Is Your Liver Preventing You From Losing Weight?

Are you having trouble losing weight? Do you have dark circles under your eyes, are sluggish, irritable, tired all the time, have a lack of concentration, and no motivation? These could be signs of your liver being in distress or having a toxic liver. What is putting your liver in overdrive and what can you do to keep it from working too hard?
What Does the Liver Do?

The liver is the largest solid organ and gland in the human body. It has a variety of roles, including detoxification, protein synthesis, and the production of chemicals necessary for digestion. These are the major functions of the liver:
• Bile production: the liver produces bile, which helps the small intestine break down and absorb fats, cholesterol and vitamins
• Metabolizes carbs: carbohydrates are stored in the liver where they are broken down into glucose
• Metabolizes proteins: bile helps break down proteins to make them digestible
• Filters the blood: filters and removes compounds from inside the body, including estrogen and aldosterone
• Stores vitamins: stores vitamins A, D, E, K, and B12, as well as copper and releases them when needed.

What Causes Liver Toxicity?
There are a number of ways you could be causing damage to your liver, making it work harder than it has. Abusing foods you love can cause a lot of damage to your liver.

This includes, eating too much sugar, drinking too much soda, eating trans fats, fried foods, and drinking too much alcohol. Other things that can cause damage to your liver is taking too many painkillers that include acetaminophen and being overweight. When you’re overweight this causes all of your organs to work extra hard and to store fat around your vital organs, causing them to work at a slower pace or not correctly.

Eliminating these things from your diet can help detox your liver. Diets that are high in sugars, fats, and alcohol put a great burden on your liver. A toxic liver will make you feel miserable and even keep you from losing weight, no matter how much you exercise.

What Can You Do?
Your liver may be sending you signs of distress that include acne, liver spots, dark circles under your eyes or yellowish eyes, bad breath, nausea, pale stools, loss of appetite, depression, chronic fatigue, abdominal pain and much more.

Talk to your doctor or a dietician for recipes and a list of foods to help you detox your liver. Following a nutritious diet to cleanse your liver is always the best way to go.

Foods like beet juice help stimulate liver cells, which protect the liver and bile ducts. Dandelion root helps detox your liver, as well as helps purify your blood. Eating lots of garlic helps strengthen your liver and cleanse your blood. Eat lots of carrots, cabbage, broccoli, Brussels sprouts and cauliflower, which also help detox your liver. Drink warm water with lemon first thing in the morning, which helps trigger nerve and hormone activation of the liver and digestion system. Adding more herbs and spices, such as St. Mary’s thistle, turmeric, cinnamon, liquorice root, curcumin, and artichoke have anti-inflammatory effects throughout the body, including your liver. Remember to drink plenty of water which help flush out toxins, eat plenty of fiber, and get plenty of sleep. These are all things that will help you keep your liver healthy and prevent problems in the future.