing. Despite its seemingly pesky nature, milk thistle is one of the most powerful liver medicines available. There are over one hundred studies that demonstrate milk thistle’s liver-protecting and regenerating properties, making it a proven choice for detoxifying and strengthening the liver. It contains a compound called silymarin that protects the liver against cellular damage while also stimulating liver cells to regenerate, enabling the liver to rebuild. If that wasn’t enough, milk thistle also prevents the depletion of the nutrient glutathione, which is essential for liver detoxification.
Silybin is another compound found in milk thistle that is believed to protect the genetic material within the liver cells while reducing the occurrence of liver cancer.7 Unlike other liver herbs, milk thistle is best taken as a capsule or as an alcohol extract, as the substances silymarin and silybin are not very water soluble, meaning that a tea made from the plant won’t have sufficient healing properties. Take three capsules daily containing at least 140mg of silymarin each. Alternatively, take one teaspoon of the alcohol extract three times daily unless you have ever been an alcoholic.
Dandelion Root (Taraxacum officinale)
Dandelion root is an herb in serious need of an image makeover. Cursed by many gardeners and those in search of perfect lawns, dandelion is frequently viewed as a pest and subsequently killed. Ironically, however, most of the people killing this “weed” would experience greater health if they relied on the plant for medicine, as it has been proven in numerous studies to have beneficial healing effects on the liver. As far back as 1880, studies showed that dandelion is an effective treatment for hepatitis and swelling of the liver.8 Another German study proved that dandelion root helped jaundice and reduced gallstones.9 Newer research shows that dandelion root protects the liver against harmful toxins, such as carbon tetrachloride, which is used in some cleaning products and building materials.10 The Australian Journal of Medical Herbalism cites research supporting the liver-regenerating properties of dandelion. Due to pesticides and pollutants, I don’t recommend picking dandelion root from your lawn, though. You can take one to two teaspoons of dandelion root extract or supplement with 500 to 2000mg daily in capsules for two weeks to help cleanse your liver.
Globe Artichoke (Cynara scolymus)
Globe artichoke has effects similar to the herb milk thistle. It contains a group of compounds called caffeoylquinic acids, which have been shown in research to have powerful liver regenerative effects.11 It has also been shown to be effective in treating serious liver conditions, including gallstones, liver damage, and liver insufficiency, but it is equally beneficial to strengthen the liver even if no serious liver conditions are present. It is typically found in capsule form, with doses ranging from 300 to 500mg. Consult the package of the product you choose to determine the exact dosage.
Turmeric (Curcuma longal)
You may recall turmeric from our discussion on the Top Twelve Liver-Boosting Foods. That’s because turmeric is both a great food and herb. As one of the main spices used in Indian curries, it adds flavor and a bright yellow color to the foods with which it is cooked. It doesn’t just taste great, however; it is also a liver cell regenerator and toxin eliminator. Its active ingredient, curcumin, is also an incredible anti-inflammatory that may help reduce liver inflammation. Research shows that curcumin increases two liver-supporting enzymes needed for healthy detoxification.
Turmeric and its active ingredient, curcumin, help reduce cholesterol levels while also reducing pain and inflammation throughout the body, so choose this herb if you are suffering from high cholesterol or any pain disorder. Curcumin comes in capsule form, which is probably the easiest way to get fairly high doses of this active ingredient, but you can also make a turmeric-honey mixture that you eat by the teaspoonful three times daily. Use equal parts of honey and turmeric, and store the mixture in a small jar. Of course, you can also cook with the dried or fresh turmeric root, but that is insufficient for most people to get adequate amounts of the therapeutic ingredients, so is best used in conjunction with one of the other forms. Check out some of the delicious recipes included in Chapter 10: Veggie Scramble on page 262 and Garbanzo Bean Squash Stew on page 265 both contain liver-healing turmeric.
Make a note about the herbs you have selected, and mark them on the worksheet found at the end of this chapter.
