The beautiful organ, the liver, is super important for many different processes in your body. The most well-known of these, and more on that later in this blog, is, of course, the detoxification of toxins and harmful substances. But did you know that the liver has a total of 500 different tasks? These include, for example, producing bile to properly break down the fats you eat, biochemical conversions such as the breakdown and build-up of hormones and immune cells, and even the production of cholesterol.
The builder of your body
The liver is an organ weighing about 1.5 kilograms, which consumes more energy in a day than your brain. Your liver is located in the upper right part of your abdominal cavity, somewhat hidden under your ribs. You could compare the liver to a builder because many substances are broken down, renovated, or built up in the liver. For example, the liver converts certain vitamins into their active form, which is usable in the cells. To give an example: the liver converts the inactive form of vitamin B6, pyridoxine, into the active form p-5-p, or pyridoxal-5-phosphate. If this process, often due to an overloaded liver, does not proceed properly, you run the risk of accumulating vitamin B6.
The liver as a protector of your immune system
One of the more important tasks of the liver, which is not known to everyone, is the production of new glucose as an energy source, which is called gluconeogenesis. When there is an urgent and rapid need for new energy, for example during illness, the liver puts almost all tasks 'on hold' and breaks down proteins and fatty acids to produce extra glucose. The immune system can only function on glucose as fuel. So imagine you have a fever, your immune system is very active and needs the liver as a glucose supplier to remain active. Of course, your body ensures that you are not poisoned, so your liver continues to remove harmful substances, but at a very low level. This can therefore cause complaints such as fatigue, itching, fluid retention, and brain fog.
Cleaning your liver: detoxifying
You can eat healthy for your liver. What we also call: detoxifying and restoring your liver. This is to promote your health and strengthen your immune system. The detoxifying capacity of your liver is a story in itself. This happens in different phases, and for each phase, you need certain auxiliary substances from your diet. Foods that support liver functions well are:
Garlic, onions, chives, asparagus, oily fish, Brazil nuts, licorice, eggs, broccoli, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, and other cabbage varieties, dark leafy greens such as endive, fresh herbs such as turmeric, ginger, cilantro, mushrooms, and also poultry, radishes, and rhubarb.
Detoxifying your liver can arise from various causes. For example, when you actively stop an unhealthy eating pattern, stop drinking alcohol, or taking certain medications. When you make an abrupt change in your eating pattern, this can affect your liver, which may initially cause symptoms such as fatigue, insomnia, or "musty" odors. During a detoxification phase, your liver goes through a number of different phases in which it can use quite a bit of support:
- Making unwanted or no longer usable substances water- or fat-soluble
- An extra conversion step so that the substances can be removed via urine, sweat, and feces
When your liver is in a cleansing process, whether this happens consciously or unconsciously, it is important that your liver functions optimally and is supported in the detoxification process. To support your liver, we have written a blog about the steps you can best take to detoxify your liver. Keep an eye on our blogs for tips to support your liver.
