Your liver does SO MUCH.

It is responsible for over 500 functions, including fighting off infection, manufacturing hormones, controlling blood sugar, helping blood to clot, and neutralizing toxins. (No biggie.)

Some other fun facts:

• The liver is the human body’s second largest organ after the skin

• The liver is the only organ that can regenerate itself (this is why it’s possible for people to donate part of their liver — the remaining liver will grow to its original size!)

• Your liver filters 1.4 liters (≈ 6 cups) of blood per minute

With all of this work, is it any wonder the liver can get stressed?

While the liver was designed and has evolved to handle all of these tasks, there’s one thing the liver was just not prepared for: being inundated with the tens of thousands of chemicals in use in the modern world.

As you know, we live in an increasingly toxic world: there are over 80,000 manmade chemicals in use in industry today, most of which have never been tested for safety. Well the liver is tasked with filtering, neutralizing, and eliminating these toxins — on top of all of its other responsibilities!

15 Signs Your Liver Needs Support:

Your liver may be stressed if you…

1. Have pain under right side of rib cage (this is where your liver sits)
2. Are sensitive to chemicals (tobacco smoke, fumes, perfume, cleaning agents, etc.)
3. Have stomach upset after eating fatty foods
4. Have greasy or shiny stools
5. Have light or pale colored stools
6. Inexplicably feel nauseas or are prone to motion sickness and/or morning sickness
7. Often have a headache over your eyes
8. Have pain between your shoulder blades
9. You experience gallbladder attacks
10. Often have brain fog (feel as though you can’t think clearly)
11. Have a bitter taste in your mouth, especially after eating
12. Have chronic bad breath
13. Are easily intoxicated and/or hung over
14. You have acne, eczema, or skin rashes
15. Have hormonal imbalances like PMS or dysmenorrhea (painful periods)*

*Liver support has been a big part of my own journey to balance my hormones

Do these look familiar?

If you experience a few of these, your liver could likely benefit from detoxification support. This is especially so if you have a history of substance abuse, long-term prescription drug use, and/or artificial sweetener consumption.

That being said, I believe we ALL could give our livers some extra T.L.C. whether we experience these signs or not.

By reducing our exposure to processed foods and chemicals, along with liver-supportive herbs and foods that support our body’s detox pathways, we can lower our total toxic load. Doing so will make us feel better in the short-term and reduce our risk for disease in the long-term.

Learn more about how liver detoxification works and how you can support the process: