Liver Health & Aging - Secrets of Health

Overview of Aging and Chronic Disease

The fundamental cause of disease is a lack of real nutrition (raw fruits, vegetables, nuts and seeds), insufficient hydration and movement of the body, and excessive amounts of sugar, white flour, and processed foods and other sources of toxic chemicals.

• Poor diet causes the digestive system to be overloaded and fills the colon with unprocessed wastes that isn't moved out of the body. These putrefying wastes produce toxins that are reabsorbed into the bloodstream and fed to all the cells, causing health issues which can sometimes be symptomless, but dysfunctional in the long term.


• Unable to handle all these toxins, the elimination organs (liver and kidneys) are overwhelmed and start to store the toxins in themselves, which reduces their efficiency even more. This produces physical and mental symptoms, such as constipation, insomnia, fatigue, depression, elevated cholesterol, or indigestion.


• The continuing degeneration of the waste eliminating organs can lead to chronic degenerative diseases. The whole body is being poisoned.

The Road back to Good Health

• Eliminate non-nutritional inflammatory foods - empty, chemical-laden, highly processed industrial animal and plant products. These foods are missing the minerals and vitamins that used to be found in foods grown or raised on rich soil alive with microbes. Instead of being nutrient-dense, these are nutrient-poor foods which require using up the body's stored nutrients when eaten, leaving it functioning even more poorly. The added chemicals also confuse and inflame the body.


• Hydrate well. Divide your weight in half and drink that many ounces of non-polluted water each day, with and without a squeeze of fresh lemon, soaked cucumber or herbs, or fresh raw juices.


• Try to limit cooked food to no more than 50% of the diet. The rest should contain fiber- and enzyme-rich raw fruits, vegetables, seeds and nuts.


• Use mineral-rich Celtic Sea salt rather than table salt or refind sea salt. Pure white salt has been heated, and the 78 trace minerals that your body needs have been removed. Much of the so-called "sea salt" is refined and has lost its colors and trace minerals in the process of refining.


• Cleanse the colon so there is no more self-poisoning from putrid, un-evacuated waste that partially reabsorbs back into the bloodstream.


• Exercise for an hour each day. Exercise stimulates blood circulation, which improves the functions of all the organs. According to Chinese medicine, the liver works hard to filter blood while we are sleeping. If the liver is congested, a significant amount of blood may be retained in the liver on arising. Morning exercises get the blood moving out of the liver into circulation.


• Cleanse your liver. It is too vital to leave polluted and congested. Signs of congested liver include exhaustion, acne, lack of focus, sudden allergies, decreased nutrient absorption, and hormone imbalances.


• Cleanse your kidneys to improve mineral balance and utilization, helps reduce water retention and minerals deposits, and allows toxic wastes to better leave the body.

The Liver: Its Functions and Signs & Causes of Dysfunction.

The liver weighs about three pounds and performs more than 500 functions for the body. After the heart and lungs, the liver is the most important organ. Because the liver is so important, your body is designed so that if as much as 75% of your liver were cut out, it would grow back to full size. Because the liver can regenerate in such a way, it is usually hard to determine if the liver is damaged until the damage is quite advanced.

Traditional Chinese medicine says the liver and kidneys are the organs that "age" us. For this reason, almost all longevity herbs used in Chinese medicine are liver and kidney tonics. Without healthy kidneys and a clean, efficiently-working liver, toxins and waste products are not filtered out of the blood, which then can become more viscous (thick and flowing less easily). This results in poor circulation and causes the oxygen- and nutrient-carrying capacity of the blood to be reduced. As a result, tissues fed by the blood are undernourished. Cells begin to deteriorate and age. The eye and brain cells are especially affected because the blood has to flow against gravity to reach them.

Some Major Functions of the Liver:

• Makes three-quarters of your total cholesterol, which is used to produce hormones and bile salts


• Stores as much as 1 liter of blood to be able to supply it in times of blood loss or heavy exercise


• Metabolizes up to 1 ounce of alcohol per hour


• Makes 1 quart of bile per day for fat metabolism and neutralizing the acidity of toxins


• Filters excess hormones (estrogen, progesterone, testosterone, etc.), drugs, food additives, poisons, etc. and breaks them down for removal from the body


• Converts beta-carotene to Vitamin A


• Breaks down and absorbs vitamins A, D, E, and K.(If your liver is dysfunctional, you will not be able to metabolize these vitamins, no matter how much you take!)


• Stores excess vitamin A, B-12, D, K, and iron


• Converts ammonia, a byproduct of protein metabolism, into urea for kidney excretion


• Filters out bacteria in the blood from the intestines before it enters general circulation


• Synthesizes up to 4 ounces of glucose daily, as needed by the cells for energy production; for example, during fasting

Possible Signs of Liver Dysfunction:

• Poor digestion


• Excessive amounts of hormones (The liver deactivates them and is, in fact, the most important organ for hormone regulation.)


