Are you in search of healing? Are you looking for a solution outside of traditional medicine to help revive and heal your liver? Have you considered liver cleanses?

The liver is a powerful thing. It performs 64 different functions, can regenerate, and helps keep our body toxin-free when operating the right way. While the liver is incredibly important, unfortunately, it is also prone to a variety of diseases.

Whether it's hepatitis, cirrhosis, liver cancer, gallstones, failure, or more, these diseases are no joke and take serious precaution when dealing with.

While medicine is often relied on for relieving symptoms of liver disease, it's also important to look at traditional medicine for help! Herbs and plants have been used for thousands of years to help find healing from many liver diseases, and still, yield positive results today.

We are going to talk about a few key herbs to help detox and cleanse your liver, but first let's talk about something a bit controversial: liver fact versus fiction. To go through with liver cleanses or not.

How Can I Detox My Liver Naturally?

In a healthy body, the liver functions in a normal way, it detoxes properly, keeps toxins out of your body, and supports many other organs and their function as well. But if you are dealing with liver disease or other issues, your liver might need some assistance.

To take out toxins in your body, remove toxins, facilitate weight loss, or improve your health, you need to do a liver detox, cleanse, or flush.

One of the largest organs in your body is your liver. It helps eliminate waste and is responsible for handling various nutrients and medicines.

After drinking too much alcohol or eating unhealthy foods, most people think doing liver detox or a cleanse will assist their liver in removing toxins. For some, they hope it will assist their liver function better on a day-to-day basis. And many are optimistic that it will help treat liver disease.

Cleanse Your Liver the Right Way

Just like most detoxes, a liver cleanse has precise steps. Some programs may tell you to do fasting or to drink only juices or other liquids for some days. Other detox plans might urge you to follow a restricted diet or take herbal or dietary supplements. Some detoxes will also suggest you buy a variety of products.

The idea of doing a liver cleanse or detox often causes division, provoking thoughts of cayenne-infused lemon water or weird "liver flushes" that involve the consumption of nothing but Epsom salts, apple juice, and olive oil. In these cases, people tend to get skeptical because of the conflicting available ways of doing it.

Workhorse is the best word to describe the liver when it comes to its function. It is your body's main filtration system. It converts toxins into waste products (which we excrete from our body), metabolizes nutrients and medications, cleanses your blood, and produces proteins. And even though a healthy liver naturally cleanses itself, it could not essentially be optimally functioning if it's always faced with dietetic and environmental toxins.

What if you don't have liver disease? Should you still do liver cleanses?

Our bodies are barraged with stressors, from pollution to chemicals in many skincare products to preservatives in the foods we consume more than ever before. These can cause the depletion of nutrients that are stored in your body, accumulation of dangerous substances in your body, like heavy metals or molds, and lead to chronic inflammation. All of which can make you feel tired and get you sick. Also, give your liver a whole lot more work to do.

Mark Hyman, M.D., functional medicine doctor and New York Times bestselling author said that "In a healthy body, the process of detoxification runs smoothly. When you become toxic, the mechanism for detoxification in the liver gets sluggish, and certain toxins can remain active longer than we want or than our systems can handle. This makes us sick and impedes normal metabolism. It also causes fluid retention, bloat, and puffiness."

With this, helping your liver, which is an important organ is the right thing to do. Whether a liver "cleanse" or "detox" or whatever you want to call it, it doesn't matter. You can shift your diet and lifestyle strategies to counter the toxic effects by aiding the liver's detoxification pathways and lightening your overall toxic load although you really can't necessarily control your exposure to many pollutants and chemicals that surround you. The truth is, it's a complex method, but you don't have to buy into expensive cleanses or extreme detox diets.

Below, you’ll discover effective but natural ways to assist your liver in doing its job better while supporting your overall health in the process.

Herbs To Help Detox Your Liver

While there are dozens of herbs, plants, and teas that can work to increase your liver function, like green tea, vitamin c, turmeric, and even whole grains, and vegetables, today we are detailing the ones we include in our liver cleanse tea.

Aside from adding herbs to your diet, it's crucial that you adopt a healthy lifestyle and a balanced diet filled with vegetables, vitamin c fruits, and adequate water hydration. We also suggest removing alcohol to lower any possible risk of disease. Help your body by providing it with enough vegetables per day, foods to nourish a healthy liver, and a supplement intake that can help as well.

While herbs and supplements are incredibly powerful, liver cleansing cannot be successful if you don't also adhere to a healthy diet. This will help keep your liver healthy while nourishing your body properly.

Milk Thistle Seed

Milk thistle, also called silymarin, is the most well-known herbal supplement for liver health. It is an extract of the seeds of the flowering milk thistle plant. Studies show that it helps stimulate the regeneration of liver cells and protect them from injury induced by substances like alcohol and acetaminophen. It also has antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. Boosting glutathione levels is also one of its many benefits.

Making it ideal for a liver cleanse, Milk thistle is considered the “king” of detoxifying herbs. It helps to eliminate the accumulation of prescription medications, environmental pollutants, heavy metals, and alcohol in the liver. Many users see weight loss as a result of losing water weight that your body holds onto.

On top of that, it aids in reducing the negative effects on the liver after chemotherapy and radiation. Studies show that the active ingredient silymarin while supporting healthy regeneration, helps to strengthen the cell walls in the liver.

This powerful herb can be taken as a supplement or as a liver cleansing detox tea.

