As a viewer, listener or a reader you have always been brainwashed by medical paparazzi about the importance of your ‘Heart’ and ‘Skin’. Honestly, the only parameters you have always cared about even in your health check-up reports is your cholesterol or blood sugar levels.

However, behind the scenes, there are those fascinating organs, that do most of the grueling drudgery, but don’t get even a lick of media attention. One such unsung hero is your LIVER.

Quick quiz:
1.The allopathic specialist for your heart is called:______?
2.The allopathic specialist for your skin is called: _______?
3.The allopathic specialist for your liver is called:_______?
Did you google for Q3.?

What do you really know about your liver? The organ that gets rid of your whiskey, vodka or tequila, right?

It’s a shame that, while your liver makes sure your heart beat, your skin glow, your brain think, your blood flow, your bladder evacuate and a 500 other immensely important uninterruptible biological miracles, the only thing you probably know about your liver is that it filters out your booze!

Did you know that even if you chopped off more than half your liver, it is the only internal organ that can regenerate back to a full liver within just two weeks?! Fascinating! Isn’t it?

Did you also know that your health quotient (HQ) is actually determined by how efficiently you eliminate? Your body’s natural detox mechanism determines how healthy you will be, how long you will live, what quality of life you will lead, how you will age and of course, how much of indulgence you can handle! And your liver is the heart of this detox system.

Think of your liver as the immigration officer…every single entity that flows through your blood is brought to the liver for validation. Your liver decides who stays, who gets patted down and who gets rejected.

In the midst of a pandemic, your immunity is key to survival. Your liver, the frontline immune tissue, detects the presence of bacteria, virus and other pathogens and triggers a widespread immune response.

Glutathione…I can’t stop talking about how valuable this underappreciated compound is to your body and guess who produces it: Liver! This antioxidant rich compound keeps you young. True! In-fact it’s a hushed-up secret in the celebrity world to supplement with Glutathione (Intravenous) to age backwards.

Substantially low levels of Glutathione have been noticed in patients suffering from debilitating Parkinson’s disease. Similarly, low levels of Glutathione also contribute to macular degeneration causing cataract.

From the food you consume your liver makes valuable proteins and stores Vit. A, Vit. D, Vit. K, Vit. B12, Iron and Glucose.

The next time you get injured and within seconds you stop bleeding…Remember to thank your liver…Your liver makes special proteins that clots your blood.

All the nutrient rich food you eat is first taken to your liver, where it gets converted into a valuable form for your body to use as nourishment. Television commercials have repeatedly established the importance of healthy oil for the heart. I’m assuming its common sense that the oil you consume doesn’t directly grease your heart…It is your liver that breaks down the oil into usable healthy fats.

Your liver does all this with the help of a yellow green juice it produces called Bile. As you savour the taste of deep-fried fast food made from reused refined oil…it is your liver that has to put in the extra hours of debilitating hard work to make sure it filters out all the toxic oil that could dangerously clog your arteries. The liver then stores all this greasy toxin in its storage compartments ‘the fats cells’. The bile, like your dishwashing liquid, quite literally, washes the grease off your Liver. When your liver runs out of storage spaces it begins to create more ‘fat cells’ to store more toxins. There comes a point when your liver has way too much toxins stored in its fat cells and you have run out of enough juice (Bile) to clean up. This is what shows up in your health checkup reports as ‘Non Alcoholic Fatty Liver’ (while your alcohol contributes to causing ‘Alcoholic Fatty Liver).

With almost every single health checkup report documenting ‘fatty liver’ it’s time, we give the liver a bit of center stage…maybe even pull cholesterol out of the spotlight and focus it on ‘fatty liver’.

‘Fatty Liver? Everybody has it’…shrugs a client of mine. ‘It’s not a big deal’, says another. I have had clients who even give me a blank stare wondering if I am still speaking English…when I mention ‘Fatty Liver’. Why should this be such a big deal? You may ask…let me break it down…

If all the liver storage is used to store toxic fat then Vit A,D,K B12 and Iron no longer have space…needless to say you become anemic and malnourished. If all bile is engaged in cleaning toxic grease off the liver, you can eat all the amaranthus you want and drink all the milk you want but your body isn’t going to taste an element of iron or calcium, as bile is key to breaking down that well masticated amaranthus into usable iron.

