Tag Archives: Liver Function

The Liver and Natural Weight Loss

My Sad, Drunken Cat

Although most people know that they can’t live without the liver, few are aware of the important role that this organ plays in weight loss. Your survival is dependent on the liver’s ability to detoxify various chemicals – the most familiar one being alcohol, but weight control is also dependent on a healthy liver. That’s because the liver either produces or activates ALL of the hormones in the body that are necessary for fat-burning. Without optimal liver function, natural weight loss becomes a very difficult goal to achieve.

Due to chronic abuse of the liver through things like heavy alcohol use, using medications and drugs, and bad eating habits, especially an overconsumption of fats and heavy animal-based proteins, the liver can become overloaded and irritation can result. This results in an inflammatory response in the abominal cavity, which results in an accumulation of fluid (called ascites). As the retained fluids collect in the stomach area, the stomach will often begin to protrude outward, producing the appearance that is sometimes called a “beer belly”. In women, the problem can get bad enough that the protruding belly makes them look pregnant when they are not. For people with this water weight deposition, weight loss can be frustrating because exercise will not “burn it off” – because it’s not fat. Since natural weight loss approaches fail to get results in these situations, some people resort to diet drugs, which may work at first, but ultimately harm the liver even more and create even more abdominal water retention.

Ironically, with water weight gain associated with liver dysfunction, some diet plans and weight loss products can actually make the situation worse and lead to even more fluid retention. The Atkin’s diet, because it is so high in protein and fat, tends to be hard on the liver and will often lead to even more retaining of fluid. Certain products sold to help with weight loss may have ingredients that further stress and irritate the liver and result in even more water retention in the long-run.

In addition to the water retention issue, good liver function is necessary for the proper production and/or activation of the hormones that stimulate fat burning. For instance, the liver is needed to convert the inactive form of thyroid hormone (T4) to the active form (T3). When the liver is overworked and cannot do the hormone conversions efficiently, the body cannot burn fat efficiently, no matter how much exercise you may do or what other natural weight loss steps you take.

In addition to activating fat-burning hormones as with thyroid hormone, the liver produces insulin-like growth factor (IGF), which is another fat-burning hormone. IGF controls blood sugar during the relatively long-period that you go without eating during sleep. When you are asleep at night, your blood sugar levels fall and the liver generates IGF to cause the fat tissues to burn fat to boost blood sugar. Again, if liver function is not as good as it should be, this hormone is not produced efficiently and you don’t burn as much fat. The other thing that occurs is that your blood sugar will go lower than it should and you wake up in the morning feeling very fatigued and irritable.

At this point you may be wondering what steps you need to take to help improve liver function to help alleviate abdominal water retention and to help better activate your fat burning hormones to stimulate natural weight loss? To begin with, it is important to reduce the detoxification load on the liver. Drastically reducing alcohol consumption and avoiding all but those medications that are absolutely necessary is an important step. If possible, I recommend avoiding alcohol and non-essential medications entirely for at least a few weeks to give the liver an opportunity to recover.

The next step is to clean up you diet to make things as easy as possible on the liver. Probably the simplest and most effective approach is to eat pretty much a vegetarian diet for 14 to 21 days, sticking to mostly fresh vegetables and fresh fruit and using beans, seeds, nuts, and nut and seed butters as your main protein sources. If you can’t do that, it is advisable to at least cut out fried and greasy foods and high-fat meats for a while. The better your diet, the faster you’ll lose the retained water in the abdomen and the faster you’ll make real progress on losing weight.

There are various “liver de-tox” products on the market that contain some combination of herbs and/or nutrients that are reputed to be beneficial for the liver. These can be useful in more extreme cases or for those who simply aren’t willing to take the dietary and other lifestyle measures just described. In my opinion, changing the diet and implementing the other natural weight loss lifestyle factors is a much more effective way to go, but using a liver detoxification product is probably better than doing nothing. Because some of these products contain herbs that can interact with certain prescription medications, it is strongly recommended that you consult with a physician or a pharmacist before using any of these products if you are on prescription drugs.

In addition to weight loss, as liver function improves, your skin usually becomes clearer and your mood and energy level will typically improve, especially in the morning. People with chronic headaches often notice that the headaches become less frequent and may go away altogether. In addition, pains in the right shoulder and shoulder blade area can be referred from the liver and some people experience relief of these pains as the health of the liver improves.

