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My Favorite Gentle Liver Support and Why We Need Gentle Support Sometimes
Liver support is one of the MOST important aspects of overall healing. It is a very big step in my foundational care recommendations as well. Everyone with a chronic illness needs some sort of liver love! It’s just a fact. The liver has over 500 jobs, so when we become ill with anything, the liver will play a role in healing us again. You can read my giant liver healing post here!
Those with incredibly stressed out adrenals might have problems with heavy liver support so I wanted to make a list of gentle liver lovers for those that might need it. I am a huge believe in going “low and slow” with introducing any new herb or supplement to begin with, but it is especially important with liver healing.
We didn’t get sick in a day, so we will not heal in a day. Trying to force your liver to work better when it is incredibly overloaded is not going to make you heal faster. Slow and steady is often the best way to heal!
If you are struggling with liver issues and want guidance on how to heal, HTMA is the best place to start. A properly read HTMA can help you to determine your gut function, liver health, if you’re using up nutrients due to stress (like infections, mold, etc), and more! If you are not sure where to start your healing journey, HTMA is your answer. It’s the best test to determine overall strength of the body, and can set up your foundation before you move on to work on underlying infections, mold illness, or heavy metal detox. Click here to read more about how we can help you in your healing journey.
Gentle Liver Support and Detox Ideas
I often get clients that have already been to other practitioners or “natural” doctors that were put on pretty intense detox protocols right from the start. Coffee enemas every day, sauna use several times a week, fasting, liver flushes- all of these things are rough on the body if you are incredibly weak. They can deplete you of more minerals, and many people crash if they do these things too often.
Here is my list of things that help to HEAL your liver and give it love instead of forcing it to detox:
Dandelion root tea
Dandelion tea is one of the most gentle liver supporters out there. It’s main purpose is to increase bile flow, which will help to clear the body of toxins that are currently recirculating. Tea is both gentle but very effective!
Personally, I love Traditional Medicinals tea. I still make a giant cup everyday with 2 tea bags (in my Harry Potter Tumbler, about 2/3 full with water). I usually just add a splash of grass-fed whole milk, but my main recipe calls for the milk and 1 Tablespoon of blackstrap molasses. Or you can use the tea to make a “Bulletproof” inspired beverage.
Bitter Herbs
We love bitter herb sprays to use with meals. Bitters help to stimulate stomach acid, bile flow, and digestive enzymes, so they are great for both liver and gut health. My absolute favorite bitter herb tincture is Earthley’s Digest-Support. They are easy to use, great tasting, and safe for ages 1+.
Castor Oil Packs
Castor oil is truly a magical liver healer. The best part about it is that we can go so super slow with using it. The packs themselves can be pretty strong, so starting out it is best to just rub the oil over your liver area (under the right breast). This can be enough to calm down some liver inflammation and get a little more bile moving without stressing the liver out too much. If you’re ready for full strength packs, read all about that here. You can get a great brand of castor oil right here. You can also find 2 amazing options for castor oil at Earthley.
BioRay’s Liver Lover
Most of you might already know about BioRay Liver Life, which is one of the strongest liver healers out there. Liver Lover is it’s half strength version, so a lot less potent and a lot easier to tolerate for very sensitive people. You can find Liver Lover here, and you can save 10% off with the SASSY code at checkout. Ideal dose is 2 droppers a day, but you can start super slow with just 1 drop at a time.
Earthley’s Liver Love
Earthley’s liver support is a gentle blend of herbs that support liver health. It has popular herbs like milk thistle, dandelion root, and peppermint leaf. It’s a great choice for those that just want a basic liver support.
Foods that are great for liver health
Foods are often the most gentle out of everything for liver healing. Beets, artichokes, bone broth, collagen, ginger, and whey protein are all amazing choices. Drinks like diluted apple cider vinegar, lemon or lime juice, or aloe vera are also great. Nettle leaf, oatstraw, and red raspberry leaf herbal infusions can also help with liver healing as well as nutrient replenishment.
How to Heal Naturally from Fatty Liver (NAFLD)
Over the years, I have had many clients with fatty liver. They were often told that they had it years ago but were given no direction on how to heal it! Usually they’re told to just live with it and avoid alcohol. Gee, that’s helpful right?!
Almost all of the clients I have seen with fatty liver have just needed more patience to heal their livers. The liver needs to get rid of that fat first before it can move onto healing the rest of the body. All of the above are helpful for fatty liver but the main helpers to get fat out of the liver quicker are apple cider vinegar, lemon juice, and sunflower lecithin. Other helpers are dandelion root, amla, and even licorice root (but I would use licorice in a blend like Loving Energy, not on its own, especially long term as it can be a potassium antagonist).
How to Love your Liver if you have no Gallbladder
If you already have had your gallbladder out, then it is even more imperative that you use the tools listed above as you cannot store bile at all. I would especially try to use the bitter herb supplements with each meal to help with better absorption. Anything that support bile flow will be a big helper for you. You can read a bit more about gallbladder health here.
The body is a whole and we must treat it as such! I have my Bachelor of Science in Natural Health Sciences, certificates in Herbal Studies from Herbal Academy, and I am constantly learning more about health to help my clients and followers.
My goal is to help you unleash your own inner healer! You already hold the power to heal inside you. My role is as a guide to help you realize this potential.