Is Your Liver Making You Fat?
How a Toxic Liver Seriously Affects Your Weight and Health

Over the past 30 years, Americans have become more obsessed with finding a miracle cure for losing weight and increasing energy. The irony of this newfound preoccupation is that, even though we have more diet food and energy drinks than ever, the nation is, sadly, more obese, toxic and inactive than ever.

One of the most overlooked contributors to weight gain, and associated problems like fatigue and low energy, is your diet and lifestyle’s impact on your liver.

A fundamental part of our nation’s weight and health problem lies in how we view our food. Though many low-fat food and energy drink companies would like you to believe their products are the ‘solution’ to all your health issues, what you may not realize is that these products are more apt to make the conditions that you so desperately want to get rid of, much, much worse.

The truth of the matter is: a healthy body doesn’t consist of low-fat, chemical-laden food and over-caffeinated drinks. It consists of natural, unprocessed nutrition and nutrients that clear your body of harmful toxins.

You may not be aware of it, but if you are tired, sluggish and putting on weight, then your body or more specifically – your liver – might be burdened by an excess of toxins that directly prevent it from metabolizing nutrients and fats properly. This problem can not only make you constantly tired and overweight, but it can lead to more serious health issues such as gallbladder attacks, thyroid problems and more.

Quite simply, the old adage ‘you are what you eat’ is very true when it comes to your health, and in that case, in order to be healthy and toxin-free, you need to eat food that is healthy, toxin-free and good for your liver’s metabolic processes.

How Do You Know if Your Body is Toxic?

Diagnosing the symptoms of an over-stressed liver and a toxic body is, unfortunately, not a clear-cut process. As with many illnesses or conditions, every person’s body reacts differently to specific ailments, and the process of identifying the cause requires an in-depth analysis of lifestyle and health habits.

However, to start, if you know that you regularly consume processed, high-sugar or high-chemical foods, then you likely have some level of toxicity in your body. Moreover, if you consume unhealthy foods and you have any of the following symptoms:

• Constipation
• Rashes/Itchy skin
• Low energy
• Headaches
• Body pain
• Weight Gain
• Trouble Sleeping

… then you have even more cause for concern.

These common problems are all signs that your body has accumulated a build-up of toxins over a lengthy period of time. More specifically, they signify that your liver may be ‘clogged’ with an excess of them, which prevents the vital organ from carrying out its primary functions including:

• Detoxification
• Protein synthesis
• Production of biochemicals necessary for digestion

However, in order to understand your liver’s important role for keeping your body healthy, you have to, first, understand how it works.

How Does Your Liver Work?

Your liver is absolutely necessary for your survival.

Dr. Gregory J. Gores, chairman of gastroenterology and hepatology at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., explains:

“…the liver provides innate immunity, which mounts the first response to invaders; absorbs nutrients and fats; and orchestrates many of the chemical reactions that sustain life. Its functions are so vital that nature endowed it the power to completely regenerate within months of injury. But if the liver fails, a transplant is the only option short of death.”

In short, your liver protects your body against infection, it metabolizes nutrients and fats and is an overall powerhouse for keeping all your other bodily functions in check. If it is not properly maintained or taken care of, it begins to react, causing problems such as weight gain and lethargy, or even ailments that are much worse.

A healthy liver can metabolize fats and toxins easily, resulting in a high-functioning metabolism that burns calories efficiently and a body that’s full of energy. However, if it becomes ‘clogged,’ it is unable to break down fats and harmful substances, and, in effect, creates more fat to store the toxins. This harmful cycle eventually results in you gaining weight and being over-loaded with harmful substances that impede your energy levels.

What Causes Your Liver to Become ‘Clogged’?

The liver is stressed by refined carbohydrates, sugars, hydrogenated oils, oils damaged by high heat and rancid oils (which include the vast majority of vegetable oils on the market). Since many of us consume these ‘toxins’ on a daily basis, your liver has to work overtime to process them through your body. To do this, your liver essentially takes all the toxins and dumps them into your gallbladder.

Your gallbladder is responsible for storing bile, which helps digest fats in the small intestine. If large amounts of toxins are dumped into your gallbladder, the bile becomes thick and can’t be expelled from the gallbladder. This backup of bile then results in your liver becoming congested too.

Once your liver and bile flow are impeded, then your intestines, which normally use bile for breaking down fats, end up storing fat instead. This results in your body getting stuck in a cycle of keeping fat when it should, in fact, be metabolizing it.