It should be noted that as the liver recovers and the body stops retaining water in the abdomen, you will typically lose weight very rapidly (it could be 5 pounds or more per day!) and you will need to urinate frequently (that’s how the body gets rid of the excess water). Once the extra water is gone, the weight loss will slow down. If you continue on a natural weight loss program, a reasonable expectation after you have lost the water weight is about 1 to 2 pounds per week.

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Lower Cholesterol And Boost Liver Function With The Ayurvedic Herb Guggul

Charcuterie Platter

Guggul is gum resin that can be used to lower cholesterol and boost your liver function, though it has been used for thousands of years in India to treat a number of diseases and conditions. However, its mode of action is completely different to that of most other cholesterol lowering agents.

The active ingredient is known as guggulsterone, which is a plant sterol that increases the amount of body cholesterol into bile acids by the liver. Bile acids are an essential part of our digestion system, working to emulsify the oils and fats we eat and covert them into a form suitable for transferring to the blood and use elsewhere in the body. They also help the body make use of fat soluble vitamins such as vitamins A and E.

The resin used in this Ayurvedic remedy comes from the stem of a tree called Mukul myrrh that grows throughout India. Ayurvedic medicine is said to have originated from ancient Hindu texts, but is now thought to have evolved over thousands of years. The basis of the medicine is contained in two Sanskrit texts written on palm leaves and form the basis of modern Ayurvedic training. Guggul has been used for millennia in the treatment of skin conditions, rheumatism, arthritis, cardiovascular problems and high cholesterol.

Being an oily fat, cholesterol is not soluble in blood plasma and hence cannot be carried around the body without a carrier. These carriers are known as low density lipoproteins and high density lipoproteins. The LDL carries cholesterol to where it is needed by the body, and is a sticky substance that can also deposit cholesterol in the arteries that are carrying it. This can form a hard coating on the inside of the arteries called plaque, and effectively narrow them and harden them up.

This atherosclerosis, as it is called, is a dangerous condition, and if a blood clot encounters the narrow part of an artery so affected it can be blocked. If in the heart, then this can cause a heart attack, and if in the brain it can give rise to a stroke, both potentially fatal conditions.

HDL, on the other hand, carries excess cholesterol back to the liver for destruction or conversion to bile, and is a free flowing liquid material known as good cholesterol. Cholesterol is needed by the body and so cannot be eliminated completely. That would be even more dangerous. One of the major functions of cholesterol in the liver is in the production of bile that is used by your digestive process to emulsify fats. Any compound that could also carry out this vital function would mean that liver would have less cholesterol to manufacture.

Your body receives a dietary supply of cholesterol from fatty animal sources such as meat, fats, eggs and dairy products such as cheese and butter. There is no cholesterol in purely vegetable foods. However, that does not mean that vegans have no cholesterol, since as stated earlier, it is an essential substance in the bodys metabolism. In fact, the liver is able to generate all the cholesterol you need, and that which is taken in your diet is superfluous.

The liver can manufacture cholesterol from the trans and saturated fats in your diet, and there are several sources of these. Included among them are popcorn, vegetable shortening such as found in cookies and donuts and other manufactured bakery products made from hydrogenated margarines and oils widely used in the bakery industry. Also from rapeseed and palm oils and coconuts. Saturated fats are also contained in French fries and similar fried foods using certain vegetable oils, and also potato chips. Even vegetarians and vegans can suffer from high cholesterol levels.

Cholesterol is manufactured in the liver and taken up by LDL for distribution by the blood. However, a large proportion of that cholesterol is used by the liver to manufacture bile, essential for digestion of fats. This bile is stored in the gall bladder, and released into the upper intestine on the ingestion of fatty food. The bile acids and fats pass down the intestine, where the fats are emulsified into a form suitable for absorption by the body.

The bile acids are then absorbed in the final part of the ileum by proteins that carry them back to the liver where they are recirculated into the bile. Once the level of bile acids in the body reaches a certain level, a chemical known as the Farnesoid X Receptor (FXR) stops the liver from converting cholesterol into bile. Although only 5% of the bile is excreted from the body and needs replaced, this still accounts for 50% of the bodys usage of cholesterol.

