HEAL YOUR LIVER TO LOSE YOUR BELLY

A clogged liver triggers fat and fatigue in 90% of women over 40. Celebrity nutritionist Haylie Pomroy’s 10-day detox reignites fat burn for effortless, hungerfree (really!) slimming

Back in biology class, we learned that every organ has a job: The heart pumps blood around the body, the lungs provide oxygen and the kidneys excrete waste. But when we got to the liver, things got more complicated. “The liver has many jobs,” explains celebrity nutritionist and bestselling author Haylie Pomroy. “It’s the chemical processing plant of the body. It takes cholesterol and converts it into hormones. And it dictates whether we store fat or burn it for fuel.”

Needless to say, the liver works hard—but for many women over 40, it’s not working optimally. “Sadly, the liver tends to get tired with age, especially

if you’re under stress or carrying excess fat,” explains Christine Gerbstadt, M.D., R.D., a nutritionist and physician at the National Institutes of Health. “You can think of it like a partially clogged drain: It’s still working, but at a much slower pace.” The result: By the age of 40, up to 90% of women are battling excess pounds caused by an exhausted liver struggling to process medications, sugar, alcohol, excess hormones and toxins.

Once the liver is bogged down, it begins to store fat rather than burn it. “When the liver is bombarded by mustprocess chemicals, the body says, ‘We need more garbage bags to store all this garbage.’ Those garbage bags are fat cells,” explains Pomroy. The body stores the “bags” in places like the belly, hips, knees and thighs. But when the liver gets really overloaded, it can’t even be bothered to deposit fat in your trouble zones: Instead, the liver shifts to storing fat within the gland itself, and that starts to dramatically clog the works.

When the liver reaches this stage of bogged-down and clogged-up, it can’t keep producing the hormones that help burn fat. “It slows down the production of the hormones cortisol, testosterone and estrogen, which direct the breakdown of body fat for fuel,” says Dr. Gerbstadt. The body holds on to that fat instead.

“And it holds on tight,” adds Pomroy.

“As your hormones become increasingly imbalanced, the body becomes increasingly weight-loss resistant.”

Luckily, easy diet tweaks can heal and unclog the liver. “Of all the organs, the liver is the most affected by what you eat. So if you nourish it with the right fats, amino acids and phytonutrients, it can regenerate,” promises Pomroy. Indeed, a study from the National University of Natural Medicine in Portland, Oregon, found that subjects who followed a seven-day detox improved liver function by 53%, plus reported a 44% reduction in toxinrelated symptoms like fatigue, brain fog and insomnia. And a Brazilian review concluded that diet modifications, including avoiding simple carbs and saturated fat, reduced risk factors for liver disease by 50% and lowered fat accumulation in people with liver disease by 236%. Says Dr. Gerbstadt, “If you’re eating the right foods, you’re giving your liver exactly what it needs to go ahead and produce fat-burning hormones.”

Speedy fat burn is just the beginning! “When the liver is working optimally, you have fewer blood sugar–regulation issues and far fewer sugar cravings,” explains Pomroy. Other benefits include sunnier moods, younger-looking skin, thicker hair and increased energy. Read on for Pomroy’s simple 10-day plan that will unclog your liver and uncover a whole new you.

“The better the liver can do its job, the easier it is to lose weight”

—Haylie Pomroy