Why a lil of TLC for the liver can have a dramatic impact on your hormones

Our livers are an integral part of our immunity and hormone balance. If there is congestion there, things start to get out of balance.  So, making sure we love our livers is a crucial part of reversing hormonal imbalances, improving our immune system, and helping our body to be at the top of its game when it comes to detoxification.

Our livers are our main detoxification organ. Anything that comes into the body, at some point, will pass through the liver. The prescriptions we take, the alcohol we drink, the things we put on our skin, the pesticides we are exposed to, the plastics and heavy metals that surround us,  and the environmental toxins you breathe in, will pass through the liver.  If you have thyroid problems, the liver is the place that your T4 is converted to T3, so if things aren't going well in the body, the liver is a VERY good place to start cleaning things up. 

How do we do that?  The answer to that is long, but first, let's look at how the liver operates. There are two main phases of liver detoxification.

Phase 1 is the "detoxification" phase.  Here the toxins are broken down into less harmful compounds. When we break down these toxins, it produces free radicals. Glutathione is our body's master antioxidant and comes into play here. However, for most of us, our livers are overburdened these days and not as efficient.  Glutathione can be recycled, but once the burden is too large, it malfunctions and is unable to help break down these toxins as effectively. Key foods to help support this phase are the cruciferous, sulfur producing veggies, choline (found in eggs), milk thistle, and a good amount of clean protein.

Phase 2 is known as the "conjugation" phase. Here, the toxins are bound together to shuttle them out safely through several detoxification pathways. Methylation is important here - if you have a MTHFR gene mutation, this is even more important for you.  Beets, folate, and the B vitamins B6 and B12 help with this pathway, which clears estrogen and heavy metals out of our system. There is also the sulfation pathway, where estrogen, thyroid hormone, progesterone, and several others are cleared from the body.  Sulphur-rich veggies are key here. Think onions, garlic, broccoli, and mushrooms.

The other pathways are supported by vitamin C, milk thistle, magnesium, and glycine, found in bone broth.

Now that we’ve gotten the heavy science out of the way, what does this mean for everyday life?

1. Cleaning up the chemicals we are exposed to, as much as possible, is a huge step in the right direction. This means trying to find the cleanest makeup and skin care options. Look to get rid of phthalates, parabens, aluminum, formaldehyde, sodium lauryl sulfate, and synthetic colors, to name a few.

2. Limit the amount of man-made oils we cook with, like canola and vegetable oil. These take a toll on our health, especially the liver, and offer no benefit to overall wellbeing.

3. Limit the amount of xenoestrogens we expose ourselves to. These mimic real estrogen and block the receptor sites that our real estrogen need to bind to.  These include BPA, BPS, and BPF in plastics, cleaning products, food dyes, herbicides, pesticides, and even carpets. These lead to excess estrogen floating around in our bodies that our liver cannot keep up with.

These are just a starting point but can have a dramatic effort in decreasing our liver burden and empowering our overall health.

Pick one thing on this list you can change and start this week , then add another change the next week. Baby steps will ultimately lead to positive improvement.

Photography by Beth Morgan