The production of bile from cholesterol operates on a closed loop system, with a feedback that maintains a constant level of bile acids. The feedback is controlled by FXR that detects the current level of bile acids and represses the enzyme (CYP7A1) that stimulates bile manufacture until a minimum level has been reached when the CYP7A1 is re-activated.

By blocking the action of FXR, the guggulsterone in guggul continues the conversion of cholesterol to bile acids by the liver without interruption. The liver has to use more LDL cholesterol for this and so reduces the overall amount of cholesterol in the body, specifically the LDL type.

A double blind study in India showed a total cholesterol reduction of 11.7%, including a 12.7% reduction in LDL and a 12% reduction in blood fat (triglyceride) levels, and other studies have indicated a total cholesterol reduction of up to 27% and triglycerides of up to 30%. The Indians believe guggul to be so effective that is has been approved as a treatment for high cholesterol by the Indian government. The connection with FXR has been confirmed by testing with mice with and without FXR.

Another factor in high cholesterol levels is that an under-active thyroid can interfere with the livers ability to process cholesterol. Guggul stimulates then production of thyroid hormones, and so can help to reduce excessive LDL cholesterol in the blood cause through a low level of thyroid hormone production.

Overall, then, this Ayurvedic remedy for many ills can help anyone who needs to reduce the level of cholesterol and triglycerides in their blood. Recommended dosages are about 1500 mg twice daily, though if you are also taking statins or are under treatment for cancer you should first consult your doctor, as you should with all natural remedies that are new to you.

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Boozing Harms Losing Belly Fat

Lipo Release

Copyright (c) 2007 Personal Fitness Development

As we attempt to cope and deal with the pressures in our lives, alcohol consumption is becoming too much of the norm. We release our stress sometimes via an alcoholic beverage or two without thinking about the cause and effect it can have on your waist line, appetite and overall health.

I am not here to bash having a drink or two, but I am going to encourage anyone who wants to lose body fat to rethink their drinking habits.

First and foremost, alcohol is a poison and your body must fight to get it out of your system. It directly impairs liver function thus severely hampering your metabolism of fat. If fat loss is your main goal moderation is a key. I have trained many adults who like there nightly beverage, but they never or rarely lose body fat. I would suggest limiting alcohol consumption to once a week if fat loss is your goal.

When your liver is processing alcohol it will stop all other metabolic functions. It will do so until it rids your body of ethanol toxicity which is the by product of alcoholic consumption. This process leads many times to stubborn fat, high cholesterol, high blood pressure and syndrome X.

Drinking in excess will also contribute to fat gain not loss. If you think you are going to gain muscle mass while drinking think again! Your liver is to0 busy doing something it does not want to do, process alcohol instead of amino acids. In addition, alcohol reduces testosterone.

We have not even touched on how many extra calories alcohol consumption can add to your daily caloric intake. As my good friend Tom Venuto states, “Those calories add up so quickly.” Think about how much you consume and the caloric value of each drink. Alcohol contains 7 calories per gram. This is almost twice that of carbohydrates and protein and just under the 9 grams per calorie for fat. Here is an example: consuming 2-3 drinks a day can add up to over 400 calories extra each and every day. Multiply that by one week and you are over 2700 calories extra. That is over a half a pound.

According to studies drinking alcohol increases visceral adipose tissue. This is the fat around your body organs. NOT HEALTHY! Other studies suggest alcohol consumption increases and stimulates appetite. I remember when I went through my Nutrition and Lifestyle Courses, alcohol was an afternoon subject and I recall this sobering thought, “If you really want to piss off your entire digestive system and set your body up for a total metabolic nightmare, drink alcohol before you eat.”

Another item I have learned from Tom Venuto was the simple but often overlooked factor that by doing something everyday becomes habit-forming behavior. The daily routine of consuming an innocent evening drink will lead to the ill affects of alcohol consumption.

Consuming alcohol again stops all fat burning, adds extra calories, increases estrogen level (stubborn fat), increases appetite and makes you more easily persuaded to eat that entire cheese cake.

There are some simple guidelines you can follow that will not only help you stay on the fat burning path, but will encourage better overall health.

