If you are looking to lose weight for the new year then you should be very concerned about your liver health. The liver is a major player when it come to fat loss, it has a great effect on your body’s ability to metabolize and break down fat. I’ve seen numerous people lose a substantial amount of weight then hit a wall, a weight loss plateau. They often don’t know what to do, there eating “healthy” foods and exercising frequently. This is a sign that your liver has become very sluggish and overwhelmed with toxicity. The liver is the body’s filter, working not only to detoxify chemicals and metabolize drugs but also most importantly filtering your blood before its carried on throughout the whole body. This blood comes from your digestive tract. Being the second largest organ in the body, ranking only behind your skin; your liver has huge responsibilities when it comes to the digestion and storage of nutrients and protecting you from disease.
In my years of experience as a personal trainer I’ve heard many people say things like, ” I want to lose weight and tone, I’m going to start eating healthy and hit the gym”. This is a great idea, but it’s only just the tip of the iceberg. What I have never heard anybody explain in my years as a personal trainer is, ” I want to lose weight and you know, I think my liver may be a little sluggish so I am going to work hard on detoxifying my liver so my body can better metabolize and break down fat” Now I understand that most people, such as myself; are currently unaware or have forgot how important your liver health is to not only losing weight and belly fat, but making sure that it stays off.
The problem with liver toxicity is that when you’re liver is overwhelmed with too many toxins it can’t do anything with your body fat other than hold onto it and store it. The human body is very intelligent and resilient. Instead of allowing these toxins to kill us the liver will filter out these toxins in order for us to stay alive. But while this is happening all the extra body fat that you have will be stored, the liver can’t do anything with it until it filters out all the toxins. This is why you may hit a weight loss plateau, if you’re not actively working on detoxifying your liver then it won’t get a chance to help metabolize and break down extra body fat, it will hold onto it. Just remember survival comes first.
Let’s look at simple tips and strategies you can put into practice right now that will help you improve your liver health.
Let me ask you a question: How toxic is our environment? I’m sure you are aware that are environment is toxic, but have you ever researched just how many chemicals we are exposed to? Well, if you haven’t that’s ok because I’m going to share some statistics with you. On a daily basis, we are exposed to 80,000 chemicals in the United States. Just let that number sink in, 80,000. Wow! It is hard for me to wrap my head around that number.
Now our liver is working triple overtime to rid our body of these toxins so that we may continue to live. Some of the most common symptoms of liver toxicity are fatigue, dehydration, headaches, and fat accumulation below the waist. Today we’re going to look at one of the major contributors of our exposure of daily toxicity: solvents. Most common solvents used daily by Americans are lotions, shampoos, and conditioners.
In today’s lotions it is common to see at least 32 ingredients. One of the ingredients used in lotions that is extremely toxic is parabens. Parabens are preservatives used in the food, pharmaceutical, and personal care industries to extend the shelf life of products. Parabens mimic estrogen and studies have shown that widely used parabens possess properties of estrogen. That doesn’t sound too good. Even worse scientific research and data has shown that parabens are linked to breast cancer progression and initiation. Can you guess which one of your favorite brands uses parabens in their lotions??? If you said Johnson & Johnson then you are correct. Yes, millions of children are being exposed to cancerous chemicals from their very early beginnings. I sadly have to admit that I used Johnson & Johnson lotion on my son when he was a baby. Maybe the old saying is true, “What you don’t know will kill you.”
If you want to limit your exposure to toxic and cancerous chemicals on a daily basis then start using lotions, shampoos, deodorants, conditioners, and toothpaste that do not contain toxic chemicals. To make sure you are using the right stuff head over to www.ewg.org. Once you’ve made these simple changes then you’re already giving your liver a huge break.
Another way to speed up the process of detoxifying your liver is through sweat. Yes, sweat is one of the major three ways that are liver rids our body of toxins, alongside urine and poop. So if you aren’t exercising regularly to the point where you breaking a good sweat, then you are short changing yourself. And remember, knowledge without application is powerless.
