Liver Cleansing Diet

Checked out from the library this book "Liver Cleansing Diet", by Dr. Sandra Cabot. I think it's worth reading as many of the things she writes about are beneficial to cleansing the liver.

Makes sense to me because she's not trying to sell anything, but rather giving good, worthy advice on taking care of your liver. She writes about eating right, the specific fat free diet, supplements and so on... So there it is...

Magnum

[Kristina538]

That book was a godsend for me (although be careful with linseeds which go rancid quickly yuk :-).... I switched to flaxseed oil.  (My cousin ate too many linseeds and got high cholestrol - but she didn't have HVC)  

I didn't do anything radically, but remember having intense gallbladder pain and I lived off stewed apples etc. and did a cleanse with the help of a naturopath - it made me feel so good I didn't think I needed to treat (yeah right!)...   There are some brilliant recipies in the back too which really kept me on the right track.  I've bought about 3 copies for other people, among them a teen with ulcertive cholitis.    It's well worth buying.

[GreatBird]

When I first got my dx, I got that book and cleaned up my diet completely. I lost about thirty pounds in six months without even trying, and ended up back at my right weight. I felt at the time it was because my liver was able to function more efficiently. I still mainly adhere to that diet which is very straight forward and healthy.

[Rockerforlife]

Does distilled water rob the body of essential minerals?
No, this is physiologically impossible.  Some have been lead to believe that because distilled water is so pure, it will leach healthy minerals and trace elements from the body.  In our bodies distilled water cleans out our impurities and replenishes the essential nutrient required for human life:  pure, clean, healthy water. Our cells use the organic minerals for body growth and maintenance; however, the impurities that the body cannot make us of are flushed out with distilled water. Distilled water flushes out all the inorganic minerals and pollutants which would otherwise be retained in the body and accumulate in vital organs such as the liver, kidneys, and intestines.  These minerals and pollutants are gradually increased by drinking impure water.  A continuous or prolonged exposure to these minerals and pollutants may cause carcinogens to form within tissues.  The cancer may only manifest itself months, years or even decades after such contacts have ceased. And often the causative agents may have totally disappeared from the tissues.




http://www.precisionwatersystems.com/health.html

[evangelin]

I like this book as well.
She has a website with a free newsletter that has had some interesting things in it.  She doesn't put them out very often and they are in an archive with easy to navigate titles so it is easy to just read the articles that interest you.
I always thought that linseeds were just the Australian term for flax seeds.   I buy the whole flax seeds, keep them in the fridge, and grind them in a little coffee grinder as needed to keep them from going rancid.  I like the LSA she has you sprinkle on things.  It is a mixture of 3 cups Linseeds (flax seeds)  2 cups sunflower seeds and 1 cup of almonds ground until fine (works well in an electric coffee grinder) She has you store it in a dark container in the fridge and sprinkle it on lots of different foods to boost the nutrition.
The Dr.'s name is Sandra Cabot and her website should be easy to google.  She has one that is geared towards weightloss and one that is geared more towards liver health.  I haven't visited it for a long time so I am assuming nothing has changed.
Ev

[merryBe]

Oh ouch, I have to disagree here with flaxseed and distilled water.

Just so you know, I was distilling my water, eating flax and a whole host of other healthy things as a young "believer" in the health food movement.

Here are the issues.

the science of flax seed is it acts as a colen cleanser, the seeds are benefiial as roughage however diahhrea is a known side effect and this causes loss of essential minerals. Flax has some great fatty acids init, but it lowers cholesterol...great news if you have heart disease but not great if you have low cholesterol as many hypothyroid and liver disease patient do. If you don't have enough cholesterol this effects brain function and all else, it is essential to life...and then there is the rancidity issue, which Ev already brought up.

As to the distilled water, well as you live you learn. Remember Rocker to consider the source. Folks selling distilling machines or water are not prone to truth telling but to selling. Most do this misinformation innocently but not all.

In the 60's I became interested in farming, I found a farm and started the great experiment...within a couple years others came to join us and an artist community was established and so for 5 years I farmed, kept bees, and 500 animals. We were literally self=sustaining, I Grew our own food of all kinds, wove our own fabrics, created our own pottery and glassware, made my own cheese etc etc etc, name it and I tried it.

During that time some of my animals became sick and so I read dozens of department of agriculture studies on the diseases and causes of diseases in animals.
Two main arenas occur in amimal disease: toxic exposure and mineral/vitamin deficiency.
Toxic exposure can occur from a farmer simply pouring out a chemical like ferilizer or pesticide..animals graze everywhere and don't always avoid contaminates. I was the organic queen so had to keep searching. Dept of Ag can't afford for millions of critters to get sick so thousands of animals were studied to see how to feed and keep flocks and herds healthy. Much of what we know as regards vitamins and minerals come from these studies, still valid studies even though they were done 60-70 years ago. (yuk makes me feel old).
The bigger cause was mineral or vitamin deficiency.
True for humans as well, our bodies NEED 10 times more minerals everyday than we need vitamins. Trace elements are important also, I recommend seaweed at it is the highest natural source of trace elements. Some elements, gold for instance, are essential to health, yet only present in minut amounts, and a few micrograms too much or too little can be very adverse to health. But seaweed grows in the richest soil on earth, the continental shelves contain the eroded soil from the continents ergo the mineral content is much higher. Esspecially if you live in a rain belt it is important to get minerals into your diet. In Oregon it used to be law that iodine be added to salt, because the poor soil caused such a high rate of thyroid disease...but the health nut squaked until they  changed the law, not understanding they were asking for more goiter heart disease etc.

If you stop and think about all this, removing minerals through distilling makes little logical sense. Unless you have a pollution situation, or extreme iron content. Having high calcium is rarely a problem, most folks need more calcium, especially anyone who drinks booze, or drinks caffineated product or even lots of water. You need a lot of calcium, it is the main mineral that is secreted in digestion, calms brain/nerves and more, and you lose grams of it everyday just digesting your food so it's good when the foods replenish this loss.
Plus, you eat on average 4 lbs of dirt every year without knowing it...dirt in and on food.
Plus, where is the logic in people paying hundreds of dollars for machines and the eletricity to distill their water, and get a half tablespoon out of their drinking water, only to turn right around and take vitamin and mineral supplements, and undo the whole effort with every meal they eat.

Water by the way is an excellent solvent, it picks up minerals as it goes, and dirt and muh more. We use it for washing because it is such a perfect solvent, not to mention plentiful. Distilled water draws minerals to itself by nature, it will carry both light and heavy minerals, so distilled water can lower your body's mineral density over time.
How much I'm not sure, but pushing a gallon a day through your system absolutely would erode some of your electrolytes over time. I suppose if your sodium was too high this could be a good thing..the oceans prove water carries salt well, but in general losing your electrolytes is bad and can be life threatening. These essential body salts are part of what allows nerve signaling to occur and foods to cross membranes, muscles to move etc.Unless you have kidney disease it's hard to get too many electrolytes as kidneys flush any excess, BUT
Without enough electrolytes you die, and I watched a friend do this 30 years ago. die.
Also a friend 10 yrs ago almost did. Her rime wasn't drinking too much distilled water, it was drinking too much COFFEE (she worked at StarBucks)..nearly killed her.
Anyway when my first friend died it creep me out...
At that point I examined everything I'd been "sold" as being true because unlike those around me I was convinced (by all my animal studies) that such a young death could have been related to dietary issues. I discovered most things I was doing were fine but a few were not. Like I said, you live, you learn. Don't take peoples word for anything, study for yourself.

mb