by Libby Weaver
Liver loaders
There is a group of substances that I lovingly label “liver loaders.” Can you guess what they are? They include:
Alcohol
Caffeine
Trans fats
Sugars, including fructose and sucrose (see also the further explanation in Puzzle Piece 7, Insulin)
Synthetic substances, such as pesticides, medications, skincare products, etc.
Infection, for example viruses such as glandular fever (Epstein-Barr virus, mononucleosis, etc.)
When it comes to pesticides we are guinea pigs with regards to the long-term consumption of these substances. The reason your apple looks so perfect is because it has been sprayed to make it that way. We cannot see or taste the chemicals on its skin, but they are there. Pesticides have to be tested before they can be used on food for human consumption. However, they are often tested for such a short amount of time that I do not believe we can compare tests done over, say, a six-month period, to being exposed to these things over our entire lifetime. What also cannot be tested is what happens when all of the chemicals are mixed and then combined inside our bodies every day when we eat conventionally grown produce.
Fresh food the way it comes in nature is an incredibly important part of our diets, and I simply want to encourage you to choose organic produce whenever you can. Also, think about the way you eat the food. We peel a banana. It may have been sprayed, but how much gets through the skin? We actually don’t know. But surely there would be less chemical residue in the flesh (inside) of a banana than on the skin. So perhaps choosing a conventionally grown banana is not too bad. Yet when it comes to an apple, we usually eat the whole fruit. So you would be better to choose an organic (or biodynamically grown) apple wherever possible.
Think about this. Organic food is the true cost of food. I once started and ran an organic café. Once a week, a local farmer delivered fresh greens picked that morning from his biodynamic farm. I always set aside some time on the day of his delivery to chat with him, as he always had wonderful tales to tell of life on his farm. One day, when I asked him how he was, his reply was along the lines of “not so good.” When I enquired further, he went on to tell me that snails had invaded his broccoli patch virtually overnight. When I paused to consider this, I realized that, if they took hold, a portion of this man’s meager livelihood would be lost. So I asked him how he deals with snails on his broccoli given that his farming principles do not involve spraying the patch to get rid of the invaders (which would have taken less than 30 minutes to do). My farmer friend went on to tell me that snails lose their “stick,” their ability to suction on to things, in salty water. So he made up a bottle of salt and water, and he spent two days, crouched down on all fours, crawling between his broccoli plants, squirting saline water up under the fronds. Not only that, he didn’t kill the snails but collected them in a bucket and fed them to the chickens “to keep them in the food chain,” as he so delightfully put it.
Think about each of these scenarios. Spray in under 30 minutes versus crawling around on your haunches for two days. For me, that illustrates precisely why organic and biodynamic food costs more. It reflects the real cost of food, plus it has a greater nutritional value, not to mention what’s left out. The more of us who choose it, the cheaper it will become. The more we demand organic and say no to pesticides, the more organics will have to be supplied. I know I’m on my soapbox, and I really do want to remain real and practical with the advice I offer. So, in simple terms, choose organic food whenever you can.
If organic food is unavailable in your area or it is too costly for you to buy, try this solution to remove pesticides. Pesticides tend to be fat-soluble and general washing to get rid of dirt and germs does not remove them. To clean food of both dirt and pesticides at the same time, fill your sink with three parts water to one part vinegar, and wash your fruits and vegetables. Then rinse them in fresh water, pat them dry, and store them for use. Do what is practical for you.
Another consideration, in the liver-loading department of synthetic substances, is the skincare we use. We’re crazy if we think that we don’t absorb things through our skin. You only have to look at the way nicotine patches work to realize that the skin is a quick and easy route to our bloodstream, carrying the blood that the liver will need to clean. There are plenty of wonderful skincare companies out there that do not use synthetic ingredients. Seek them out. I love to suggest to people that it would be good if they could eat their skincare!
It is not, however, just the things we consume or the things we put on our skin (exogenous liver loaders) that can place demands on the detoxification processes of the liver. Substances your body makes itself (endogenous liver loaders) also need to be transformed by the liver so they can then be excreted. These substances include:
Cholesterol
Steroid hormones such as estrogen
Any shortfall in digestion/bowel congestion/irritable bowel syndrome (IBS).
I have met countless people who have not consumed much in the way of exogenous liver loaders, but they still have diabolical menstrual cycles or an ongoing challenge with IBS or constipation, and exhibit what I consider to be very distinct signs that their liver needs support. Passing clots while menstruating is a classic liver congestion sign (other symptoms are listed in Signs your liver needs support).
My point is, if your body thinks it is in your best interest to produce excessive amounts of cholesterol in the liver—often due to inflammation—or if your bowels have been the bane of your life for many years, it is likely that you would feel much better and your clothes would become looser if some liver support strategies were employed.
