Do You Need a Liver Cleanse?
Many naturopaths and natural healers recommend a liver cleanse if you're bothered by gallstones, or if you have sluggish digestion or other digestive problems. In fact, it's often recommended just as a preventative cleanse, even if you don't have the typical liver problems or damaged liver symptoms. As with many other natural healing methods, the liver cleanse is a very controversial subject amongst medical professionals, especially the claims made that a liver cleanse can actually remove gallstones from the gallbladder.
It's important for the liver to function well so that your food can be properly digested and absorbed. The liver is also an important detoxification organ within the body, and an improperly performing or sluggish liver can often lead to high levels of dangerous toxins in the blood.
Before embarking on a liver cleansing program, it is highly recommended that you first do a thorough colon cleansing. If you fail to do a colon cleanse first, you will find that many of the toxins and toxic substances shed by the liver detox program will not be expelled properly but will rather be reabsorbed back into the body.
Liver cleanse enthusiasts claim that gall stones can readily be expelled through the gallbladder with a liver cleans program. Now, these are not the bigger gallstones that clog up the gallbladder itself but more newly formed gallstones. Typical liver cleanses soften these stones, allowing them to easily pass through the bile duct and out through the digestive system.
While there are commercially sold liver programs available on line, common homemade liver cleanses are also fairly simple to make. Ingredients include Epsom salts, olive oil and frequently grapefruit juice. This takes about twenty four hours to complete. It is best if you fast food for several hours before starting it. Within twenty four hours you should have eliminated any small gallstones as well as other toxins that are flushed out of your body using this method.
There is some controversy, as stated above, as to whether the stones that are expelled really are small gallstones or if they are bile stained bubbles of oil that is solidified on its way through the digestive tract.
As to whether or not the ingredients used in the popular liver cleanse could actually help rid the body of gallstones, it is possible that they could. Oil increases strong gallbladder contractions, as does Epson salts, thus any small gallstones lodged in the gallbladder could be dislodged.
Whether or not the liver cleanse actually helps dislodge gallstones is still somewhat undetermined. Benefits from the liver cleanse are purported by many who have engaged in this procedure and even those in the medical profession have agreed that there is no real danger from trying it. If you're not sure whether or not it will work for you, there's no harm at all in seeing if it works for you. Many people have had very positive and satisfactory results from going through a liver cleanse, although it is only recommended in most cases to be done twice a year.
