16/09/2019
Liver Health: Why Is It Important?
You might not think much about this bodily organ called ‘liver,’ but the liver is a key player in your digestive system. Everything you eat or drink, even the medicines pass through it. Hence, you should treat it in the right way so that it can stay healthy and perform its job. If you ignore, it’s gone.
What is so special about the liver?
The liver has various important things to do.
It helps clean your blood by removing harmful chemicals that your body makes.
It makes a liquid called bile, which helps you break down fat from food.
It stores glucose (sugar), proteins, and carbohydrates which gives you a quick energy boost when you need it.
It excretes cholesterol, hormones, and drugs
It detoxifies and purifies the blood
It synthesizes chemicals which help in the clotting of blood
There’s nothing tricky about keeping the liver in good shape. The best way to fight liver disease is to avoid it. Given below are the tips that have demonstrated beneficial effects on the liver. Incorporating these tips is a natural way to keep your liver functioning at its best.
Maintain a healthy weight- exercise and a well-balanced diet help maintain weight and lower the chances of fatty liver disease.
Avoid toxins- chemicals in cleaning products, spray cans, insecticides, and other household items could infect liver cells if you touch, absorb, or breathe them. Protect yourself by wearing a mask and goggles and open the windows when you use them.
Drink moderately- when you drink, the liver stops doing other works and only concentrate on breaking down alcohol and removing it from the blood. If you overdo it, it may be hard on the organ and could hurt it. Over time, it may lead to fatty liver disease.
Take your medications right- Avoid excess use of paracetamol as it may hurt your liver. Though paracetamol is the most common medication that can harm your liver, others can do that too, especially if you don’t take them as prescribed. Talk to your doctor if you are tired, nauseous, itchy, or feel other symptoms when you start taking medicine.
Check on your supplements- most of the liver damage occurs due to certain supplements/herbs like borage, comfrey, groom well have pyrrolizidine alkaloids that can gum up the tiny vessels inside the organ, causing liver problems.
Skip herbal liver remedies- Common liver remedies like milk thistle, turmeric, and astragalus may not be suitable for the liver as claimed. Colloidal silver, sometimes used for hepatitis C, can cause irreversible side effects like turning your skin blue. Hence, inform your doctors about the pills, herbs, and supplements you take. Firstly, don’t take them without a doctor’s approval.
Eat the rainbow vegetables- this indicates fruits and vegetables of all colors that ensure nutrients and fiber you need. Avoid refined carbohydrates like a doughnut, bread, whole-grain rice, bread, and cereals. Look for good fats from seeds, nuts, fish, vegetable oils.
Stay safe with syringes or needles- make sure you get injected (with medications or something) through fresh syringes, otherwise you might end up with infections like hepatitis C that spread through blood.
Practice safe s*x- avoid infections or conditions that spread through s*x as they may eventually hurt your liver. Most people may not know this until significant damage has been done to the liver through unsafe s*x. Therefore, practice safe s*x by using contraception.
Wash your hands regularly- to keep the germs away that could infect your liver. Wash your hands with soap and warm water right before you prepare food, and after you change a diaper or go to the bathroom. There are chances of spreading hepatitis A when you touch food and water with contaminated hands.
Vaccination - get vaccinated for hepatitis A and B. it is especially crucial if your immune system is weak or your liver already shows some damage.