Drinking red wine is much better for you then drinking beer. Red wine contains some good things that can benefit your health. On the other hand consuming beer, which contains hops and are highly estrogenic, will lead to more fat gain and harder fat loss.

Try to stay away from extra sweet drinks with added sugars. This will keep your blood sugar from a massive spike while having a drink. Have you ever wondered why are these drinks are so popular?

I would highly suggest that you read my stubborn fat solutions report (and you think you have stubborn fat) and to avoid alcohol for at least two weeks while your detoxify your liver and get started on a friendly fat burning environment.

Follow the European model; eat some fat or protein with your wine. The more food you have in your belly the slower the absorption. It also aids in insulin regulation. Avoid high carbohydrates snack with alcohol. It carries many metabolic problems like insulin elevation and high fat levels in your blood stream.

According to nutrition author Ori Hofmelkere if you are going to consume alcohol red wine is the best and beer is the worst.

Some common problems with alcohol consumption are:

Reduced testosterone, developement of additional estrogen, problems with hydration and Inability to absorb vital nutrients

In summary, I would suggest eating an anti-estrogenic, well- balanced diet and minimize alcohol consumption until you reach your fat loss goals. This will also aid in your quest for a set of six pack abs.

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Liver Detoxification: Why it Works to Slim Your Abs

Fried Chicken Livers

Radiologists and gastroenterologists claim that, after looking at many peoples livers, 50% of middle-aged Americans have a condition called “fatty liver”. The most common causes are poor diet, excessive use of alcohol, toxic chemicals, heavy metals, and hepatitis. Liver disease has many symptoms: nausea, vomiting, malaise, fatigue, yellowing of the skin and/or eyes, and a swollen abdomen. The list goes on and on. You can easily determine if your liver function is not right by having a blood test. Luckily, there are many methods of detoxifying your liver.

Before you jump into a liver detoxification process, you should know some of the key nutrients needed to insure its success. An adequate supply of the antioxidants vitamin C, selenium, beta carotene, vitamin E, and N-acetyl-cysteine(NAC) is very much needed. The amino acid SAM-E is an important component in lever health. This article will show the relation of these nutrients and different ways to detoxify your liver, as well as how each of those methods actually works in your body.

Milk thistle is a plant originally from Southern Europe and North Africa. It can also be found in Southern Russia and Asia Minor. Its use, as it pertains to liver detoxification, is derived from a flavonoid, called silymarin, found in the seeds. Herbalists, including a group of scientists known as Commission E, recognize that silymarin protects the liver by altering and strengthening the outer cell membrane of hepatacytes(liver cells). It also stimulates the natural regenerative capabilities of the liver and helps in the formation of new heptacytes through the activation of the enzyme nucleolar polymerase A.

Oral chelation is used to detoxify the liver based on the belief that small amount of heavy metals are ingested by many people. These minute amounts accumulate over the years and begin to effect liver function. To stop there effect you need to eliminate these heavy metals. The best way to do this is through your stool. That is why you should have 2-3 bowel movements per day when detoxifying your liver in this manner. Most of the supplements in this program target the mercury in your body. Mercury, and other heavy metals, lead to the release of “free radicals” that can cause cancer, Some of the supplements pull the mercury from your body tissue, while others bind to the freed metal. All combine to get the metals into your stool so that your body can eliminate them.

The “Liver Flush” theory holds that there are dozens of gallstones that are choking the connection between the liver and the gallbladder( the biliary duct). Because of this the liver does not produce enough bile and what bile is formed is full of the bacteria and toxins the liver filters from your body. The “Liver Flush” reverses this by causing those gallstones to soften or break up so that they can be removed in your bowel. This is a complicated process, but all of the information that you will need is available on the internet for free.

Lastly, there is the coffee enema. The use of coffee is for liver detoxification, not colon cleansing. As funny as it may sound, it has been used in cancer therapy and alternative medicine for years. There is a duct in the sigmoid colon that connects it to the liver. It is referred to as the entero-hepatic circulation system. Toxins are transferred from the stool to the liver to be neutralized. The caffeine causes the bile ducts to empty into the sigmoid colon. This releases the toxins from the liver and allows them to be eliminated in the stool.

