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"A little Madness in the Spring
Is wholesome even for the King."
--Emily Dickinson

   Spring Liver Cleansing

Spring - The Return of the Light

In Spring, energy flows instead of being stored and vitality increases. Growth is accelerated. Serotonin levels increase.

It gets warmer as the light returns and spring cleaning becomes a dominant energy dynamic.

In the early spring the warmth is just returning and so is your body's internal heat. As the outside temperature rises your internal body heat moves more toward the surface. Yet you are still sensitive to cool weather and prone to getting a chill. If your body is sluggish and doesn't heat up fast enough or if you rush the transition from cool to warm you are susceptible to flu and colds. It is best to make a gradual transition to warm weather in dress, food and routine.

In the early spring stay warmly dressed even though the air may be warm and continue eating winter foods (heavier, oilier, more carbohydrates and warm). It may be time to add more vegetables and a few salads as these foods help to move out any sluggishness and start your body's spring cleaning. It is not yet time for too many raw fruits or vegetables. Do not overload with rich, heavy fat foods as these may make your body too dense for this time. Sour foods may nourish the liver. Good foods to include now are sour and vinegary foods although too much may cause an imbalance.

Spring Cleaning

Cleansing the blood is the body's spring cleaning dynamic. Cleansing the body helps to rid it of excess toxins and waste. Your body is designed to function on whole foods and clean water which are easily digested and assimilated. Today however, foods are adulterated, chemically altered, devoid of vitamins and minerals, and full of artificial ingredients. In addition, you are bombarded by pollutants and chemicals.

You may be toxic.

Some people feel run down or out of balance, body temperature may run hotter, frequent headaches are common, along with an inability to concentrate. Many suffer from forms of toxicity produced by the body itself or from outside elements. One in four Americans suffers from heavy metal toxicity.

Toxicity can be a normal result of metabolic processes in the body. If you exercise too much, lactic acid can build up and be the cause of pain and stiffness in body tissues. Hormones, such as estrogen can be produced in excess of your body's ability to metabolize them and autointoxication can occur.

Even with eating healthful whole foods, you still require healthy detoxification processes in your body. Healthy fruits and vegetables contain natural toxins that your body has evolved metabolic processes to neutralize. Cooking foods, such as when frying, produces toxins that your body must neutralize. If your body is overloaded with toxins or if your detoxification systems are not working well because they are not receiving proper and balanced critical nutrients, then your body has a hard time producing natural defense enzymes.

Toxicity results.

Toxicity can also be caused by outside sources including pollution, smoking, drinking alcohol, pesticides, herbicides and additives and preservatives in your foods. Your diet can contribute to toxicity.

Xenobiotic is the term used to describe toxins that come into our bodies from the environment. Specific diseases and symptoms have been associated with the presence of toxic chemicals, heavy metal, partially broken down metabolites, bacterial toxins, and bacterial cell wall components in the body.

Diseases and the drugs used to treat them and common illnesses and complaints can leave residue or metabolic breakdown byproducts which contribute to toxicity. The increased load on the liver from your polluted and chemical environment can leave you with a stressed liver that is so overworked that it can't keep you clear of toxins.

Toxicity

The body eliminates toxins by neutralizing them or by excreting them in the urine or feces and through the lungs and skin. The primary organs of elimination are the intestines, liver, and kidneys. Toxins that are unable to be eliminated are stored in body tissues, particularly fat . About 25 percent of detoxification occurs within the cells lining the intestine, the rest occurs in the liver. Dietary toxins and contaminants - environmental chemicals such as tobacco products, drugs, pesticides, food colorings and food additives; mutagens such as those derived from cooking, excess hormones in meat, and invading microbes - are transformed in the intestines by enzymes in healthful bacteria and in the cells lining the intestines into harmless metabolites. More toxic substances are shunted to the liver where they are detoxified.

The bowel and the liver are the two sites in the body that are most likely to be toxic. Intestinal dysbiosis is the termed used to describe a toxic bowel in which there is excessive levels of toxin-producing bacteria and inadequate amounts of normal health-promoting bacteria. It results from the use of antibiotics, eating contaminated foods and additives and preservatives, and eating a low fiber diet. Disease states ranging from chronic fatigue to auto immune diseases are associated with bowel toxicity.

