May 14th is Mother’s Day, a day set aside to honor our mothers. My mother has long since passed, but I will honor her with this writing. She died of liver failure.
My mother had one sister and four brothers. She was the daughter of an alcoholic, and having two alcoholic brothers, she lived the other extreme and never drank a drop of alcohol in her life. She was the one to get cirrhosis of the liver, a progression from fatty liver disease. But don’t be fooled, even moderate alcohol consumption can lead to liver damage in susceptible people.
The liver is a large, reddish-brown organ that sits on the upper right side of the abdomen above the stomach and below the diaphragm. Weighing 3-4 pounds, it is the second largest organ in the body; only the skin is larger.
Just like our mothers, our livers are often unappreciated and taken for granted. Our moms and our livers are always there, quietly doing their job. We often don’t thank them for all their hard work; we want to believe that they will always be there, fulfilling their respective role.
The liver regulates the composition of blood, including the amounts of sugar, protein, and fat that enter the bloodstream from the digestive system. It also removes bilirubin, ammonia, and other toxins from the blood.
It processes most of the nutrients absorbed by the intestines during digestion and converts those nutrients into forms that can be used by the body. The liver also stores some nutrients, such as vitamin A, iron, and other minerals.
It produces cholesterol and certain important proteins, such as albumin, prothrombin, fibrinogen, and other proteins to produce clotting factors, which are chemicals needed to help your blood clot. One of its most important functions is to break down alcohol and many drugs.
We have become a drug-obsessed society, our foods are permeated with pesticides and chemicals, and we continue to abuse our liver with fatty foods and obesity. Our livers are constantly being challenged. According to the American Liver Foundation, nearly 10% of Americans suffers from some form of liver disease.
Any conventional drug that we take is toxic to our liver and/or kidneys, such as antibiotics, diuretics, antacids, sleeping pills and antipsychotics. Almost every television drug commercial talks about monitoring liver and/or kidney functions to identify potential impending organ damage.
According to the Mayo Clinic, an estimated 80 to 100 million people have fatty liver disease. And many don’t even know it since the disease is mostly asymptomatic. Overconsumption of fatty foods and obesity can lead to fatty liver disease, as it did with my mother. I suspect that the combination of obesity and chemical drugs were more correctly the cause. My mother’s mother, also obese with the same diet, but without drugs, lived in good health past 103 years.
According to Traditional Chinese Medicine, the liver is the organ that is most affected by excess stress or emotions. With the prevalence of stress in today’s society, the majority of us experience stress not only in our lives but also with our livers.
In the natural healthcare world, an additional symptom of a compromised liver manifests in the form of headaches.
So, what can we do to love our liver? Avoid chemical drugs unless we absolutely need them; try natural alternatives instead, such as diet changes, massage, supplements, chiropractic, homeopathy, exercise, meditation, prayer or acupuncture.
If we are overweight, make a commitment to lose weight. Being overweight leads to the chronic diseases calling for pharmaceutical drugs, which in turn, increase the assault on the liver. Moderate fat consumption. We must eat organic and unprocessed foods whenever we can; the more processed the food we eat, the more chemicals we are exposed to.
Cut down on alcohol consumption or eliminate consumption entirely if susceptible.
The American Liver Foundation encourages us to limit direct contact with toxins from cleaning and aerosol products, insecticides, chemicals, and additives. If we must use these chemicals, wear gloves and make sure the area is well ventilated. The liver in not only affected by what we ingest, but also by what we inhale and what is absorbed through our skin.
Love your mother by sharing this information with her so she can love her liver as well.
Marge Roberts, BSN, MSHP, DAHom
President/CEO
Newton Homeopathics/AACH
770-922-2644
www.newtonlabs.net
