Have you considered a detox to improve your health?
Whether it’s for skin, weight loss or to ’boost’ your health?
Or perhaps you have been told you need to detox to help a certain condition you may be concerned about, but are unsure of where or how to start.
Well firstly, let me break down what a detox is, or rather what a detox is not, in order for you to properly be able to support your health and actually achieve genuine results!
To properly support and improve the health of an organ, it is necessary first to understand the importance and the role an organ plays, in order to know how to best support it for optimum functioning and performance.
This is particularly key for your liver! Contrary to popular belief, your liver does more than just ‘detoxify’. Our liver actually provides many essential roles to support our health, particularly our immune system, on a daily basis.
It is involved in many processes which help to support our health including:
Protein metabolism
Breaking down toxic substances, making them water soluble in order to be easily excreted
Protecting against toxic substances and environmental toxins
The breakdown and metabolism of essential nutrients including carbohydrates, fats and proteins
Maintaining our immune system and hormonal production
In order for the liver to perform these processes effectively, it requires the appropriate food and nutrients to do so.
As the liver plays such a vital role for supporting our health, as well as maintaining our skin health and integrity, rather than focusing on what to avoid, we should focus on how to support to nourish and improve these processes.
Contrary to the overload and false noise promoted in the health and wellness world, our liver does not actually need ‘detoxing’, as this is an ongoing process for the skin.
However our liver does need supporting, and does require key nutrients and foods to help this process. As well as reduce the circulation and accumulation of toxins within the body, which can lead to other chronic issues such as low immunity, gut issues, hormone imbalances and inflamed skin conditions, particularly eczema, psoriasis, dermatitis and certain types of acne.
So, how to properly support your liver?
Supporting your liver may be much simpler than you think, and you don’t have to dread giving up your favourite foods, if at all!
Here are 5 key tips to support and nourish your liver for optimum detoxification.
1. Include clean lean protein
Protein is so important for the function of our liver. It is the building block of each cell in the body and is required for synthesising and replenishing new tissues within the body. In order for the liver to be able to break down and continue its functions, we need to ensure we are consuming enough adequate proteins to enable this process.
Proteins containing essential amino acids (glycine, taurine and glutamine) are also vital for the function of phase 2 detoxification, which involves the excretion of toxic substances from the body, making them more soluble and easier to be excreted.
2. Include healthy fats and balanced meals
Contrary to the popular beliefs that detoxing requires fasting and skipping meals, our body actually requires essential macronutrients to be able to breakdown and distribute to other organs in the body. Having a full and balanced plate of healthy nutrients enables the liver to efficiently breakdown and excrete these nutrients and distribute them where they are required!
3. Include cruciferous and green leafy vegetables
Cruciferous vegetables are key for our liver health, as they contain sulphur metabolites. These metabolites are required for phase 2 detoxification, which again enables the passing of water toxic substances from the body. These are also very important for hormonal health, and the excretion or potentially harmful or elevated hormones.
4. Include citrus foods
These are high in vitamin C which helps support phase 2 detoxification. Vitamin C and Citrus bioflavonoids are required for the first phase of detoxification, which is the process of making phase 1 metabolites (fat soluble) into water soluble and less toxic, so they can be readily excreted. Vitamin C is also a key antioxidant which helps to protect against free radical damage, helping strengthen cellular integrity, and optimising the health and integrity of our skin cells and immune system.
5. Eliminate alcohol, caffeine and refined sugars.
When the body receives these common inflammatory foods, particularly alcohol, it reduces the absorption of other nutrients as it focuses on breaking down these substances first. At a time when trying to support and reduce the load on the liver , consumption of these foods actually places the liver under additional stress.
The easiest way to support your liver is by focusing on eating real, whole foods, and particularly bright coloured fruits and vegetables. These are high in anti-oxidants and help reduce free radical damage.
Including foods high in flavonoids (bright coloured fruits and vegetables), as these help support detoxification pathways and include plenty of green leafy vegetables as these are high in antioxidants which are key for supporting our liver.
For more information on how to support your liver, skin and overall health from the inside out, head to the blog for more practical and step by steps guides to help you on your journey!
If you are ready to get to the root cause of your health concerns, wether it’s your skin, hormones, gut or liver health and are not sure where to begin, then I am here to help you!
Simply send an email or book in via the contact tab on the blog, and I can help you with take the next steps to understanding your health, so you can ultimately heal and achieve your health goals, from the inside out!
Also, if you know someone who would benefit from reading this, then please share this with them. If you have any questions or comments, please ket me know, I would love to hear from you and answer your questions.
Until next time,
Take Care!
Dominique.
Skin Nutrition Co. X