Cleanse Your Liver With These 11 Foods

All sorts of things can damage your liver, from a bad diet to stress and pollution. You can protect yourself – and cleanse your liver – by eating the right food. Your liver has a lot to do with your overall health. If it’s overworked, its functions are inhibited and it can stop doing its job efficiently. Want to keep it fighting fit? Follow our advice!

If you want our advice, we’d tell you to eat a balanced diet every day of the year. If you can’t commit to that, then do a good detox at least twice annually. In the meantime, do your best to eat foods that help keep your liver in good nick and help clear those toxins from your body. Which foods are best suited for cleansing your liver? We’ll tell you! Read on.

Good old garlic

Garlic is stuffed with allicin and selenium. So, what? Well, these two elements are particularly useful for a healthy liver. You only need a small amount of garlic. It’ll get straight to wok activating the enzymes in this organ and that process kick-starts detoxification.

Gorgeous grapefruit

Packed with an array of antioxidants and a good dollop of vitamin C, grapefruit encourages the liver’s ability to eliminate toxins.

Drink just one glass of fresh grapefruit juice every day and you’ll soon feel the benefits as it increases the levels of detoxifying enzymes in the liver. The job of these enzymes is to eradicate harmful substances from the body – carcinogenic materials, for instance, that can take a serious toll if they spread to other organs.

Carrots meet beetroot

You’ll have a tough time of it finding foods that contain higher amounts of flavonoids and beta-carotenes. So rich in these nutrients are carrots and beetroot that they can improve the liver’s function and make it more efficient. It couldn’t be easier to enjoy their benefits. Simply shred them and add them to salads or sandwiches. Et, voila! You have a happier liver.

Green tea for grins

We know, we know. If you want to be pedantic about it, green tea isn’t a food (per se). Nevertheless, it’s a fabulous drink for a fantastically functional liver! Its catechins are the magic ingredient responsible for promoting a healthy liver – but the benefits of green tea don’t stop there, so drink up!

Don’t leave out the leafy greens

Generally speaking, you can’t go wrong with leafy greens. They and your liver are a marriage made in heaven. Not only are they excellent when you want to cleanse your liver, but they’re also miraculously efficient at absorbing toxins and eliminating them from your bloodstream. It’s the abundance of chlorophyll that does the trick. Oh-so-easy to eat, too. Just chuck them into salads, juices or soups.

‘Ave an avo

High in healthy fats, avocados keep your liver healthy with a virtual cornucopia of nutrients. They produce the antioxidant, glutathione, which is essential when you are looking for a way to scour the toxins from your liver (and the rest of your body).

Howzabout them apples?

Pectins are pretty astounding. Chief amongst their talents is their ability to clean the digestive system and eradicate toxins. This process is crucial to a healthy liver. Where do you find pectins galore? Why, apples, of course!

Holy whole grains

If you’re not already eating whole grains such as brown rice and quinoa, what’s keeping you? They’re extremely important to overall health. In keeping with the specifics, they’re superb for mopping up fats and easing congestion in the liver.

Calling cauliflower and broccoli

Cruciferous vegetables such as cauliflower and broccoli can significantly increase the production liver enzymes. This is great, as they act to eliminate carcinogens from your body. Glucosinolates – abundant in these veggies – inhibit the growth of cancers. What do you need to do to benefit from their superpowers? Not much. Just put them in your mouth, chew and swallow! Try them raw in salads or smoothies or cook them lightly in stir-fries. They’re equally delicious when you steam them to perfection and add a dash of fresh lemon juice, a scant pinch of salt and a sprinkling of pepper. Who’s hungry?

Love lemons and limes

You’re surely no stranger to the wonders of vitamin C. Are you getting enough, though? The juices from these citrus fruits stimulate your liver to work as efficiently as possible. How can you ensure that you’re benefiting? Just treat yourself to their juice first thing in the morning. Add a squeeze to some warm water or pop a couple of slices into a glass of cool water. You can also drizzle lime or lemon juice on salads or, well, just about any food, really. They enhance most flavours. Both are sublime mixed with some lovely soya yoghurt and lime is especially good with Thai and Mexican meals. Get creative and take advantage of their nutrients.

You can cabbage

Who would have suspected that the humble cabbage is so good at stimulating normal liver function? Well, it certainly does! It’s fundamental in the process of eliminating toxins that damage your body. Now, which will you choose: red, green or white?

A happy ending…

Now you see that eating healthily can be easy if you just put your mind to it. Put the right things into your body and it will take care of you. Keep the organs fed with good nutrients and the rest of your body will respond in kind. Do bear in mind how important the liver is in protecting you from disease, toxicity and pollutants. It’s worth looking after and it’s a doddle to do so.