The liver is the primary organ involved in removing toxins from your body. It purifies and cleanses your body by filtering out toxic elements from your blood, and helps digest food.
A healthy liver has the organic function of burning fat; it takes nutrients from food and turns them into essential components of your blood by capturing vitamins and minerals and producing proteins and enzymes, which help balance hormones. Our liver also helps our immune system to fight infections, it eliminates bacteria from our blood and produces bile, necessary for the digestion of food.
When our liver is damaged by stress or too much exposure to toxins, our entire internal system can be affected, which can cause serious health problems. Let’s not forget that it produces bile, which helps in purification, and that it is necessary for the elimination and assimilation of fats and proteins from our food.
This is why it is essential that our liver receives special attention, because a liver in poor condition is unable to efficiently process the nutrients in your food, or to purify the blood that circulates in your body. Dr. Karl Maret writes about the importance of proper liver function: “The thousands of enzyme systems that are responsible for almost all of the body’s activities are generated in the liver. The proper functioning of sight, heart, brain, reproductive organs, joints and kidneys depends entirely on good liver activity. If the liver is unable to produce even one of the thousands of enzyme systems that the body needs, the entire body is disrupted, causing significant metabolic stress. “
Here are 8 important foods you should consider incorporating into a daily diet to keep your liver healthy.
Avocado
Including more avocados in your diet can help your body produce a type of antioxidant called "glutathione", which our liver needs to filter out toxic components, thereby improving its purifying power. Research has shown that eating one or two avocados a week for even a month can repair a damaged liver.
Garlic
It contains many organosulfur compounds, including allicin and selenium, two powerful nutrients that have been shown to help protect the liver from toxin damage, and to activate the liver enzymes responsible for extraction toxins from our body.
Grapefruit
It is a fruit naturally rich in vitamin C and antioxidants, two powerful agents of hepatic purification. Like garlic, grapefruit contains compounds that improve the production of liver enzymes with a detoxifying role. It also contains a flavonoid compound, naringenin, which helps the liver to burn fat rather than store it. Eating grapefruit or drinking its juice can help your liver flush out toxins and carcinogens.
Green tea
Filled with antioxidants known as catechins, which have been shown to improve liver function. Studies have also shown that they help remove fatty tissue from the liver and promote good liver function. This excellent herbal drink also protects the liver from toxins that can seriously damage it.
Nuts
Rich in L-arginine (an amino acid), glutathione, and omega-3 fatty acids, which help in the cleansing process of the liver and help detoxify the liver from ammonia, which causes disease. Nuts also facilitate oxygenation of the blood, and extracts from their shells are often used in the production of liver cleansing formulas.
Leafy greens
For example, spinach, berry, arugula, dandelion greens, chicory and lettuce. These leafy vegetables are able to neutralize heavy metals, chemicals and pesticides in your food, and act as a protective mechanism for the liver, promoting the production and flow of purifying bile.
Cruciferous vegetables
Vegetables such as broccoli, cauliflower or Brussels sprouts also help increase the presence of glucosinolates (organic compounds) in our bodies, which makes it easier to produce digestive enzymes.
Turmeric
It is one of the most effective foods for keeping the liver healthy. It has been shown to actively protect the liver from toxic damage, and even regenerate damaged liver cells. Turmeric also improves the natural production of bile, reduces clogging of the liver ducts and improves the overall function of the gallbladder, another body's purifying organ. It is a natural form of liver detoxifier.
