A quick introduction to 'Love your liver'
Love your Liver 2018 has arrived – whether you’ve taken part officially or not this January, it’s never too late to get involved – and perhaps start thinking about your liver in the long-term too! Over at the British Liver Trust they have a handy ‘Love Your Liver’ Health Screener Tool, then once you’ve had some results, you can begin to make use of my 5 top tips in order to start Loving your Liver!
1. Put a limit on alcohol.
This is the obvious one but so important! Especially after the party season, most of us are more likely to have had more alcohol than normal over the last few weeks, so it’s time to have a break! Dry January is up and running, but if you’ve missed it, why not join in unofficially anyway and just see how many weeks you can go alcohol-free for. Sober October is another event later on in the year which sees thousands of people giving up booze for one month to raise money for charity. A great cause, and your liver will certainly thank you for it, so look out for that one too.
See, your liver has to process alcohol, so giving it a break is super important. Alcohol is essentially a toxin so, over time, this can start to do damage to the cells of your liver. This is why it’s so important to have at least 3 alcohol free days per week, if not more! Then remember that not only alcohol, but also medication, has to be processed by your liver. Paracetamol, for example, is an important one to consider; so readily used, yet having too much can certainly damage your liver. Why not have a medicine review with your doctor to ensure you aren’t taking too many medicines unnecessarily.
2. Be aware of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease.
It isn’t just alcohol that can do some damage to your liver, did you know your diet can be just as bad? Excess fats, but also sugar in your diet, can be particularly detrimental. Aim to limit your intake of refined sugar and processed foods which very often contain lots of hidden fats and carbohydrates.
The key to managing this is to eat fresh - cooking your own meals means that you’ll know exactly what goes into your food! Get experimental using different wholegrains and legumes, such as lentils, beans or quinoa and fill up with lots of colourful fruit and vegetables too. Contrary to popular belief, healthy fats are all good too, so opt for fats such as coconut oil, oily fish, avocados and snack on nuts and seeds. It’s very important to nourish our bodies with a nice range of essential vitamins and minerals, which are primarily found in fresh foods of course. Many amino acids, the building blocks of good quality protein, are important to help support the processes of the liver too.
3. Move more!
You might assume that doing more exercise won’t have direct effects on your liver health, but actually, you could be surprised. Exercise helps get your blood pumping and good circulation is vital to good health. Remember, your blood helps transport oxygen and nutrients to cells around our body and clear away toxins, so the quicker and more efficiently this process happens, the better for your liver!
4. Get enough shut eye.
Again, you might be surprised to know that sleep is super important for liver health. Having disrupted sleep can have a worrying number of ‘liver-related’ negative outcomes including altered cholesterol levels, or increased sugar cravings, but ultimately sleep is our body’s time to rest and repair. So, if you have overindulged recently and by doing so have put a little extra pressure on our liver or digestive system, it’s crucial that you get enough sleep; at least 6-8 hours per night, to ensure that you are able to recover optimally.
5. Employ some helpful herbs.
There are certain herbs which are thought to help support the functions of the liver - artichoke, dandelion and milk thistle to name a few. Although these herbs may be more regularly included in the diet of some cultures, for example as part of a nice bitter salad before meals, for ease, you may want to try our Milk Thistle Complex which includes them in a handy tincture form.
