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Herbal Advice — Nourishing Your LiverBy Susun Weed © 2010
Dear PT, Wait! Don't cleanse your liver. It won't help you; and it can harm you. Let's take a look at how the liver operates. As blood moves through it--and all of your circulating blood passes through your liver hourly--it is not filtered, but restored. Toxins do not build up in there; the liver removes them. Oil-soluble vitamins and glucose are stored in the liver, but chemicals, drugs, and toxins are not. Drugs, metabolic by-products, alcohol, hormones, cholesterol, vitamins, minerals, enzymes, bacteria, viral particles, and all the chemical detritus of living in the blood are judged by the liver: some are allowed to stay, others dismantled for recycling, and some are removed. Water-soluble chemicals, such as ammonia, are excreted when you pee. To get a sense of how quickly water-soluble chemicals are removed from your body, eat some asparagus, which contains the mildly-poisonous water-soluble chemical asparagine. Notice how quickly you have to "go," and the smell of the asparagine in your urine. Oil-soluble chemicals may be excreted in breast milk, ejaculations, ovulations, and tears, but most are locked up in fat cells, where they can do little harm. (Neither water- nor fat-soluble chemicals can be excreted by sweating. Minerals can, however, and that threatens the health of your bones.) Yes, you can damage your liver with alcohol and drugs. But the liver is amazingly regenerative. Every cell in a healthy liver is replaced every forty days. So, instead of cleansing--which can increase the damage--I prefer to make my liver strong and healthy by nourishing it. The liver-nourishing herbs I love include dandelion, chicory, yellow dock, and milk thistle. Milk thistle is best used before the fact, not after; it is highly protective of the liver. When milk thistle seed tincture (a dose is a dropperful) is taken before chemotherapy, heavy drinking, or exposure to concentrations of chemicals, the liver can more easily recycle and remove what is not needed. For daily nourishment however, there's nothing better than dandelion. If you live too far to the north or south for dandelion to grow, try chicory or yellow dock instead. They are hardier weeds, and great substitutes. All parts of dandelion, chicory, and yellow dock are medicinal and restorative to the liver. Roots are most commonly used--usually tinctured, although vinegars work just as well. A dose of 10-25 drops, or a tablespoon of the vinegar in water or on a salad, taken in the morning and before will bring fast results. (Regular use of apple cider vinegar has been found to drastically reduce the incidence of adult-onset diabetes.) Additionally, you'll make your liver very happy if you: Eat regularly. Skipping meals and fasting reduces liver efficiency quickly. Eat cooked food. Raw foods contain bacterial, viral, and enzymatic substances that stress, and may even cause an infection in, the liver. Eat enough fat; but avoid oils pressed from seeds, which increase inflammation. As dietary fat decreases, so does the liver's ability to metabolize glucose, fatty acids, and cholesterol. Get angry. The liver is the storehouse of unexpressed rage. Avoid essential oils; they impair liver function. Choose unflavored toothpastes and mouthwashes, and unscented soaps, skin lotions, deodorants, antiperspirants, and candles. Avoid herbs that are rich in alkaloids or other natural chemicals, including most herbs used in "cleansing" such as golden seal, senna, cascara sagrada, celandine, chaparral, lobelia, rhubarb root, cayenne, and poke root. Instead of coffee, start your day with nourishing herbal infusion. You'll be surprised at the energy and stamina you'll have. Good health and green blessings. Susun Susun Weed Visit Susun Weed at: www.susunweed.com and www.ashtreepublishing.com Vibrant, passionate, and involved, Susun Weed has garnered an international reputation for her groundbreaking lectures, teachings, and writings on health and nutrition. She challenges conventional medical approaches with humor, insight, and her vast encyclopedic knowledge of herbal medicine. Unabashedly pro-woman, her animated and enthusiastic lectures are engaging and often profoundly provocative. Susun is one of America's best-known authorities on herbal medicine and natural approaches to women's health. Her four best-selling books are recommended by expert herbalists and well-known physicians and are used and cherished by millions of women around the world. Home | Back Issues | How We Serve | Advertise | Subscribe | Reviews | Cyber-Meditate! | MS Mystique | Links | Contact Info All information and graphic content © 2000-2011 Mount Shasta Magazine. Written or verbal permission from the editor is required to reproduce any material contained in this website.
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