LOVE YOUR LIVER

Show your hardestworking organ a little love and it will reward you y with a better body, y beautiful skin, balanced hormones, more energy and so much more.

Show your hardest-working organ a little love and it will reward you with a better body, beautiful skin, balanced hormones, more energy and so much more.

“YOU HAVE MORE ENERGY AND SLEEP BETTER WHEN YOUR LIVER IS WORKING WELL”

Long ago, the liver was considered to be the seat of the soul. The ancient Greek philosopher Plato believed our subconscious thoughts and deepest desires would pass through the liver to be deciphered while the rational mind was sleeping. The art of reading the liver to foresee the future, known as hepatoscopy, began almost 5,000 years ago during the Bronze Age. The ancient Greeks examined the livers of sacrificed animals to predict earthquakes and other potential disasters, while the ancient Italians made connections between the gods and constellations with zones of the liver.

In traditional Chinese medicine, the liver is the place where we store our anger, unresolved emotions and our energy (or qi). And it gets busy between 1am and 3am, purifying your blood and possibly your emotions.

The 5,000-year-old science of Ayurveda believes blocked energy in our chakra channels can generate heat in the liver, causing irritability and inflammation, especially on our skin.

Nowadays, most people think that the pineapple-sized gland sitting under their rib cage is there to filter alcohol. And it does do that, and more, very well.

Everything you eat, drink, inhale or put on your skin is taken via your blood to your liver – your main organ of detoxification. There, they are processed and redistributed around your body or excreted via your kidneys, bowels and skin. But your liver also does about 499 other things that affect your whole body, and possibly some we don’t know about yet, making it the ultimate multi-tasker.

“It is responsible for so much of our wellness and disease prevention in the body,” says nutritional biochemist Dr Libby Weaver. “You have more energy, sleep better and your periods just turn up without any unpleasant symptoms when your liver is working well. Menopause is a lot easier when your liver is working properly, and your ability to prevent all sorts of health conditions, including cancer, is better.”

Your liver is crucial to life. It’s a filtration plant (for your blood), chemical plant (making hormones, cholesterol and bile to break down fat), storage depot (for glycogen, amino acids, vitamins A, B12, D and iron), a metabolism and blood sugar regulator, waste unit (disposing of old red blood cells) and a distribution centre (sending hormones and nutrients where they are needed most around your body). Oh, and it can regenerate itself, too.

Now research is revealing the vital role the liver plays in balancing our sex hormones and how this may affect your risk of developing estrogen-related reproductive cancers (breast, ovarian and uterine).

“When it comes to fat-burning, beautiful skin, mental clarity and a sense of calm, as well as fertility, very few substances in our body impact us more than our sex hormones,” Dr Weaver writes in her book Accidentally Overweight: Solve Your Weight Loss Puzzle.

In pre-menopausal women, most estrogen is made in the ovaries (with small amounts in our liver, fat stores and adrenal glands) and then processed by the liver, which allows the excess to be excreted. Too much estrogen can trigger common PMS symptoms including weight gain, fluid retention, bloating, mood swings, headaches, migraines, breast tenderness and decreased libido. “These things have become common, but they are not normal,” says Dr Weaver. “Women are not supposed to get PMS.”

When all is well, estrogen is balanced out by progesterone, a libido-boosting, anti-anxiety, antidepressant, diuretic and fat-burning hormone produced by the adrenal glands.

However, when your adrenal glands start pumping adrenaline and cortisol because they think your life is in danger (even though you are just sitting in a stressful meeting), they stop producing progesterone, because it does not seem like a safe time to fall pregnant. Hence you become estrogen-dominant and feel less than average. Throw in some liver loaders – a couple of morning coffees, the contraceptive pill or other medication, a processed snack from the vending machine, pesticide residues on your salad, then a glass of wine or two at night – and things get worse.

A liver overloaded through dealing with too many toxins may be unable to properly process your excess estrogen or other metabolic waste. Instead, it sends recycled and more potent estrogen back into your bloodstream before it’s stored in fat cells that contain estrogen receptors, such as breast tissue.

The jury is still out on whether excess estrogen directly causes reproductive cancers, but Dr Weaver says this recycled form of estrogen has been found to be up to 400 times higher in women with estrogen-sensitive breast cancer.

“Looking after your precious liver is one of the best steps you can take to ensure your breast tissue remains healthy,” she says. Cancer risks aside, a healthy, well-functioning liver delivers a swag of other health benefits.

“When women have pain and problems with their menstrual cycle, that is a huge amount of feedback from the body that something needs to change, and quite often it is that the liver isn’t able to clear the estrogen from the body,” says Dr Weaver. “Once the liver is working optimally – within two cycles – it can be gone.”

Natalie Kringoudis, a doctor of Chinese medicine, acupuncture and natural fertility educator who founded the Pagoda Tree, a women’s health and natural fertility centre in Melbourne, believes excess estrogen can even lead to polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) and endometriosis.

But the good news is there are some simple things you can do to support your liver and improve your hormone health. “I get my patients to increase dietary fibre, because excess hormones will bind to the fibre and exit the body via the bowel,” Dr Kringoudis says. She claims a five-day cleanse based on eating easily digestible food and liver-supportive things such as dandelion tea can have profound effects.

If you have any type of menstrual or reproductive system challenges, Dr Weaver recommends taking a break from alcohol for two menstrual cycles. “You will see your PMS significantly decrease,” she says, adding that coffee is another culprit when it comes to liver congestion.

Other liver loaders worth avoiding if you can include refined sugar, trans fats, pesticides and herbicides (choose organic foods), medications, plastics, highly processed foods, synthetic chemicals in cleaning products and skincare, and environmental pollutants.

Dr Weaver says simple ways to support your liver include starting your day with a glass of warm water and lemon juice, drinking more water and a daily vegetable juice or green smoothie, snacking on nuts and seeds, taking a good quality essential fatty acid supplement and getting enough zinc (from oysters or pumpkin seeds and sunflower seeds).

Other foods your liver needs include B vitamins (from whole grains, if you digest them well), amino acids (from protein foods) and sulphur (from eggs, onions, garlic and the brassica family of vegetables such as broccoli, kale, cabbage and cauliflower).

So eat your greens. And remember, you only have one liver, and a little bit of love can go a long way.