Do you have liver damage?
The signs of liver damage
Do you ever wonder if your years of partying in your twenties has had a lasting effect on your liver?
The liver is responsible for around 500 different functions of the body including detoxification, blood formation, blood sugar regulation and hormone function. I’ve just had blood tests back and my liver is in the red zone but I already knew that without a test, how would you know if your liver was out of balance?
Some symptoms that show your liver needs some love:
Problems with your eye(s) like cataracts, poor eyesight or even watering eyes
Skin conditions including acne and eczema
Jaundice or if the whites of your eyes are yellow
Diabetes
Hormonal imbalance like PMS, PCOS, irregular periods, thyroid imbalance etc
Headaches or migraines
Diabetes
Nausea/sickness
Gallstones
Hip pain
More subtle signs including emotional are:
Weak nails
Anger/impatience
Lack of direction in life
Lump in the throat
Oppression in the chest
Belching/passing wind
Avoidance of the cold
Muscle cramps
I have known that I’ve had a liver imbalance for a long time probably since birth if I look back at my own history. I was born jaundice, needed glasses by 7 years, was suffering for migraines in my teens, had a hormonal imbalance (adrenal fatigue) in my 20/30’s and have always been impatient, had weak nails and avoided the cold.
Once I started working on my liver I have started to reverse my severe short sightedness, cleared up any headaches and migraines, become much more patient (thank goodness) and have mostly balanced my hormones but I still have work to do.
Unfortunately, I passed that imbalance onto my Son who also was jaundice shortly after birth, regularly suffers with nausea like travel sickness and is very angry (or is that just all 9 year old boys), so we are working to bring balance back to his liver too.
Spring is the perfect time to do that as our liver is naturally detoxing
How can you help:
-Eating sour foods like apple cider vinegar, lemons and limes- start the day with a hot water and fresh lemon
-Using cleansing herbs like dandelion root and milk thistle
-Fresh or dried herbs like basil, rosemary,
-Using turmeric and ginger often
-Detoxing foods like green and sea vegetables, watercress and celery
-Supplements like lecithin and choline bitartrate
What to reduce:
-Alcohol of course….at least a few alcohol free days a week and on the days you do drink setting yourself a limit in advance.
-Fried foods make the liver work harder. See if you notice that you feel more sluggish or your eyes are watering after eating this kind of food (or even the next day)
-Too much sugar takes it toll on the liver too, it has to word hard to convert it into fat which may hang around the kind of places you don’t want it.
-Refined salt found in all processed foods and takeaways/restaurant food. This can lead to liver scarring and again is putting your body under more stress.
As a trained naturopath I use lots of cleaning techniques to detoxify the liver and I coach my clients through this process.
The above information is a great start to rebalancing your liver but if you are ready to take action then everything you need is inside our spring cleanse.
From liver friendly foods, to recipes, juices, detox technique and movement.
Stay healthy
Hannah. xx