All of these methods of liver detoxification are safe to be used by people in good health, who are weak, and those who are ill. The basics ov liver detoxification revolve around eliminating the build up of toxins in the liver. Whether they do it by removing heavy metals or opening obstructions between the liver and the gallbladder, they all acknowledge the great importance of a healthy liver. A healthy is smaller than one filled with toxins, this causes a slimmer abdomen and better looking abs.

Eating At Night: Can You Lose Body Fat

Can you lose body fat even if you eat at night? That is an age old question. To make it more interesting; there are experts who say you can and still others that swear eating at night is the greatest weight loss sin you can commit. The truth lays somewhere in the grey area between. It is not a black and white topic, so why would there be a black and white answer. Here are a few facts, thoughts, and practical suggestions that may help you make up your own mind and guide you through your weight loss attempts.

Eating at night in, and of, itself will not make you fat. There are too many other things involved to make such a huge generalization. One of the biggest factors is caloric intake and the amount of energy used by your body each day. With that in mind, it is possible to eat a meal right before you go to bed and still lose body fat. It is what compromises that meal that matters. First, you have to be in a caloric deficit situation. Second, the meal must have an appropriate carbohydrate content. The common sense of eating the bulk of your calories and carb density while you are the most active is easy to see.

To figure out when your body is in a calorie deficit situation you only need to think about what time of day you work out. Your body will be calorie strapped in the period after you work out. You will want to consume a meal rich in protein and carbs afterwards, no matter what time of day it is. Post workout nutrition is important for recovery and muscle mass growth. Eating after a night time workout is unlikely to create fat because the caloric content is needed to fill you body’s depleted energy stores.

Is it possible to eat at night, be a fairly inactive person, and still lose body fat? There is the fifty dollar question. The magic answer is…drum roll please… watch what you eat! You have a craving about 9 p.m. You are bored. Why not eat something to occupy your hands and distract yourself. What do you grab? Chips, pretzels, candy, a big hunk of leftovers? What you really get are carbs, fats, and sugars that your body will store as a beautiful spare tire or some junk in your trunk. You can eat but you have to think. A little twist on the “exchange diet” will help. Pretzels are exchanged for carrots. Chips equal raw broccoli or cauliflower. These are foods that are filling, both in your hands and stomach, harder to digest, and healthy. Raw vegetables use more calories to digest than other foods while helping to nourish your body. If you are thirsty, drop the soda or fruit juice. No soda for obvious reasons, but avoid the fruit juice because the simple, natural sugars it contains will be turned into fat cells more easily, by your body. Try water with a teaspoon of lemon juice or another flavor of your choice.

All quality weight loss and fat reduction programs stress the importance of a healthy caloric intake. Where they differ is how and when to eat. A good, even, intake is best. Especially one that allows you to eat small, frequent meals. Moderation and nutrition are key elements in any program. It is possible to eat at night and lose body fat if you keep these two things in mind. Watch your calories and time the bulk of protein and carbs so that they are consumed shortly after a food workout. Eat smart. Combine these tips and you will be able to eat late and lose weight. Special thanks to Ori Hofmekler – warriordiet.com

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Lower Cholesterol And Boost Liver Function With The Ayurvedic Herb Guggul Extract

Homemade Chopped (Duck) Liver

Guggul is gum resin that can be used to lower cholesterol and boost your liver function, though it has been used for thousands of years in India to treat a number of diseases and conditions. However, its mode of action is completely different to that of most other cholesterol lowering agents.

The active ingredient is known as guggulsterone, which is a plant sterol that increases the amount of body cholesterol into bile acids by the liver. Bile acids are an essential part of our digestion system, working to emulsify the oils and fats we eat and covert them into a form suitable for transferring to the blood and use elsewhere in the body. They also help the body make use of fat soluble vitamins such as vitamins A and E.

The resin used in this Ayurvedic remedy comes from the stem of a tree called Mukul myrrh that grows throughout India. Ayurvedic medicine is said to have originated from ancient Hindu texts, but is now thought to have evolved over thousands of years. The basis of the medicine is contained in two Sanskrit texts written on palm leaves and form the basis of modern Ayurvedic training. Guggul extract has been used for millennia in the treatment of skin conditions, rheumatism, arthritis, cardiovascular problems and high cholesterol.

