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"A great way to health and vitality"
In naturopathic circles the liver is deemed as the most important organ to wellness. It is literally the body's filter and is involved in hundreds of metabolic activities at any one time so as to maintain biochemical balance so crucial to good health. It makes sure that everything we need is absorbed, and everything that we don't need gets dumped.
Bile and Your Health
Amongst
many activities, the liver produces bile which if not used at the time
is stored by the gallbladder. When called upon, it will be excreted into
the intestines to break down fats. Like any filter the liver requires
maintenance.
Many of the ancient cultures recognized this fact and
routinely used herbs to keep the bile running smoothly and the liver
cleansed. They knew that when the bile was stagnant and the liver
congested the poor health resulted.
Ancient Healing
Ancient healers held the belief that the liver and bile flow
were critical to
healthy, normal appetite and wellness. When the bile did not flow smoothly
it would result in
loss of appetite and a bitter taste in the mouth.
Both the Chinese and Ayurvedic healers relate anger with poor liver
and gallbladder function. Someone who is chronically angry would
be prescribed liver therapy to open, cleanse, and cool the
 liver
and bile.
The ancients were also convinced that too much or too little
bleeding during menstruation was related to poor liver function.
It was felt that the liver's function of storing and releasing
blood was interfered with in such cases.
Finally, these healers of the past also felt that the liver "ruled" the tendons and manifested in the health of our nails. Sore joints and weak, brittle nails were often attributed to poor liver health.
Modern Health Concepts
In today's drugs-and-surgery approach to health care, the old
concepts related to liver health are all but forgotten. In the
holistic camp however, the liver is paid close attention. The
following is a little quiz to help you judge the health of your
liver. If you answer yes to five or more of the following
questions, you may need to pay more attention to your liver
health
Do you suffer from dry, brittle nails and/or chronically painful
joints?
Do you have persistent skin problems (especially psoriasis)?
Do you have a habitual bitter taste in your mouth?
Do you have constant dry eyes (which are not caused by
prescription drugs)?
Do you have menstrual problems.
Do you have chronic indigestion when eating fatty foods.
Do you have burning feet.
Do you often have a generalized queasy feeling.
Do you stools are perpetually light coloured.
Do you have periodic bad dreams or nightmares.
Do you have a history of gallbladder attacks or gallstones.
If the above represents you, it may be time to start
rehabilitating your liver and gallbladder.
Natural Liver Therapy
There is a concept of healing called "retracing" that many of
today's medical doctors don't understand. However, the old-time
healers knew that the path to recovery is often in stages,
especially for those with long-term chronic illness. When
undergoing a true treatment, the symptoms and stages of a disease peel
off like an onion with the most recent symptoms disappearing first
until you get to the core of the problem. Often you must revisit
symptoms you have not experienced in years. After returning to
fight one last battle with your immune system, these symptoms
disappear for good.
Another concept of
healing is called the Herxheimer reaction. It occurs when our body
is killing and throwing off microbes (bacteria, viruses, yeasts,
etc.) in larger amounts than our organs of elimination (kidneys,
bowels, etc.) can handle. This phenomenon is a good sign that
something is being accomplished in the body. However, the symptoms
of this reaction can be quite severe depending on the toxicity.
These flu-like symptoms can include rash, aches, pains, fever,
diarrhea, constipation, exhaustion, and headache, usually
occurring on the last few days of a three week detoxification. So
it's important to plan a liver cleansing to end on a day or days
when you can take off work if necessary. Do not take the liver
system and its detoxification lightly.
Liver Detoxification
One of the liver's hundreds of jobs is to filter toxins from the
body and release them via the bowels or kidneys. When the liver
becomes overloaded, it can no longer keep the body free from
toxins, and we will absorb, reabsorb, and have toxic chemicals
circulating in our blood. The effects of this can be so slow and
cumulative that we can easily mistake them for poor health or
diseases that develop over time.
Nothing can demonstrate the reality of retracing or Herxheimer
reaction like a liver detoxification program. Being a
self-detoxifying organ, once the liver is encouraged to discharge
the stored toxins and cleanse itself, a remarkable thing can
happen. Both retracing and Herxheimer can occur. The symptoms or
diseases that plague us can become much worse for a short time
during the detoxification. And problems and symptoms that we never
dreamed could come from the liver will show up and be exaggerated.
The remarkable
thing about the retracing phenomenon when it comes to liver
detoxification is that some or even most of the "diseases" we have
had were not diseases at all. Rather, they were auto-intoxication
or self-poisoning from a toxic and congested liver.
Another remarkable thing about discovering that our "diseases"
were really caused by toxins is the shock over the folly of
treating these diseases and symptoms with drugs and medicines. In
fact, in most cases of this type of disease, the treatment with
drugs only makes the situation worse by adding more toxins to the
mix. If these cannot be released from the body, they too will have
to be detoxified at some time in the future. We may need to
detoxify our liver two, three, or even four times depending on how
toxic it is.
Beets and Other Therapies
The best way to start is with beets, preferably organically grown.
Beets and beet tops are the richest source of betaine, a natural
liver detoxifier and bile thinner. Use chopped or shredded raw
beets combined with a little raw flax oil and lemon juice daily.
It's easy to include whole beets in our diet. They can be baked,
roasted, grated raw in salad, or juiced with other vegetables.
To get a jump start, I recommend 2-3 " Lipogen" tablets per meal
for a month. This product is a concentration of the liver
detoxifiers and bile thinners . For any of the symptoms associated
with sluggish bile, this product can be a miracle.
If you have the type of liver problems related to joint pains,
arthritis, and tendon problems, use 2-6 "Lipogen" plus "Thermo
Phase Detox" 2 x daily . "Thermo Phase Detox" is a strong liver
detoxifier.
Arthritics have a toxic liver and often suffer from constipation.
Guanidine resulting from this scenario ends up being stored in the
liver. Guanidine is the most alkaline substance known. When it is
released into the bloodstream from a toxic and overloaded liver,
the end result is calcium deposits in the joints and resultant
osteoarthritis.
"Lipogen" and "Thermo Phase Detox" helps correct this chain
of events. And it can be very powerful. Even when the liver is
highly toxic, these supplements can be well tolerated.
A tablespoon of raw
flax oil when combined with " Thermo Phase Detox" is often very
helpful. In some instances, he uses a tablespoon of flax oil and 2
tablets, 3 X daily of
Lipogen (especially with people who have a
liver problem manifesting itself in the skin) can work wonders.
Herbs
Milk thistle extract is the most effective herbal preparation for
enhanced liver health. And some practitioners have found that milk
thistle seed extract can be very helpful in psoriasis cases. This
herb is used extensively in Europe, and provides psoriasis help in
about half the cases. When combined with the other therapies
discussed, results are superior. |
