The liver is responsible for hundreds of tasks in your body, including elimination of waste products, regulating energy, supporting metabolism, balancing hormones, and so much more.
If you want to stay healthy, it is crucial that you keep your liver in good condition.
Do you show symptoms of an overburdened liver? How can you detox your liver?
Read on to learn the symptoms of a toxic liver, and my top low-cost ways to detox your liver!
Symptoms of an Overburdened Liver
If your liver is overworked, it may present symptoms, including:
Chronic/excessive fatigue (1)
Hot flashes (2)
PMS and other hormone imbalances (2)
Poor sleep (3)
Allergies (4)
Itchy skin/easy bruising (5)
Bloating or swelling (6)
Yellow skin and eyes (jaundice) (7)
If your body has been sending you any of these signals, it’s time to take action to detox your liver! See below for my tips.
15 Easy Ways to Detox the Liver
1. Take Vitamin C
Vitamin C is known for boosting your immune system, but it is also a powerful antioxidant and detox support. (8) Your liver loves it when you have enough vitamin C!
You can find a good vitamin C with bioflavinoids for $10-15.
Get 1,000 mg vitamin C in every dose of Mi Detox Electrolytes. Shop Here.
2. Use a Dry Brush Set
Learning how to dry brush your skin is simple and quick. It really helped when I was at my sickest with mold toxicity.
You just brush your skin for a few minutes each morning to get your lymphatic system flowing. It’s a favorite, as it’s cheap, easy, and effective.
Learn how to use a dry brush here!
3. Try Castor Oil Packs
I love castor oil because it is a versatile addition to any health and beauty routine. Castor oil packs used over the liver (the right side of your abdomen, right under the rib cage) are a great way to support your liver.
Learn how to do your own castor oil pack at this link!
4. Take an Epsom Salt Bath
Here’s another great way to relax and get your detox on at the same time! Epsom salts are loaded with magnesium, a crucial mineral that your body needs in order to detox and keep a healthy liver.
Try your own Epsom salt bath by following my tips here!
5. Get the Benefits of Sunlight
Just 20 minutes a day in the sunlight will encourage your body to produce over 200 antimicrobials and other detox agents. (9)
Additionally, exposure to the sun will raise your vitamin D levels, which is another important factor in your ability to detox.
6. Try Breathing Exercises
Exhaling is one of your body’s many ways of detoxing. So, why not capitalize on that with an easy breathing exercise?
One of my favorites breathing maneuvers for detox is called “Breath of Fire.” You can learn how to do it in this video.
7. Experience Meditation Benefits
When done correctly, meditation offers a host of benefits detox, relaxation, and overall health.
Some people are apprehensive about meditation, but it doesn’t have to take hours or be expensive. My favorite way to meditate is to use the free Insight Timer app. You can try it here!
8. Use Essential Oils
Essential oils have a powerful secret--they contain high levels of antioxidants. You can think of antioxidants as little army men, circulating in your body and killing off the “bad guys” (called free radicals).
Pure essential oils can be a tiny bit expensive for their size but they can last literally like 3 years! Be sure to use with education so avoiding any skin reacitons.
Certain essential oils are perfect for this, including turmeric, lemon, grapefruit, rosemary, and clove. Learn how to use these liver-supporting essential oils here!
9. Drink Lemon Water
This one is easy: just squeeze ½ of a lemon into a glass of water and drink!
For an even more powerful detox drink (that is super easy and includes lemon), check out my DIY 5-Day Detox Guide here!
10. Try Apple Cider Vinegar (ACV)
ACV helps clear glyphosate and other toxins from your body. Read all about that (and find my own ACV detox drink recipe) in this blog!
ACV is also well known for supporting digestion which, in turn, helps support your liver. Learn my top tips for using ACV to support digestion naturally in this blog!
If you’d rather not drink your ACV (for your dental health, etc.), I often recommend this ACV capsule by Paleovalley. Get 15% off when you purchase via this link!
11. Use a Sauna
Sweating is a powerhouse way to remove toxins from your body! Because it is so effective, sauna usage is almost always included in the protocols I give to private clients.
Many gyms and health clubs have a sauna that is included in your membership. You can also know get an afforadable tent sauna for about $200.
Since then, I’ve found a sauna for my home that I love. It’s so relaxing to snuggle up in my sauna and get my detox on at the same time. You can see the sauna I have here.
12. Eat the Clean Fifteen Foods
The clean fifteen is a list of foods published by the Environmental Working Group (EWG) each year. This list outlines the fifteen produce items that are the least likely to have high levels of pesticides in them. You can check out the current list for the year here.
13. Supplement Magnesium
Magnesium is a crucial mineral that is involved in many processes in your body, including your liver’s phase II detoxification. If your liver doesn’t have enough magnesium, it cannot properly get rid of toxins. (See this blog to learn more.)
Unfortunately, magnesium deficiency is incredibly common (due to declining soil quality and other factors), so if you are not specifically supplementing magnesium, you are probably deficient.
Even if you are supplementing magnesium, however, you may still be deficient. Many people take too little, or take the wrong form that is hard for the body to absorb.
Our magnesium is high-quality and pretty affordable in a small capsule form.
14. Take B Vitamins
Another important building block for detoxification is the B vitamin group. These help support detoxification processes in the liver, as well as cool inflammation, lower stress, and much more.
However, it is important to know what form of B vitamins to take. Certain people (such as those with a MTHFR gene mutation) will require what’s call the “active” forms of these vitamins.
You can find my favorite forms of B vitamins within my new multi, the Hi-Potency Multivitamin.
15. Cut Inflammation with Omega 3s
Omega 3s are healthy fats that cut inflammation and keep your body detoxing smoothly. You can learn more about these amazing fats in this blog post. A brand I’ve been enjoying lately is called AlgaeCal Triple Power.
Bridgit Danner, LAc, FDNP, is trained in functional health coaching and has worked with thousands of clients over her career since 2004.
Grab her Liver Recipes eBook here!
I was introduced to CoQ10 as an supplement about 4 years ago. At the time, I was in the middle of detoxing from mold, and I had already spent a lot of money on trying to heal. I was skeptical to try yet another thing, but the truth was that I was only about 50% better, which is not enough at all. So I tried it…