As we approach the last days of the year, the mood is at the party and the conviviality. Dietetics goes to the background, diets in the eighteenth, we only think about the preparation of family meals and feasts with friends ... There is only one big forgotten in the case : our liver!
The liver crisis, what is it?
This king organ (the largest of the body) often suffers from a lack of attention. Yet everything we eat and drink goes through him. And, in times of overeating, he finds himself obviously put to the test.
Gavé like a southwestern duck, he becomes energetic and tired to the point of overworking, especially since he is regularly exposed to bad fats, artificial colors and preservatives, alcohol , tobacco, drugs, air pollution ... A collection of toxins he must constantly neutralize to prevent poisoning.
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Not to mention stress, which is particularly sensitive: in addition to its well-known impact on heart and emotional health, this modern day disease reduces the irrigation of the liver by diverting part of the blood circulation to other organs become sudden priority, starting with the muscles. However, an insufficiently oxygenated liver quickly turns idle.
It loses its effectiveness and, in the long run, runs out. The whole body is weakened, which can eventually lead to the appearance of many disorders, without apparent common cause. Some directly affect the liver (gallstones, liver failure, cirrhosis ...), others appear at a distance (digestive disturbance, blurred and yellowish complexion, ringed eyes, pimples on the face , vertigo, chills, arthritis, rheumatism. ..).
The main functions of the liver
"Hepatic dysfunction can also be the source of a poor immune status," says Christian Brun 1 , professor of naturopathy, since this organ is involved in the production of defense cells against microbial invasions. And, as it is located at the top of the abdomen, just below the diaphragm, its fouling and its increase in volume 2 may induce indirectly respiratory discomfort, "as well as circulatory and cardiac problems," adds Christian Brun.
The liver also plays a vital role in the regulation of blood glucose (blood sugar) since it is responsible for the management of sugar stocks. It stores glucose from the diet and restores it throughout the day as needed. When the reserves are full (the intake is too abundant compared to the expenses), the liver transforms the excess sugars into lipids that accumulate, as do the fat cells. Hence the importance of caring for it to remove the specter of diabetes and obesity.
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In addition to its activity as a treatment plant and fuel warehouse, the liver performs other vital missions: production and degradation of cholesterol , constitution of bile (essential for the absorption of lipids in the intestine), storage of iron, copper, vitamins B12, E, K and D, transformation of carotene into vitamin A, synthesis of many proteins including blood albumin and prothrombin, which intervenes in coagulation ...
A fantastic multipurpose plant, with three hundred functions and through which pass 1,700 to 2,600 liters of blood per day. At the slightest failure, the balance of the body is likely to suffer.
Food excess: the worst enemies of the liver
If our taste buds quiver in advance of good Christmas, our liver on the verge of overdose, he dreads.
The culprit: the excessive consumption of starchy foods, which impede not only our waist, buttocks and thighs, but foul our liver. It would be infiltrated with fat in 20% of Europeans and 40% of Americans.
As an American study published in March 2011 in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition showed, it is the overabundance of bread, pasta, cereals and potatoes on our plates that is causing liver steatosis, "foie gras". Eighteen volunteers with a hypertrophied organ followed for two weeks a low carbohydrate diet led by researchers and eighteen others a low calorie diet depleted mainly in lipids.
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The former saw their liver fat content melt by 55%, compared with less than 40% for the latter. The worst would be the simultaneous ingestion of "slow" sugars (low glycemic index) and "fast" (high glycemic index) sugars, as is the case in biscuits and pastries, for example.
"This fermentation against natural causes fermentation for five to six hours that lasts digestion of this nutritional anomaly explains Gilbert Burdin 3 health food specialist. The liver has great difficulty in neutralizing the alcohol produced. "
And it is more solicited if the cakes incorporate a lot of chemical additives, it will also be rigorously eliminated. By abusing pastries and industrial pastries, one can end up with a liver as bad as that of an alcoholic, without even drinking a drop of vodka, gin or whiskey.
How to detoxify his liver?
As much to unblock it now to address the delicate period of holidays as lightly as possible. A few weeks of "reeducation" of the liver are enough to make work again our most beautiful body at full speed.
- Eliminate cereals, dairy products and processed products
A Swedish study from the University of Umeå, published in February 2013 in the Journal of Internal Medicine , has shown that a diet without cereals, dairy products and industrially processed foods can quickly relieve the liver of its overload in fat and fat. toxins.
Healthy women volunteers scrupulously followed this diet close to the famous Paleolithic diet (especially proteins, fruits and vegetables, nuts and seeds, like our ancestors before the development of agriculture and agriculture. Neolithic breeding).
