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If you drink alcohol from time to time, you won’t hurt your liver. However, it will be harmed by overuse and long-term drinking. This is because alcohol is metabolized in the liver.
In people addicted to alcohol, sooner or later the liver cells are damaged, and this is the main cause of many serious diseases of the organ (see liver diseases).
The liver is the factory of our quality of life, where the transformation of the ingredients provided with food takes place. Proteins, fats, carbohydrates, minerals and vitamins are processed here. The purpose of these changes is to provide the body with properly processed amino acids, energy compounds, hormones and other substances necessary for life.
The liver makes glycogen from carbohydrates. This polysaccharide ensures that normal blood glucose levels are maintained in the event of a deficiency.
Proteins are broken down into individual amino acids, which are not only the building blocks of our body, but also ensure its proper functioning, e.g. proper blood clotting.
Fat enters the liver and a large proportion of it is converted into cholesterol and lipoproteins. The liver also converts sugars and proteins into fats and burns fatty acids. Liver cells produce bile from cholesterol – without which it would not be possible to digest fats and absorb vitamins soluble in it.
The liver is also a huge storehouse of the organism, where spare fuel (glycogen) for cells and fat are stored. It is here that vitamins A, D, B12 and significant amounts of iron are stored. All these substances are released into the bloodstream at the right time, so that they reach individual cells.
Together with the kidneys, the liver is involved in the removal of poisons, both those supplied from outside and produced by the body itself. When waste products are absorbed from the gut, the blood contains many chemical and organic toxins. Composed of food contaminants, plant, animal and bacterial toxins, excess hormones, drug particles, etc.
The rest of the article under the video.
What is harmful to the liver?
– Gluttony, alcohol abuse, medication, inhalation of chemical vapors, insecticides, tobacco smoke.
– Infection with hepatitis A, B and C. You can protect yourself against A and B with vaccines.
– Excess fat supplied with food. When there is too much fat, the liver enlarges and loses its function.
– Overuse of drugs such as acetaminophen, antibiotics, anti-inflammatory drugs and drugs for high cholesterol. But over-the-counter drugs are also harmful, so it is better to discuss their use with your doctor.
– Draconian weight loss diets called unilateral (e.g. cabbage, protein). Long-term fasts are equally dangerous, because when the liver does not get protein from the outside, it begins to draw from the accumulated reserves, and this is a simple way to fat.
– Excess white flour, refined sugar, saturated fat and red meat.
– Lack of raw foods, rich in digestive enzymes and fiber.
However, the most dangerous for the liver is excess alcohol. It is he who leads to many serious, sometimes even fatal diseases. As a result of alcohol abuse, the following most often develops:
- Alcoholic fatty liver disease
It develops in 90 percent. alcohol abusers. The disease is where fat is deposited in the liver cells, making it difficult for the liver to function normally. Alcoholic fatty liver disease usually has no symptoms. However, it happens that the doctor, by examining the patient’s abdomen with his fingers, can feel an enlarged liver.
- Alcoholic hepatitis
It usually develops as a consequence of fatty liver after excessive alcohol use. But when inflammation develops, the damage to the hepatocytes (liver cells) becomes more severe, which can lead to necrosis. The course of alcoholic hepatitis depends on the severity of the disease. When the disease is moderately or very advanced, the patient develops jaundice, coagulation disorders, sometimes ascites or hepatic encelophalopathy, i.e. a complex of neurological ailments consisting in impaired functioning of the central nervous system. These disorders are a consequence of the action of toxins, which the diseased liver cannot neutralize.
- Alcoholic cirrhosis of the liver
The course and picture of the disease does not differ from cirrhosis caused by other factors, such as hepatitis B and C viruses. Alcoholic cirrhosis develops in 15-20% of patients. people addicted to alcohol. Cirrhosis of the liver can also develop in people who have previously had alcoholic hepatitis and later develop alcohol-induced cirrhosis.
How is it treated?
All forms of alcohol-induced liver disease require you to stop drinking. People addicted to alcohol have a big problem with this. They often have to be under the care of psychiatrists who specialize in treating this type of addiction. Support from the family is also necessary, but often the relationships between family members in which alcohol abuse is abused are severely disturbed. Therefore, the sick person cannot always count on the support of their relatives.
In the case of alcoholic fatty liver disease and mild to moderate alcoholic hepatitis, withdrawal from alcohol usually causes the liver to reverse and regenerate.
Depending on the degree of organ damage, the liver needs to regenerate from a few to several weeks.
If the liver changes are very advanced, they cannot be reversed. This does not mean, however, that the sick person is sentenced to death. Even severe liver damage can be treated.
An absolute condition that must be respected is the prohibition of drinking alcohol in any form. It is also necessary to supplement nutritional deficiencies, replenish electrolyte and vitamin deficiencies, and follow a liver diet. If a patient develops hepatic encephalopathy, the patient must take steroids.
The final solution that is considered with a badly damaged liver is organ transplantation. If the patient qualifies for the procedure, until the transplant is performed, he / she must not put even a drop of alcohol into his mouth. People addicted to alcohol, or suffering from alcoholism, are not eligible for liver transplantation.
Check the condition of your liver. Make a package of diagnostic tests
Supporting the liver with a diet
In people with liver disease, diet is an important element in supporting basic treatment. Patients often do not have an appetite, they feel full in the abdomen, which leads to malnutrition.
The best diet is the one that is easily digestible and reduced fats. The patient should eat 4-5 small meals a day at fixed times, and eat dinner 2-3 hours before going to bed. The meals should be tasty to stimulate the patient’s appetite and varied to provide the necessary nutrients. It is recommended to steam food. When it comes to meats, eat the leanest ones.
Recommended products are: whole grain bread, all kinds of groats (barley, semolina), rice, soft-boiled eggs, dairy products (kefir, yogurt), lean meat (chicken breast, beef, veal), fish (cod, bream, trout, pike perch), boiled potatoes, soybean oil, rapeseed oil, vegetables (carrots, lettuce, chicory, spinach, apples), soups (barley soup, fruit soups, red borscht), seedless fruit (strawberries), herbs (thyme, basil).
The forbidden products are: alcohol, fatty meat, cream, spicy spices (horseradish, mustard, pepper), chips, legumes, soups made of meat stock, canned meat, buckwheat, mayonnaise, hard-boiled eggs, scrambled eggs, fried eggs.
Herbs are helpful for the liver
The liver is served with herbal extracts with hepatoprotective properties (protecting liver cells), e.g. milk thistle seed extracts (Silybum marianum), e.g. Sylimarol and artichoke herb (Cynara scolymus), e.g. Hepason Complex. These preparations can be used for a long time because they do not damage the liver parenchyma. To protect the liver from the effects of various toxins, 280 mg of silymarin should be taken regularly. For detoxification or for its regeneration, the dose should be increased to 420 mg per day (e.g. 6 tablets of Sylimarol 70 mg per day).
The detoxification process is also accelerated by, for example, ornithine aspartate.
Support your liver! Buy a liver kit, which includes ECO tea to support liver function, ECO chicory root coffee and ECO green tea with prickly pear.