Digest With Ease - Part III

Greetings Everyone! Here's hoping your Memorial Day is sunny, beautiful, and relaxing. Let's all remember the reason for the holiday and honor those who have fought for our freedoms and pray for a safe and speedy return for those who are still in harm's way.

Today, we conclude the topic of "Digest With Ease" by discussing the importance of your liver. It is a vitally important organ to your overall health and wellbeing - especially where digestion is concerned - but gets forgotten and mistreated.

Love Your Liver

Your liver, located on the right side under your lower ribs, is the most metabolically complex organ in the entire body. Explains Dr. Richard Schulze in the May 2000 issue of his newsletter Get Well!, the liver "Detoxifies, metabolizes, renders harmless and eliminates harmful toxic poisons, chemicals, and substances from your blood. It produces many different enzymes that actually convert toxic poisons into harmless chemicals and then they are eliminated in the bile that your liver excretes."

QUOTE: "To eat is human; to digest, divine." - Charles T. Copeland

Your liver does so much for your body that I'd need an entire book to explain all of its functions, but suffice to say it is vital that you keep it healthy for good digestion. To encourage liver health, eat a nutritious diet consisting of whole, organic, high fiber foods and plenty of purified water. Avoid junk foods, alcohol, fatty and fried foods, processed and chemical-laden foods, smoking, and drugs. Remember, a sluggish, clogged liver, produces a sluggish, unhealthy, lethargic you!

Don Ollsin, herbalist and author of Herbal Healing Journey, suggests organic dandelion root tea and diluted lemon water as daily tonics for the liver. The lemon water is important for its natural hydrocholric acid that the liver converts into some 6 billion different enzymes. Dandelion root and young leaves are first class liver cleansers and tonics. Dandelion provides a rich source of easily-absorbable minerals, clears congestion of the spleen, gallbladder, pancreas, bladder, and kidneys, and is rich in organic sodium being of tremendous benefit to the stomach and intestines.

A fresh dandelion greens salad in springtime is as delicious as it is good for you . . . full of vitamin C and beta-carotene, blood-building chlorophyll, minerals, and acts as a mild diuretic to rid your body of bloat. Take care when consuming dandelion root tea. Don't simmer the dried or fresh root for more than 20 minutes and don't drink more than 1/2 to 1 cup per day as it can have a laxative effect. If you need a gentle laxative, then this is the tea for you, if not, it just might "clean you out". Here's to your healthy liver and comfortable digestion!



NOTE: The above article was written by Stephanie L. Tourles and adapted from her book, "How To Feel Fabulous Today", copyright 2001, Storey Publishing. The information is true and complete to the best of Ms. Tourles' knowledge. All recommendations are made without guaranteee on the part of the author. Ms. Tourles disclaims any liability in connection with the use of this information. It is for educational purposes only.