Let’s look at 10 simple habits you can take right away to detox the liver so you can look and feel your best. Each of the following is equally important.
1. Morning Lemon Water
Drink warm lemon water first thing every morning to kick start your metabolism, flush your digestive system and alkalize your body.
2. Daily Milk Thistle / Peppermint tea
Each morning you will make one mason jar of Milk Thistle tea. You are going to be like the hip herbalists and carry your beverage around in a mason jar and drink it all day. One mason jar of tea is your daily dose. Milk Thistle contains Silymarin and studies show it supports the walls of the liver cells, preventing toxins from penetrating them. It also stimulates the regeneration of these cells, so it repairs the liver. The peppermint increases the effectiveness of milk thistle and improves its taste.
Making the tea:
1 Tbs of milk thistle seeds 1 Tbs of peppermint leaves Add 3 cups of water Steep for 20 minutes and strain
3. Water
Besides the morning lemon water and Milk Thistle seed tea, drink water throughout the day. Sipping plain hot water every 10-15 minutes can help to flush and rehydrate your body deeply. If you have a personal thermos, this is ideal. Just get used to carrying these items with you on days when you leave the house. Make it a habit.
4. Get 8 hours of sleep
Know how to get a good night of sleep! It is extremely important to be sleeping by 11 pm each night. Your liver does it’s cleaning between 10 pm and 2 pm each night. If you are still awake, (and god forbid drinking beer and eating pizza), it cannot properly do its cleaning job.
5. Avoid eating deep-fried anything – Eat Alive Food
Learn how to plan a healthy diet. A poor diet causes an accumulation of fat in the liver. – It can only take so much of this. When the liver is fat, it cannot function and gets one step closer to being damaged.
6. Say “NO” to processed foods
Anything in a package or a jar is usually processed food. Processed foods are typically high in sugars, low in fiber and whole grains, processed with sodium and high in fat or include trans fat and lots of saturated fat. Also, any foods that contain chemicals and/or additives are considered toxins to the liver.
Here are some common processed foods:
Salad dressing, breakfast cereal, canned soup, pasta sauce, ketchup, flavored yogurt, granola & energy bars, chips, and crackers. Avoid anything with High Fructose Corn Syrup. Make it a habit to read labels.
7. Eat fresh fruits and vegetables
Fruits and vegetables are liver-friendly and will not only help you in the cleansing process, but your lungs, heart and other organs will reap the benefits as well.
8.Vitamin C
Take vitamin C. Vitamin C helps to heal the liver and also neutralize the toxins released by the liver. I recommend Life Extension Vitamin C with Dihydroquercetin 1000 mg.
9. Let go of anger
Anger is a heated emotion that is very much related and harmful to your liver. You may not have anger issues, but if you do managing your emotions in a healthy way is vital to the health of your liver.
10. Don’t drink alcohol
Your liver has to process them as toxins. Take a break from the behaviors you know are asking the liver to work.
11. Move your body 45 Minutes a day, every day
Your body requires you to move to keep everything functioning properly. Your lymphatic system works much better at flushing waste when you move your muscles.
12. Eat organic whenever you can
Eating organic helps to reduce your body’s toxic burden. Pesticides and herbicides are toxic and expose you to dangerous poisons. Eating organic can reduce pesticide buildup.