Dandelion Root

Known for the Dandelion’s cleansing properties, and a study found that both the root and leaf helped remove the body of reactive oxygen species that cause oxidative stress. By sipping on dandelion root tea, which makes a great caffeine-free alternative to coffee, you could get these health benefits. Along with other bitter greens such as mustard greens and arugula, Dandelions are great, too, because they can assist in stimulating bile production and promoting healthy digestion.

As it populates yards every spring, most homeowners don’t like the Dandelion. But, this flower, and its root, are full of many vitamins and minerals.

With a natural diuretic effect, the Dandelion root allows your liver to eliminate toxins more quickly. More health benefits include relieving heartburn, strengthening the immune system, soothing an upset digestive system, and balancing blood sugar levels.

Helping to support liver function, Burdock root is another choice in the same plant family as dandelions that can aid in detoxing your system by cleansing the blood. Both dandelion root and burdock root can be taken in both supplement forms or as tea.

Licorice Root

When you think of licorice (Glycyrrhiza glabra), a kind of chewy candy often comes to mind, But it’s an herb with great medicinal properties.

In scientific studies, Licorice root has been proven to have anti-inflammatory, antiviral, and liver-protective effects. The saponin compound glycyrrhizin, which is commonly used in traditional Chinese and Japanese medicine to treat many illnesses, including liver disease, is the main active component in licorice root.

Treatment with licorice extract may benefit those with certain liver conditions as some studies have demonstrated.

Ginger Root

A well-known culinary ingredient and also commonly used as a medicinal treatment for many health conditions, including liver disease is the Ginger root.

Containing powerful compounds, including shogaols and gingerols, that assist in inhibiting inflammation and provide protection against cellular damage, Ginger root helps support liver health. Also, ginger may protect your liver against toxins found in alcohol when consumed.

Marshmallow Root

Marshmallow is derived from a Greek word that means “to heal.” When ingested, it creates mucilage and has traditionally been used to treat sore throats. It is antibacterial, antifungal, and anti-inflammatory. Fortunately, this herb also does helpful things for your liver and kidneys.

Helping with wound healing because of their high antioxidant capacity is the Marshmallow root’s polysaccharides. Your liver bile ducts can become damaged over time. Marshmallow root acts to soothe this damage. It stimulates the production of epithelial cells. These are the cells that line the inside of your organs and ducts. Better helping your liver detox is having a strong, healthy bile duct. 

Its ability to bind to heavy metals is another additional benefit of the marshmallow. One more reason to add this root for your natural liver and kidney detox is that it binds heavy metals and ushers them out of your body before they can create damage. 

There's no easy path to take when you want to do a liver cleanse or detox. Anything marketed as such should rightfully be put in question. Yet, there are a lot of small, study-based, and backed-by-research ways to lessen your liver's workload and promote overall health. Incorporate the herbs suggested above, preferably with the guidance of your health care provider, and over time, your body and liver will thank you.

Granting some herbal treatments may help treat or prevent liver conditions, it’s crucial for anyone interested in using herbal remedies for liver health to consult with a qualified healthcare provider first.

Common Questions About Detoxing Your Liver Fact vs. Fiction

We get a lot of questions about our teas and the Liver Cleanse Tea in particular. We wanted to answer a few here to help better introduce you to one of our favorite blends.

How can I detox my liver naturally?

As we pointed out in the introduction, your liver naturally detoxes every day. That is in fact, the main function of your liver. But when we experience things like liver disease, fatty liver, etc. sometimes we need to do things to assist our liver function properly.

What is the best drink to flush your liver? How do I clean out my liver?

We are biased (😉) but we believe our Liver Cleanse Tea is one of the best ways to flush your liver and assist in increasing its function. While there are many different liver cleanses and supplements to choose from on the market, it's important to choose one that fits your needs and wants. If you are looking to simply cleanse your liver, a turmeric-based tea or supplement is great. If you have fatty liver disease, then looking for more of a roots-based tea can be helpful in decreasing your risk of liver disease. We also suggest adding natural diuretics to your day-to-day diet, like vegetables.

Again, depending on your condition, you should seek out different, specific, and targeted supplements. For instance, if you have hepatitis B, you may look into something like katuki, whereas someone with hepatitis C may see more success with something like turmeric or even a green tea extract.

How long does it take to detox your liver?

The liver is the largest organ in the body and works to eliminate toxins, produce blood proteins, store energy, and facilitate around 64 other functions. When our liver is not functioning properly, all of these things are negatively impacted. The liver filters through 1.5 liters of blood every minute, making the process of regeneration possible. While we can assist our liver is functioning properly, it is great at self-recovery as well, so when paired with herbs, the potential for healing is strong.

Are You Ready to Give our Liver Detox a Try?

Are you struggling with symptoms from an unhealthy liver? Whether you have liver disease or issues like fatty liver, there are things you can do to assist your liver functionality. A great place to start is with an herbal tea, to see how your body reacts. While detox may not completely eradicate your symptoms, it will assist point you in the right direction when it comes to healing.

Whether you decide to add something as simple as green tea to your daily diet, or using tea to assist your body filter out toxins from the body, they can both help with liver damage and general health and wellness. While this type of cleansing is not meant to make you lose weight, you may notice a decrease in water weight as well as weight loss from the change in diet.

Are you ready to give one of our teas a try and keep your liver healthy? Check out our Liver Cleanse Tea here.

 

As always, these statements are not reviewed by the food and drug administration, nor should they be considered as one-on-one medical advice. Use them to get you started on your journey to wellness.