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Basic Liver Facts
Harriet di Luzio, FGNI, MAR

The liver is the largest vital organ of the body and has an average weight in adults of three pounds. Some of the functions associated with a healthy liver include carbohydrate, fat and protein metabolism, filtering and detoxification of the blood, storage of iron and vitamins, also formation of substances for blood coagulation and digestion. Furthermore the liver has the ability to produce a variety of enzymes and other biochemical secretions which aid proper absorption and the elimination of all foods and toxins. Hormones are also produced and broken down in the liver. This is especially important information for women who experience problems with their periods.

The idea that the liver is intimately connected with emotions and moods is something many people do not realise. There is an old saying "there are more toxins produced by what comes out of the mouth than what goes in it". We can see how this can occur when we realise that there are both exogenous toxins, which enter as a by product of food, pollution, etc., and endogenous toxins that are produced from excessive emotional stress which throws out the delicate balance of hormones produced by the endocrine glands of the body. The filtering and discharging ability of the liver becomes congested.

The liver then acts as an overworked accountant, trying to attend to what is of first importance in elimination. Any excess exogenous toxins, that cannot be immediately attended to, are 'filed' away for future reference. If the process of toxic stress continues, the overworked liver will become enlarged because of congestion and the backing up of bile. In this the liver attempts to store untransmuted toxins within its own cells and then in most vulnerable areas in the body. This is why the liver is more often the underlying aspect of nearly all chronic disease syndromes. All traditional wholistic healing cultures throughout the world have this view of the Liver. You may not realise that intractable diseases such as chronic PMS, allergies, obesity, herpes, digestive problems, constipation, heart and circulatory problems usually have an unbalanced liver as an underlying contributing cause.

So be kind to yourself and your liver and enjoy the festivites without paying a price.

Exogenous means growing or originating from outside.
Endogenous means growing or originating from within.

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