• Non-organic meat and dairy products. • Farm raised fi sh. • Large fi sh such as tuna, swordfi sh and shark.
• Cigarette smoke and tailpipe exhaust. As you can see, we are easily
surrounded by chemicals every day! The problem is that most of these chemi- cals are known neurotoxins, carcinogens, hormone disruptors and respiratory irritants. This is not meant to scare you and send you running for the hills to live in a straw house! This is to help you realize where toxins hide in your life and what you can do to reduce your exposure. The good news is that a healthy body can work hard at cleansing the body of these toxins.
Love Your Liver A healthy body depends on healthy de-
toxifi cation pathways. Your body detoxifi es itself through four major organs – intes- tines, liver, kidneys and skin. Of these, the main detoxifi er is the liver – one of the most interesting organs of the human body. The amazing liver weighs about 3 pounds and is the second largest organ in the body, second only to skin (yes, your skin is actually an organ!). The liver is also the only organ in the body that can actually regenerate itself. This is good news because the liver takes a beating every single day, working hard to protect us from the many toxins we are exposed to on a daily basis. A healthy life undoubtedly depends on a healthy liver!
The liver is also interesting because of
its many important functions in the body. Here are just a few remarkable functions of the liver:
• Blood detoxifi cation and purifi cation • Regulates blood clotting • Helps the body fi ght infections by producing immune cells and removing pathogens
• Stores and releases glucose to regulate blood sugar levels • Produces bile – a product that helps break down fats for absorption as well as carry waste to be eliminated • Metabolizes carbohydrates, fats, and proteins into usable forms • Stores many nutrients – glycogen; fatty acids; vitamins A, D, E, K and B12; iron and copper – to provide a constant supply of these essential sub- stances to the body
So how does the liver protect the body from toxins? It protects in one of two ways. First, the liver works to eliminate toxins from the body. Second, if the elimination pathways cannot keep up with the toxins coming in, the liver then stores toxins in fat cells to protect the rest of the body.
Let’s fi rst talk about liver detoxifi cation.
There are two phases of liver detoxifi cation, aptly named Phase 1 and Phase 2. In Phase 1, the liver fi lters blood and works to either neutralize the chemical or toxin or convert it to an intermediate form for Phase 2. Phase 2 works to further break down chemicals and toxins that can then be safely excreted from the body.
Phase 1 detoxifi es such things as caffeine, acetaminophen and aspirin. Phase 2 detoxifi es some of the other major toxins we come into contact with daily: • Industrial toxins • Carcinogens
• Medications like penicillin, steroids, salicylates, morphine, benzodiazepines and naproxen • Bacterial toxins • Heavy metals like mercury, lead and arsenic
• Phenolics found in plastics • Alcohol
• Excess histamine • Excess estrogen
Once the liver has detoxifi ed or
neutralized any toxins, they can then be eliminated from the body. They can be passed to the kidneys for elimination through urine, passed to the gallbladder in bile and to the intestines for elimination through feces, or eliminated through sweat. All of these elimination pathways need to be functioning optimally to detoxify the body. However, if the liver cannot keep up with the constant infl ux, toxins will start to accumulate in the body and health is compromised.
Health Compromised When the liver cannot keep up with
the infl ux of toxins, or Phase 2 is slower than Phase 1, toxins will start to accu- mulate in the body. If this happens, the liver tries to store the toxins so they don’t circulate in the blood and cause illness or disease. Most toxins are fat soluble, so the liver will shuttle toxins off to fat cells for safe storage. The body will then hold onto these fat cells so the toxins won’t release back into the bloodstream.
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