The holiday season is among us! The time of year when we indulge in more treats than usual and drink probably way more than we should, putting a big burden on our poor old livers.
The liver is in charge of more than 500 functions and is known as the powerhouse of the body, making it one of our biggest multitaskers. Some of its jobs include-detoxifying, storing iron and vitamins, producing bile needed to digest fats, breaking down hormones, and it even plays a role in our metabolism and digestion.
Many of our illnesses are due to an overburdened liver but most of the time we don’t even realize that our liver is not functioning at full capacity.
This is why it is so important to take care of your liver, especially this time of year, because you know you are gonna have way too many cocktails at your staff Christmas party.
Including liver-loving foods in your diet will help your liver perform its best to filter out all that holiday booze. Here are some ways to help your liver so it can help you!
- Decrease intake of fried, processed foods,
- Minimize your intake of alcohol. The liver postpones every other function when metabolizing alcohol.
- Increase your fibre intake. Foods such as whole grains, fresh fruits, and veggies.
- Make sure to drink enough water
- Stress is a big liver aggravator. Exercising regularly, yoga, and meditation are good ways to relieve stress.
- Lemon water. Squeeze the juice of half a lemon into a glass water and drink daily as your first drink of the day to cleanse the liver and help with digestion.
- Milk thistle and dandelion helps regenerate the liver. Drink as a nighttime tea with honey.
- Bitter foods support detoxification by helping the liver process incoming nutrients and filter impurities.
- Adding spices such as turmeric, rosemary, cinnamon, and cayenne help to detoxify, cleanse, and – in the case of turmeric – regenerate the liver.
Foods that are good for the liver
- Beets: Detoxifys and purifies the liver.
- Leafy greens: Chlorophyll in leafy greens increase the production of bile and absorb environmental toxins.
- Bitter greens: High cleansing properties.
- Carrots: Help stimulate and improve overall liver function.
- Garlic: Helps active enzymes in the liver that push out toxins.
- Onions: Contains a cancer fighting compound, especially the yellow ones.
- Fennel: Protects the liver from harmful chemicals.
- Seaweeds: Not only is it high in nutrients, but it can also have the ability to detox our bodies from certain radioactive chemicals.
RECIPE: Liver Salad
Ingredients
3-4 tbsp lime juice, fresh squeezed
1 tbsp honey
1 tbsp fresh ginger grated
1-3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 ½ cup grated beet
1 ½ cup grated carrots
1 ½ cup grated apple
1 ½ cup grated fennel
Sea salt and Pepper
Instructions
- To make the ginger lime dressing, combine the lime juice, honey, olive oil and ginger in a glass jar then shake with lid on.
- In a large bowl, combine the grated beets, carrots, fennel and apple.
- Toss in the dressing add salt and pepper and refrigerate until ready to serve.
