5 Easy Ways to Love Your Liver + Detox Your Qi

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When we tune in to the earth’s natural rhythms and that of our own body, spring is a perfect time to focus on liver health and detoxification. In ancient Chinese medicine, it is essential to optimize our “qi” which is our life energy which when it flows smoothly helps us feel focused, energized and vibrant. But our “qi” can get stuck with toxins, stress and build-up and needs our help with detoxification.

Even those of us who eat pretty well and practice daily self-care can benefit from supporting our liver in the spring. For one thing, our bodies need to shed the heavy foods and toxins that we accumulate during winter, a more sedentary time. Toxins are found in our environment, our water, the air we breathe as well as our personal care products, our homes as well as in non-organic and processed foods and alcohol and even the medication we take. The liver is not only the primary organ for detoxification but it wears A LOT of other hats. The liver aids digestion, metabolizes alcohol, produces necessary immune factors, stores and distributes vitamins and minerals, regulates hormone balance, controls cholesterol and then also has to regenerate its own damaged tissues!

Any woman who is not supporting her liver is going to make it a lot harder to balance hormones, support heart health, regulate metabolism and in general feel good in her body. It’s easy to see how the “liver load” can become too much and we can see this through health concerns like:

• Achy joints

• Itchy skin and food sensitivities

• Sugar cravings

• Constipation and bloating

• Difficulty releasing weight

• Brain food and mood swings

Supporting the liver’s ability to detoxify is a complex process and isn’t always helped by a juice cleanse or fast. In fact, while cleanses can be powerful sometimes they are too much for our systems and can actually make it harder for our bodies to clean out and end up making us feel worse!

The best detoxification support is almost always slow and gentle. Our body simply needs for us to reduce the load of our liver and add in some extra nutrients that support its own ability to detoxify. Here are a few of my favorite ways to naturally support your own rejuvenation.

1.      Start your day with warm lemon water.

Squeeze half a lemon into your water adds extra Vitamin C which can help remove heavy metals from the body and is alkalinizing for the body. Enjoy pure, filtered water throughout the day aiming for ½ your body weight in ounces to promote good digestion and help remove toxins.

2.      Enjoy one cup of cooked cruciferous vegetables each day.

Cruciferous veggies include broccoli, arugula, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, kale and bok choy which help support one of our most important detox pathways for excess hormones like estrogens. Roasting and steaming with lemon and herbs like parsley are super easy or enjoy my recipe for Roasted Broccoli with Fennel and Pickled Shallots.     

3.      Dry brush before you shower.

This simple daily practice before your shower can help remove toxins which get backed up in the skin (they can only get out by sweating, peeing and pooping) and helps return skin to a more radiant glow. See a straightforward Goop video here.

4.      Try a beet smoothie or juice for your afternoon pick-me-up.

Forget the afternoon coffee and go for an energizing smoothie with beets which help the liver cells clear toxins and protects the liver from damage. Try this Apple Ginger Beet smoothie from The Kitchen Girl.

5.      End your day with a detoxifying tea.

Dandelion root has been shown to help the liver repair and supports lower cholesterol while burdock promotes detoxification. Try a blend like Buddha’s Zen Cleanse or make your own with my Dandelion Burdock Tea recipe.

There’s no overnight or magic way to support your liver, rather with slow and steady lifestyle and diet changes you and your liver can become friends again. Your body will thank you with renewed energy, better digestion, less pain, steadier mood and a more balanced state of being.