How to Have a Healthy Liver

Your Liver: What it Does and Why It’s So Important To Your Health

Written by JJ Smith, #1 NY Times Bestselling Author and Weight Loss Expert

Posted June 1st, 2020 under Belly Fat, Health and Wellness

Get the facts on how to have a healthy liver so you can feel and look your best

Your liver is an essential organ, responsible for cleansing your blood and body from harmful toxins and chemicals. You cannot live without a liver.

Think of your liver as your powerhouse organ. A healthy liver helps you burn carbohydrates and fat, build muscle, absorb medication, and remove toxins from your body. Your liver is constantly working in the background so you can live a healthy, active, and balanced life.

Unfortunately, so many people are doing damage to their liver without realizing the serious consequences of their actions. The good news is you can make lifestyle adjustments to heal and regenerate your liver so you can reach your ideal weight, have an abundance of energy, and look your best every single day!

What Does the Liver Do?

The liver is your body’s purification system, cleansing your blood and body of harmful exposure to toxins, chemicals, processed foods, and by-products of our busy lifestyle including alcohol, tobacco, cleaning chemicals, and beauty products.

The liver has over 500 functions and according to the American Liver Foundation, without the liver, our bodies would simply stop working. This video from the American Liver Foundation explains how the liver keeps you living well and the importance of a healthy liver.

The primary functions of the liver I want you to know about are:

  1. Cleanses your blood. The liver is responsible for destroying and neutralizing alcohol, drugs, chemicals, and other toxins. Along with removing toxins, the liver ensures medications are absorbed properly.
  2. Creates and stores energy. A healthy liver produces, stores, and delivers energy when your body demands. As part of this critical function, your liver creates, stores, and exports fat, keeping it available as an energy source. However, when your liver is overwhelmed you end up with excess stored fat and risk the accumulation of belly fat.
  3. Creates protein. Along with helping you build and maintain muscle, protein is also responsible for blood clotting, helping you fight infections, and moving critical substances in your blood.
  4. Hormone regulation. The liver is a key player in keeping your thyroid, adrenal, cortisone, and sex hormones balanced. These hormones are essential to your ability to burn fat, respond to stress, and staying healthy.
  5. Metabolizing carbohydrates and fat. A healthy liver means you can burn calories and fat, making it easier for you to stay slim and lose inches. Think of the liver as your fat-burning organ!

I really like the way the Canadian Liver Foundation explains what your liver does:

“Your liver is your power source. It helps digest your food and turns it into energy. By converting proteins, carbohydrates, fat and vitamins into energy, the liver ensures your bod has what it needs to keep going.

Your liver is your engine. It drives many of your body’s critical systems and when it breaks down, your body will too.

Your liver is your pharmacist. It must process all medications, vitamins or herbal remedies you take before they can take effect. Mixing or overdosing medications can damage this vital organ.”

Even though your liver will keep working for you when it is damaged, you cannot take your liver health and function for granted. Think of what it’s like to use your smartphone on low battery mode, it’s sluggish and can’t do everything you want – and this is exactly what living with a damaged liver is like. This is why it’s critical you put your liver health first and learn about natural liver supplements and how they support a safe liver cleanse.

What is Liver Disease?

The liver is a complicated organ, responsible for a multitude of critical body functions, and this puts it at risk for a broad range of injury, illness, and damage. 

Liver disease can be caused by lifestyle factors (alcohol, diet, obesity) or inherited. Some liver diseases are a side effect of cancer, auto-immune diseases, prescription medication, viruses, and infections.

The great news is because your liver is so critical to your life and health, it is the only organ that can regenerate and heal itself. When you give the liver a break with an adjustment to your diet, exercise, sleep patterns, and support it with a liver cleanse, your liver is able to recover and focus on keeping you looking great and feeling good.

How to Have a Healthy Liver Naturally

While you cannot control your genetics and the risk of an inherited liver disease, you can make efforts to prevent liver diseases like non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) or alcoholic liver disease.

I want you to look and feel fabulous and benefit from a healthy liver. As you go about your day-to-day, please keep in mind these key tips on how to have a healthy liver naturally.

  1. Be toxin aware. Wash your fresh produce, use natural beauty products and cleaners, and limit your exposure to tobacco, fertilizer, insecticide and additives.
  2. Stay hydrated. Your body is 60% water and all of your organs rely on water to keep functioning. When you’re dehydrated, your liver bile ducts compress, putting you at risk for developing gallstones. Try to drink one gallon of lukewarm water during the day and remember to drink more when you’ve been sweating. Your body is 60% water and requires water to function properly. When you’re dehydrated, you feel sluggish, low on energy, and may turn to sugary foods and carbohydrates for an energy boost.
  3. Limit alcohol consumption. Excessive alcohol can destroy or damage critical liver cells and scar your liver. During a liver cleanse, stop drinking alcohol and give your liver a break from processing this toxin.
  4. Eat your greens, fruits, and veggies. You are what you eat. Your liver requires essential nutrients, vitamins, minerals and specific nutrients from vegetables and fruit to heal, regenerate, and stay healthy. Eat liver superfoods like nuts, berries, turmeric, coffee, oatmeal, grapefruit, and fresh fruits and vegetables.
  5. Support your liver. A natural and proven liver supplement that is gentle on your body helps support your liver health. A liver supplement like Liver Focus is designed to help your body naturally defend against harmful toxins found in everyday environments.
  6. Cut back on treats. Treats like cake, candy, potato chips, and soda contain high levels of sugar and fat which put a burden on your liver. When your liver is already working overtime, it cannot correctly metabolize these sugars and fats, causing you to gain weight and making it very difficult to lose inches from your waistline.
  7. Move your body. Not only is exercise a great way to reduce stress and burn calories, but it gets you sweating. Sweat is one of the major ways your body eliminates toxins and by-products.

My goal is for you to live your healthiest and best life. This means you need to feel great inside and out. When you take care of your liver, your liver takes care of you.

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