Paul Rodgers asked:


The liver is a complex organ that works 24 hours a day and performs hundreds of specific functions in the body. More than 500 body functions have been identified with the liver, including system cleansing and detox, the breakdown and metabolism of dietary fat and sugars, production of certain plasma proteins and cholesterol, storage of iron, removal of poisons, drugs and bacteria from the blood, the regulation of blood clotting and the maintenance of a healthy immune system.

Liver

Because the liver is responsible for metabolizing nutrients, hormones and by-products, it’s exposed to everything we eat, drink and breathe. Liver health is essential for optimal enzyme production and youthful energy. Not checking your liver health regularly can lead to missing opportunities to consider treatment if your liver health is deteriorating.

Liver cancer is the sixth most diagnosed cancer in the world and is much more common in people who have chronic viral infections of the liver such as Hepatitis B or C. Millions of Americans have liver disease and don’t even know it. In fact, liver disease is one of the top ten causes of death in the United States, even though many forms of liver disease are preventable and many more, if detected early, can be treated effectively.

Healthy Liver

Protect and nourish your liver by eating a healthy diet, avoiding harmful chemicals, and giving it the best nutritional support possible. Learn about what your liver does for you as well as what you can do for your liver in the form of healthy eating, keeping fit, energy conservation as well as maintaining a positive attitude. However, a combination approach, that includes nutritional remedies with specific herbs, can contribute to the restoration of a healthy balance within the body.

Diet

The typical American diet does not provide the extraordinarily important B-Vitamins which are crucial to daily functioning. Health practitioners recommend a diet centered on whole foods, with fresh fruits and vegetables, nuts, seeds, and whole grains being emphasized.

Maintain a healthy diet by cutting back on alcohol consumption, exercise regularly to maintain healthy weight, supplement your diets with herbs & vitamins for a comprehensive herbal liver detox. It is believed that diets containing 30-35% non-vegetable fats promote both liver and heart health.

The combined fibers of rice, alfalfa, barley and high pectin apple fiber combine to gently “sweep” the lining of the intestinal tract, helping to eliminate both dietary toxins and carcinogens. Although fats are a good energy source, they are difficult for the liver to process, and the total fat in your diet should be moderate.

Cleansing

Antioxidants not only help the liver carry out its cleansing processes, but they also serve to protect the liver from excessive free radical damage. Additionally, supplements recommended in the liver cleansing treatment, such as milk thistle can help to support your liver functions. Although carrots are not a green vegetable, vitamins and minerals found in carrots are a very important in the cleansing factor. You should also look into cleansing the colon, lungs, and cardiovascular system every so often to get a full body cleanse.

Conclusion

A healthy liver is very important to a person overall wellness and optimum health. Physical exercise and diaphragmatic deep breathing are critical to lymph cleansing and to healthy immune response. An unhealthy liver can lead to weight gain, fatigue, poor complexion, and can complicate other health concerns. In promoting liver care, a healthy, balanced diet is always first and foremost.

Kelly Price asked:


It was given to British children as a supplement during the war due to its high vitamin content for its overall health benefits and was a grandmothers favourite today, new research shows that it also combats and reduces depression.

The supplement is:

Cod liver oil – and it works due to high concentration of omega 3 fatty acids, which are a major component of cod liver oil.

Omega 3 has great overall health benefits anyway and is said to help in terms of improving brain power reducing the risk of heart attacks and strokes and protecting against other diseases such as cancer.

Now doctors are seeing its benefits to naturally cure depression.

A recent test looked at studying the health benefits of over 20,000 patients over the age of 40 and showed that those patients that rarely or only had marginal omega 3 consumption suffered more from: Depression, stress and anxiety.

Those who consumed cod lever oil regularly, were 30% less likely to suffer from depression.

The test was carried out by Haukland University Hospital – Bergen in Norway.

The conclusion was, that it was the omega 3 component that made the difference between the subjects of the test in terms of their likelihood to suffer the blues.

Getting Sufficient Omega 3

Of course, you can get omega 3 by consuming 3 – 4 portions of oily fish per week such as:

Mackerel, sardines, trout and salmon, but the majority of people simply don’t consume enough.

The recommended daily dosage is 0.5 mgs per day and if you don’t consume a lot of oily fish, take an omega 3 supplement such as cod liver oil.

You Are What You Eat

You are what you eat and your mental and physical wellbeing is affected by the fuel you give your body.

There are a number of foods you can take that will make you feel better and omega 3 is just one of them, that can help combat depression ( see our other articles for more foods to fight the blues ) and also have a positive affect on overall health.

Another benefit is that a supplement such as cod liver oil can not only provide immense health benefits, but its cheap to.

Grandmothers Remedy

So if you want to feel better and be healthier, increase your intake of oily fish, to get your omega 3 levels up, or take a supplement such as cod liver oil.

My grandmother used to swear by it and in hindsight she was right – get more omega 3 in your diet and feel the difference.

Graeme Lanham asked:


Your heart and brain depend on Omega 3 fatty acids to function effectively and the 2 important fatty acids, DHA and EPA, come from fish, particularly salmon. But not all salmon have sufficient quantities of these important nutrients. Why is this so?

The difference depends on whether the salmon is wild from the ocean or farm raised. Wild salmon feed on their natural diet

of algae and wild shrimp. As a result, their flesh contains large amounts of these 2 fatty acids. .

Farm raised salmon have no access to their natural diet. They are fed cereal grains and this changes their physiology. Their flesh simply doesn’t have the omega 3s that wild salmon does because cereal grains prevent the natural production of omega 3s. In fact wild salmon have 33% more omega 3s than farm raised salmon.

If you are unsure whether your salmon is wild or farm raised, an option is to use fish oil capsules. At least you will have some control over what you eat because it should be clearly shown on the label. Make sure the label clearly states that it is sourced from wild fish and is regularly tested for mercury, heavy metals and pesticides.

One of the easiest, most reliable ways to get the omega 3s you need is to have a daily teaspoon of cod liver oil. DHA is one of the primary ingredients of cod liver oil and The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition reported a study that showed taking cod liver oil dramatically reduced the levels of dangerous triglyceride fats in the blood.

Cod liver oil not only contains large amounts of omega 3 fatty acids, but also vitamins A and K and the sunlight vitamin D., essential vitamins that are hard to obtain in sufficient amounts in the modern diet. Vitamin D is particularly important for those who receive little sun exposure or are confined indoors.

In an article written for The Weston A Price Foundation, Krispin Sullivan CN notes that cod liver oil greatly improves heart function to prevent heart disease and to treat it even in advanced stages, after a heart attack and after heart surgery.

Cod liver oil alters the linings of the arteries in such a way as to improve healing after damage. This is attributed to the omega 3 fatty acids, but vitamins A, D and K all have important roles to play in improving mineral absorption, improving muscle function and supporting elasticity of the blood vessels.

Finally, here’s good news if you are worried about your weight. Fish oil contains poly-unsaturated fatty acids. These fatty acids actually increase your body metabolism and the burning of undesirable body fat. Fish oil has been shown in clinical trials to actually promote weight loss, so it is a great idea to add it to your diet, particularly if you are trying to lose weight.