December is here and that means New Year is just around the corner. All we want now is quality time with family, friends and lots of celebration. But during our celebrations, we forget that we need to focus on our liver which goes through a lot with festive bingeing, late night parties, alcohol etc. The liver has many functions and plays a crucial role in removing toxins from the body that we consume from the air we breathe, as well as from food, alcohol, fried food, and plastic too. Due to an overdose of toxins and insufficient detoxification, the liver becomes inflamed and toxic, causing a sluggish metabolism and a sluggish liver which can also effect the weight loss process; because liver helps burn body fat. For all things like digestion, skin health, hair health, hormones, thyroid function etc — liver is important. The T3 and T4 conversion particularly happens in the liver itself, so if one’s liver function gets affected, this will gradually affect thyroid levels too.
I’m not here to reduce your excitement for New Year celebrations, but I am here to help you with certain tips that you can follow to detoxify your liver in a timely manner so that these few days don't affect your overall bodily function. The body is intelligent and has the capacity to heal beautifully; the same happens with the liver because it too has the capacity to regenerate itself. Try to follow these lifestyle changes to keep your liver healthy:
Cruciferous veggies: Cauliflower, broccoli, cabbage, etc have sulforaphane which helps boost liver health, reduce inflammation and improve the liver’s enzymes. Try to have these in a cooked form every alternate day.
Lemon water: This keeps your body alkaline which helps in reducing the pressure on the liver. Particularly around your celebrations, try to keep it handy. Drink a glass full of lemon water in between your alcohol consumption as lemon helps in simulating the liver to flush out toxins and unwanted material. Plus lemon, we all know, is rich in antioxidants that further works on reducing oxidative stress from the liver.
Liver cleanse drink: Garlic, in any form, helps in reducing inflammation in the body as well as liver. And extra virgin olive oil is a rich source of monounsaturated fatty oil which is crucial to help with a non-alcoholic fatty liver. Using these strong detoxifiers, we can make a concoction to
keep our liver function going on normally. This is how you can make it:
1 tsp of olive oil
1-2 pieces of crushed garlic
1 tsp lemon juice squeezed,
3-5 drops of raw honey
Mix it well and have it first thing in the morning for only seven days followed by a glass of warm water. This mixture will help in cleansing your liver well and reducing toxins. It's worth trying, particularly around celebrations.
Exercise: Try to work out or do certain exercises at least five days a week as that will help in improving blood flow to the liver which further helps the liver stay strong and healthy. Dance your heart out during celebrations as this works as a great form of exercise.
Sleep: I’ve been going on and on when it comes to improving your sleep because that's when our body detoxifies and goes to 100 other functions. So try to catch up with your sleep on most of the days of the week to detox your liver and entire body properly.
Follow these basic tips around the celebration time and you will enter the New Year completely healthy!