You’ve likely heard the phrase “Love your liver!”

There are plenty of reasons to love your liver. In fact, there are over 500 reasons! The liver is such a powerful and vital organ that it performs over 500 different functions. We rely on the liver every day to keep us healthy and protect us from toxic overload.

Toxins Are Everywhere

One of the most important features of the liver is that it filters toxins in the body. Every day we are exposed to toxins that are in food, the air we breathe, alcohol, medications, and the environment. Eating healthy is one way to avoid unnecessary toxins that might come from food additives, chemicals, and preservatives. However, toxins from our external environment are often difficult to avoid.

The liver can only handle so much, and due to the unnatural amount of toxins we are exposed to on a daily basis, if you don’t do a liver detox once in a while, the liver can get backed up and overburdened, which causes a buildup of toxins that can be difficult for the body to process. A toxic liver can result in symptoms such as weight gain, heachaches, decreased immunity, fatty liver disease, and much more.

Liver Detox

Whether you regularly focus on healthy eating or not, it’s important to do a liver detox every so often to maintain good health and overall well-being. You can actually do a gentle liver detox as often as you’d like by consuming foods that support the liver. Some amazing foods that support liver detox include:

• Avocado

• Beets

• Berries

• Celery

• Cilantro and parsley

• Cucumber

• Dark leafy greens

• Garlic

• Ginger

• Grapefruit

• Lemon

• Turmeric

The #1 Liver Detox Drink

My favorite liver detox drink has some incredible liver loving ingredients. I suggest using organic ingredients whenever possible for the healthiest drink.

Green Liver Detox Juice

I love this detox juice, but your liver will love it even more! All of the ingredients in this juice are excellent for liver purification. If you like cilantro, you could use that instead of parsley because it provides very similar benefits. Aside from liver cleansing, this drink is also fantastic for cleansing the kidneys since celery, cucumber, and parsley act as diuretics.

Ingredients:

• 4 stalks of kale

• 2 stalks of celery

• ½ large cucumber

• 1 apple

• 1 lemon

• 1/4 cup parsley

 Directions:

1. Run all of the ingredients through a juicer. If you like a slightly sweeter taste, you can add more apple.
2. Refrigerate before serving or drink immediately.

4 Bonus Recipes

Golden Milk

Golden Milk has been a very trendy beverage for quite a few years, and for good reason! It has such delicious warming spices including turmeric and ginger that have powerful anti-inflammatory as well as liver cleansing properties. This recipe is served hot, but you can also serve it over ice.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups non-dairy milk, unsweetened
• ½ tsp turmeric powder
• ¼ tsp ginger powder
• ⅛ tsp cinnamon
  
• Pinch of pepper
• Maple syrup or honey to taste

Directions:

1. Add all of the ingredients to a small pot. Whisk to combine and gently heat the milk.
2. Taste and adjust spices as necessary. Note that you can use fresh turmeric and ginger if desired (just adjust the quantities to taste).

Lemon Cayenne Water

This recipe is very simple. Drinking lemon water every day is a great way to give the liver a gentle cleanse. The active component in cayenne pepper called capsaicin has been shown to alleviate liver damage. You can drink this hot or cold. One helpful tip and side benefit of drinking lemon water in the morning before eating breakfast is that it is amazing for kickstarting the digestive system!

Ingredients:

• 1 cup warm or cold water
• 2 tbsp lemon juice (or more to taste)
• 2 tbsp pure maple syrup
• Pinch of cayenne pepper

Directions:

2. Adjust ingredients to taste. If you like more lemon, add as much as you like!

Heavy Metal Detox Smoothie

This recipe is wonderful for liver detox, and it’s also great for specifically detoxifying heavy metals. The active ingredients that do this are wild blueberries, cilantro, and spirulina.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup frozen wild blueberries
• 1 frozen banana
• 1 orange, peeled
• 1 handful of cilantro
• ½ cup water
• ½ tsp spirulina

Directions:

1. Blend all of the ingredients in a blender until smooth.
2. If you like a thicker smoothie, add a few ice cubes. If you like a thinner smoothie, add additional water as needed.

Herbal Liver Detox Tea

You can make your own tea blend at home using a mix of herbal teas. Herbs are some of the most healing ingredients for the liver, and drinking tea daily is a very easy way to maintain liver health.

Ingredients:

• ¼ cup milk thistle
• ¼ cup dandelion root
• 2 tbsp rosehips

Directions:

1. Add all of the ingredients to an airtight container. Shake to mix the herbs well.
2. To brew, use an infuser to steep 1 tbsp of the loose leaf tea in 2 cups of water. Steep for around 10 minutes, then remove the leaves and enjoy the tea. If you don’t have a tea infuser, you can simply add the tea leaves directly in the water and then strain them out after the tea has steeped.

Liver Detox Every Day

As you can see, there are many recipes to promote a liver detox every single day whether it is a smoothie, tea, or juice. Use a variety of these recipes and ingredients regularly to keep your liver in tip top shape.

Remember to eat a whole foods diet, drink plenty of pure filtered water, and exercise regularly to maintain the health of the liver.