A ‘Fatty Liver’ can no longer efficiently filter the blood. Which means all the toxins and grease will continue to flow from the liver to your heart and on route damage and clog your arteries.

Fat build up in the liver is the leading cause of obesity, insulin resistance, type 2 diabetes and metabolic syndrome.

Needless to say, in the middle of a pandemic, what impact would a under functioning border security (your Liver enzymes) have on the incoming viral attack.

Can ‘Fatty Liver’ be reversed? ABSOLUTELY YES!

How?
3 Simple Steps:
1. Modify your diet
2. DETOX your Liver
3. Include nutritional supplements.

Modify Your Diet:
i. Needless to say, STOP consuming food prepared with unrefined reused reheated oil. If you cannot, make sure you frequently DETOX your Liver.

ii. DO NOT consume any food that has ‘Hydrogenated Oils’ or ‘Trans Fats.’ Check the ingredients list. They interfere with your immune system.

iii. Include raw vegetable juice as a part of your daily routine. Even veggies that aren’t your favourite can be stealthily slipped into a healthy juice. Include cabbage and cauliflower in your juice for a good Liver Detox. If that doesn’t sound appetising then add carrots with some mint to bring in an enjoyable flavour. Raw vegetable juices restore a healthy pH balance and alkalise your body.

iv. Include potassium rich food in your diet. It is common knowledge that bananas are loaded with the potassium but did you know that sweet potatoes are a whole lot richer in potassium content than bananas. The sugars in sweet potatoes are slowly released into the bloodstream and hence do not cause a spike in blood sugar levels. Beans, kidney beans and spinach are all potassium rich antioxidants to be included in your diet. Consume tomato puree instead of tomatoes, as a puree contains three times more potassium when compared to diced tomatoes.

v. If you are a non-vegetarian, its healthy to consume chicken or cattle liver. All the stored vitamins in organ meat adds to a nutrient dense diet.

vi. Every thought you are thinking is creating a biochemical reaction in your body. Most of the anger and pent-up primitive emotions create an extremely acidic environment in the Liver. Fill your thoughts and the world around you with love, happiness and peace of mind.

DETOX:
Apart from consuming liver detoxifying juices it is absolutely essential that you DETOX your liver with herbal enemas or a coffee enema under the supervision of a certified medical professional. The enemas are designed to significantly boost the production of bile which in turn cleanses your liver. Most herbal enemas take just 15-20 mins of your time. This is by far the most effective and efficient method to reverse ‘Fatty Liver’. I encourage most of my clients to undergo an ultrasound of the abdomen before and 3 months post a Liver DETOX to actually document the evidence of the reversal of a ‘Fatty Liver’ condition. Periodic Liver DETOX clears pesticides, medications, heavy metals and the remnants of cancer therapy out of your liver. I have had clients who refuse to change their lifestyle filled with alcohol indulgence and unhealthy food habits. However, the saving grace has been their willingness to include nutritional supplementation and undergo liver DETOX once every 3 months. It always amazes me to see how their liver nurses itself back to a healthy radiance.

Nutritional Supplements:
Milk Thistle is the best liver cleansing herb. It can be consumed as a supplement or even as a detoxifying tea. Turmeric enhances liver metabolism. Dandelion root has diuretic effect, helping the liver evacuate toxins more frequently. It is also an immune booster.

While your heart steals the stardom, let’s give the due respect to the hardest working organ in the body that truly is the decision maker between LIVE or ER (Emergency Room). Is life worth living? It really depends on the LIVER!
– By Dr. Ashmita Boopathy Moturi, Founder and Director of NineO2 Detox and Wellness Zone. M.D (Alternative Medicine), M.S (Medical Engineering), MSc.(Psychology), Dip. Health Sciences (Nutritional Medicine), Speciality: Naturopathy, Holistic Detoxification, Nutritional Medicine, and Non-Invasive Diagnostic and Therapeutic Instrumentation.