Why Detox My Liver?

The Healing Power of the Liver and Gall Bladder Detoxification Program

Do you continually wake between 1-3am for no apparent reason? Do you have high cholesterol, constipation and find it impossible to lose weight, no matter how hard you try? Do you get angry at the drop of a hat and experience recurring negative thoughts? Have you had your gall bladder removed and find that you are constantly criticising your partner and attacking friends? Sorry folks, we keep coming back to the fact that your liver needs a detox!

Liver Stone Formation

Even though I highly recommend ‘The Liver Cleansing Diet’ as an excellent way to enhance the well-being of one’s physical and emotional health, it does not, by any means, release the hundreds of stones trapped in our livers, resulting from years of repeated prescriptions of antibiotics, the oral contraception pill, hormone replacement therapy, pain-killers and most other medications, artificial sweeteners (aspartame), pesticides and additives in food, coffee, caffeine tea, alcohol, junk food, air pollution, and especially suppressed emotion. Our liver bile ducts have become clogged with deposits of hardened bile or gallstones and when congested in this manner can cause a huge array of diseases and imbalances in the human body. This is to such an extent that there are very few adults in the western world that do not need some form of loving attention toward their liver.

An estimated one billion people in the world develop gall bladder problems at some point in their lives. Contrary to most people’s belief, most gallstones are formed in the liver and very few in the gall bladder. I consider gallstones one of the major reasons why people fall into chronic disease and have difficulty recuperating from an illness. Failure to recognise gallstones in the liver is an important missing link in the field of medicine, not only orthodox, but complementary as well.

Anatomy and Physiology of the Liver

The next time you are feeling angry about something or someone or in a heated discussion, check which area is heating up in your body. You may find that just under your right breast is starting to get a little warm – here lies your liver! After the skin the liver is the second largest organ in the body, weighing approximately 1.4 kg in an average adult. It sits under the diaphragm in the upper abdominal cavity and has a large right and a smaller left lobe. If a part of it is damaged or removed, the liver is able to totally self-regenerate, and grows back to its original size and shape.

Bile secreted by the liver is partly an excretory product (worn out red blood cells) and partly a digestive secretion, to break down fats.  Bile ducts transport bile from the liver. There are small ducts that unite to form the main bile duct, called the hepatic duct, which then joins the cystic duct that leads from the gall bladder, to form the common bile duct, which drains into the duodenum (part of the small intestine).

The gall bladder is a pea-shaped sac about 7-10cm long and sits underneath the liver. The gall bladder is a storehouse for bile.

The liver is responsible for the formation of blood, the recycling of hormones, as well as for heat and energy production. A healthy toxin-free liver secretes bile into the digestive system, transforms ingested substances into absorbable nutrients and neutralises intoxicating substances such as alcohol, medications and junk food. The liver houses vitamins and minerals and stores sugar as glycogen – it is responsible for the whole metabolic process.  The liver is the only organ that can pump fat out of the body – it is the supreme organ of metabolism.

Liver Related Physical Complaints

If you suffer from obesity, mood swings, PMS, or depression you may like to think almost every patient with a chronic illness, (such as heart disease), has an excessively large number of gallstones in their liver.

There may be a weakness in your liver/gall bladder, and you may have a build up of liver/gall bladder stone/gravel formation if you experience any one or more of the following…

Digestive disorders – Abdominal distension and/or discomfort, diarrhoea, constipation, irritable bowel syndrome, poor appetite, belching, nausea, vomiting, hernia, flatulence, heartburn or gastric reflux, food cravings, food allergies, pancreatitis, bitter taste in the mouth.

Liver disease – Fatty liver and/or raised liver enzymes, cirrhosis, chronic hepatitis.

Reproductive– Hormonal imbalances, impotence, polycystic ovarian disease, infertility, period pain, dark and clotted menstrual blood, sore and distended breasts before period, endometriosis, pre-menstrual tension and irritability, irregular periods, menstrual flooding, menopausal symptoms, breasts may form on males and in women, masculine effects such as hirsutism.

Skeletal imbalances – Sciatica, back pain, pain in the joints, osteoporosis, scoliosis, shoulder pain, especially the right shoulder.