THE EXERCISE
The Crane Pose
As you now know, the liver is one of the main health-promoting organs. It filters your blood, helps burn fat, and even eliminates excess hormones and toxins to help maintain balance. In Chinese medicine an imbalanced liver can also be linked to digestive problems, headaches, depression, joint pain, fatigue, excess anger, and inflammation.
This qigong posture, which I call the Crane Pose, helps improve overall balance while also balancing the liver.
Begin by standing with your feet together. Extend your arms at shoulder height in front of you, keeping your palms facing forward. Take a deep breath.
Slowly move your arms to the sides, still at shoulder level. Gradually lift your knee with your toes pointing downward. Focus on expanding your chest. Exhale, and gradually lower your leg to the floor.
Repeat ten times, alternating the knee you lift each time. Be sure to practice this exercise very slowly and twice daily.
Crane Pose 1
Crane Pose 2
THE SPA TREATMENTS
The following are some wonderful therapies that can boost the effectiveness of your liver detoxification efforts. It isn’t necessary to do all of them; rather, choose the one or ones that interest you most, and try to do them the specified number of times each day of the Love Your Liver Weekend. Of course, the more you choose, the better. But don’t overwhelm yourself. If you think you can comfortably handle one, then just do that one. Remember that cleansing isn’t a contest; it’s an opportunity to do something wonderful for your body, mind, and spirit.
Easy Acupressure for Liver Detox and Healing
Acupressure, a powerful needle-free form of acupuncture, can help with liver detoxification. It is a simple, no-cost healing method that has survived the test of time for almost ten thousand years, probably due to its effectiveness.
Conducting acupressure is easy. Don’t worry if you are unfamiliar with the points. With just a little practice, you’ll have it mastered. Simply apply firm pressure to the points mentioned below (see the diagram that follows), and firmly hold each point for a minute or two. The points may be tender, but the tenderness usually subsides as you continue to hold the point. That’s a sign that you’ve found the right point and that the acupressure is helping to disperse stagnant qi (pronounced “chee”), which means energy.
Start with the points Heart 8 and Liver 2 simultaneously, then move to Lung 8 and Liver 4 simultaneously. In other words, you’ll hold two points at a time for this particular acupressure technique. Repeat on the opposite side of your body. See the diagram below to help you locate the points. The names of the points “Heart,” “Liver,” and “Lung” refer to the energy pathway on which the point sits and the corresponding organ to which it helps. So while you’re working on this combination of points that is particularly good for the liver, it will also have benefits for the lungs and heart as well.
Heart 8 (H8) is located on the palm of the hand, about one inch below the webbing between the little finger and ring finger.
Liver 2 (Liv2) is located on the top of the foot where the big toe and the second toe meet.
Lung 8 (Lu8) is located on the inside of the arm, on the thumb side, about one inch higher than the wrist crease.
Liver 4 (Liv4) is located on the front of the ankle bone on the inside of the leg.
Liver-Healing Aromatherapy Compress
It may be hard to imagine that a cloth compress with carefully selected essential oils could have any effect on your liver, but it can. Your skin is your body’s largest detoxification organ, but it also absorbs directly into your blood anything you put on it. That spells huge liver-healing benefits if you apply an aromatherapy compress over your liver.
Your liver is situated just below your lower right ribs on the front of your body. By placing a compress over the liver, oils are absorbed directly into the blood that feeds this organ, helping it to cleanse.
To experience the liver-healing aromatherapy compress you’ll need:
Three layers of unbleached or uncolored cotton flannel (approximately twelve inches by six inches)
One-half to one cup of castor oil (available in most health food stores)
One or two essential oils: peppermint (menthe piperita), lemon (citrus limon), celery (apium graveolens), or carrot (daucus carota)*
A dry cloth to place between the cotton flannel and the hot water bottle
Hot water bottle or electric heating pad
Stack the three layers of cotton flannel on top of each other. On the top layer pour the castor oil so it is saturated but not dripping. Add your selected aromatherapy oils. Place the compress over the liver area.
