Lunches and dinners with friends or relatives, unavoidable sweets — the Christmas holidays are always an occasion for major overindulgence. And what about our liver?
If we have managed to resist and avoid overindulging in certain foods for long periods, the festive season can tempt us into abandoning the normal, healthy diet we have chosen for ourselves. A brief but highly beneficial cleanse, along with the rebalancing of the intestinal and gastric bacterial flora, can therefore help us get through the rest of the winter season in reasonable comfort. We know very well that a well-functioning organism copes better with the ailments and illnesses of winter.
Aside from detoxifying herbal teas, which can be drunk both morning and evening, it is advisable to combine them with fluid concentrates or tablets containing active ingredients that provide support for various conditions.
Fluid or pure juice extracts based on horseradish, artichoke, milk thistle (not recommended for those with high blood pressure), rosemary, fumitory and burdock are extremely well-suited and highly effective. They are taken diluted in water once or twice a day, depending on the intensity of the cleanse you wish to achieve, but certainly at least once in the morning on an empty stomach for a minimum of twenty days.
If you have a rather fatty liver (steatosis), tablets based on choline and inositol can help thanks to their lipotropic action, that is, their ability to remove excess lipids from the liver. They will also keep your cholesterol in check. Much the same applies to turmeric, which, in addition to its by now well-known properties, stimulates the formation and flow of bile with a lipid-lowering effect and aids digestion.
Worth considering is the Maitake mushroom, the king of medicinal mushrooms, renowned for its lipid-rebalancing function and its support of liver function. For a particularly problematic or delicate liver, desmodium is an excellent choice, with its detoxifying and hepatoprotective action. It is available as a fluid extract or tablets to be taken a couple of times a day.
An excellent combination is a detoxifying remedy paired with lactic acid bacteria, chosen from the many varieties available on the market. If the intestine is quite irritated, with bloating and alternating constipation and loose stools, acidophilus is recommended at least twice a day, while for less specific situations it is enough to opt for a good milk-free source of probiotics.
There are also specific stomach bacteria available commercially, plant-based, which work in synergy with vitamin PP and certain B vitamins to act positively on inflammation of the gastric mucosa in the presence of strong acidity or acid reflux. Between two and four tablets a day are taken after meals; the dosage varies according to the severity of the symptoms.
Naturally, the toxins we are removing need to be expelled from our bodies as quickly as possible, which is why it is advisable to drink a good quantity of water, which we should then be able to eliminate through urination without difficulty. However, fluid retention is common, and with it we retain the very toxins we want to get rid of.
The recommended solution is to combine the detoxifying remedy with a draining agent to support this process. Goldenrod, birch, green tea, orthosiphon, karkadè are just some of the substances we can pair with the chosen detoxifying remedy. They are readily available in the form of a fluid, tablet, capsule or herbal tea.
Fluid extracts containing a mix of plants that encompass both functions — detoxifying and draining — can also be considered. The choice is very much a personal one based on individual needs, but let us remember to favour products that contain no preservatives whatsoever.
Returning to a normal diet will facilitate the cleansing process; shedding the weight accumulated during festive excesses will be easier and quicker.