Eating Habits & Your Liver Health – Dr. Pettit’s Tip for Healthy Living

This month I want to discuss a very important organ of the human body. It is the largest gland in your body, and what you eat can affect its health. This organ is your liver, responsible for more than 500 tasks of the human body. A few of these functions include the synthesis of important blood proteins, the control and storage of energy, and the metabolizing and removing of toxins in the body.
Dr. Auvenshine and I recently attended a 2-day seminar discussing nutrition and the effect of the diet on certain body systems. The liver was a topic of our seminar. Let me share a few of the key points taught in our course. The first involves a list of foods to eliminate from our diet to optimize liver health. Some of these foods will be difficult to eliminate completely, but reducing our regular intake of these foods can have a lasting effect on our liver health. On this list of foods to avoid is trans-fatty acids, artificial sweeteners, preservatives, food colorings, refined carbohydrates, high fructose corn syrup, fried foods, and alcohol.
There are foods which can help promote liver health. These include apples, avocados, grapefruit, garlic, green leafy vegetables, lemons, limes, beets and carrots. Each food has a desirable effect on the liver. Apples contain pectin, which will bind toxins in the digestive tract. Eating avocados can increase glutathione, an important antioxidant for the liver. Garlic activates good liver enzymes, while green leafy vegetables contain chlorophylls that help neutralize chemicals, heavy metals, and pesticides. Lemons and limes help increase vitamin K, while beets and carrots provide plant flavonoids.
Our body makes use of the materials and nutrients it is given. What we eat will affect the cells of our body, for better or for worse. Chronic pain disorders may lead your body to require more of these important and sustaining nutrients. I encourage you to select from the healthiest foods available. Continue striving for balance in every aspect of your life. It will help you in your quest to find a happier, healthier you.
Nathan J. Pettit DMD, MSD
Diplomate, American Board of Prosthodontics