A stressful and polluted environment seriously overloads the liver and curtails its many functions. The liver eliminates toxins from the blood or absorbed from a toxic bowel by chemically converting them to less toxic forms more easily excreted by the kidneys. If the liver is overloaded there will be increased levels of toxins circulating in the blood. This can damage many of your body's functions and processes. Red flags of an overloaded liver include:

• acne
• chronic headaches
• inflammatory
• auto-immune diseases
• chronic fatigue
• nausea
• digestive disturbances

Spring Cleansing and the Liver

Spring is a good time to nourish and strengthen the liver and gallbladder. This is true if there is a weak, sluggish toxic liver with associated liver conditions and also if the liver is currently functioning well and efficiently.

Your natural metabolic processes produce a wide range of toxins for which the liver has effective neutralizing mechanisms. If you have nutritional deficiencies, normal metabolic processes are stymied and internally produced toxins increase greatly. The liver must also detoxify chemicals that come from the food you eat, the air you breathe, the water you drink.

The liver has many roles to play in detoxification. It must filter the blood to remove large toxins, synthesize and secrete bile full of cholesterol and other soluble toxins, and enzymatically disassemble unwanted chemicals.

The liver cleanses the body by using enzymes to break down toxins. It directly eliminates some toxins and prepares many others to be ready to be eliminated from the body. This is supported by nutrients such as vitamins B2 and B3, magnesium, iron, molybdenum, antioxidants, and essential fatty acids.

The liver also converts fat soluble substances to water soluble forms so they can be easily excreted from the body. Nutrients needed for this include: zinc, copper, molybdenum, thiamin, B6, folic acid, several different amino acids, and sulfur.

By making the tonification of healthy body functions and processes a priority you assure their continued healthy functioning. You also make it possible to experience greater levels of health, vitality and wellness.

An Overloaded Liver

A strong liver is associated with smooth unhampered movement of energy throughout the body. When the liver is congested there is irregular movement associated with tension, stiffness, spasms, tics, clumsiness, numbness, headaches, allergies, convulsions, itching and pains which change location.

A stressed liver may result in

• anger
• frustration
• irritability
• stiff neck and shoulders
• sore muscles
• hypertension
• spinal problems
• poor flexibility
• arthritis
• poor judgment, planning and organization
• an inability to make decisions
• having a hard time relaxing
• headaches
• lacking enthusiasm and vitality
• poor resistance to illness
• muscle, ligament and tendon weakness
• fatigue
• allergic sensitivities
• irritated and watery eyes

A weak liver may result in slow morning energy while a strong liver usually helps you wake up energized and ready for the day.

Some believe that the eyes are connected to the liver and that a weak liver will result in problems with the eyes, vision or tearing mechanism. Also the nails, especially the toenails, are believed to be an indicator of the health of the liver.

Some believe that suppressed anger may weaken the liver and gallbladder and that anger prevents circulation of blood, lymph and energy through the liver resulting in congestion and stagnation. This weakens the liver and results in the person experiencing more anger.

The liver's most active time is between 11 p.m. and 3 a.m. when it is at the peak of its functioning. At these times it is best if you are sleeping so as not to divert energy from the liver's function of cleansing and renewing the blood.

Overloaded Detoxification Systems

Your detoxification systems must be working well to keep pace with normal healthy living. If you live with stress, a hurried work schedule, daily upsets, pollutants, and environmental contaminates, it is important that your detoxification processes be at their best.

Symptoms of an overloaded detoxification system include:

• acne-especially cystic acne
• auto-immune disease
• bad breath
• chronic degenerative disease with unknown cause
• chronic fatigue
• chronic fatigue syndrome
• chronic headaches
• depression
• colon and breast cancer
• eczema
• foul smelling stools
• constipation
• itching and skin rashes
• intolerance of garlic
• irritable bowel syndrome
• liver disease
• nausea and vomiting during pregnancy
• premature development of age spots
• psoriasis
• sensitivity to chemicals

Spring Herbs

As spring advances it is good to eat the local fresh fruits, vegetables, and herbs that come into season in your area. Fresh young greens are a part of traditional spring diets. Greens are nourishing, cleansing, and building in the body. An overview of cleansing spring herbs for liver support can be found here.

Guide to Spring Cleansing Herbs

Lighten Up

An appropriate and well timed cleansing and liver support program in the spring can revitalize and energize your body. Spring cleaning lightens your load and puts you in touch with your naturally expanding dynamic. You can find a special section of seasonal herbal products for spring in my Evenstar Herbal Products Catalog

E-mail or call me at 434-263-4996 or to set up your personalized Seasonal Wellness Program.

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Back to Seasonal Programs Introduction

Winter Physical and Emotional Replenishment
  Spring Cleansing
    Summer Heart Wellness
    Fall Respiratory and Digestive Wellness

Contents © 2009 by Mary Ann Copson and Evenstar. All rights reserved.
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