Love Your Liver/Gallbladder
Fatty liver disease is probably the fastest rising medical condition in the western world. I am certainly seeing lot more of it. Its origins are linked to western processed diets, the increased number of environmental toxins and ubiquitous wi-fi.
A healthy liver will take food, oxygen and water and build all the building blocks your body needs to regenerate. It will help your other cells, like brain and nerve cells, to regenerate. A liver cell is almost like a tube. In the same end where a liver cell takes in food particles, it also takes in circulating toxins - viruses, bacteria, mould particles, heavy metals, cigarette smoke, car exhaust, and glyphosate pesticide poison that drenches much of our foods.
The liver has a certain way of dealing with toxins. In Phase 1, it takes the chemical or toxin and chops it up into smaller parts to shove out of the liver cells. In Phase 2, it hooks up the toxins to various compounds like sulphur or glucuronic acid, which render the toxins bile-soluble. In Phase 3, these substances are grabbed by a set of transport proteins and shoved into the bile ducts.
If all has gone well so far, there is still an obstacle at this stage. The toxins still have 2,000 miles of bile ducts to traverse before they can empty out into the beginning of the small intestine.
Unfortunately for many people, their 2,000 miles of bile ducts are clogged up with sticky stuff like glue or concrete. This leads to back pressure into the liver cells, inducing a signal for all the enzymes to work backwards. The bile contents are now shoved back into the blood stream and you end up feeling toxic, sluggish and brain fogged. The technical name for this is enterohepatic recirculation and the same toxins can be reabsorbed back into the blood stream again and again. On top of the old toxins, we continually have new toxins coming in!
Sluggish bile
If people end up with large gallstones blocking their bile ducts, it is a sign they haven’t loved their liver or gallbladder enough. Large gallstones can become a focus for infections and inflammation in the bile ducts. Mechanical removal of blockages is then needed. Note that the gallbladder performs vital functions like helping to break down fats and its removal does not automatically make things right!
The low fat, high carb diet promotes sluggish bile as good dietary fats help stimulate bile flow. As viral, bacterial and fungal infections are cleared from the body via the liver/bile exit route, sluggish bile is a huge piece of the chronic silent inflammation epidemic.
The Solution
So what can you do to turn things around and love your liver/gallbladder more?
Have a healthy Mediterranean-style diet rich in fibre and other agents that bind to toxins and escort them out of the body.
Use supplements to help get bile flowing.
Use herbs to improve liver and bile flow.
Minimise your exposure to toxins - cigarette smoke, pesticides, processed foods, heavy metals, alcohol etc.
For those who are able to, do a liver/gallbladder flush every six months, which triggers the 2,000 miles of tiny bile tubes to contract, pushing the sludge out.
Ensure your gut is able to receive and deal with those toxins. A high level of the gut enzyme beta-glucuronidase will send those toxins right back to the liver! This can be checked with a functional stool lab test.
Incorporate liver-loving practices into your routine - body brushing after a shower to get lymph moving, castor oil packs on the liver, manual liver compression given by your partner last thing at night.
If you are having difficulties with your liver/gallbladder or would like to improve your liver/gallbladder health to improve other health issues i.e. reducing viral load, please email the Good Health Clinic at goodhealthclinic@outlook.com.