THE GOOD
The liver performs vital functions to keep you alive. It is involved in over 500 functions. Here are a few important ones:
Regulates blood sugar levels
Cleans the blood
Regulates balance of thyroid, adrenal, and sex hormones
Produces bile to break down fats
Converts proteins and sugars into usable nutrients
Generates immune factors and removes bacteria from blood
Converts toxins to body waste products to be eliminated
Metabolizes pharmaceutical/recreational drugs
Eliminates toxins from the bloodstream
Stores vitamins and minerals to be released when needed
THE BAD
We are regularly exposed to over 86,000 chemicals (1). Some of which have not been tested for safety under the Toxic Substance Act. The liver has to process all of these chemicals using an enzyme, Cytochrome P450, to convert harmful toxins into metabolites that can be excreted through elimination pathways. The Bad List:
Dirty Dozen - List Dioxins in our food chain (3)
Heavy Metal Toxicity
Excessive alcohol or sugar consumption
Long term use of prescription medications or recreational drugs
Slow bile production creates gut dysbiosis -- gas, bloating, GI disturbances
Excess estrogen due to liver impairment -- fibrocystic breasts, PMS, fibroids, weight gain
Sleep disturbances with chronic liver impairment
THE WHY
At Meili Medicine we have created a 15-day Better Liver program to improve liver function. This program is not a detox or a cleanse. The liver performs detoxing functions everyday. We only need to SUPPORT the healthy function of the liver. Give the liver the nutrition it needs to do what it already does best. Take time to remove foods that create more work for liver functions. We minimize the liver's workload by eliminating alcohol, caffeine, preservatives, coloring agents, and emulsifiers from the diet. We add in whole foods that promote antioxidant production while adding binders to mop up the metabolites to be eliminated from the bowels and urine.
Check out the Better Liver program below.