Your liver handles 100s of different functions and its health affects every single part of your body. It may be the cause behind almost any symptom or health problem you have and it can be in trouble even before you find yourself feeling "liverish" or jaded in general, or after rich foods or a heavy drinking session. In The Liver Detox Plan, nutritionist and homeopath Xandria Williams uses her 20 years of experience in correcting digestive problems to explain exactly what the liver does and how to keep it as healthy as possible. By following her four or eight-week plan to help your liver to a better state of health, you can achieve greater vitality, energy and weight loss and even repair the damage of your past lifestyle. Her detox plan is gentle, safe and, most importantly, flexible. The book is written with a wide variety of people in mind including those of us who do not seem able to stick to a diet or plan for any length of time. You can either try her four-week "quick fix" or her eight-week "totally committed" plan. The book is clearly laid out with helpful lists of fruit and vegetables, fluids and supplements that are good for your liver. The recipes are simple but inviting. Xandria also includes tips on emergency repair treatment for your liver after several heavy nights out. The final section of the book explains symptoms you might experience when your liver needs a detox. f you suffer from chronic fatigue, headaches, allergies, candidiasis, high-blood pressure, PMS, hypoglycaemia, mood swings or menopausal problems, Xandria's detox programme could greatly help to reduce your symptoms. An excellent, practical book which can help tackle a wide range of illnesses.
The Role of Your Liver in Weight Gain
Weight gain and depression are just two common manifestations of a congested, overworked liver.
Many people struggle with weight gain and a sluggish metabolism most of their lives, and go through lots of yo-yo dieting unsuccessfully. “So why doesn’t anything really work?” we may ask. We have been tackling the symptom when we should be addressing the cause - weight gain is often due to poor liver function. Congestion throughout the body and a sluggish liver can contribute not only to fatigue and malaise, but also to weight gain, especially around the abdomen, cellulite, and water retention.
When we cleanse the liver and then eat the right foods, liver metabolism will improve and we start burning fat. As liver function improves, so does energy. With more energy, fitness improves, because we have the ability to excercise more and improve our muscle tone.
As we cleanse the body, not only will we shed excess pounds, we’ll also lose some of that lumpy, bumpy cellulite.
Two French physicians, Meus-Blatter and Laroche, discovered that cellulite is cause by inefficient removal of wastes from the body. As toxic materials collect between the cells, they are held by hardened connective tissue where they build up to create pockets of water, toxins, and fat that give the skin that unsightly peau d’orange (orange peel skin) appearance. Cleansing the body with high amounts of raw food, and especially vegetable juices, not only helps flush away the lumps and bumps, it also raises cell vitality. learn about The 7-Day, Kick-Start Liver Cleanse and Weight Loss Program
Following are the most common symptoms and conditions: Being on edge (easily stressed), clevated cholesterol, skin conditions, skin irritation, depression, sleep difficulties, fat indigestion, kidney damage, heart damage, brain damage, Hypothyroidism, chronic fatigue, weight fain, poor memory, PMS, mental fog, blood sugar disorders, allergies, obesity. If you have tried many ways to improve your health and energy level and nothing seemed to adequately help, it is very possible that your overworked liver underlies your difficulties. Restoring liver function is one of the most important and vital actions you could ever do for your health. When the liver gets congested and toxic, it will remain that way and get worse until it gets detoxified and rejuvenated.
Milk Thistle has a long therapeutic history for the treatment of liver disorders
For over 2,000 years Europeans have used Milk Thistle seeds as an herbal treatment for liver disorders. Literally hundreds of research studies, mostly in Europe, have confirmed the remarkable ability of milk thistle to protect the liver against virtually all types of damage: from accidental exposure to chemical pollutants, toxic side effects of medications, liver diseases like hepatitis and even the self inflicted damage from overindulgence of rich food and alcohol. Human studies have found milk thistle seed extract beneficial in treating alcoholic liver disease, drug-induced liver disease, bile duct inflammation and chronic hepatitis.
Milk Thistle seeds extracts
A new lawsuit against the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) forced the release of piles of government documents clearly showing the correlation between the chemical substances put into our food and the obesity epidemic in America. learn more: Stop Poisoning Yourself and Lose Weight!
LIVER, WEIGHT GAIN & DEPRESSION
Weight gain and depression are just two common manifestations of a congested, overworked liver. Following are the most common symptoms and conditions: Being on edge (easily stressed), clevated cholesterol, skin conditions, skin irritation, depression, sleep difficulties, fat indigestion, kidney damage, heart damage, brain damage, Hypothyroidism, chronic fatigue, weight fain, poor memory, PMS, mental fog, blood sugar disorders, allergies, obesity. If you have tried many ways to improve your health and energy level and nothing seemed to adequately help, it is very possible that your overworked liver underlies your difficulties. Restoring liver function is one of the most important and vital actions you could ever do for your health. When the liver gets congested and toxic, it will remain that way and get worse until it gets detoxified and rejuvenated. learn about your liver's ennemies
The Liver and Weight Loss
Vital Points for the Weight Conscious!
