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Written by Phillip LaVeque
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Thursday, 23 July 2009 |
Recipe books generally offer remedies for the liver in the form of
cures for “bilious complaints”, or too much bile. Bile acts on the fats
we consume, working like a detergent to break them up into digestible
form.
Occasionally, you may see remedies for a “bilious attack”, however, which is usually a mislabeling of indigestion, or heartburn.
Eat less meat; its digestion is hard on the liver.
Eat Tomatoes.
Drink plenty of water, 3-5 glasses a day (no 8 glasses, you are not a fish).
Avoid toxins in the environment as much as possible, including air pollution and workplace toxins (particularly substances found in dry-cleaning, carpet adhesives, agricultural chemicals, lead paints and other paints, dyes, bleaches, and manufacturing of plastics and rubber).
Exercise regularly enough to produce a sweat which helps rid the body of toxins. Or, take saunas or steam baths.
Increase your intake of vitamins C and E (a nontoxic antioxidant).
Increase of your consumption of fiber to help discharge the toxins you do ingest.
Dandelion root, blessed thistle and feverfew, in combination, make a good liver tonic.
According to Andrew Weil, M.D., author of ‘Spontaneous Healing (Alfred A. Knopf, 1995), ‘Anyone who is a heavy user of alcohol should take milk thistle regularly, as should patients using pharmaceutical drugs that are hard on the liver, including cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy.’ Bottled tinctures of milk thistle are found in health stores.
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