Your liver is one of the busiest organs in your body. It plays a role in most of your life-sustaining biochemical processes, and your wellbeing would suffer monumentally without it. Your liver produces bile that is crucial to digestion, produces plasma proteins, stores iron, regulates the clotting of blood, synthesises cholesterol, stores glucose as glycogen, regulates the levels of amino acids in blood, is involved with clotting of blood, removes toxins from your body and produces immune factors that help prevent infections.
Therefore, taking care of your liver wellness is vital, and the best way to do that is with diet and nutrition. You need to avoid foods that are highly processed with a large number of additives, as well as alcohol and foods that are rich in hydrogenated oil, high fructose corn syrup, and artificial sweetening agents, as this means your liver has to work overtime to tackle this greater chemical load. So that’s what you need to avoid, but what are the best herbal remedies that can help your liver stay healthy?
Gooseberry – Also known as amla, the Indian gooseberry is as one of the richest sources of vitamin C, with immunity boosting, digestive and liver-protective action. Both the Ayurvedic tradition and Western science have discovered the liver-protective function of amla.
Liquorice – When you have non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, you have increased levels of the transaminase enzymes called ALT and AST. Yet studies have discovered that liquorice reduces the concentrations of these enzymes. To benefit your liver, you can get liquorice root, powder it at home and make it into a tea.
Turmeric – This spice is full of valuable antioxidants that improve liver health. Research has revealed that the antiviral action of turmeric is effective in preventing the multiplication of the viruses causing hepatitis B and C.
Flaxseeds – There are certain receptor sites that normally bind hormones and keep them circulating in the blood. However, as your liver has to filter out these excess hormones, these receptor sites put a strain on the organ. Yet, research has discovered that the phytoconstituents in flaxseeds are able to bind with such receptor sites, which prevents hormonal binding. Therefore, sprinkling a few flaxseeds on your salads and cereals means less work for your liver.