Love Your Liver

Food that Nurtures and Supports the Liver

Are your taking care of your liver? And why is it very important to nurture and support our liver? The liver is the primary detox organ of the body. It is also responsible for purifying the blood in fact the liver holds a good portion of our blood supply. And it is its job to neutralize poisons and toxins to remove them from the body.

When the liver is not working optimally, is fatty, inflamed or damaged, its ability to process and remove toxins from the body is decreased. The liver becomes sluggish and toxins stay in circulation in the body longer. These toxins can start to cause damage to cells, tissues and organs in the body. When the liver is not functionally optimally, its ability to burn access fat and cholesterol is reduced which contributes to fatty deposits in the liver and weigh gain.

So, what is the best way to love your liver? Stop putting poisons and toxins in your body! That was simple!

Now let’s talk about food that can help keep your liver healthy. We are in the springtime of year, known as the Tree Energy, according to the Five Transformations of Energy. This is an upward moving energy and it is a natural time for your body to detox. We are going from the heavier, more dense energy of winter to the very active and light energy of summer. Usually during the winter, we tend to eat more heavy foods that have more fat and seasonings to help keep our bodies warm. And then when it is summertime, we eat lighter foods with much less fat and seasonings to help keep us cool when it is hot outside. And spring falls right in the middle making it our transitional time.

Foods that are associated with spring have the signature flavor of sour. All foods with this sour taste nurture and support the liver. Most people have heard that a glass of water with lemon juice is good for the liver. Lemon is usually the first thing we think of when we are looking for the sour flavor. Other foods that are sour; limes, naturally fermented vinegars, naturally fermented pickles and sauerkraut and umeboshi plums.

Foods the Nurture the Liver

Fennel: The bulb, the frons and the seeds can be beneficial. Has hepatoprotective activity. (Hepatic, relating to the liver.) Contains antioxidants that can overcome the free radicals and oxidative stress that can be associated with liver related issues. Contains saponin compound glycyrrhizin which has been used in traditional Chinese and Japanese medicine to treat liver disease.

Asparagus: High in antioxidants to fight free radicals. Free radicals can enhance liver damage or chances of getting damage.

Mushrooms: Helps to protect liver from toxins. When the liver becomes too toxic, liver cells begin to produce enzymes such as aspartate aminotransferase (A.C.T.) and alanine aminotransferase (A.L.T.) in an attempt to heal and remove toxins. As liver cells become more damaged fibrosis can occur. Studies have shown that mushrooms can reduce the levels of these enzymes in liver damaged situations.

Whole Grain Barley: It contains a trace mineral called molybdenum, which is essential for your health and the key to many vital functions such as detoxing the body of deadly sulfates and toxins that build up in the body.

The emotions associated with Tree Spring Energy are optimism and patients. When Tree energy is balanced, we are able to develop and grow in an orderly fashion, our outlook on life is good, we are able to be patient and lighthearted. This is where our driving force for our passion lies, our ambitions, we are able to articulate our dreams and express them.

Imbalances when excessive in the Tree Energy can be seen in us feeling very creative yet frustrated in our inability to express ourselves. This frustration can lead to irritability and anger which can grow deeper the longer the imbalance lasts. The rigid thinking and impatient, in this instance, are the perfect breeding ground for rage and aggression that could turn to overcontrol and pent-up feelings. The irritability that this creates is not self-directed but directed at those around us. We think that everyone around us moves too slowly, works inefficiently and cannot measure up to our standards. This puts us on an internal schedule that is impossible to keep. Physically we could experience clenched jaw, a tight neck, tightness in the head, our eyes being sensitive to light and the furrow lines between our eyebrows.

These imbalances and liver issues can be helped by eating naturally sour foods, high fiber foods, spring energy foods and cutting back on fats and sweets. There is a mis conception that the only way to get a fatty liver is to eat too much fat however it can also be caused by eating too much sugar or sweet foods. And some sugar alternatives are harsh on the liver.

Agave is high in high fructose then high fructose corn syrup. The body does not know what to do with something that intensely sweet, it by passes the natural digestive system and it gets digested in the liver. Stevia is 300 times sweeter than white sugar and it gets digested in the liver also. Your food is supposed to get digested in the digestive system not the liver. Love you liver and ditch those two sweeteners.

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The best way to learn about how to live a healthy life is to attend an upcoming cooking class.

This Saturday, May 20th, Scrumptious Plant-Based Burger and More Cooking Class. 11 AM to 1:30 PM (ET). Virtual

Menu:
Italian Pizza Burgers and Black Bean Madrarin Quinoa Salad with Tangy Date-Lime Dressing - Cyd Nottter, Nutrition Educator, Coach and Author
Fiesta Fajita Burgers and Chopped Green Salad with Creamy Michigan Cherry Dressing- Vicki Brett-Gach, Chef, Culinary Coach and Author
English Pasty Burgers served with White Sauce and Gluten Free Quinoa Onion Bread - Valerie Wilson, Chef, Counselor and Author

My Traditional Pasty Burger, featuring Rutabaga and Onion Sauce

TWO MUFFIN RECIPES - Lemon Blueberry Muffins and Lime Raspberry Muffins - Wed. May 24
6:30 to 7:30 PM (EST) - All new recipe - Virtual - $25.00 Two muffins with the signature flavor of spring, sour. One recipe gluten free, one recipe made with organic spelt flour.

Special: I will be the special guest on The Kathy Hester Show, LIVE on YouTube. Wed. May 17th at 1 PM (ET). Making my Love You Liver Tea and Quinoa Shiitake Fennel Dish.

Get in the Kitchen and Cook Healthy!