Five Ways to Look After Your Liver

The liver isn’t usually the first organ we go to when considering ways to improve our health. The heart and lungs tend to take centre stage before our digestive system and even our kidneys. Yet, the liver should not be ignored. It helps detoxify your body, process your proteins, use carbohydrates to keep you energised and so, so much more!

So, it’s safe to say your liver needs looking after, right? We’ve compiled five ways you can look after your liver and give it some thanks for all that it does.

Keep an eye on your alcohol intake

This goes without saying, but do keep tabs (no pun intended) on how much and how often you drink. Especially in the summer and around winter holidays, when we tend to overindulge.

Eat antioxidant-rich foods

All tissues of our bodies are damaged by extremely reactive molecules called free radicals. In the liver, free radicals can provoke an inflammatory response which can cause cirrhosis, an irreversible scarring that can lead to liver failure.

Your body has natural defences against free radicals but without additional antioxidant foods in your diet, it can struggle to fight against them. To protect your liver, you need to make sure you are eating certain foods daily. This is especially important if you have liver disease or are at risk of it (family history, poor diet, alcohol abuse etc).

Make sure to include these foods into your diet:

• Plums

• Apples

• Cinnamon

• Berries – blueberries, cranberries, goji berries, blackberries, elderberries and raspberries

• Kidney beans

• Pecans

• Dark chocolate

• Artichoke

Cut down your portions

As a nation, we are eating way too much and it is taking its toll on our liver. It is estimated that close to a third of UK citizens are suffering from non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), caused by a build-up of fats in the liver. This is normally associated with those overweight or abusing alcohol.

It is believed that excess food consumption could soon take over alcohol abuse as the UK’s leading cause of liver disease.

It’s important to know that the goal isn’t to be full after you’ve eaten, that is actually a sign you’ve eaten too much. 

Remember that every 35 days, your skin replaces itself. Your liver does the same in about a month. Your body makes new cells from the food you eat. What you eat literally becomes you, you have a choice in what you're made of!

Get your body moving

Use it or lose it, that is the best motto to live by when it comes to exercise. Apart from the abundance of physical and mental benefits that come from exercise, it also plays a key role in the functioning of your liver.

Regular exercise will reduce the amount of fat in your body, relieving your liver of overworking. It will provide you with more energy, something that poor liver health will rob you of. Also, when working out your core, you will be actually be toning the liver, helping it to work at its maximum capacity.

Detox

Last but not least, detoxing. Although your liver is a detoxing organ, it sometimes needs a good cleanse too!

Unfortunately, even if you do watch how much you drink, exercise a lot and eat correctly, a lot of us could still do with detoxing our livers from time to time. We are exposed to so much pollution nowadays, much of which we breath in and even consume via water.

There are plenty of detox programs to choose, ranging from juice cleanses to as far as coffee enemas! If you would rather a less ‘extreme’ detox, a supplement based program may be best.

Hepafar

Sensilab's experts recommend the complete Hepafar 1-month programme. Hepafar forte is designed to cleanse the liver, while Hepafar fiber makes sure that all those toxins leave your body for good.