Being an oily fat, cholesterol is not soluble in blood plasma and hence cannot be carried around the body without a carrier. These carriers are known as low density lipoproteins and high density lipoproteins. The LDL carries cholesterol to where it is needed by the body, and is a sticky substance that can also deposit cholesterol in the arteries that are carrying it. This can form a hard coating on the inside of the arteries called plaque, and effectively narrow them and harden them up.

This atherosclerosis, as it is called, is a dangerous condition, and if a blood clot encounters the narrow part of an artery so affected it can be blocked. If in the heart, then this can cause a heart attack, and if in the brain it can give rise to a stroke, both potentially fatal conditions.

HDL, on the other hand, carries excess cholesterol back to the liver for destruction or conversion to bile, and is a free flowing liquid material known as good cholesterol. Cholesterol is needed by the body and so cannot be eliminated completely. That would be even more dangerous. One of the major functions of cholesterol in the liver is in the production of bile that is used by your digestive process to emulsify fats. Any compound that could also carry out this vital function would mean that liver would have less cholesterol to manufacture.

Your body receives a dietary supply of cholesterol from fatty animal sources such as meat, fats, eggs and dairy products such as cheese and butter. There is no cholesterol in purely vegetable foods. However, that does not mean that vegans have no cholesterol, since as stated earlier, it is an essential substance in the bodys metabolism. In fact, the liver is able to generate all the cholesterol you need, and that which is taken in your diet is superfluous.

The liver can manufacture cholesterol from the trans and saturated fats in your diet, and there are several sources of these. Included among them are popcorn, vegetable shortening such as found in cookies and donuts and other manufactured bakery products made from hydrogenated margarines and oils widely used in the bakery industry. Also from rapeseed and palm oils and coconuts. Saturated fats are also contained in French fries and similar fried foods using certain vegetable oils, and also potato chips. Even vegetarians and vegans can suffer from high cholesterol levels.

Cholesterol is manufactured in the liver and taken up by LDL for distribution by the blood. However, a large proportion of that cholesterol is used by the liver to manufacture bile, essential for digestion of fats. This bile is stored in the gall bladder, and released into the upper intestine on the ingestion of fatty food. The bile acids and fats pass down the intestine, where the fats are emulsified into a form suitable for absorption by the body.

The bile acids are then absorbed in the final part of the ileum by proteins that carry them back to the liver where they are recirculated into the bile. Once the level of bile acids in the body reaches a certain level, a chemical known as the Farnesoid X Receptor (FXR) stops the liver from converting cholesterol into bile. Although only 5% of the bile is excreted from the body and needs replaced, this still accounts for 50% of the bodys usage of cholesterol.

The production of bile from cholesterol operates on a closed loop system, with a feedback that maintains a constant level of bile acids. The feedback is controlled by FXR that detects the current level of bile acids and represses the enzyme (CYP7A1) that stimulates bile manufacture until a minimum level has been reached when the CYP7A1 is re-activated.

By blocking the action of FXR, the guggulsterone in guggul extract continues the conversion of cholesterol to bile acids by the liver without interruption. The liver has to use more LDL cholesterol for this and so reduces the overall amount of cholesterol in the body, specifically the LDL type.

A double blind study in India showed a total cholesterol reduction of 11.7%, including a 12.7% reduction in LDL and a 12% reduction in blood fat (triglyceride) levels, and other studies have indicated a total cholesterol reduction of up to 27% and triglycerides of up to 30%. The Indians believe guggul extract to be so effective that is has been approved as a treatment for high cholesterol by the Indian government. The connection with FXR has been confirmed by testing with mice with and without FXR.

Another factor in high cholesterol levels is that an under-active thyroid can interfere with the livers ability to process cholesterol. Guggul extract stimulates then production of thyroid hormones, and so can help to reduce excessive LDL cholesterol in the blood cause through a low level of thyroid hormone production.

Overall, then, this Ayurvedic remedy for many ills can help anyone who needs to reduce the level of cholesterol and triglycerides in their blood. Recommended dosages are about 1500 mg twice daily, though if you are also taking statins or are under treatment for cancer you should first consult your doctor, as you should with all natural remedies that are new to you.

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