In addition to October’s bedazzled in pink for Breast Cancer awareness, October is also National Liver Awareness Month. That’s right; the understudy of the pink ribbon, your liver sits back and wait for its turn in the spotlight this month. Liver awareness is very important. Do you even know what your liver is for? Your liver does three main things: breakdown, storage and detox. We all may know that skim milk is good for your bones, fish is good for your muscles and olive oil is good for your heart. But it doesn’t go there immediately after we chew and swallow, everything we eat and drink has to be broken down into different chemicals before it can get to work on helping (or, in the case of some foods and drinks, harming) your body. And that's one of the primary jobs of the liver. When we come across the word “detox,” we think of a 30-day program, involving some foul smelling liquid we must consume instead of meals to right our system. What we probably wouldn’t think of is the natural detox program that happens inside your liver all the time. Think of all the hormones and chemicals in our fruits, vegetables, and meat. These toxins enter your body and can potentially destroy tissues or damage cells. It’s up to the liver to cope with these toxins as they travel through our bodies. When the liver is overloaded or overworked it can’t process toxins and fat the way it should. There are many foods that can help cleanse the liver naturally by stimulating the natural ability to clean toxins from the body. In this blog I have listed 5 foods but for more healthy facts and suggestions to take better care of your liver click HERE. It isn’t about just eating these foods, the idea is to incorporate these foods into your diet. Garlic Just a small amount of this pungent white bulb has the ability to activate liver enzymes that helps your body flush out toxins. Garlic also holds high amounts of allicin and selenium, two natural compounds that aid in liver cleansing. If you remember from 4 Immune-Boosting Foods to Fight the Flu, then you’ll know this bulb is great practically all around! From fighting colds, to helping your liver, Garlic knows no bounds. Grapefruit High in vitamin C and antioxidants, grapefruit increases the natural cleansing processes of the liver. A small glass of freshly-squeezed grapefruit juice will help boost production of liver detoxification enzymes that help flush out carcinogens and other toxins. This also applies to lemons and limes.   Beets and Carrots Both extremely high in plant-flavonoids and beta-carotene, eating both beets and carrots can help stimulate and improve overall liver function. At least carrots are a vegetable we can all agree on. Green Tea Again, from our past blog, tea is delicious – especially with honey – and full of awesome antioxidants that boost your immune system, improve your overall diet, and is easy on your liver. This liver-loving beverage is chock-full of plant antioxidants known as catechins, a constituent known to assist the livers overall functions. Leafy Green Vegetables One of our most powerful allies in cleansing the liver, leafy greens can be eaten raw, cooked or juiced. Extremely high in plant chlorophylls, greens literally suck up environmental toxins from the blood stream. Try incorporating leafy greens such as bitter gourd, arugula, dandelion greens, spinach, mustard greens and chicory into your diet. This will help increase the creation and flow of bile, the substance that removes waste from the organs and blood. There are more suggested food such as Broccoli, Apples, Olive Oil, and more! Just check out this liver friendly site HERE.

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