The liver does not come as a pair; you only have one, one massive liver! The liver alone occupies almost half of your belly’s surface area.
It is located in the right upper side of your belly and it’s primary work is to detoxify everything you consume, be it food, alcohol, medications –prescriptions, over the counter medications, nutritional or herbal supplements.
May I let you in on a little secret? All those “detox” programs being marketed to you online have nothing on the liver!
The liver also moonlights in other roles like;
–Helping with the digestion of food by producing bile. Yes, that greenish-yellow nasty tasting juice that comes up after throwing up has it’s uses. Bile helps us digest fat. The gall bladder serves as a storage pouch for the bile made by the liver.
–Your liver also lends a helping hand to the production of some blood components like vitamin K and platelets. Both help us to form clots over wounds so we don’t bleed to death.
How Can You Help Your Liver?
1. By being mindful of the medications you use and how they affect the liver particularly if you are using herbal supplements in addition to prescribed medications.
2. Drink alcohol in moderation.
3. keep a healthy weight as the liver is apt to store the extra fat leading to a fatty liver.
4. By golly, stay away from contaminated needles and don’t get infected with hepatitis B or C!
I’m glad to know I’m doing all of the things right to take care of my liver!
Thanks for the info.. i had mine biopsied about 2 years ago, when they took out my gallbladder.. they said it was just fatty and not to worry.
What a relieve! All you have to do now is to maintain a healthy weight and keep alcohol intake to the minimum.
thanks for the info! Had hepatitis 35 yrs ago, and was good to know this
This is good to know what the liver does! And good to know where I need to improve on keeping it healthy 🙂
Great info on the liver. Eating right will keep everything in our body healthy.
My son was premature and had a severe case of jaundice as a baby. He had many digestive problems too. Good to know we’re doing something right by making sure he has a healthy diet 🙂
You are doing good Chantale. Less is more as far as keeping the liver healthy.
I don’t think i ever realized how large our livers were. But at least mine should be happy! LOL
Thanks for sharing these tips. People often forget that herbal supplements need to be cleared by their dr.
You are so right Amy. When I ask people what medicines they are on, they almost always never mention the herbal supplements. In their minds, these are not medicines.
Is there something to help counteract when you must take medications?
Detoxing what we take in is the work of the liver. We just don’t want to overburden it as it carries out it’s job. There has been mention of vitamin E and Milk Thistle in some research studies as being beneficial for the liver but jury is still out if these medications really help.
Couldn’t agree with this info more!!!
I love your suggestions. I don’t drink alcohol, so I’m excited about not having that issue.
Great post! It’s an excellent post & I’m glad to know I’ve been taking good care of mine!