Liver Detox

Liver Detox
If you are serious about healing a thyroid disorder you need to detoxify the liver.
65% of T4 is converted to T3 in the liver.
Things that clog or stress the liver include:
pulverised rock iron in white flour
junk food
caffeine
alcohol

The liver performs the following:
Creates bile
excretes bilirubin, cholesterol, hormones and drugs
metabolises fats proteins and carbohydrates
is important for enzyme activation
stores glycogen, vitamins and minerals for energy
is important in the production of plasma proteins such as albumin and other clotting factors
it detoxifies and purifies the blood.

Tyrosine is made up of phenylalanine and iron. If the liver sees iron, including the rock iron in white flour, it stops absorbing and storing iron and so cannot make tyrosine.
You need tyrosine to make thyroxine (T4) and adrenaline.
So if the liver is not functioning correctly you cannot heal the thyroid problem.

Not only is the liver important for the production of T4 but if you suffer from problems with your serum iron levels, total iron binding capacity, ferritin, transferrin, cholesterol, Vitamin A deficiency or B12, you have a LIVER PROBLEM.

To check if you have a problem with your liver check your blood work for the liver enzymes ALT and AST.
You want your liver enzymes in the functional or optimal range of 10-­‐25
and not the lab range of 10-­‐40 (some labs even go as high as 10-­‐60!)

Hormone creams can cause excessive amounts of hormone to accumulate in body fat, particularly if you are overweight or obese. The liver is then under tremendous stress to break down these hormones so they can be eliminated.
This causes the liver to slow down and become unhealthy. This is a big health risk, especially in the case of estrogen.
If the liver can’t break down these hormones, instead of being eliminated, they go back into the bloodstream and become toxic to the body

Jan 262017
 

As usual there is lots of conflicting info about but these are what I can make sense of:
In general it is best not to completely eliminate anything if you are already used to eating / drinking it. Complete elimination will most likely create cravings and often result in a replacement which may or may not be better than the original.
eg fat replaced with sugar, dairy replaced with soy, red meat replaced with soy based processed foods.
Eat foods with as little processing as possible, ie whole grains, unprocessed meats rather than processed meats like sausages, cured bacon, crab meat, chicken nuggets etc.

Eliminate as much Sugar as possible- it is hidden in so many things we eat & drink, definitely don’t add sugar eg in coffee / tea, on cereals

Cut back on Coffee,it often has lots of pesticides used in production & these remain in the beans, and the caffeine itself is a problem, it dehydrates, prevents the absorption of Iron and raises cholesterol.

Drink Ginger Tea

Minimise alcohol intake– in general it is toxic to the body, so with every drink you are adding toxins to your body and hoping that the liver can remove them all.

Cut back on dairy foods if you have dairy intolerance, but don’t cut out completely as they are valuable source of calcium. watch for sugar in yogurts etc

Eat oily fish for omega 3 – salmon, sardines, mackerel etc preferably smaller fish rather than large ones like tuna- they eat the small ones & have accumulated mercury and other heavy metals from the small ones

Red meat in moderation- unprocessed – ie not cured bacon or salt dried. good for iron and other minerals. it is a good source of iron and zinc.

Processed White Iodised Salt contains anticaking agents along with  iodine which will be extracted by thyroid. For many this will be fine, but for those with a poorly functioning thyroid, adding more iodine to the body can actually damage it – use unprocessed sea salt or pink rock salt.

Vitamin D – get from regular sunlight exposure 10 min at a time
Vitamin C from real foods – Ascorbic acid is not vitamin C
Don’t have foods that are fortified with vitamins – fillers (rock) and artificial vitamins

Selenium – many soils are known to be deficient in selenium – seek out foods that contain selenium or consider supplements.
Potatoes – can be good for selenium when baked or lightly fried from raw- not deep fried. Boiling changes the structure & loses some of goodness
Lightly brown only- all foods chips, toast etc, the browner / blacker the surface the more carcinogens may be produced from the browning process.

Bread – whole grain – lots of salt and sugar in a lot of breads.
if you have any gluten sensitivity then cut back on bread and wheat based products, replace with rice base.

Can be good to have some carbs such as slice of bread 5 hours before sleep.

When taking pills / supplements try to take capsules rather than tablets as the tablets use fillers to hold them together and the fillers can contain toxins and block up liver / kidneys.