In spite of the importance of this vital organ, most people don’t give it a second thought unless your doctor points out that your liver enzymes are elevated in your blood tests.


Today’s modern society produces many over-worked livers. Today’s liver enemies:

1. Overeating
2. Eating Processed Foods
3. Eating Fried Foods
4. Exposure to Environmental Pollutants
5. Pharmacueticals, and many OTCs such as ibuprophen (Tylenol)
6. Alcohol in Excess
7. Stress
8. Being Overweight, even 10 Pounds

When the liver is taxed, it can not process toxins and fat in an efficient way. Excess fat stresses the liver and increases the aging process. In addition to cleansing toxins from your blood, the liver secretes a vital digestive fluid called bile. Plus, it produces and stores nutrients (such as vitamin A and CoQ10), as well as glycogen, a sugar fuel for the body.

When these systems are not working right, your body can't use nutrients very well, and you run out of energy. You slow down, growing older before your time.

UCLA School of Medicine researchers found that extra weight ages your organs faster. Their study bio-dated human cells, organs and tissues by tracking changes in DNA. Then they compared each patient's chronological age with the actual physical age of their organs.

When the numbers came back, researchers were shocked. Livers age at a frighteningly fast rate in people who are overweight.Those who had the most excess pounds possessed livers that were a full 10 years older.

Too much fat in your liver inflames liver cells (fatty liver) and can even kill them. In extreme cases, the fat the infiltrates the liver, and leads to inflammation and scarring that can set the stage for diseases like cirrhosis, liver cancer, and ultimately liver failure.

America faces a growing epidemic of liver disease, thanks to surging obesity rates, with fatty liver poised to become a more common cause of cirrhosis than alcohol.

Studies show that when livers swell with fat, the organ damage is nearly identical to that seen in heavy drinkers. But in this case, the liver damage is not done by alcohol, but by poor diet, processed foods and too much weight.

There are no drugs to treat this disease that is quickly becoming the number one cause of liver transplants in America.

There are many foods that can help cleanse the liver naturally by stimulating its natural ability to clean toxic waste from the body.


Best Foods to Support Your Liver

1. Garlic
2. Grapefruit
3. Beets and Carrots
4. Green Tea
5. Leafy Greens - esp. dandelion leaves
6. Avocados
7. Apples
8. Olive Oil
9. Lemons/Limes
10. Cruciferous Vegetables - cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, brussels sprouts, etc.
11. Walnuts
12. Turmeric
13. Herbs: Milk Thistle

Although exercise, along with the right diet can rejuvenate your liver – and even reverse some serious conditions – UCLA researchers found that it doesn't help right away.

In addition, I recommend a natural and powerful liver booster that will help out much faster. It's a virtual fountain of youth for the liver; Milk Thistle.

It's been used by natural healers for more than 2,000 years. Besides cleansing the liver, it can treat jaundice, gallstones, and peritonitis.

The medicinal plant detoxifies and protects the liver through it’s antioxidant called silymarin, which helps repair liver cells and also keeps new liver cells from being destroyed.

The Mayo Clinic also supports that milk thistle can combat liver damage caused by diabetes, alcoholism and other diseases.

Milk thistle has proven it’s healing abilty by reducing elevated liver enzymes. Apart from its benefits to the liver, silymarin can help us live longer by lengthening the vital endcaps of our chromosomes.

These endcaps, called "telomeres," count down how long our cells will live. Every time a cell duplicates, its telomeres become shorter and shorter until the chromosomes unravel and the cell dies.

Studies show that silymarin from milk thistle strengthens cell walls against invaders and stimulates enzymes that combat toxins. It also defends against free radicals that can damage cells.

I recommend taking one 150 mg capsule of dried milk thistle extract (30:1) twice a day and one 100 mg CoQ10 twice a day.

For more information, on Milk Thistle or for Nutrition Counseling with Dr. Beth (done via phone and/or email), call 763-391-7636.