Place a dry cloth over the flannel sheets. Top with the water bottle or electric heating pad. Lay back and relax for thirty to sixty minutes.
Use this therapy all three days of the Love Your Liver Weekend.
THE WEEKEND
You’ve learned a lot about the liver, what it does, the health conditions with which it is linked, and the foods, nutrients, herbs, exercise, and therapies that give it a boost. Don’t worry if it seems a bit overwhelming right now—we’ll be putting it all together here.
I’ve outlined a step-by-step approach to the Love Your Liver Weekend detox below. Of course, you can substitute other foods. I’ve listed some excellent liver-boosting recipes to help you get started. There’s no need to eat or drink all of the items suggested. If you have the Super-Detoxifying Green Tea Lemonade midmorning, you don’t need to drink the Love Your Liver Herbal Tea too. Try to maintain a lot of variety: if you have the Citrus Boost juice at lunch, have the herbal tea later. If you snack on walnuts midmorning, try an avocado salad midafternoon.
The Love Your Liver Weekend detox is designed to be flexible and individualized so you’ll get the best results.
Here’s what your three-day weekend will look like:
Days one to three:
Upon rising—Drink a large glass of water (two cups) with the fresh juice of one lemon. Add a few drops of liquid stevia if you prefer a sweeter-tasting beverage. Wait twenty minutes before eating.
Breakfast—Explore the breakfast options in the recipe section of this book. Be sure to include some of the liver-boosting foods mentioned above. Some good options include Liver Jumpstart Juice (page 242), Veggie Scramble (page 262), a soft-boiled egg with Lemon-Garlic Greens (page 252), or a bowl of brown rice topped with warm almond milk.
Multivitamin
Optional nutrients
Herb (first dose of selected herbs) or a cup of Love Your Liver Herbal Tea (page 244).
Midmorning—Large glass of water (with lemon if desired) or a cup of Love Your Liver Herbal Tea (page 244) or Super-Detoxifying Green Tea Lemonade (page 243).
Snack, such as an apple, raw unsalted walnuts, a Health-Building Gourmet Salad topped with avocado (page 254), or celery sticks with almond butter or Herbes de Provence Cashew Cheese (page 250)
Exercise—the crane pose
Easy acupressure for liver detox
Lunch—Weekend Wonder Detox Signature Salad (page 258) or other large detoxifying salad topped with some of Dr. Michelle’s Top Twelve Liver-Boosting Foods
Liver Jumpstart Juice (page 242), Honey-Turmeric Tea (page 247), or Love Your Liver Herbal Tea (page 244)
Vitamin C
Optional nutrients
Herb (second dose of selected herbs, not required if you drank Love Your Liver Herbal Tea)
Midafternoon—Large glass of water (with lemon if desired) or a cup of Love Your Liver Herbal Tea (page 244) or Citrus Boost (page 241)
Snack, such as apple with almond butter, raw unsalted walnuts, an apple, or celery sticks with almond butter or Herbes de Provence Cashew Cheese (page 250)
Exercise—the crane pose
Easy acupressure for liver detox
Dinner—Spicy, Rice-y Detox Soup (page 260) with Lemon-Garlic Greens (page 252) or Roasted Red Pepper Chickpea Mash (page 263) with Cucumber-Mint Salad or Ginger Chili Quinoa (page 264)
Fresh cup of Liver Jumpstart Juice (page 242), Love Your Liver Herbal Tea (page 244), or Honey-Turmeric Tea (page 247)
Herb (third dose of selected herb, not required if you drank Love Your Liver Herbal Tea)
After dinner—Large glass of water (with lemon if desired) or a cup of Love Your Liver Herbal Tea (page 244) or Citrus Boost (page 241)
Liver-healing aromatherapy compress
Before bed—Take some quiet time to turn off the television. Find a quiet place to sit, close your eyes, and take some deep breaths.