Eye disorders – glaucoma, cataracts, sties, poor eyesight, small protuberances in the eyelids, yellow sclera (whites of the eye), puffy eyes, dark colour under the eyes etc.

Chronic disease states – Cancer, chronic fatigue syndrome, diabetes, MS, Alzheimer’s, pancreatitis, obesity, inability to lose weight, hernia, chronic headaches, sudden ageing, headaches and migraines, especially the type of headache occurring or starting in the forehead and temple areas (gall bladder), excessive heat and perspiration in the upper part of the body.

Cardiovascular - High cholesterol, restricted blood vessels, full spectrum of heart disease including angina etc.

Respiratory – Difficulty breathing, cough, asthma.

Skin conditions – Acne, cystic acne, eczema, psoriasis, ‘dirty’ skin, hives, abscesses, sudden rashes, yellowing of the skin, liver spots, especially on the back of the hands and facial areas.

Immunity dysfunction – Continual colds/flues, not being able to shake a current infection, recurring symptoms from past episodes of Ross river fever, glandular fever etc, and all autoimmune disease such as rheumatoid arthritis.

Emotional – Anger, bitterness, frustration, fluctuation of mental state, irritability, boredom, feeling “wound-up”, moodiness, dis-satisfaction, resentment, rage, impatient, aggravation, critical, judgemental, nit-picking, sarcasm, melancholy, depression, manic depression, general negativity, aggressiveness, shouting, speaking loudly, indecisiveness and allowing others to make decisions for you (gall bladder imbalance).

If you experience any of these symptoms, you may benefit by undertaking a specialised liver detox with a qualified medical herbalist/naturopath.

By the elimination of stones from the liver, the body’s 60-100 trillion cells is able to ‘breathe’ more oxygen, receive more nutrients, eliminate their metabolic waste products more efficiently, and maintain perfect communication links with the nervous system, endocrine system and all other parts of the body.

In Chinese understanding there is a strong connection between the liver and lungs. Both are responsible for the smooth flow of energy (Qi) in the body. If the liver energy is not balanced then the lungs can become distressed causing asthma and cough.

The Emotional Connection

It is the liver’s job to detoxify the blood on a physical level and this versatile organ also detoxifies our emotions on an energetic level.  In Traditional Chinese Medicine, the emotion anger relates to the liver (organ and meridian). It is the liver’s job to clear anger. Instead, especially in the western world, we use it as a storage space for negativity so it becomes stressed and eventually blocks. Energy from the earth comes up through our feet, up into our body, towards the heavens and in doing so has to pass through our liver. If our liver is blocked, the light becomes filtered and clogged so that energy does not go into the upper half of our body. This can cause problems in the chest or breasts. It also affects the eyes and forehead, creating headaches. In antiquity, the liver was considered to be the ’seat of the mind’ and a liver blockage could give rise to grave emotional states. Depression is caused by blockages in the liver. Most depressed people will benefit from the Flourish For Life Gentle Liver Detox Program, working up to the Flourish For Life Liver Flush! Detox Program if appropriate.

Emotional toxicity in the liver is epidemic. If you haven’t been able to express yourself fully as a child, if you have had a controlling or abusive mother, father or sibling, if you have a controlling partner, if you have a lot of negative thoughts about yourself and the world, then it is time you allowed some of those suppressed emotions and toxins out! The beauty of detoxifying your liver is if you choose to undertake a liver/gall bladder detox using herbal medicine and a pure form of diet, then both the physical and emotional detoxification process will happen simultaneously, this is when you really start to experience what the healing crisis is all about!

J Specific Foods For Cleansing and Supporting Liver Function:

• Most live whole foods grown organically
• All green vegetables, leafy or otherwise- artichoke, asparagus, broccoli, kale, Brussels sprouts, spinach, lettuce etc.
• All culinary herbs (including garlic)
• Spirulina/wheat grass/barley grass/chlorella etc
• Sprouts etc
• Avocadoes
• Onions
• Cabbage
• Beetroot
• Carrot
• Turmeric
• Apples (especially green)
• Lemon and lime
• Cold Pressed Extra Virgin Olive oil
• Coconut Oil
• Apple Cider Vinegar

“Eating around four apples a day can reduce cholesterol levels in the blood as much as a dose of statin drugs.” Cornell University, New York.