Your liver is perhaps the most wonderful organ in your body. You can compare the liver with a chemical factory that runs overtime on a daily basis. An awful lot of processes are regulated by the liver: cleaning the blood, decomposing waste that is released during digestion or entering the environment, converting hormones, vitamins and nutrients, partly regulating blood sugar levels and so on. Your liver is the only organ that automatically grows when you remove a part. Only a lizard does that. Time to put this special organ in the limelight. Read how you get a happy liver in 5 steps.

Because the liver plays such an important role in almost all processes in the body, very different symptoms can partly or entirely cause a liver that does not function properly. Here is a list of complaints that you can experience by a less working liver (perhaps unnecessarily, but in case of serious complaints always visit your doctor):

• Headache
• Bloated feeling
• Eczema
• Acne
• Allergies
• Diarrhea or constipation
• Reduced libido
• Fatigue
• Stress
• Depression
• Itching
• Bad breath
• Flatulence
• Joint complaints
• Hormonal complaints
• Concentration disorders
• Nausea

Step 1: think your liver happy

Your feelings are partly determined by the biochemistry in your body. When your detoxification organs like the liver, intestines, lungs, kidneys and skin work properly, the body can lose its daily dose of dirt. Nobody likes full containers. If something is caught somewhere at 1 or more of these organs, waste products will continue to circulate in the blood and thus also reach your brain. There they can cause concentration problems and brain fog. These substances can also have a strong effect on your mood. With a not working liver you often see emotions like: irritation, anger, jealousy, envy, impatience and dissatisfaction. If these feelings are not expressed, they can precipitate them in gloomy thoughts, depression, fatigue and passivity. Conversely, it is also the case that your thoughts and feelings change the biochemistry of your body. Just imagine that you have to do something that you find very scary: for example speaking in public, or standing on top of a high tower while you are afraid of heights. Even if you just imagine the situation, your body does react. Your heartbeat gets faster, your hands clammy. Your brain does not make a distinction as to whether things are really happening or whether you are presenting them vividly. Actually very nice to know. That is why positive visualization and meditation also works so well. Many Olympic athletes use techniques to introduce the game step by step vividly, so they train their brains for victory. Do you want to make your liver happy? Then you come very far with thoughts and feelings like forgiveness, patience, self-esteem, love, understanding, respect and gentleness. Try it, you’ll be amazed what it does for you.

Step 2: avoid poison

Nowadays we are exposed to various toxins that enter our body through the environment or our food. Consider: air pollution, hormones and medicines in drinking water, pesticides and pesticides in our food, E-numbers and chemical additives, substances from plastic packaging that draw in food, parabens and other substances in skin care products. And then we stop ourselves a little extra by smoking, drinking and eating junk food. The estimate is that we get around 5 kilos of this type of substances per year. You would be bleak, but because we just learned in step 1 not to do :-), here the bright sight! It is impossible to avoid all chemicals, but every step you make is one, and your liver will be happy with that. Drink, for example, filtered drinking water, do not smoke, use as little medicine as possible and drink in moderation. Use further natural cosmetics and skin care. Eat organic wherever possible and hold your breath when you are in the exhaust fumes of a dirty truck.

Step 3: Eat your liver happy

Your liver is not a sweet tooth. Sugar, fruit juices from the pack and glucose-fructose syrup, are a disaster for your liver, so avoid. However, your liver is bitter, acidic, spicy and green. Do you want to make your liver happy? Then choose on a daily basis for this type of food:

• Chicory
• Endive
• Brussels sprouts
• Broccoli
• Cabbage
• Spinach
• Watercress
• Arugula
• Asparagus
• Beets
• Nettle tea
• Lemon (drink a glass of lukewarm water with juice of half a lemon when you get up)
• Grapefruit
• Blueberries
• Raspberries
• Turmeric
• Garlic
• Ginger
• Cress
• Broccoli sprouts
• Chlorella
• Spriulina
• Wheatgrass
• Fish oil
• Coconut oil

Step 4: drinking for a healthy liver

Your liver has different techniques for binding and removing waste. In this way he can bind certain substances to fat and remove them via the bile. But many toxins are made water-soluble and so further drained via the kidneys. Drinking water is therefore essential for your liver. If you eat a lot of fresh fruit and vegetables, you do not have to drink two liters a day. But make sure you drink at least 7 glasses of filtered water in one day. Starting the day with a glass of lukewarm water with the juice of half a lemon is a must. Or drink a mug of nettle tea.

Step 5: move for a healthy liver

All blood from all digestive organs is fed through the liver with a constant flow. The better the liver is per fused, the better he can do his job. By doing something to move every day, you help your liver with the blood supply. And no, this does not have to be a long session on the cross trainer. Being out of breath a few times a day is already very good. I travel a lot with public transport myself. I have taught myself to always take the stairs and then run them up. Just panting and again. Make up ways in which you can briefly increase your heart rate several times a day.