Detoxifying for a Healthy Liver - Why Should You Do It?

I talk about detoxification quite a bit. (You may have noticed this.) It's not just here. I also chat to friends, family members and on occasion, total strangers about the benefits of detoxing one's liver.

The first question I usually get asked is "Why should I bother going through all that? My liver feels fine."

Of course it does. You don't usually "feel" things going wrong in your liver. I certainly never did, until I started getting gallstones, and even then, technically I wasn't feeling it "in" my liver or even in my gallbladder, the pain was in my urethra. (Sorry. You asked.)

In our society we tend to treat symptoms without addressing the initial problem. We like to Band-Aid issues. We're prone to snark (or at least cast a distrustful glance toward), for example, holistic or Chinese medicine, which address the whole person. "Who cares what my meridians are doing and what's all this about my big toe? I just want this headache to go away," we argue.

I'm as guilty of that as anyone, frankly.

The problem is that liver problems tend to present in such a non-specific way: weird nonspecific itching, fatigue, lack of drive. The more readily visible signs of liver disease, such as jaundice, don't present in every liver patient and don't always present at all until the condition is quite advanced.

The wonderful thing about the liver, however, is that it can regenerate itself. It can heal. There's no guarantee that invisible liver damage will heal 100%. But modern medicine knows that some, even a large percentage, of healing can happen. And since this organ powers such a large part of our life, why not keep it in tip-top shape? Especially when basic detoxing is so easy.

You don't need to detox constantly. What has been recommended to me by my holistic health practitioner is one thorough liver detox every six months. I usually do a liquids-only fasting detox. I'll add juices, herbs and teas depending upon what I feel my body needs at the moment. (Actually, I just linked some great detox recipes the other day; check my previous post. I am not affiliated with those sites, by the way.)

You may need more detoxing or a stronger initial detox. I'm not you. I can't give you the best recipe for you. But I can tell you that I, and virtually everyone I know who is on a liver detox regimen, experiences better health overall, and fewer of the complaints that did initially motivate us to seek out detox in the first place.

Most liver detox methods, such as juice fasting, are harmless. You should ask your doctor before proceeding with a fast as you may have some special issue I don't know about. But generally speaking, most people can fast or partially fast for a day or two and not experience any negative effects. For fasts that include herbs, research each herb before you add it. Again, herbs for liver detox tend to be generally harmless to the overall population, but knowledge is always power.

Got questions? Ask me! I love to talk all things detox! I welcome questions about my personal experiences with detox as well. Let me know.