Forget "Cleanses": Real Ways to Love Your Liver instead
Ah, January. Holiday dust has settled and the detox buzz begins. Juice cleanses, expensive supplements, promises of "flushing out toxins"— all very tempting. Do you need it?
Happy new year PH fam🤗! Beyond grateful to start another healthy and impactful year with you all 🦋!
If you want:
✅ More energy & mental clarity
✅ Less PMS
✅ Less bloating and clearer skin
✅ Better blood sugar control
You’d Be Wise to LOVE ON YOUR LIVER
Our liver is a multitasking marvel, handling over 400 functions every day. It processes nutrients, detoxifies our blood, metabolizes hormones, produces bile to aid digestion, and stores vitamins and minerals.
But modern life throws a lot at it—stress, poor diet, environmental toxins—and when the liver gets overwhelmed, it can affect almost everything:
Hormones (think PMS, fatigue, or mood swings)
Gut health (bloating, constipation, or poor digestion)
Skin health (acne, dullness, or irritation)
Energy levels (feeling sluggish or tired)
Don’t fall for the gimmicky detoxes and cleanses—they are not REAL detoxes.
Story time 👩🏻🏫
A few years ago, a client came to me and told me that she was found to be lead toxic. She took a ‘detox kit’ that consisted of a charcoal and zeolite-based binder from her doctor. Unfortunately, instead of feeling better—she felt WORSE. She became dizzy and had to stay in bed. 🤢
What happened? These ‘binders’ latch onto toxins in our bodies like magnets. Sounds great, right? Not so fast. If your detox pathways aren’t open, these toxins become stuck in the gut (and then re-absorbed into the blood) - so they never truly leave! Her symptoms were attributed to a “detox reaction’ - but really, it was a symptom of toxins being stirred up and not being able to leave 📈 (And the binders were probably contaminated too! Be careful with ‘binders’).
You see, our detox organs work like instruments in an orchestra. Our liver, gut, lymphatic system, kidneys, and sweat glands all do their part in perfect symphony to help us eliminate toxins. Each instrument plays at the right time at the right volume to create a beautiful symphony.
However, most detoxes take a myopic view and only tackle ONE part of the detox pathways. This is like silencing all the instruments and letting just one play—it will NOT create beautiful music.
By the same token, toxins don’t leave our bodies efficiently when you only take ‘liver supplements’ or do a ‘juice cleanse.’ We need to optimize our gut health, bile flow, lymphatics, and kidneys before we even consider taking a binder.
5 Foods to Love Your Liver Right Now
Here are five nutrient-dense foods to help your liver function at its best. They're delicious, easy to incorporate into your meals, and they don't require you to starve or sip on green sludge for a week.
1. Cruciferous vegetables 🥦
Broccoli, Bok Choi, Brussels sprouts, Daikon - take your pick. Many of these are in season right now. If I’m travelling and can’t access my beloved broccoli sprouts, I supplement with them.
How to enjoy: sauté your Bok Choi with some garlic, add Daikon to your soups, or make a Daikon/carrot salad as a side.
2. Artichokes
These beauties do more than shine in a creamy dip. Artichokes help with bile flow, a crucial but often ignored part of detoxification. They're also rich in prebiotics, giving your gut some love, which in turn helps your liver thrive.
How to enjoy: Steam them, grill them, or whip up a delicious artichoke dip. (Recipe below!)
3. Arugula
This peppery, bitter green is part of the cruciferous vegetable family, known for supporting liver detox. Bitter foods like arugula also encourage healthy bile flow.
How to enjoy: Pair arugula with beets in a salad for the perfect combo of bitter and sweet. Add walnuts and goat cheese for extra flavor and nutrients.
4. Beets
Beets add natural sweetness to salads, baked goods, and savory dishes. They're great for liver health and pair beautifully with bitter greens.
How to enjoy: Add grated beets to muffins, roast them for a salad, or blend them into smoothies for a burst of color and nutrients.
5. Garlic/Leeks 🧄
These sulfur-rich foods are great for liver AND gut health, not to mention their anti-microbial properties 🤧.
How to enjoy: Leeks are great in soups, and I throw garlic into everything! Sautéed veggies, soups, pasta sauces, you name it.
Other major nutrients our liver needs to detox properly:
Zinc: pumpkin seeds, oyster/seafood
Magnesium - avocado, almonds, chia seeds, chocolate
B vitamins - I supplement with a complex, but you can get them from organ meats and leafy greens.
If you’re like me and love the details, I have included a diagram from an article by Dr. Cline showing the detox pathway of our liver.1 Now, first thing to notice is that this is a busy diagram, and it goes to show why popping liver supplements is not likely to move the needle for you if you haven't optimized your diet and lifestyle.
Lifestyle Tips to Help Your Detox Organs
Detoxing isn’t about overpriced supplements or juices. It’s about nourishing your body with nutrients and making lifestyle choices that help you thrive.
1. Manage Your Stress
Stress pushes your body into a sympathetic dominant state (a.k.a. "fight or flight" mode). In this state, detoxification takes a backseat because your body thinks you’re in danger and needs to run for your life!
Let’s be real: life is stressful. No one lives a "stress-free" existence. But you can keep stress in check. Try 5-10 minutes of breathwork each day—it’s simple and effective, and your detox pathways will thank you. If you have more time, carve out 20 minutes for meditation or time in nature, which has been shown to reduce our stress hormones.
2. Move Your Body
Exercise isn’t just for your muscles; it boosts glutathione production, our body’s master detoxifier. Plus, sweat has been shown to contain heavy metals and BPA too, so this could be a helpful way to eliminate some toxins.
Even a 20-minute brisk walk while you’re on a work call counts. Do what you can. I love incorporating exercise ‘snacks’ throughout the day. Every 45 minutes, I will get up from my desk and do 5 minutes of exercise, whether that’s jumping jacks or body weight squats. Move your body daily and let your detox organs do their thing.
3. Take out that trash
If you’re not pooping, you’re not detoxing. After your liver breaks down toxins, it sends them to your gut for elimination. But if you’re constipated or your gut health is out of whack, those toxins can be reabsorbed back into your body.
Prioritize fiber 🌱 and hydration 💧 to keep things moving—literally, and if you are struggling, check with your doctor, but magnesium supplements may help. You can check out my in-depth article on magnesium below.
Final thoughts
Our body already knows how to detox—it’s a natural, ongoing process. It should not be a once-a-year thing you do in January… ‘detox reactions’, anyone? Yup - you can avoid that if you just give your liver the nutrients it needs to function at its best and reduce the toxic load being laid on it daily.
Real food, daily movement, hydration with clean water, pooping 1-2x a day, and stress management are the foundations of effective detoxification. Remember, lasting health comes from consistency, not quick fixes. 💪
P.S. If you want my exact blueprint for effective detoxification strategies so you can maintain these habits for life, join my signature Detox Right course, where I teach you how to support your detox organs the RIGHT way. No gimmicky ‘cleanses’ involved.
And because you are in my inner circle, I have a discount code for you to get $200 off the Detox Right course. Just enter code SUB200 at check-out (offer open now and expires 9th Jan 2025).
I'm an affiliate for some of the products linked on my website. I get asked about products I use and love all the time, and by being an affiliate, I can negotiate discount codes to share with you, plus earn a small commission if you use my code or link to purchase. This helps me to support my research so that I can continue to provide the content on my platform, thank you so much for your support.
Cline JC. Nutritional aspects of detoxification in clinical practice. Altern Ther Health Med. 2015 May-Jun;21(3):54-62. PMID: 26026145.
So wonderful Dr Viv! Will you have another sale on the program this coming January?🙏🏼