Detox occurs naturally in our bodies, 24 hours a day. Detox is one of the normal functions that keeps us healthy, hydrated, motivated. Detox involves several bodily systems. As part of their normal work our lymph glands, blood, liver, kidneys and digestive tract all carry to elimination the toxic substances and by-products of the food and drinks we ingest.
Our Liver is our premier bodily detox organ. However, the liver constantly functions as a clean-up organ that accepts, cleans, and produces substances for the body’s functions. It works automatically, even without our help. If we took no supplements, drank no special juices, ate no special foods to help our livers detoxify, our livers would still perform the function of detoxifying our blood and lymph. However once we continually hamper this effort by drinking alcohol, eating an animal-fatty diet, or just plain live in a modern urban area in our current times, a point of toxification may be reached that makes the liver sluggish.
A sluggish liver isn’t able to work against a back-up of digestive products like fats that cannot easily be broken down or sugars that cannot be metabolized. A liver in need of detoxification also requires a clean and wholesome diet.
A liver-protective whole plant food diet is one with vegetables, grains, legumes, fruits, nuts and seeds. Herbs and vegetables such as dandelion root, Oregon grape, barberry, and milk thistle are “herbal lipotropics”, substances that break down fat or stimulate the liver to produce bile.
