Researchers at two major laboratories recently found an average of 200 pollutants in the umbilical cords of babies, including industrial chemicals, consumer product ingredients, pesticides and wastes from burning coal, gasoline and garbage.
Your body is immensely adaptable. It can protect you from occasional exposure to contaminants. Unfortunately, for the average person, our exposures are anything but occasional. They are chronic and nearly constant.
The results of a lifetime of chronic exposure can be serious disease or just a general feeling of sluggishness, fatigue, pain and general “unwellness.”
Now, that’s the bad news.
Fortunately, there is good news…
Your liver is incredibly resilient and so perfectly designed that it can protect you from our toxic modern world. Of course, your best line of defense is to avoid toxins in every way possible.
But you must also give your liver the daily care it’s looking for (and I’m not talking about the latest detox trends).
First, let's discuss what your liver is doing on your behalf. Then, how you can give it the love it needs!
Detox Pathways in a Nutshell
There are three main processes that occur in your liver to turn toxins into excretions.
- Phase One Detoxification: This step includes oxidation, reduction, hydrolysis, hydration and dehalogenation. This phase converts toxins into different (but still toxic) substances.
- Intermediary Step: Antioxidant and anti-inflammatory actions protect the liver against the substances from phase one. This is the liver’s way of cleaning up its own ‘mess’.
- Phase Two Detoxification (aka conjugation): This includes acetylation, methylation, sulphation, glutathionation, glucuronidation and transamination. These actions turn the toxic substances into water-soluble compounds for safe passage through the body to be excreted.
Think the “Master Cleanse” is the answer? Think again. Each of these three vital detoxification steps involves a range of different nutrients. And these liver-cleansing nutrients are found abundantly in an ancestral diet.
Below are three of my favorite liver supportive foods – all backed by science.
Consume these foods at least every few days to give your liver the nutritional support it needs.
Detox Food #1: The “Alligator Pear”
During the intermediary step of detoxification, your liver uses the antioxidant powers of vitamins A, C and E to repair damage caused by free radicals during phase one detoxification.
And it so happens that avocados are good sources of both C and E. But their antioxidant super-powers go far beyond...
A 2005 study found the addition of avocado to both salad and salsa significantly enhanced the absorption Vitamin A precursors (alpha and beta-carotene) within the foods.
Earlier research, published in the Journal of Agriculture and Food Chemistry, tested 22 different fruits on liver damaged rats. Out of all the fruits tested, “Avocado showed extraordinarily potent liver injury suppressing activity.”
A Favorite Way To Add Avocado To Your Diet...
Fresh-pressed unrefined avocado oil. But there is a difference between the oil I prefer, and what you find in the grocery store.
The oil I use has a dark green color and opaque so you can't see through it. It has all the nutrients found in fresh avocados still within. And it's also made with fresh ripe avocados (while most commercial oils are made with damaged and rotten avocados that can't be sold in the produce aisle).
So, give your liver that soft touch by drizzling your salads with avocado oil, or adding in chopped avocado, whirling into smoothies made with grass-fed whey protein, or create a delicious guacamole to serve alongside an antioxidant-rich salsa and grass-fed beef.
Detox Food #2: The “Stinking Rose”
Garlic pops up nearly everywhere when it comes to health-promoting foods. And in the case of your liver, the ‘stinking rose’ is a welcome gift.
Among many other beneficial nutrients, garlic contains a number of organosulfur compounds. Your liver uses these during phase-two detoxification.
But garlic may also prevent liver disease in other ways…
A 2009 study, demonstrated the liver-protecting power of garlic against acetaminophen toxicity. If you don't know, that's the active compound in Tylenol (and one of the WORST liver offenders). The study authors suggest that garlic may actually be used as “an antidote to the development of drug-induced hepatitis.”
Of course, garlic can be used to flavor just about any savory dish. But to capture its medicinal results, it should be added just at the end of cooking.
Better yet, crush it and consume raw, so that it retains the majority of its active constituents. Mix with oil or whirl with fresh herbs (like parsley and cilantro) in a blender to create a flavorful Chimichurri to serve atop your favorite pastured chicken, wild fish or grass-fed beef dish.
Detox Food #3: The Golden Healer
Curcumin is the active compound in the golden spice turmeric. It has long been studied for its powerful anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties. This also makes it highly valuable in that intermediate step between phase one and two detoxification.
A study conducted in 2012 and published in the Journal of the Medical Association of Thailand found that curcumin successfully regenerated and repaired damaged liver tissues in diabetic rats.
And a 2014 review published in Food and Chemical Toxicology reveals its ability to protect against heavy metals. The authors state:
“Curcumin has shown, in clinical and preclinical studies, numerous biological activities including therapeutic efficacy against various human diseases and anti-hepatotoxic effects against environmental or occupational toxins.”
It’s no surprise that turmeric pops up in many commercial detox supplements. But you can get the benefits of turmeric just by adding it as a condiment… and for a lot less money, to boot!
Use fresh turmeric root blended into smoothies with other organic liver-loving vegetables, berries and grass-fed whey protein, or just add a teaspoon of this golden healer to curries, sauces, salad dressing or any savory dish for a powerful boost.
In addition to these three detox superfoods, I’ve also written previously about the liver-cleansing benefits of protein and gelatin to boost glutathione, your master antioxidant and detoxifier.