They could eat at will, each according to their hunger, without restriction of calories. In just five weeks, all have shed 4 to 5 kilos. Their waist and hips have significantly decreased. Likewise, their blood cholesterol level and their blood pressure have improved. And, surprise: while the fat content of their muscle cells has not changed, that of their liver has dropped dramatically, by half in the majority of participants.
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- Eat only one food one or two nights a week (or month, to start)
It is not a fast , but a monodiète that allows to better accompany the changes of season. According to Christian Brun, cooked apples (without sugar or honey), a vegetable soup (without fat) or a large plate of semi-complete rice are just fine. A very effective strategy, provided of course to eliminate alcohol, the main destroyer of the liver (except red wine, a glass a day).
Reduce your intake of coffee and black tea (one to two cups a day maximum), "because caffeine and theine are poison alkaloids for the liver, just like tobacco nicotine," says the professor of naturopathy .
- Use medicinal plants
Some medicinal plants can also provide valuable help. But be careful, not just any: a poorly adapted phytotherapeutic treatment proves to be counterproductive by unnecessarily fatiguing an already failing liver. If it is tonic, still capable of doing extra work, you can give it a boost with draining plants: fumitory, artichoke and black radish in the form of dry extracts to stimulate the production of bile and its evacuation by the gallbladder (60 mg each, morning and evening for a fortnight).
But, if the liver is out of breath, it is better to take regenerating plants to deeply detoxify and reboost damaged cells: Desmodium adscensens, milk thistle and Chrysanthellum americanum in fluid extracts.
Recipe from pharmacist Danièle Festy: pour 50 ml of each plant into a bottle and dilute one teaspoonful of this mixture in a glass of water morning, noon and evening for twenty days. An ideal cocktail, too, to facilitate recovery after a bountiful meal or an evening too watered.
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- Practice a physical activity
For optimal efficiency, accompany this detox treatment with a bit of physical exercise, because "the sedentary lifestyle is an enemy of the liver," says Gilbert Burdin. The best is to practice an endurance activity for more than forty minutes.
"During the first twenty minutes of sports, it is the sugar in the blood that burns," he says.For the next twenty, the sugar stored in the liver (in the form of glycogen) serves as fuel. it is only after forty minutes of exercise that the liver begins to destock fat. " Another reason to get back to sport this winter.
- Adopt self massage
Drain your liver by exerting simple pressure in strategic places ... Yes, it is possible!
Lie down on the floor, keep your right leg bent against your chest and then breathe in and block your breathing by tightening your thigh against your stomach. By holding this position for a few seconds, your diaphragm remains in the down position. It makes your stomach swell and press your liver, just like your leg. This one then disgorges, a little like a sponge that one presses between his fingers. Exhale to release the pressure and allow the liver to refill with fresh blood. Repeat this movement fifty times in a row, several times a day.
The liver and its little secrets ...
- The organ of emotions
In traditional Chinese medicine, the liver is connected to anger. Its balance allows a gentle circulation of energy through the body, giving a calm temperament. If he loses his harmony, strong emotional reactions may occur. When the energy of the liver is exhausted, "the person becomes irritable, anxious, even anxious", says Christian Brun, professor of naturopathy.
On the other hand, when the liver is overheated, it can get out of its hinges, and an unexpressed rage, guilt or frustration induce hepatic blockages.
"This" fire of the liver "generated by anger returned is often due to traumas of childhood reactivated by recent events," said Dr. Martine Depondt-Gadet 4 , acupuncturist Verbalize, do yoga or follow training sessions. acupuncture to find more serenity would be another way to relieve his liver.
- Soon a bioartificial liver?
Like the tail of a lizard, the liver is able to regenerate itself. If you cut three quarters, it takes its weight and shape before in a few months. But when it is totally damaged (advanced cirrhosis, cancer ...), the transplant is the only option possible. However, few people agree to give a portion of their liver.
A hope for the sick appeared this summer in Japan: after years of research, scientists from Yokohama University created a bioartificial liver bud from human stem cells. Implanted in a mouse, he performed his purification functions and produced specific liver proteins. A world first.
(1) Author of "Cleanse and drain your liver naturally" (Guy Trédaniel edition)
(2) An unhealthy liver can weigh up to 5% of the body weight, compared to 2% in the normal state.
(3) Author of "Say no more: I have a bad liver" (Ed Dangles)
(4) Author of "Sterility and infertility, how to unblock the psychological barriers that hinder fertility" (Ed Dangles).
