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Seasonal Affective Disorder and the Liver

Your liver is your largest internal organ and you can't live without it. It performs over 500 known functions everyday and we suspect it may be involved in as many as five thousand functions. Some of those functions include: 

  • Storing nutrients like iron and glycogen (a form of sugar) for emergency energy use, much the way a battery back-up in your alarm clock works
  • Making bile to help digest your food
  • Filtering out poisons from the air we breath, the food & beverages we consume and the toxic junk we put on our skin
  • Helps the immune system to wage 'germ warfare' on bacteria and viruses
  • Make hormone conversions - like prenanalone into estrogen
  • Convert things like betacarotene into Vitamin A and sunlight into Vitamin D and store them

Take note of that last one! In natural health we call vitamin D the "Happiness vitamin". When our stores get low, we get depressed and sad... or perhaps you get SAD - Seasonal Affective Disorder. If your liver is under stress, it can't do it's job properly and you won't have the vitamin D stores to see you through the winter. Taking vitamin D doesn't help much either, since the liver has to process it and make it available for our bodies to use. 

Many people are able to rid themselves of depression, anxiety and SAD just by doing a simple liver cleanse. One of the easiest and inexpensive options is the Egyptian Liver Cleanse.

Egyptian Liver Cleanse

  2 tablespoons fresh squeezed lemon juice

 2 tablespoons light olive oil

 Optional: Fresh pineapple or grapefruit juice to taste (not more than 4 ounces)  NOTE: Orange juice is NOT an option- too high of a sugar content with inadequate enzymes.  

Vigorously mix all and swallow first thing in the morning before eating for 5 consecutive days each month.  The Ancient Egyptians believed this was most effective when done beginning with the full moon.

(Wait at least 20 minutes before eating)

If you experience any belching or nausea, lie down on your right side in the fetal position until it passes.   Usually 15 to 20 minutes.  This reaction decreases and eventually disappears with use.

Since the liver is responsible for making 70% of the cholesterol in the body and cholesterol is used as a buffering agent for protecting the body from toxins, many people experience a brief rise in their cholesterol and triglycerides when they begin a liver cleansing program. A rise in blood cholesterol is an exciting indication that the liver is cleaning up.  Blood levels return to normal for most people in 4 to 6 months.  People with high cholesterol often find that their levels improve after a liver cleanse.   We'll be discussing cholesterol more in depth in the next news update.

Not sure if your liver needs help? Take a look at your skin. They call them "liver spots" for a reason! Liver or age spots and skin tags are another indication of a stressed liver.  Most people find that the dark spots on their skin fade substantially or completely disappear with just a few months of cleansing the liver.  

NOTE:  IF you are taking any prescription medications, check with your doctor before starting any kind of cleansing program as it may interfere with your medication. (YES, even just a little grapefruit juice can cause problems with some drugs!  Remember... "All Natural" does NOT mean 'All Safe"   - Poison ivy is all natural, but I wouldn't want to roll in it!)

 

 

 

   

 

 

 

 

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