“Holiday Cheer Without Fear!” (gallbladder health)
06 Dec 2010 Leave a Comment
in Natural Health Tags: gallbladder, health, liver, Natural Health
With the Holidays right around the corner, we look forward to celebrating with friends and family. Tradition often means Mom’s Twice Baked Potatoes or Aunt Sue’s Butter Cookies. Gravies, sauces, alcoholic beverages and rich desserts are our reward after working hard all year. But we can undo a year of good health in the last six weeks of the calendar if we are not careful. Office parties, family gatherings and special events conspire to undermine the most health conscious among us.
Rich foods put an extra strain on the liver and gallbladder that are already stressed by medications, household chemicals and estrogen dominance. Estrogens affect both men and women since many common foods contain them. They cause bile to thicken, leading to gall stones or worse. Many people lose their gallbladder needlessly instead of taking a few preventive measures.
The jobs of these two organs are to process fats and toxins that enter the body and sort them out from the nutrients that need to be distributed to various other organs. That is a lot of work on a clean diet, let alone the kind of diets we commonly accept in modern society.
The number of young women who lose their gallbladder as a side effect of using birth control pills (BCPs) is astounding. The same risk is true for women on hormone replacement therapy (HRT) since both contain synthetic estrogen. Estrogen presents an almost greater risk for men since they are not equipped to handle this hormone in any significant amount. Xeno-estrogen is the term given too many synthetic chemicals commonly found in our environments in the form of household cleaners, air fresheners and OTC and prescription medications. This term means that these chemicals behave like estrogen in the human body.
Don’t eat late in the day when these organs are naturally slowing their functions. Gallbladder time is 9PM when it has to stop worrying about everyone else’s needs and concentrate on rebuilding itself. Liver time is 1AM when the liver has to devote energy to renew itself instead of looking out for everyone else. Digestion should be over long before 9PM so this renewal can be given the attention it requires.
Enzymes, especially lipase to digest fats, really help the liver and gallbladder do their jobs more easily and completely. It is in the digestive process that the nutrients are separated from the toxins. The liver and gallbladder are the gatekeepers that keep the riff raff out and allow the elite through the door. When enzyme levels are low, digestion is incomplete and often the toxins are bounced out and sometimes the honored guests get booted with their cruder bystanders. Enzymes help to ensure that the digestive process allows for the easy separation into their appropriate categories.
Hi-Lipase is a must for digesting fatty Holiday fare. Food Enzymes are another choice if you still have your gallbladder and want to keep it! Since Food Enzymes contains bile salts, it would be irritating to someone who has already had their gallbladder removed. In that case, choose Proactazyme as your enzyme supplement to ensure proper digestion.
Silymarin found in Milk Thistle has been shown to renew liver cells. It sure soothes a cranky liver! Many people have used it to repair after a bout of hepatitis. A much researched active, studies have noted that silymarin even has a beneficial effect on cells damaged by cirrhosis. With Holiday Eggnogs and Champagne toasts on the horizon, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. If you’ve already overindulged, nip that hangover in the bud with some Milk Thistle for breakfast! The Timed Release formula is a great way to feed your liver all day long.
Ginger, Fennel and Wild Yam are just some of the herbs that help both of these organs to function properly. Gallbladder Formula contains these plus Oregon grape, Cramp bark, Peppermint and Catnip; 7 herbs and only one bottle to open! Sounds a lot like a healthy version of a Holiday Dinner right there!
Fresh lemon juice in water makes a terrific daily cleanser. The juice of one half a lemon daily can do wonders for a stressed liver and gallbladder. Add a few drops of Lemon EO to your shower gel and use over the liver area! A citrus fresh way to start the day!
Drs. Ralph & Lahni de Amicis, NDs are natural health educators living a healthy lifesylte in beautiful Sonoma, CA. They can be contacted through their westie at http://herbsarefood.net
