Juicing to Help the Liver Detoxify the Body

Decoration orange oilIf you look up an article about detoxifying the body, you will almost always find that fresh juices are part of the plan. Why so? First and foremost when you juice, you use lots of fruits and vegetables, which contain many of the nutrients needed for cleansing our bodies. Simply eating more fruits and vegetables will have a cleansing effect. However, juicing provides us with a much greater intake in nutrition since it takes four or five apples to make a juice, whereas you are only likely to eat one apple at any given time. Fresh juice is also very easy to digest, so we assimilate a lot more nutrients with minimal effort into the blood and then into the cells for cleansing.

The Liver:
The liver is the fundamental cleansing organ of the body. The kidneys, lungs and skin also play an important role, but the liver is the “big gun” so to speak. The liver acts as a filter for the blood where it cleans out toxic material such as ammonia, metabolic waste, drugs, alcohol and chemicals. The problem these days is that we are overloaded with toxins, such as environmental pollution, pesticides and other chemicals used to grow food, and medications (legal or otherwise). Unless we are eating real healthy the liver cannot cope with the toxic load and the excess toxic waste is offloaded by the blood into our cells. So when we start cleansing I believe we should start by helping out the liver.

So what happens to the toxic waste that is filtered by the liver? The liver produces about 1 quart of bile per day to flush out the toxins into the large intestine, which we poop out. So helping the liver to increase bile flow, will also help in shifting the toxins. We should therefore ensure we have enough fiber in our diet. If our bowels get sluggish, we can reabsorb these toxins, rather than eliminate them.

Glutathione:
If the liver is the “big gun” organ for detoxification, then glutathione is its main “ammo”. Glutathione is one of the most important antioxidants in the body in fighting free radicals within all the bodies cells. Glutathione is also essential for shifting many toxins out of the body, such as heavy metals like lead and mercury. Therefore, it protects the liver from the damage of toxic overload by helping to remove these toxins. It cannot be understated how important glutathione is for the liver. Having an adequate amount of glutathione in our system as a natural detox helps support the liver immensely. Furthermore, glutathione levels often become low because it has its work cut out as an antioxidant protecting us from the harmful pollutants! So it is important to increase our glutathione intake from produce as a natural body detox method.

Some raw (not cooked) fruits and vegetable help raise glutathione levels to a degree. Asparagus, apples, broccoli, carrots, grapefruit, spinach and tomatoes are among those that can help. To learn more about glutathione I recommend watching the video below.



Other nutrients for liver detox:

Vitamin C like glutathione is also a powerful antioxidant. Studies have shown that vitamin C intake also increases glutathione levels in the blood.

Other antioxidants like beta carotene, selenium and vitamin E are also important for reducing the toxic load on the liver.

Vitamin B6, folic acid, vitamin B12, and betaine are also useful as they help in the secretion of bile to and from the liver.

Liver Detox Juices:
The following list of juice recipes all contain glutathione and either some or all of the above mentioned nutrients. The exception would be B12, which is only found in animal food sources.

Detoxify the Body Juice #1 – Glutathione Super Boost
asperges3 stalks of asparagus
2 tomatoes
2 carrots
1 cup of spinach
1 cup of broccoli heads

Asparagus is the vegetable with the most abundant amount of glutathione, but it doesn’t taste so great juiced! Adding carrots and tomatoes to the greens, makes this juice more palatable.

Detoxify the Body Juice #2 – Super Antioxidant Berries
1 cup of blackberries
1 cup of blueberries
1 cup of raspberries
1 cup of strawberries

This juice is a great source of antioxidant vitamins A, C, E and selenium.

Detoxify the Body Juice #3 – Bile Booster
2 cups of spinach
3 carrots
1/2 apple

This juice is high in the bile producing nutrients, B6, folic acid and betaine.

Detoxify the Body Juice #4 – Watermelon Juice
Fresh and juicy watermelon
1/4 of a watermelon (flesh only)

Watermelon is a great all around cleanser and a good choice for a home detox. It is a good source of glutathione, vitamins A, B6, C, E and folate as well as selenium!



Detoxify the Body Juice #5 – Apple and Kiwi
2 apples
2 kiwis

Another great detox juice, high in glutathione and other antioxidants.


In Health
Darren and Veronica Haynes