Spring liver love
In Traditional Chinese Medicine, each season has a corresponding organ associated with it. Spring is associated with the liver, and it is incredibly beneficial for overall health to give the liver a little (or a lot) extra love during the spring. The liver plays a huge role in detoxifying the body. It has to sort through and filter toxins from everything that is put into the body- food, beverages, supplements, herbs, drugs, air, and even emotions. In this world we live in, the liver has its work cut out for it, and can become bogged down and sluggish with toxins.
Some symptoms of a sluggish liver include digestive issues, headaches, anger and irritability, waking up between 1-3am, rashes and other skin issues, trouble with the eyes and vision, PMS symptoms and hormonal disruptions, hot flashes, a feeling of bloating or swelling in the abdomen, allergies, and more.
Even if you don’t have any of the above symptoms, supporting the liver, especially in the spring, is very important. Here my favorite ways to do so!
Eat bitter foods! The bitter flavor stimulates the liver to produce bile and enables the liver to dump toxins into the bile to be carried to the gut and excreted. Some examples of bitter foods are arugula, mustard greens, kale, endive, turmeric, green tea, cacao, and radicchio. My favorite? Dandelion greens! As soon as dandelion greens start popping up in your yard, pick ‘em and eat ‘em like spinach!
In addition to eating bitter foods, take 10 drops of an herbal bitters tincture 10 minutes before eating. Herbs in a bitters formula can contain dandelion root, burdock root, yellow dock root, gentian, angelica, blue vervain, lemon or orange peel, ginger, elecampane, artichoke leaf, and turmeric. Be in touch if you’d like to order a bitters tincture!
Other foods beneficial for the liver to consume regularly: beets, parsley, cilantro, lemon, green beans, beans and lentils, avocado, cucumber, celery, cruciferous vegetables, apples, and pears. Eat organic whenever possible to limit the toxic chemicals that the liver has to process.
Castor oil packs over the liver. You can look this up.
Drinking lemon water in the morning on an empty stomach. Just make sure you rinse your mouth out with plain water after to protect your teeth from erosion.
Take milk thistle seed. Milk thistle protects and repairs the liver.
Feeling angry or irritable? Get it out of your body in a safe way without directing it at others or yourself.
Experiment with intermittent fasting. Consuming your food within a certain number of hours during the day, and fasting for the rest of the time gives your liver (and other body systems) a nice break from the energy expenditure of constantly digesting and processing food. This break allows your liver to focus on eliminating other built up toxins.
Hydrate, hydrate, hydrate, (and exercise!)- you know this :)
If you’d like help with an individualized liver support regime and/or an herbal formula tailored to your needs, you can learn more about my 1:1 sessions here.