• Increased cholesterol levels


• Abdominal bloating or tenderness in the liver area


• Acne, skin rashes, itching, or jaundice (yellow tinge to skin)


• Constipation


• Fatigue (low energy)


• Loss of appetite


• Bitter or metallic taste in the mouth


• Split ends (hair)


• Brittle nails


• Mood swings (due to large swings in blood sugar)


• Hemorrhoids or varicose veins (due to liver congestion putting pressure on the veins)


• Pain in the back between the shoulder blades


• Inability to digest fats


• Water retention in the legs


• Muscle pain when inflating a blood pressure cuff around the calf


• Gallbladder problems


• Sleep disorders


• Heart palpitations or even heart attacks (All the blood filters through the liver so if it is congested the heart may not get as much blood as it needs.)


• Poor memory


• Allergies


• Joint pain


• Metabolism problems related to the thyroid


• Frequent numbness in the extremities


• Frequent infection


• Fainting


• Night blindness or blurry sight

Causes of Liver Dysfunction

Diet

• Fried foods, animal fats, hydrogenated vegetable fat (margarine, etc.), too much vegetable oil, and roasted nuts all congest the liver.
• The tannic acid in tea and BHA (a common food additive) are bad for the liver.
  
• B vitamin deficiency can compromise the liver.
  
• Too much meat, gluten, or soy protein overworks the liver because the metabolism of protein creates ammonia as a byproduct, which the liver must convert it to urea for excretion by way of the kidneys.
• Refined sugar decreases the ability of the liver to breakdown excess triglycerides, which causes elevated triglyceride and cholesterol levels.
• Artificial sweeteners have caused liver damage.
• Alcohol causes cirrhosis of the liver.
• Tobacco and caffeine are also processed by the liver and can overwork it.

Drugs

• Ferrous sulfate as an iron supplement can damage the liver.
• Strong medications, cleaning solutions, soaps, deodorants, birth control pills, pesticides, herbicides, food additives, polluted air and water, etc. can overtax the liver and damage it.
• Cortisone, carbon tetrachloride and tetracycline can all cause liver damage.
• Medical drugs of all kinds are another important cause of liver disease.

Compromise of other organs

• Pressure on the nerve from the spinal cord to the liver can cause liver dysfunction.
• Problems with the other organs of elimination (colon, kidneys, lungs, or skin) can overload the liver by giving it more work to do.
• A major cause of liver dysfunction is a clogged, toxic bowel resulting in constipation. This overworks the liver causing it to be congested and sluggish.

The liver detoxifies most of the poisons we consume and breathe daily. The liver reaches a saturation point and then causes symptoms. One person, constantly exposed to toxic chemicals, ate a diet high in imflammatory foods: corn chips, vegetable oil, peanut butter, and fried foods. He broke out with a skin rash and hemorrhoids. His liver could not handle the chemicals . After some acupressure and eliminating the fried and processed foods from his diet, his symptoms cleared up. A few months later, he went back to eating foods and his symptoms returned until he cleaned up his diet again.
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4). Testimonial

"By changing from almost totally cooked food to raw food and doing Colon Cleanses #1 and 2 and the Liver Cleanse, I've gotten rid of imbalances! My liver, which had been swollen from my breast on down, has reduced over the last 4 months and now I have a waistline. The cellulite on my butt and thighs has gone down dramatically. I'm 75 years old and some won't believe that. I know someone 10 years younger who looks 10 years older than I do." A. L.
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5). Liver Cleanse Kit

The cleanse consists of a "liver-friendly" diet to allow maximum healing and cleaning, and herbs and friendly bacteria to restore health to the colon as well. The herbs stimulate, cleanse and protect the liver and gall bladder. Milk Thistle has chemicals that bind to and coat liver cells. These phytochemicals (plant chemicals) support a healthy liver. The Oregon Grape root bark, Gentian root, Wormwood leaves and Dandelion root are all bitter liver herbs which stimulate the liver to excrete more bile, which flushes and supports the liver and gall bladder. Black Walnut, Wormwood and Garlic also discourage parasites.

The Liver & Intestinal Cleanse 10 Day Kit includes all of the steps and preparations for doing a thorough 10-day herbal cleanse program that addresses your body's two most important organs of detoxification and nourishment, the liver and intestinal tract.
Click on the following link for details:
Liver & Intestinal Cleanse 10 Day Kit

We also have a Liver Cleanse Tea and a Liver Cleanse Concentrate, both full of herbs for supporting healthy liver function.

For more information on doing a liver cleanse, see our article: How to Cleanse Your Liver, A Nutritional and Herbal Liver Cleanse Program

"May your heart rejoice. May your liver be joyful!"
Ancient Mesopotamian Saying
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Yours in Health,
Peter Glickman
Contributing Editor