The Essentials Of A Liver Detox Diet

Many of us don’t know the true value of our liver. In reality, it is one of the organs of the body that performs numerous complex functions.

A malfunctioning liver, such as the liver of a patient with liver cirrhosis, can have devastating effects on other body systems and could result to multiple-organ break down. One way to make the liver healthy and prevent liver disease is to support its role and function.

Cleansing or detoxifying the liver is an effective way of ensuring that it performs its functions properly. You can do this by undergoing a liver detox diet. If you wonder what is detoxification and how it can help the liver work properly, here’s a brief explanation of what it is. Detoxification is the process of removing wastes, majority of which are toxins, from the body via the skin, lungs, digestive tract, and urine.

A Natural Body Process

Actually, detoxification is one of the natural processes of the body. It is made possible through the collaboration of different organs which are the liver, kidneys, and the digestive system. Our liver plays a major part in the detoxification process. It naturally works by filtering our blood, somewhat like straining it and separating the good substances from the bad. It then transforms the bad substances into another substance so that it can be easily removed by the kidneys through urine.

Toxins can come from everywhere, but most of it comes from commercialized and manufactured foods we eat. Most of these food products have different preservatives, additives, artificial flavorings, and chemicals. If you ingest too much of these substances, over time, the liver will become exhausted and have a hard time of removing toxins from our body. Toxins can weaken our immune system, shorten the cell’s life span, and make us vulnerable to harmful pathogens. A liver detox diet will help our liver perform the detoxification process effectively. Taking measures to help cleanse the liver coupled with the natural detoxification process will hasten the removal of toxins in the body.

Cleansing The Liver

Cleansing the liver by following a diet plan has a lot of benefits. It can increase your physical energy, regulate mood and sleep pattern, promote focus and mind clarity, prevent constipation, increase healing, prevent allergies, and promote weight loss. Before you finally decide to follow a liver cleansing diet, you should first consult your doctor or a health expert. Detox diets are not recommended for everyone such as individuals with weak immune systems, malnourished, are of old age, or those who have chronic medical conditions. Your physician should check your biological health status and history first before you follow this diet.

The liver cleansing diet plan varies and can last for 3, 7, or even 21 days. However, most health experts recommend the 7-day diet regimen. The diet menus will give emphasis and focus on raw fruits and vegetables, fruit juices, vegetable soups, and filtered water. As much as possible, use organic and naturally grown fruits and vegetables because they are free from chemicals such as fertilizers and pesticides. While on this diet, be sure to avoid eating salty, fatty, sweet, canned, processed foods, and foods filled with artificial flavorings. You can eat a little amount of white meat (fish) but never red meat. Completely avoid drinking alcohol, carbonated beverages, caffeine, milk, and other dairy products.

Start The Liver Cleansing Diet

Pick a week that you’re free to start your liver cleansing diet. 1 week or 2 weeks before you begin, eat a high fiber diet. Augment this by drinking 8-10 glasses of filtered water daily. Make sure to add more fruits and vegetables to your menu. If possible, drink fruit and vegetable juices once or twice daily. You have to do this so that your body can adapt and keep up to an abrupt change in diet.

When your body’s ready, you can start your first three days with a liquid diet.
Every morning after waking up, you can have a glass of water mixed with a half squeezed lemon juice. For the remainder of the day, drink fruit and vegetable juices. Choose different kinds of fruits and vegetables, such as apples, carrots, oranges, mango, papaya, cucumber, etc, so that you’re fully supplied with nutrients. If you want to eat something solid, you can have a fruit and vegetable salad. All throughout the week, you should drink 10 glasses of filtered water per day.

For the next four days, you can have a combination of liquid and solid diet. Include steamed, stir-fried, or boiled vegetables to your menu. Make sure you eat green and leafy vegetables such as cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, and celery. You can also make vegetable soups. If you want to add white meat, you can have fish like salmon. After the 7-day diet plan, make sure to continue consuming fruits and vegetables. Eat less fatty, salty, and inorganic foods.

The liver detox diet offers a better way of cleansing the liver than other liver cleansing products. It uses natural and organic fruits and vegetables that not only helps to get rid of toxins but also provides the body a large amount of essential vitamins and nutrients.