Hi'iaka's Healing Herb Garden

Your Liver: Who, What, Where, When, Why and How to Keep it Healthy

Everyone seems concerned about their livers lately. Cleanses, detox diets and fear are common. Because I wanted to educate myself on this important topic, it’s the perfect opportunity to educate you as well.

Who Is the Liver?

The liver is a large, fleshy, reddish-brown glandular organ. It’s called the “General” or “Chief of Staff” in Taoist literature and is responsible for filtering, detoxifying, nourishing, replenishing, and storing blood. It’s an amazingly resilient organ, as it can regenerate lost tissue; as little as 25% of remaining liver can build a whole liver again.

What Does it Do?

It has many functions, including making bile, changing food into energy, and cleaning alcohol and poisons from the blood. It metabolizes protein, carbohydrate and fat, synthesizes proteins, and stores certain vitamins and minerals.

Where Is It Located?

The liver is the largest internal organ in the body, located in the upper right portion of the abdomen, beneath the diaphragm and above most of the stomach, intestines and pancreas.

When Does It Do Its Thing?

The liver is constantly at work. If it fails, we fail. In today’s society, with nutritionally deficient foods and environmental pollution, our livers work hard to detoxify our bodies and regulate healthy metabolic activity. Many health symptoms can result from a liver that is undernourished and overloaded with toxins, including poor digestion, chronic fatigue, skin rashes and poor immune response. A poorly functioning liver can also contribute to depression and hormonal imbalance.

Why Is It Important?

The liver works to keep us healthy. “Obstruction of liver energy can cause intense feelings of frustration, rage, anger, and these emotions in turn further disrupt liver energy and suppress liver function, in a vicious self destructive cycle,” according to www.hps-online.com/hliver.

How Can We Keep Our Livers Healthy?

How can we keep our livers healthy, or restore health if we have an illness? First, if you suspect you have a problem, get professional medical advice and a firm diagnosis. Follow doctor’s orders closely. If you want to clean up your liver to keep it healthy, there are a few simple things you can do at home.

The web site www.liverdoctor.com states that is “vitally important to cleanse the liver regularly because, like any filter, it can become overloaded and blocked with excessive waste products. However, please be careful when liver cleansing. Don’t be over-zealous… A conservative step-by-step approach is most advantageous and prudent when cleansing the human body.”

Christopher Hobbs and Beth Baugh wrote a helpful article in the December 2006 Herbs for Health magazine. Here are the highlights.

A class of herbs called cholagogues are bile stimulants. They are helpful for liver stagnation: the two most important herbs are mugwort (Artemisia vulgaris) and wormwood (Artemisia absinthium). I have grown mugwort in Hawaii and find that it is a hardy, easy-to-grow plant. Other cholagogues include milk thistle (Silybum marianum), Oregon grape root (Berberis aquifolium), yellow dock root (Rumex crispus), artichoke leaf (Cynara scolymus) and boldo (Peumus boldo). Being a believer in locally-grown, sustainable medicines, I say grow some mugwort and use it fresh in a tea or tincture.

Other important herbs for liver ailments such as cirrhosis and hepatitis are burdock root (gobo, Arctium lappa, available fresh at farmer’s markets), dandelion root (Taraxacum officinale) and American ginseng (Panax quinquefolius). The article advises, “One nice way to take American ginseng is to put a little slice of the root under your tongue, suck on it, chew it and swallow it.”

The authors go on to say that it is crucial to bring your entire system back into balance by eating liver-friendly foods. Foods high in antioxidants, such as spinach, beets, carrots, squash, broccoli, yams, tomatoes, citrus fruit and juices, strawberries, kiwi, green peppers, raw cabbage, kale, nuts, seeds and whole grains can help to build and protect your liver. Unripe fruits are sour and bitter: eating slightly green plums and apples supposedly helps your liver to digest fats. I wonder about green papayas, as the papain enzyme is used in the care of some chronic wounds to clean up dead tissue, according to Wikipedia.

Liver Flushing Recipe

Christopher and Beth recommend a liver flush twice a year to “stimulate elimination of wastes from the body, open and cool the liver, increase bile flow and improve overall liver functioning.” Spring and fall are good times to do them, for 10 days at a time. Here’s how:

Drink this in the morning, at least one hour before eating any other food.

1.    Mix together any freshly-squeezed citrus juice to equal one cup. Always
       include lemon or lime.
2.    Add 1-2 cloves of freshly-squeezed garlic and a little fresh ginger root.
3.    Mix in 1 TB of good quality olive oil.
4.    Blend in a blender (or shake well) and drink.
5.    Follow this with 2 cups of cleansing herbal “Polari-Tea” (read on!).

Polari-Tea Recipe

The following amounts make about 2 cups of tea. You can double the quantities and save the leftovers in your refrigerator for later.

1 tsp fennel seed
1 tsp fenugreek seed
1 tsp flaxseed
1/2 tsp burdock root
1/2 tsp licorice root
2-1/2 cups water
1 tsp peppermint leaf

Simmer the first five ingredients in water for 20 minutes. Add the peppermint and let your tea steep for 10 more minutes. Strain and drink it after your liver flush beverage and again in the evening.

Upcoming Events:

Ocean Day Hawaii, April 28:

FREE. 10:00-3:00 at the Pacific Aquaculture and Coastal Resources Center on Kalanianiole Road in Hilo’s Keaukaha. It’s a community outreach event to raise awareness of current issues concerning ocean resources, safety, and conservation. It’s hosted by the Pacific Aquaculture and Coastal Resources Center and the UHH Marine Science Department. Educational presentations; hands-on activities; food and drinks for purchase. For details, call 933-0706.

Classes at Hi`iaka’s Garden:

Call 966-6126 or visit www.hiiakas.com to register.
April 14: Herbal Cosmetics: Make an herbal hair rinse, a wrinkle remover, a guava acne mask, a papaya leaf exfoliant, and more!
April 21: Herb-Drug Interactions and Equivalencies: Learn which herbs perform the same jobs as over-the-counter and prescription drugs and which herbs should not be taken with them.
April 28: Noni Needn’t Taste Nasty: Learn all about Noni, the wondrous healing fruit. Make a healing skin cream and tasty culinary recipes.

ON THE WEB:
www.hps-online.com/hliver.htm
www.cnn.com/HEALTH/library/DG/00022.html
www.princeton.edu
www.nationmaster.com/encyclopedia/Alcoholic-beverage
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liver
www.liverdoctor.com
www.herbalcaredirect.com
www.uhh.hawaii.edu/~pacrc/oceanday.shtml
www.herbsforhealth.com
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Barbara Fahs is the owner and creator of Hi`iaka's Healing Herb Garden, LLC and author of the book Super Simple Guide to Creating Hawaiian Gardens. Contact her at 966-6126 or www.hiiakas.com.