In addition to disrupting your bile flow and fat digestive process, a toxic liver causes many other problems too. Specifically, it also prevents your body from getting the nourishment of fat-soluble vitamins (A, D, E, & K), essential fatty acids and nutrients that, under healthy circumstances, are metabolized when the liver and gallbladder are functioning properly. It can also affect the chemical process of your thyroid gland, which is responsible for regulating the hormones that increase or decrease your metabolism.

Even more concerning, though, are new studies that show how toxins in your liver from common foods such as sugar, including fructose, can lead to problems much more serious than just weight gain. An article in the New York Post reported that:

“In animals, or at least in laboratory rats and mice, it’s clear that if the fructose hits the liver in sufficient quantity and with sufficient speed, the liver will convert much of it to fat. This apparently induces a condition known as insulin resistance, which is now considered the fundamental problem in obesity, and the underlying defect in heart disease and in the type of diabetes, type 2, that is common to obese and overweight individuals. It might also be the underlying defect in many cancers.”

With so many side effects, it’s no wonder that many of America’s top doctors and researchers are advocating change in the way Americans eat.

What Can You Do to Lower Your Toxin Levels?

It’s not a coincidence that some of the best foods for weight loss and weight management are also those that support your body’s natural detoxification processes.

Much like a backed-up plumbing system, your body needs to ‘flush’ away all the toxic waste. In order to do that, it needs to go through a careful process of toxin elimination aided by supplementation of essential vitamins.

One effective way to begin this process is by going on a detox program. This can ensure that you completely rid your body of all harmful substances so that you may regenerate, rejuvenate your healthy metabolic processes once again, in addition to also providing your body with other benefits such as:

• Improved weight management results
• Increased energy/vitality
• Better digestion
• Less bloating
• Clearer skin
• Shinier hair
• Better sleep

There are many purification processes. Ask your Doctor which one is recommended for you to help you live a healthier life by purifying, nourishing, and maintaining a healthy body and weight, with focus on feeding your body with healthy, un-processed foods that increase your vitality.

The ideal purification program emphasizes supplements and whole foods, particularly fruits and vegetables, while also limiting high-calorie, refined foods and unhealthy fats. Nourishing yourself with this type of unique plan of nutrient-rich foods in effect, provides your body with the complex combination of vitamins, minerals and antioxidants that are needed to protect it from diseases and ailments that are all too common these days.

Not only does the ideal integrated whole foods purification program cleanse your body, it also:

• Supports healthy liver and gallbladder function
• Supports the body’s normal elimination of toxins
• Encourages healthy digestion of fats
• Enhances bowel function
• Encourages healthy bile production
• Aids weight loss

The program diet plan also includes:

Cleansing — supplements which ideally combine unique whole food and botanical ingredients such as Juniper Berry, Red Clover, Dandelion, Spanish Black Radish, Beet Leaf and Root Milk Thistle to support the body’s normal toxin removal processes.

• Complete Essential Nutritional Whole Foods — Supplements with essential whole food nutrition like Brussel Sprouts, Kale, Barrly, Alfalfa, Grape Seed Extract, Carrot Powder, Red Wise Exctract ideally in a convenient powder form for support of healthy liver function, elimination of toxins and more.
• Green Foods – Brussel Sprouts, Kale Barrly, Buck Wheet, Alfalfa Sprouts are a simple way to add vital phytonutrients to your diet, also supporting healthy liver function and normal elimination of toxins.
• Omega-3 Oil – like Tuna Oil with essential omega-3 fatty acids to provide antioxidants and support your body’s natural inflammatory response.
• Fiber – Psyllium, Collinsonia, Apple Pectin, Feenel, and Fenugreek soluble and insoluble fibers to support the digestive system.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recently reported that roughly:

“One-third of all U.S. adults are obese and approximately 17% (or 12.5 million) of children and adolescents aged 2-19 years are obese.”

Unfortunately, despite these shocking statistics, most average citizens believe their weight can be controlled by chemically altered and processed foods and drinks that, despite claiming to be ‘low-fat’ or ‘low-calorie,’may actually cause you to gain weight because of their toxicity level.

Factor in diets that combine this toxic food with real, fatty junk food (loaded with sugars, starches, trans fats and other harmful toxins) and you’ve got yourself a recipe for health disaster, or more specifically liver disaster.

If not properly taken care of, these toxic trails can cause you to have more than just weight problems but also gallbladder, thyroid and diabetes problems – with very serious and harmful consequences. This makes it more important now than ever to ensure that you take the important precautionary steps to ensure your diet is toxin free.

Sources

Centers for Disease and Control and Prevention. “U.S. Obesity Trends.” 2010.

Gary Taubes. “Is Sugar Toxic?” The New York Times Magazine. April 13, 2011.