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Rejuvenate your liver with a detox Thinking of a detox diet to combat the surfeits of the festive season and cold Winter? Then think carefully.
A gruelling three day regime consuming fruit juices and water will mobilise toxins faster than your organs of elimination can cope. Result: Three days of fatigue, headaches, nausea, halitosis, and flu-like aches and pains; a brief window of feeling better, then back to the normal intake of caffeine, sugar and alcohol.
This year consider making a radical change that will improve your health, support your local farmers and have global significance.
We can all feel somewhat lethargic, sluggish and 'headachy' after Christmas. These are the signs that our liver – the main organ responsible for cleansing the body of toxins – could benefit from some TLC. By choosing local foods over intensively farmed produce from across the globe, you can enhance your health and appease your 'eco' conscience. Produce loses nutrition from the moment it's picked hence Kenyan beans that are gassed and bagged weeks prior to consumption will offer meagre levels of folate, antioxidants and chlorophyll compared to your local greens.
Why not give your liver a holiday and in return it will give you a healthy new year?
Here's how:
Aim for eight to ten servings of colourful fruit and vegetables every day. Local cruciferous vegetables or brassicas (broccoli, cabbage, Brussels sprouts, kale, and turnip) are especially good whilst onions, leeks and garlic produce the sulphur the liver needs to detoxify. Try to eat some vegetables raw in salads, or juice carrots, apples and parsley for an energising drink.
Give your insides a break from the foods that demand yet more chemical processing of the liver: Wheat, dairy, salt, food additives, hydrogenated fats, refined foods like white breads, rice and pasta - all are liver-stressful. Instead choose wholegrains like oats, brown rice, quinoa and buckwheat and combine with piles of vegetables and salads. Get your protein from eggs, oily fish (salmon, mackerel, sardines), well-sourced local meat and chicken, nuts seeds and pulses.
We all know alcohol can damage the liver, but it also contains congeners – the additives responsible for those monster post-party headaches. Ideally, give your liver a total break for a couple of weeks and swap booze for local Somerset apple juice topped up with sparkling water. If you really must imbibe, match your alcohol with water and take a gram of vitamin C before bed.
Caffeine stresses the liver while dehydrating the body. Cutting out coffee, black tea, colas and other caffeinated drinks is a terrific energiser, but be warned - caffeine cold turkey can induce headache so take it slowly, gradually substituting with dandelion coffee, weak green tea, redbush, or herbal tea.
Water is your most important nutrient. Drinking two litres a day - mineral or filtered no matter - is a fine way to flush toxins from the system. Your detox potential is enhanced if you have a mug of hot water with the juice of half a lemon twice a day, as this encourages bile flow, which helps remove toxins.
If bowel function is sluggish, toxins destined for elimination can be reabsorbed. Fibre in oats, fruits and vegetables plus plenty of water should eliminate this, but if the problem persists, try adding two tablespoons of linseeds to your morning oats, or contact me for a fact sheet on how to rid yourself of constipation.
Get moving - Go for a jog or a brisk walk in the fresh air five days a week to help your blood and lymphatic circulation do its job.
Many natural agents support liver function. In particular, milk thistle contains substances that enhance toxin removal, and may even aid regeneration of liver cells. by Julia Taylor
Julia Taylor is a local Nutritionist with clinics in Glastonbury and Bath. www.individualnutritionalsolutions.com Tel: 0845 121 4725
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