Unhealthy habits like eating processed foods, eating out often, eating foods with lots of additives and hormones, not managing stress, and having a sedentary lifestyle have a huge impact on our liver.
Our liver is one of the most important organs used for losing weight. It is responsible for ridding our body of toxins, turning nutrients into energy, and burning fat. When we overload our liver with unnecessary chemicals from the foods we eat and the stress we have, it makes it difficult for the liver to perform its job effectively.
This is why it is so important to keep our livers healthy and happy. One of the best ways to do that is by eating organic foods filled with nutrients, minerals, and little to no preservatives. These are 9 foods that cleanse your liver so it can help you lose weight and keep it off.
1. Apples
First up on this list are apples! We all know the saying “An apple day keeps the doctor away,” but few of us know why this saying exists. Apples are food that helps clean up our digestive tract. When our digestive tract isn’t overloaded with toxins it reduces the workload for our liver, which can then focus on reducing other toxins. This is why apples can be considered one of the many foods that cleanse our liver.
For a healthy, simple, and tasty apple recipe, check out my homemade applesauce recipe!
2. Green Tea
Green tea is packed full of antioxidants. Specifically, one by the name of catechin, is known to assist liver function and improve blood markers for liver health. This is probably one of the reasons green tea has been said to increase metabolism. By taking care of your liver, your metabolism naturally will improve. Personally, I like to drink my green tea with a squeeze of fresh lemon juice. Two birds, one stone.
3. Cruciferous Vegtables
First of all, what the heck are cruciferous vegetables? Vegetables like cabbage, Brussel sprouts, broccoli, cauliflower, kale, and a few other types of winter and green leafy vegetables are considered cruciferous vegetables.
So, what’s so special about cruciferous vegetables that they have made the list of foods that cleanse the liver? Glad you asked. These leafy and green vegetables contain glutathione, which helps the liver by making the toxin cleansing enzymes go into overdrive mode. By eating these types of vegetables, your body will naturally produce more glucosinolate. This compound helps the liver flush out carcinogens and other toxins from our bodies.
4. Garlic
I love garlic. I use it in almost every dinner I cook! This tasty ingredient has tons of sulfur and selenium in it. These two components help detoxify the liver and activate liver enzymes that help the body flush out toxins. Garlic gives our liver an extra boost to help combat the chemicals we subject our body to from oxidative stress.
5. Olive Oil
While Olive Oil is considered a fat, it is a healthy fat. Ironically this healthy fat has been known to reverse the effects of a high-fat diet and decrease liver fat. Specifically, studies have shown that antioxidants in extra virgin olive oil are the driving factors for olive oil supporting liver health.
6. Lemon
Lemon is often thought of as acidic. Which it is, in terms of taste. However, on the PH scale, Lemon is an incredibly alkaline food. When your body is more alkaline than acidic, disease, sickness, and illness have a very hard time existing in such conditions.
Lemon juice helps detox your liver by turning toxic chemicals into compounds that can be absorbed by water. Additionally, the antioxidants found in lemon juice also help protect the liver by reducing inflammation.
7. Avocado
Avocado. They are delicious, smooth, and very versatile. You could use this tasty fruit in many different dishes! Known as a superfood for its ability to cleanse arteries, Avocado has similar effects as cruciferous vegetables on the liver. Avocados like kale and broccoli help the liver detox itself through the cleansing enzymes produced by glutathione.
8. Walnuts
Walnuts are nuts with healthy omega-3 fatty acids. Omega 3 fatty acids as well as the amino acid arginine found in walnuts are compounds in foods that cleanse the liver through detoxification. Not to mention walnuts like avocado are a source of glutathione which helps the liver in cleansing itself.
9. Turmeric
Turmeric has long been used for its medicinal qualities for centuries. Commonly found in eastern dishes, turmeric contains many antioxidants that help repair cells in our livers. It also aids the liver in producing bile, which helps us break down fats. Turmeric also contains helps the enzymes in the liver by flushing out toxins and detoxing metals. Turmeric to me is the best on the list of foods that cleanse the liver.
Along with all the benefits of turmeric that I have listed above, Turmeric With BioPerine has proven to help with boosting energy, improving moods, memory, sleep quality, and inflammation inside and out, and boosting the immune system.
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