Like you, I heard and read online Lotsa plugs and promos through our 12 days of Christmas about DE-TOX’ING. Right; those hyped and too-good-to-be-true cleanses … Just drink this and presto chango … My quieted liver and I am healed. Just like that. Or conversely:
“Detox has become a seriously watered-down term because of the many over-hyped products that are peddled in its name–from juice cleanses to infomercial footpads.”
https://www.wellandgood.com/good-sweat/science-backed-detox/
A personal observation today from my venture to a discount retail store for a winter hoodie; I saw a packet of miracle tea with its 28-day liver detox regimen. I’m not too confident there was real magic inside. I wasn’t interested in a purchase 😊
I agree with one metric in many of these awesome DETOX claims we often see and hear.
That is, countering environmental damage to our bodies requires our investment of time and change. Countering accumulative damage from 1. proximity to highways, 2, our industrial age processes, 3. dental amalgam fillings, 4. diets of convenience with relatively poor quality for liver health takes time – as in weeks. Good things like changed habits can make liver life livelier.
T O X I C
Toxic sounds ominous- yes!? Synonyms for Toxic include:
Noxious
Poisonous
Deadly
Pestilential
Damaging
Harmful
Dangerous
Again, for emphases: 3 root causes of what ails us in our modern maturity lives are toxic:
1 Environmental pollutant(s)
2 Dental fillings
3 Plastics.
Long-term effects of these root causes = big burdens placed on our amazing multi-tasked Livers (hence this blog title).
What’s a one-word natural antidote for liver stressors?
Glutathione.
Though not intended to be a Glutathione-centric post, let’s give critical credit where it due:
- studies indicate that cellular glutathione levels can even predict an individual’s life expectancy.
Shucks! Glutathione levels decrease with age, as our body’s production slows and as liver stressors add up. In fact, various environmental and lifestyle factors can speed up this diminishing process, including toxins, stress, and diet.
Double duh … Due to its varied and key uses in our bodies, none of us should allow our glutathione levels to fall too low. Glutathione deficiency can cause damage possibly leading to Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease, and cancer (6).
Ref: healthtrends article by P.Trezik 10/10/2019
“oxidative stress or toxic load may be more than your body’s current capacity to synthesize sufficient levels of glutathione or other underlying reasons for lower glutathione levels, such as poor nutrition or chronic stress.”
htps://www.deannaminich.com/ways-to-boost-your-glutathione-levels-for-optimal-health/
Here’s a chemical model of this internally-synthesized molecule:
Note:
This molecule loves to bond to metals which it contacts – hence the anti-toxin role of glutathione!
Three amino acid components which our bodies synthesize into Glutathione are a. glycine, b. cysteine, and c. glutamic acid. Adequate levels of all 3 are needed for glutathione production, and all 3 can be made by our bodies (they are not “ESSENTIAL” amino acids, though they are vital!). Darn! Production of non-essential amino acids gets tougher as most of us get older. Yet we can and must eat clean as we get older (not old!).
Ten Natural edibles which serve as liver detox supporters are:
- Garlic. “Eating garlic helps activate the liver detox enzymes”
- Quality Green Tea
- Curcumin (the key element in turmeric spice)
- Beets
- Organic apples
- Broccoli sprouts
- Watermelon
- Fermented foods
- Walnuts
- Avocado.
Dr. Glenn Rothfield, MD, also mentions milk thistle and chlorella (algae!) as supplements which can possibly help our livers.
Do I currently take “trusted” third-party tested supplements of chlorella, milk thistle, or glutathione? No I don’t. Might I? Yes!
Do I try to eat clean with as many of these ten plant-based liver helpers? You betcha! I view these ten as healthy and affordable antidotes to poisons we face. One minor point – I take green tea pills which I trust inside of drinking it as a personal choice.
AND do I engage in what https://www.wellandgood.com/good-sweat/science-backed-detox/ calls, “THE SCIENCE-BACKED WAY TO DETOX THAT NO ONE TALKS ABOUT.”
That WAY is a word that starts and ends with the letter “E” – Exercise – enough to SWEAT.
Or one can bathe in a warm tub or take advantage of a relaxing sauna. Just watch out for Brutus. Why? Our pores capably support our system’s waste disposal of metals like mercury and arsenic which we may have ingested or absorbed through our skin contact over time. Sweat enough and bye-bye toxins. Just don’t sit around in sweaty athletic attire as your skin may re-absorb some of the exited toxins!
Other lifestyle habits which support non-hyped and science-based detoxification are:
Limit or cease ingesting/inhaling noxious or potentially deadly “things”
- Big fish like swordfish, shark, some tunas (at top of the marine food chain) retain mercury. As much as some of us love these fish, we shouldn’t exceed healthy metal limits of 1x per week.
- Use ceramics vice metal amalgam for dental fillings you need or possibly replace existing metallic fillings with non-metallic ones.
- Use glass or non-plastic containers in a microwave oven.
- Duh – limit extended exposure to toxic work site or proximate living spaces because:
“long term exposure of particulate matter and gaseous pollutants may play an important role in liver physiology of the inhabitant population living near the polluted sites.”
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4395329/
Yes, this was a long article. Yet our liver health and overall health should be
enabled by:
√ Getting away from “man-made” toxins as best we can
√ Optimizing bodily generation of critical glutathione (or supplement!)
√ Sweating from exercise or warm ablutions.
Yes, you and I can help our vital livers “quiet down.”
Be well,
df
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