1. The liver is the major fat burning organ in the body and regulates fat metabolism by a complicated set of biochemical pathways. The liver can also pump excessive fat out of the body through the bile into the small intestines. If the diet is high in fibre this unwanted fat will be carried out of the body via the bowel actions. Thus the liver is a remarkable machine for keeping weight under control being both a fat burning organ and a fat pumping organ.
2. If the diet is low in fibre, some of the fats (especially cholesterol) and toxins that have been pumped by the liver into the gut through the bile will recirculate back to the liver. This occurs via the entero-hepatic circulation. The term entero-hepatic circulation describes the recirculation of fluids (consisting mainly of bile acids) from the gut back to the liver. The entero-hepatic circulation is very large, with approximately 95% of the bile acids being reabsorbed from the last section of the small intestine (ileum), into the portal vein to be carried back to the liver. The liver recirculates these bile acids back into the small intestines and the entire bile pool recycles through the entero-hepatic circulation six to eight times a day. If this recirculated fluid is high in fat and/or toxins, this will contribute to excessive weight.
A high fibre diet will reduce the recirculation of fat and toxins from the gut back to the liver. This is vitally important for those with excessive weight, toxicity problems and high cholesterol. The inclusion of plenty of raw fruits and vegetables as well as ground-up raw seeds will increase both soluble and insoluble fibre in the gut, and reduce recirculation of unwanted fat and toxins. Some people find that rice or wheat bran, psyllium husks and unprocessed homemade muesli can boost fibre efficiently.
If the liver filter is damaged by toxins or clogged up (blocked) with excessive waste material it will be less able to remove small fat globules (chylomicrons) circulating in the blood stream. This will cause excessive fat to build up in the blood vessel walls. This fat may then gradually build up in many other parts of the body, including other organs, and in fatty deposits under the skin. Thus you may develop cellulite in the buttocks, thighs, arms and abdominal wall.
If the liver is dysfunctional, it will not manufacture adequate amounts of the good cholesterol (HDL), which travels out of the liver to scavenge the unhealthy cholesterol (LDL) from the blood vessel walls.
3. If the liver filter is healthy it allows dietary cholesterol to be shunted into the liver for metabolism or excretion through the bile. A healthy liver filter is essential to properly regulate blood cholesterol levels. Poor liver function may increase your chances of cardiovascular diseases such as atherosclerosis, high blood pressure, heart attacks and strokes.
If the liver does not regulate fat metabolism efficiently, weight gain tends to occur around the abdominal area and a protuberant abdomen (potbelly) will develop. This is not good for the waistline! Another sign can be a roll of fat around the upper abdomen, which I affectionately call the "liver roll." This is often a sign of a fatty liver. It can be almost impossible to lose this abdominal fat until the liver function is improved. Once this is done the liver will start burning fat efficiently again and the weight comes off gradually and without too much effort from you. It is not necessary to make yourself miserable by following a low fat, low calorie diet. What is effective in the long term is to eat the correct foods and nutrients for the liver to improve its fat burning function. A good liver tonic containing the liver herb St. Mary's Thistle, and sulphur containing amino acids will help the liver to burn fat more efficiently and thus is an aid to weight control.
4. Many middle-aged people with excess fat in the abdominal area have a "fatty liver". In this condition the liver has stopped burning fat and has turned into a fat storing organ. It becomes enlarged and swollen with greasy deposits of fatty tissue. Those with a fatty liver will not be able to lose weight unless they first improve liver function, with a liver cleansing diet and a good liver tonic. If you have a fatty liver it is vital to be patient, as it can take between 3 to 12 months, depending upon the amount of fat deposited in the liver, to remove the excess fat from the liver. After this accumulated liver fat has been removed, weight loss will occur easily. If you have a very severe case of fatty liver it can take several years to lose all of the excessive weight.
However, this is very successful in the long term and provides the best chance of restoring your figure and your health. Fatty liver is common and doctors often tell their patients with this problem not to worry too much because it is not serious. I disagree with this, because if you have a fatty liver, your chances of high cholesterol, cardiovascular disease and mature-onset diabetes are significantly higher. Unfortunately, it is not uncommon to find a fatty liver in adolescents who consume a diet high in processed and fast foods.
5. If you overload the liver with the wrong type of hormone replacement therapy, drugs or toxins, the liver's biochemical pathways will have less energy reserves left over to perform their function of fat metabolism. Thus these things can lead to weight gain. For menopausal women with a weight problem, the best type of hormone replacement therapy is that which bypasses the liver, namely hormone patches, creams or buccal lozenges.
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