What overloads the liver? Pollutants from our food (everything from additives to chemicals used in agriculture), water, air, drugs, chlorination, fluoridation, household cleaning products, air fresheners, out-gassing of products we bring into our homes, to name a few. While we cannot remove all toxins from our lives, we can take some of the load off the liver, which will help make a difference in our overall health and physical appearance.
Symptoms of an overloaded liver include skin irritations, blemishes, acne, psoriasis, eczema, allergies, itchy skin, hives, heartburn, bloating, general fatigue, nausea, yellow discoloration of skin/eyes, loss of appetite, dark colored urine, loss of energy, brownish spots on the skin, depression, and crankiness.
Simple Dietary and Lifestyle Tips for Liver Health
- Increase fiber: fresh fruits, vegetables, whole grains.
- Seasonings: use herbs and lemon juice in cooking to provide more flavor, fewer calories, and less fat.
- Cooking Oils: Use the RIGHT fats! For cooking purposes, coconut oil is superior. It can take higher heat than even a high-heat olive oil, it tastes great, and it is much healthier than canola oil. Coconut and olive oils are oils that the human body has evolved with, so staying closer to these types of fat are beneficial as our bodies know how to process them.
Tip: Reserve your olive oil for a condiment at the table or after food is cooked. Why? When olive oil smokes, the molecules are fractured and any health benefits are completely gone! So, if you choose to cook with olive oil, remember not to overheat it. - Sweeteners: avoid sugar substitutes like the plague. They are toxic. A good low-glycemic replacement is Blue Agave.
- Supplements and/or therapeutic-grade essential oils are a terrific way to cleanse and detoxify the liver. Here are some suggestions:
Single Essential Oils:
Ledum, Helichrysum, Geranium, Sage, Rosemary, Roman Chamomile. Combine a couple drops with a couple drops of carrier oil and rub onto skin over the liver area.
Two essential oils blends from Young Living were created to specifically help support and detoxify the liver:- JuvaFlex: Apply topically; put a couple drops in your palm and rub over the liver.
- JuvaCleanse: One drop in a veggie capsule with a little olive oil. Or, one drop in a glass of goat's milk. You would use JuvaCleanse when you want to help your body release/clean-up toxins built up in your liver and fat tissues.
Dried or fresh herbs that can also helpful include burdock, beet powder and beet juice, dandelion, red clover (you want the actual flower, not the cheap leaf parts), yellow dock, milk thistle seed (grind it up slightly so that the nutrition in the seed can come out), and Oregon grape root. All of these can make a delicious tea; do not steep your tea for longer than 6 minutes because it releases the bitter tannins (which you do not want to be drinking). - JuvaFlex: Apply topically; put a couple drops in your palm and rub over the liver.
- Household Cleaners: Use only green, nontoxic cleaners. Try Young Living Thieves Household Cleaner.
- Air Freshening: Avoid most air freshening/germ killing products on the market, which can be toxic. Diffuse essential oils to freshen the air or make a spray using distilled water and essential oils.
Lymph
The lymphatic system is important in clearing the body of toxins. Our lymph system doesn't have a pump the way the blood circulatory system has a heart. So lymph becomes stagnant if we don't move our bodies.
The best thing to do to move lymphatic fluid is exercise. You want a minimum of twenty minutes of aerobic movement three times a week. Bouncing on a mini-trampoline is also great (make sure it's a high-quality one; cheap ones are not well-made and can cause injury).
Here's a subtle movement to promote lymph circulation: Stand and lift up onto your toes a little (so that your heels barely leave the floor) and then drop down into your feet/heels. Repeat many times.
Another way to promote lymph circulation is dry brushing the skin.
Cellulite
Cellulite is a fatty deposit causing a dimpled or uneven appearance. The fat, which is close to the surface of the skin, pushes against connective tissues in the skin to cause a dimpled appearance (orange skin look).
Cellulite is one of the harder types of fats to dissolve in the body. It is an accumulation of old fat cell clusters that solidify and harden as the surrounding tissue loses its elasticity. Because the fat becomes trapped in compartments of the tissue where circulation is poor, cellulite is a condition is difficult to eliminate.
Essential oils such as ledum, tangerine, and grapefruit may help reduce fat cells. Cypress enhances circulation to support the elimination of fatty deposits. The essential oils of lemongrass and spearmint also may help fat metabolism.
Cellulite is slow to dissolve, so work on target areas for a month or more in conjunction with exercise, cleaning up your diet, and drinking plenty of purified water each day (NOT distilled water). Be patient.
Massage and Cellulite
Massage promotes lymphatic circulation, which helps remove toxins, and increases blood supply, which carries oxygen to the area helping to break up the encapsulated hardened fat cells of cellulite.
Massage your cellulite-prone areas at home daily when in the bath or shower. And get a professional massage as often as possible.
Single Essential Oils for Massage: Rosemary, grapefruit, lemon, tangerine, cypress, fennel, juniper, spearmint, lemongrass. Combine with carrier oil.
Young Living Essential Oil Blends: EndoFlex and Citrus Fresh. Combine with carrier oil.
Make Your Own Blends:
Cellulite blend #1:
· 5 drops rosemary
· 10 drops grapefruit
· 2 drops cypress
Cellulite blend #2:
· 10 drops grapefruit
· 5 drops lavender
· 3 drops helichrysum
· 3 drops patchouli
· 4 drops cypress
Dilute the above essential oil blends 50-50 with carrier oil. Massage 3-6 drops vigorously on cellulite locations at least 3 times daily, especially before exercising.
Cellulite blend for the bath:
· 5 drops juniper
· 3 drops orange
· 3 drops cypress
· 3 drops lemon
Mix the above bath recipe together with 2 tablespoons Epsom salts and dissolve in warm bath water, 2-4 times weekly. If desired, follow with a massage.
Caution: Do NOT apply citrus oils to skin that will be exposed to sunlight within 12 hours - all citrus oils are photosensitizing.
Information adapted (with some modification) from The Very Essence, a free weekly ezine newsletter on the value of therapeutic-grade essential oils.
*These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This information and these products are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.
Posts
