Liver Cleanse

Liver Cleansing

One of the main functions of the liver is to remove and breakdown toxins from the blood. It also metabolizes ingested drugs, including pharmaceutical drugs and alcohol.

This imposes a large burden on the liver day to day - liver cleansing is an effective way to give your liver a break and allow it to work more effectively. In other words, your liver is your filter and it functions best when cleaned out once in a while.

How Does Liver Cleansing Work?

To remove gall stones from the liver is a process of several stages. Stage one involves drinking lots of apple juice. The pectin in the juice helps to soften and flatten the stones in the gall bladder and liver. This helps their eventual passage through the bile ducts.

The most important part of a liver cleanse is drinking olive oil and fruit juice, late at night before sleeping. The act of lying down in bed allows the oil to go into your liver and gall bladder. This temporarily overloads the organs, causes a reaction in which the stones are expelled.

Of course, the expulsion of these stones has the potential to be a very painful process. So the addition of Epsom salts opens the bile ducts nice and wide, so the stones (already flattened by the apple juice) to pass through freely.

The grapefruit and lemon juice are used to produce more bile in the liver, trapping fat molecules and allowing them to be easily secreted. It also helps to decrease your appetite.

Liver Cleansing Techniques

Cleansing the liver of gall stones dramatically aids digestion, which in turn improves general health. Here are the 3 stages in a successful liver cleanse:

Stage 1: Prepare for the cleanse by drinking fresh apple juice for 3 days. Meals should be small amounts of raw salad or unprocessed fruit.
Stage 2: Buy the liver cleanse ingredients:
Epsom Salts, 4 tablespoons mixed in 4 cups of water
Olive Oil
Fresh Grapefruit juice and Lemon juice

Stage 3: Do the cleanse. Choose a Saturday if possible! Here is the routine you should follow -

(i) Eat a very light breakfast and lunch of fruit and vegetables.

(ii) At 6pm, drink 1 cup of the Epsom Salt water. Repeat at 8pm.

(iii) At 10pm, mix the fruit juices and one cup of olive oil. Drink it, go to bed and get a good sleep while the cleanse does its work!

(iv) At 7am, drink 1 cup of the Epsom Salt water. Repeat at 9am and finish the mixture.

(v) Eat only light fruits and vegetables for the rest of the day. Your liver should be cleansed of gall stones and by the evening you should feel great!

Foods to Eat

Unrefined Complex Carbohydrates
Important as they provide vitamins, trace minerals, fiber, and protein. These include brown rice, oatmeal, and wholemeal, barley, and rye products.

Fruits
Fruits contain important antioxidants and necessary dietary fiber. Apples, pears and oranges are particularly high in pectin which is a great intestinal tract cleanser. Watermelon is also great - it contains important vitamins and minerals such as lycopene, beta carotene, zinc, and selenium.

Vegetables
All veggies contain the vitamins and minerals necessary for a healthy body and liver. Legumes, cabbage, garlic and onions contain high amounts of sulfur - this is great for the liver by locking on to metallic toxins and excretes them.

Nuts and Seeds
Raw organic nuts provide good fats to the body as well as vitamin E, potassium, and folic acid. Flaxseed oil is extremely high in omega-3 essential fatty acids, which are powerful antioxidants and also have anti-inflammatory properties.

Foods to avoid

All meat, fish, and dairy products
Fried foods
Soft drinks
Alcohol
Coffee and tea
Sugar or sugar substitutes
Margarine
Vinegar
Pickles
White flour products
White rice

Drinks to help your liver

Fresh veggie and fruit juice, lemon water, dandelion tea, rice and almond milk.

Liver Supplements

Milk Thistle
This herb cleanses and protects the liver from toxic substances such as alcohol, drugs, heavy metals, pollution and pesticides.

Dandelion Root
This herb increases bile production in the liver, helping digestion.

Liver Detox Drink Recipe

This a delicious easy drink to make. Add all ingredients into the blender and voila!

A handful of spinach
1 apple
1 banana
1 lemon (squeezed)
Half a chili pepper (optional)
1 garlic clove or as much as desired (optional)
1 glass of water