Do detoxes actually work and what does the word ‘detox’ mean?
Your liver is essential. It has over
500 imperative functions to help keep your body healthy. However, its role in our general wellbeing can easily be overlooked. In order to get well and stay well, liver health needs to be addressed. If your liver is healthy you will:
Conversely if your liver is not functioning well you will feel:
Often times in order to improve our liver health we ideally need to undertake a liver detox. Yet the word detox is a buzz-word these days. It’s often attached to marketing a particular product, supplement or diet that claims to clear out the liver and return liver function to normal. But do these detoxes actually work and what does the word ‘detox’ mean?
Detox often refers to ‘detoxifying’ the liver by removing any build-up of toxins or substances that can overload it, such as environmental toxins, alcohol, and other substances found in our lifestyles.
The issue with relying on one particular product, supplement or strict diet to detoxify the liver is that this creates a reliance on these to be able to return your liver to good health. Another problem with relying on a strict diet is that it is often not sustainable. As soon as you stop following the diet and return to your usual lifestyle you will find the same problems occurring with your liver.
So to put the record straight first up I’d need to say that there is no one ‘detox diet’ that works for everyone. In fact, oftentimes the best approach is not extreme but rather involves making some small changes to our overall diet and lifestyle to help our liver to do its job.
One of the key roles of the liver is to detoxify harmful or chemical substances from the body such as environmental chemicals, pesticides, drugs, alcohol, and other toxins. The liver also has key roles in food breakdown, storage, and metabolism.
The key then to detoxify or cleanse the liver, so-to-speak, is to reduce exposure of the liver to substances which can overload this vital organ. The good news too is that the liver is remarkably efficient at renewing itself and so when given a chance the cells in the liver can regenerate and work as they should.
To help your liver work as it should try the following strategies outlined on the Mindfood site:
http://www.mindfood.com/article/benefits-of-liver-detoxing/
Or read more within the Healthy Liver book.. https://www.rockpoolpublishing.com.au/healthy-liver
Mindfood - Dr Cris – 05 July, 2016