You’re at a nice, fancy restaurant (a real treat since you normally eat fast food on the go) and the waiter sets down a dish of complementary liver pate. “Enjoy the liver!” he says with a genuine smile. You look at it. It looks at you. This is no Happy Meal. You decide to pass.

When it comes to the liver in your body, DON’T pass. Your liver is an integral organ whose primary job is to sift out the good and the bad, and keep everything in check. In short, your liver is a giant filter that regulates your body. This is called detoxification, and it’s 100% natural. 

What does it filter? EVERYTHING. Everything from hormones to toxins, and wouldn’t you know, these are directly related to each other!  Who’d have thought?!

If you asked your liver what its ideal day looked like, it would say it loves to clean out blood coming from your digestive tract, get rid of used up hormones, and beef up your body with some important proteins. If you asked your liver what it actually does, it would give you a much different answer that most likely starts with, “I work way too hard!” And it’s probably not being facetious. 

Your liver wants to filter hormones, but it often gets bogged down trying to get rid of a bunch of other junk while trying to keep its head above water. Whether we are aware of it or not, we ingest toxins and chemicals from our food and environment that the liver has to work extra hard to detox. Some of the culprits we knowingly ingest include prescription drugs, excessive alcohol, pesticides in food, and chemical and environmental pollution. Your liver will first work on shooing these toxins away and put hormone regulation on the back burner.

This is not so great for your estrogen level. Nicole Jardim, a Certified Women’s Health and Functional Nutrition Coach (who self-admittedly proclaims that she “knows her sh*t”) describes the process this way: 

Once estrogen has done its job in the body, it is sent to the liver so it can be broken down and removed through the colon. Unfortunately, if your liver is all gunked up from the excess toxins it is exposed to, then it is unable to function optimally and thus cannot remove estrogen at its normal rate. Estrogen is not metabolized properly and can be reabsorbed back into the body. [1] 

If this happens once, or maybe twice, probably not a big deal—your liver is an expert at healing your body. But if it happens again and again and again? Big deal.

A buildup of estrogen in the bloodstream can result in estrogen dominance, creating a hormonal imbalance. When estrogen is the dominant hormone, progesterone really takes a back seat. And then you become susceptible to a bunch of different issues including [2]:

Sounds like it affects women more than men?  In some ways it does, but men are not off the hook. Ever seen a dude with “man-boobs” and you know he drinks a lot?  Too much estrogen [2].

Don’t want this to be you?  Or maybe you’re already feeling like it is you?  Your liver is probably having a tough go and you need to make some changes. You need to detox.

Then what?

Dr. Mark Hyman, director of Cleveland Clinic’s Center for Functional Medicine, says you should friend-power vs. willpower. He says studies show obesity is contagious, and if you have obese friends, you are at a higher risk of becoming obese. Hyman performed a large social experiment and discovered health is contagious too. If you have healthy friends, you are more likely to be healthy as well [3].

I want to be your healthy friend. If you are experiencing any of the above symptoms, you might benefit from a detox. But health is often not something we can, or should do alone. I will come alongside you and walk you through this journey to balance your hormones and balance your life. I will help you heal.

1. https://nicolejardim.com/hormone-balance-your-liver-function/

2. https://www.holtorfmed.com/estrogen-balance-hormone-imbalance-and-the-liver/

3. https://drhyman.com/blog/2015/03/12/7-reasons-you-need-to-detox/