Try these 9 natural ways to detoxify and cleanse your liver

The liver may be one of the many organs in the body, but it is like the general manager of your body, protecting you from a plethora of diseases trying to attack you. It’s a vital organ that keeps your energy intact so that you can perform your day-to-day activities smoothly. In other words, it’s your body’s support system. However, when your liver is full of toxins and unhealthy, you may start to feel sluggish and your health may deteriorate. This is the reason why you need to keep your liver healthy.

This World Liver Health Day, commemorated every April 19 across the globe to raise awareness, let’s look at some of the natural ways and remedies to keep your liver health in check. To help you out, Health Shots reached out to global leading holistic health guru and corporate life coach Dr Mickey Mehta.

Natural ways to detoxify your liver

Here are some of the best ways to help you detoxify your liver and keep your overall health in check:

1. Change your lifestyle

It is vital to change your lifestyle habits such as eating cool foods, doing yoga and exercise regularly, and taking time to relax to cleanse your liver. It will make your liver light and bring Pitta (or heat energy) back into functional balance. One of the best ways to detoxify the liver is eating appropriate food that will not be a burden on the liver, highlights Dr Mehta.

Healthy means keeping it healed. The term healed means eating appropriate foods which will not be a burden on the liver and eating foods that will liberate energy in the body.

Also Read: You can reverse fatty liver by making these simple changes in your life

2. Exercise

If you want to cleanse and rejuvenate your liver functions, you need to start exercising or do yoga. You can also do asanas like Mandukasana, Pavanamuktasana, Paschimottanasana, Naukasana, Adho mukha shavasana and Shavasana. Do these yoga asanas multiple times a day to relax muscles and organs of the body.

Besides, meditation 3 to 4 times a day and Anulom vilom, as many times a day can help to cleanse the liver as well, advises the expert.

3. Eat a healthy diet

Clean and good nutrition plays a big part in the cleansing process of the liver. Here are some ways to eat healthy to keep your liver health in check:

• Fruits such as pomegranate, Musk melon, honeydew melon, and apples help detoxify the liver.
• Include cruciferous vegetables like broccoli, kale, cabbage and cauliflower. Green leafy vegetables like spinach, amaranth, Suva, and other vegetables that help cleanse the liver are radish, carrot, beetroot, and 2-3 cloves of garlic when consumed raw are most beneficial but can be sautéd in food and taken to. Drink fresh vegetables and fruit juice twice a day. This is also a powerful way to cleanse the liver.
• Nuts, seeds, and dry fruits help fortify. Good fats that come from olives and olive oil help to cleanse the liver. So, nourish yourself well.
• Avoid overeating (more liver burden) and stay away from refined, packaged, fried, or heavily processed food.

4. Try this cleansing tea

Sharing the recipe of the perfect cleansing tea for the liver, Dr Mehta shares, “Ayurveda suggests that this cleansing tea can work wonders for the liver. The soluble fibre psyllium can safely be used once a day for at least 30 minutes before ingesting anything or two hours after a meal. This can help keep the bowels, liver, and blood clean by facilitating elimination.”

Recipe: Boil a pinch of turmeric powder in a cup of water for a few minutes. When the water cools down, squeeze a teaspoon of fresh lemon juice. A teaspoonful of honey can be added if needed when cooled down to warm to make it sweet.

5. Certain herbs can be good for the liver

Bitter-tasting and cooling herbs and foods such as aloe vera, neem, karela (bitter gourd), amla (Indian gooseberry) and turmeric are some of the foods that can help. They are good for both protection as well as boosting liver health.

Also Read: 5 superfoods you can nosh on for better liver health

6. Drink a lot of water

Hydration is an important part of the whole cleansing process. Not having enough water will decrease your liver’s function and make it difficult for it removes the waste from the body. Additionally, the majority of your blood is composed of water. Hydration makes it easier for your blood to flow through the liver and be filtered, he suggests.

7. You can try Ayurveda therapies

If you want to try Ayurveda therapies, you can try regular massages like Abhyangam, which can help cleanse the liver, says the expert. Other remedies like Vaman (medical vomiting) and Virechan (a Panchkarms therapy) also can help in many cases. Shirodhara (an Ayurvedic healing method) will also have an indirect effect on liver functions and support its recovery.

8. Laugh it out

Laughter is also very good for the liver, says the expert. It helps you get rid of the toxic gases forming inside your liver. When you laugh, the diaphragm moves up and down, supporting the cleansing of the liver and generating and revitalising it by sending it a lot of oxygen.

9. Focus on yourself

Lastly, you need to take time out for yourself. Rest is very important for the liver, just like any other organ. Take time to breathe deeply, relax, meditate, and eat and work out sensibly, intelligently, and ethically.

While these are natural remedies to keep your liver health in check, it is important that you check with your doctor in case you feel that your liver is not in its best shape and you have been facing too many digestive issues.