Some of the best things you can do to maintain a healthy liver is not to be overweight, not to smoke, and to watch your diet. The liver is a vital organ that plays the role of many functions, including detoxification and the production of biochemicals necessary for digestion. The best medicine for the liver is for all of us to take a preventative approach to maintain a healthy liver before problems break out. I say this because once the liver is damaged, not much can be done to repair it.
One of the first things one can tackle in an attempt to maintain a healthy liver is to maintain a normal body weight for their height and build. Running is by far one of the best forms of exercise to burn calories. You can safely lose up to three pounds per week by running four to five days. In fact, that’s how I started about twenty years ago. The good thing about running is that it costs you nothing more than a pair of running shoes and shorts.
If you have led a sedentary life for many years, no problem. A daily running and walking plan can become a lifelong good health habit, no matter how old you are. Just start by jogging through some of the neighbors’ houses next door. As soon as you start to get out of breath, slow down and walk. Go ahead and continue walking past a house or two, then pick up the pace once more and go into a slow jog. Continue this same process around the block. Continue this same process every day after work for the entire first month.
Each month your distance increases. Sometime in the second month, your fitness should reach a point where walking breaks can be phased out. Once you can jog a couple of miles every other day, the pounds will start to come off. This not only maintains the lost weight for maximum liver health, but for the entire body as well.
Now we must touch on the other part of the equation of maintaining a program of good beneficial nutrition to give yourself the best chance of having a lifelong problem-free liver…as well as all the other organs in your body. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: “Preventive medicine is always much cheaper than after effects.” Once your health is gone, it’s gone, especially a liver! They can’t make you a new one. That is why I insist on what to eat.
All your fruits and vegetables, nuts and seeds is a diet you need to get used to for a healthy body for a lifetime well into old age. Avoid alcohol and tobacco. The most helpful for your liver health are the cabbage family, especially Brussels sprouts, cabbage, and broccoli. Water soluble fibers like apples, vegetables, pears, and oat bran.
Continue to embrace this healthy lifestyle with mineral supplements and a high potency daily multi-vitamin. Add some high sculpting foods like eggs, onions, and garlic. Don’t forget the beets, carrots, turmeric, artichokes, cinnamon, and dandelion. My favorite drinks are lots of water, mixing all fruit juices especially cranberry and pomegranate juice with green tea. If you must eat some meats, stick with fish, such as salmon, tuna, sardines, and rainbow trout. Turkey and chicken are good to go.
Stay away from refined sugar, butters, and saturated fats. This will be cookies, cakes, sweets and tarts. Basically the entire group of products for baking. I give you fair warning, this type of diet takes some getting used to, but the rewards are your ticket to a lifetime of fitness excellence by maintaining a healthy liver and whole body as well.
