by Georgia Stewart

Created on: February 17, 2008   Last Updated: April 21, 2008

The liver is one of the most hard working organs in the body and therefore is liable to become worn down. We take an unthinkable amount of toxins into our systems on a daily basic for the whole of our lives and so it's highly advisable to give our poor stressed livers a breather on a regular basis.

There are ways to easily do this that are inexpensive, although I recommend some form of liver support in supplement form when a person is fighting illness or recovering from one.

My naturopath gave me a simple recipe for liver flushing that I enjoy very much:

Liver Flush

4 cloves of garlic
slice of ginger
lemon
pressed apple juice
4 tbsp pressed olive oil (or coconut oil)
filtered water

You can buy liver tonic and add it to your liver flush. An excellent herb to add if you wish is turmeric, which is extremely good for the liver.

Simply place all of the ingredients into a blender. Peel the lemon, de-pip it and use the rest of it. Start with 1 clove of garlic and 1 tablespoon of oil, then gradually work up to 4 of each. Drink it first thing in the morning before you've eaten anything and you could take a few cups of herbal detox tea 15 minutes afterward, before breakfast. Detox tea is great to drink throughout the day.

You can take this liver flush for as long as you require because it's not heavy, though there are more intensive ones that are short term.

I recommend juicing carrots and drinking the juice throughout the day.

Be careful about your eating habits when attempting to clean the liver, avoiding processed foods and alcohol. Eat fresh fruit and vegetables, organic if possible. Organic meat is also best if you can find it because otherwise the animal will have been given antibiotics, vaccinations and medicines that can do us harm. I suggest cutting down on meat during the liver cleansing process though because protein is the most difficult food to digest and we're giving the liver a rest at this time.

If you can get relaxation during this period it would be very helpful, though some form of gentle exercise will be good for the body.

Drink at least two liters of water daily, preferably filtered as this will help the liver to flush out the toxins.

Although I'm advocating liver flushes and liver support supplements it's a fact that we wouldn't be required to do this if we were on a permanently healthy diet, eating natural foods and avoiding processed rubbish. I don't eat 99% of the food that is found on supermarket shelves now and I'm beginning to recover from a fairly long spell of illness. I won't go back to my old eating habits!

N.B You might find the herbs included in the liver support supplement I'm using helpful: himsra, kasami, mandur bhasma, kakamachi, arjuna, kasamarda, biranjasipha and jhavuka. This supplement has been used for many years and is extremely effective. If you'd like the name of it ask me.

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