New Year, New Liver 2010

How are you feeling today? Are you energetic, happy and ready for life or are you sluggish, grouchy and ready for bed? The holidays can bring out the best and worst in all of us. Between all of the holiday gatherings, baking, overindulging, lack of sleep and general gluttony, we all may be in need of a holiday detox! The biggest culprit of this "holiday haze" is an overburdened liver.

Although the liver is capable of doing its job, the diets we eat and the increasing levels of chemicals in our environment can push it to capacity. The liver has to work harder to detoxify the body, leaving it less able to carry out its many other jobs, resulting in what is called an overburdened liver and weight gain.

The liver has many other jobs including but not limited to:

*Creating proteins needed for blood cells and the immune system.

*Making cell membranes.

*Producing hormones.

*Facilitating the absorption of essential vitamins.

*Helping us metabolize the fats, protein and carbohydrates we eat.

*Filtering and breaking down unwanted compounds produced during metabolism.

*Detoxifying, by metabolizing and/or secreting, drugs, alcohol, and environmental toxins.

The detoxifying that the liver does has gone from a "bonus" to it's main function. Modern American diets are full of processed, sugar-laden, chemically soaked foods. Because our liver is constantly working to filter these toxic chemicals and foods, it has little time to fight disease and metabolize and circulate the beneficial compounds throughout our bodies.

This year we all need to focus more on the quality of food we put in our mouths.

How would our bodies function if we all ate the proper nutrition? Well for starters, we would all be sick a lot less. An overburdened liver means a weak immune system. Secondly, we would all lose weight and maintain our ideal weight. An overburdened liver cannot process sugar, bad fats and other harmful substances properly so it stores them as fat until it has time to deal with them, which a lot of times is never. Another benefit is healthier, softer skin. An overburdened liver cannot properly regenerate cell membranes. Also, our liver can rid our bodies of disease and other disorders such as, thyroid disease, Chrohn's and diabetes.

In short, an overburdened liver can really put a damper on your weight loss and health goals. I always like to start off a new year with a liver cleanse and detox. This is not a radical diet or liquid drinking nightmare, it is the way we should all eat, all the time. There are a few tips to jump-start your liver health and I will share those with you this week.

For permanent results though, clean eating is the only way to go. Here are a few suggestions to make clean eating part of your new life.

*Eat foods in their natural state and avoid those created in laboratories. That means LOTS of veggies and fruits!

*Drink lots of water. At least 64 oz. a day.

*Steer clear of sugar and high-fat foods. I know this sounds like given so I'll cover this in more detail this week.

*Eat six meals a day. No, not gigantic, heavy meals! I'm talking about small, balanced meals that keep your body fueled throughout the day.


That's the short version. I will elaborate this week so you'll be ready to start your New Year Resolutions the CLEAN way!!!

Nicole