Write in Love Your Liver Weekend Detox Journal (at the end of this chapter)
CONCLUDING THE LOVE YOUR LIVER WEEKEND
Congratulations! You just did something wonderful to boost the health of your liver and your whole body. Completing the Love Your Liver Weekend is something you should feel proud of.
After the Love Your Liver Weekend you may wish to keep incorporating foods, nutrients, herbs, exercises, or spa treatments into your day-to-day life. I encourage you to do so. Your liver is such an important organ; nurturing it through these healthy options can make a huge difference to your health.
Alternatively, you may wish to do the Love Your Liver Weekend every weekend for a month or one weekend out of every month. The choice is yours. You know your lifestyle and schedule best, so choose the option that works best for you.
If you continue to follow the Love Your Liver Weekend for longer periods, just take one week off from any herbs you’re using after every three weeks.
And be sure to try some of the other health-building weekend detoxes I’ve included throughout Weekend Wonder Detox. If you’re still feeling sluggish or suffering from any types of joint or muscle pain, you may want to opt for the Lymphomania Weekend next.
The Grocery List
For easy Love Your Liver Weekend prep, print this list and take it with you when you go to your local health food and grocery stores. Remember that not all of the items are essential; purchase only the foods, nutrients, herbs, and items for the spa treatments you’ve selected.
Foods
Here are the liver-boosting foods you’ll need. Also, make sure your pantry is stocked with the essential items you learned about in Chapter 2 for any recipes you select.
— lemons (for morning lemon water)
Other liver-boosting foods
— avocado
— beets
— dandelion greens
— eggs
— flax seeds or flax seed oil
— garlic
— leafy greens
— lemons (in addition to the morning lemon water)
— nuts and seeds
— onions
— soy foods
— turmeric
Nutritional Supplements
— multivitamin and mineral (essential)
— vitamin C (essential)
— B-complex (optional)
— amino acid complex (optional)
— taurine (optional)
— SAMe (optional)
Herbs
Choose one to three of the following herbs:
— milk thistle
— dandelion root
— globe artichoke
— turmeric
Optional Items if You Selected the
Liver-Healing Aromatherapy Compress
— unbleached cotton flannel (enough for three layers of twelve inches by six inches)
— castor oil
— one or two of the following pure essential oils: peppermint (mentha piperita), lemon (citrus limon), celery (apium graveolens), or carrot (daucus carota)
— dry cloth
— hot water bottle or electric heating pad
The Love Your Liver Weekend Detox Journal
You may wish to print off a copy of the journal page to make it easier to complete.
Energy: Rate your energy (from 0 to 10, with 0 meaning complete exhaustion, and 10 meaning abundant energy). Before the detox _____ After the detox _____
Pain: Rate your pain levels (from 0 to 10, with 0 meaning none, and 10 meaning unbearable, constant pain). Before the detox _____ After the detox _____
Mood: Rate your mood (from 0 to 10, with 0 meaning extremely moody, depressed, angry, or irritable, and 10 meaning extremely happy). Before the detox _____ After the detox _____
Weight: Before the detox _____ After the detox _____
Checklist of Liver-Boosting Foods Consumed
Try to eat at least five a day. Check the ones you eat each day.
Selected Nutrients
Be sure to take the multivitamin and vitamin C each day. Write down any additional nutrients you’ve opted to take throughout the detox. Remember, you don’t need to take all of them. Check off each day you take them.
Indicate the one to three herbs you’ve selected to take throughout the detox. Check off each day you take them. Most herbs need to be taken three times daily.
Exercise
Check off each time you complete the Crane Pose. Make sure to do it every day.
Check off each time you complete the liver-boosting spa treatments. It’s not necessary to do both of them, but whichever one(s) you choose, make sure you do it every day.
Observations and Thoughts
*You can still experience this spa treatment if you don’t have the essential oils—just use the castor oil.