written by home doctor sunshine coast

If you had a little too much fun during the Christmas and New Year’s period it might be time to consider a liver cleanse.

As one of the most important organs in the body, your liver is responsible for filtering the bloodstream and removing toxins. It acts as a cleaning mechanism for your body all day and night. So it’s important to stimulate good liver function to ensure your body is kept healthy and free from waste products that can cause disease.

Just like a car engine that needs good quality fuel to function at its best, so does your liver. The good news is that there are a number of ways you can detoxify your liver, including:

  • Taking a break from alcohol.
  • Ensuring you drink enough water.
  • Eating healthy fats.

But why should you consider detoxing your liver? Here’s 5 worthwhile reasons:

1. Weight loss

A proper liver cleanse is one of the best ways to lose weight as your liver is essential in the breakdown of fats and minerals. It also converts additional glucose to glycogen to cleanse your blood of any damaging substances.

An effective detox will kill bad bacteria in the belly that are a major source of toxicity and weight gain, as well as accumulated toxins that slow digestion. Without a properly functioning liver, anyone could experience fat accumulation without even knowing why. When you cleanse your liver, you help it promote the production of bile which assists your body in metabolising fats and ultimately promotes healthy weight loss.

2. Boost your energy

When you lose weight it’s likely you will experience more energy, but the liver boosts energy on another level. Forget your daily double-shot coffee because purifying your liver will enhance your energy in a much healthier, more sustainable way.

While some toxins are released as waste, others are converted to usable constituents. However, if your liver is overflowing with foreign elements, these converted nutrients are not released back, resulting in lack of energy. With detoxification, you are restoring these nutrients and therefore leaving you feeling energised and lively.

3. Combat ageing

Purifying your liver will not only lead to improved internal health, but also a noticeable improvement on the outside such as healthier hair, skin and nails. Detoxification reduces the toxins build-up, which will certainly result in a healthier looking you. Every person’s dream really!

4. Prevent Liver Stones

Liver stones develop when there is excessive cholesterol build-up in the human body that the liver cannot process effectively. This condition causes bile to harden into crystalline stones which creates blockages within the liver.

So, it’s important to detoxify the liver so that the liver can be restored back to delivering good nutrients into the body and prevent an imbalance in the retention of water and salt.

5. Detoxifying the rest of the body

By detoxing your liver, you really are detoxing the rest of your body as well. As the liver converts toxic agents into harmless agents, it’s normal for some toxins to be present in the liver as this is where the body sends them for natural processing.

A good and effective detox is about supporting yourself with nutritious food to replenish your body with good nutrients, not about juices, pills or starvation.