Do You Need to Detox Your Liver? A Cleveland Clinic Expert Has the Verdict
Liver detox tea, supplements, and other products promise to cleanse this heavy-lifting organ—here's what to try instead. The post Do You Need to Detox Your Liver? A Cleveland Clinic Expert Has the Verdict appeared first on The Healthy.
The sun is getting ready to set on summer, and if the concerts, ball games, and picnics have taxed your system a little extra… Perhaps you’re wondering if you need a liver detox to reset before entering a new fall routine.
Kristin Kirkpatrick, MS, RDN, is a registered dietitian at the Cleveland Clinic who suggests a different way of understanding it. “The liver is probably one of our most incredible organs in terms of its ability to do a lot of things at once,” she says. “It is your detox center. So, the question that I tell my patients that we should be asking is not so much, Where can I get a good liver detox?, but more so, how can I support my liver to do the job it’s already meant to do?”
That part doesn’t necessarily come down to the detox teas, turmeric drinks, and supplements seen across our social media feeds, purporting to offer a diet cleanse. Instead, Kirkpatrick lists strategies that have been demonstrated to support healthy liver function: exercising, eating whole foods, and maintaining a healthy weight.
What to eat…and avoid
The Cleveland Clinic notes that foods to help achieve all this are berries, fish with fatty acids, legumes, nuts, and beans. As for liver-healthy drinks, they suggest coffee and green tea.
Things to avoid are foods with sugar, as well as sodas and alcohol. “We have recent studies that have come out showing that alcohol really has no health benefits,” Kirkpatrick comments. “We know that it is something that can be really harmful to the liver, especially for individuals that already have problems with their liver to begin with.”
So with fall around the corner—and, before you know it, the heavy treats of the holidays—think about tuning up your liver health (with the guidance of a healthcare professional) so it’s optimized to do the rest.
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The post Do You Need to Detox Your Liver? A Cleveland Clinic Expert Has the Verdict appeared first on The Healthy.