Cholesterol
Cholesterol is an extremely important substance. We only ever hear bad press about cholesterol; however, we would melt without it. It is the building block of all of our steroid (sex) hormones, including progesterone and testosterone. The process that cholesterol undergoes to form steroid hormones is illustrated in figure 11 following.
Figure 11: Cholesterol metabolism
The creation of steroid hormones from cholesterol.
The reason I’ve included the above biochemical diagram is to illustrate the way substances in the body flow on to create other substances. Cholesterol that the body makes, or that you obtain from your diet, does not always remain as cholesterol. In fact, you do not want too much cholesterol accumulating as cholesterol. You want it to turn into progesterone, testosterone, DHEA, and estrogen (all of the words in the diagram that begin with “est” are different forms of estrogen).
Your diet contributes to approximately 20 percent of the amount of cholesterol in your blood, while your liver creates the other 80 percent. Your liver makes cholesterol when it needs to protect itself and, in such situations, cholesterol behaves like an anti-inflammatory. What are some of the things that may inflame the liver and drive additional cholesterol production? We listed them above! Furthermore, with more and more people having digestive system challenges and with the increase in autoimmune diseases (remember that about 80 percent of the immune system lines the gastrointestinal tract) for some people, specific foods can also drive an inflammatory response. An experienced health professional can guide you with this, if it is part of your health picture.
One of the most successful ways to reduce your blood level of cholesterol is to take extra good care of your liver and deal with any inflammation in the body with a good-quality essential fatty acid supplement, outlined in the solutions later in this chapter. Another mechanism involved in the accumulation of cholesterol is outlined below.
Based on the cholesterol metabolism flow chart shown in figure 11, healthy cholesterol metabolism is best imagined as a gently flowing stream. You want a small amount of cholesterol to remain in your blood as cholesterol, but you want the majority of the cholesterol to be converted into your steroid hormones. Men and women make all three of the major sex hormones—specifically testosterone, estrogen, and progesterone—they ju
st make them in differing ratios, with men producing more testosterone and far less estrogen with some progesterone, while women make more estrogen and progesterone and less testosterone. You can see in figure 11 how certain enzymes push the hormones one way or the other.
Sometimes over time, however, cholesterol can accumulate as cholesterol. To come back to the analogy of cholesterol metabolism being like a flowing stream, it is as if a dam wall gets built across the flow and, instead of cholesterol being converted into sex hormones, it accumulates in the blood as cholesterol. There are two problems here.
Too much blood cholesterol may pose a health problem (although the jury is out on whether this is actually true with regard to heart disease)
Lower levels of sex hormones are being produced. Since your steroid (sex) hormones make you feel vital and alive, they play an enormous role in whether you bounce (or stagger) out of bed each morning. When you have optimal levels of, and balanced, sex hormones, you feel amazing.
For cholesterol to be converted into sex hormones, you must have optimal zinc levels, and essential fatty acids are also important. Our best sources of the omega 3 fats are the oils in fish, flaxseeds (linseeds), walnuts, and pecans, while evening primrose oil and borage oil are good sources of the omega 6 type. The richest food source of zinc is oysters. Beef and lamb also contain some, and vegetable sources include seeds, such as sunflower seeds and pumpkin seeds. As far as amounts go, however, oysters contain (on average) 70mg of zinc per 100g, whereas beef, the next best source of zinc, contains only 4mg per 100g. Lamb has on average 2.9mg of zinc per 100g; seeds have around 0.9mg of zinc per 100g. In the not so distant past, we obtained consistent amounts of zinc from our plants foods. But food is only as good as the quality of the soil, and if a nutrient is not in the soil, then it can’t be in our food! Most soil in the Western world is deficient in zinc these days unless it has been organically or, better still, from a zinc perspective, biodynamically farmed.
Each adult needs a minimum of 15mg of zinc per day, just so the body can perform its basic functions. That is potentially not even enough for optimal health. So from where on earth are we getting our zinc? The answer is, many of us are not. Some studies have suggested that approximately up to 70 percent of people living in Western countries are deficient in zinc, even though it is a mineral that is not only essential for keeping cholesterol levels in check and producing optimal amounts of sex hormones, but it is also vital for our skin and wound healing, as well as digestion and immune function. Zinc is a mighty little mineral.
Excretion of cholesterol and estrogen
The second part of this biochemical picture about cholesterol metabolism and liver health involves the excretion of cholesterol. The same mechanism also applies to estrogen—so for any female who read the previous puzzle piece and identified estrogen dominance in her life, this is incredibly important.
When a liver loader, either exogenous or endogenous, arrives at the front door of the liver, it has arrived to be changed. Alcohol, in particular, must be changed as a priority, since the human body is unable to excrete it. I do not make the following statement lightly; it is simply a fact. Alcohol is a poison to the human body. We cannot excrete it. To do so it must be changed into acetaldehyde. Acetaldehyde is the substance that can accumulate and cause a headache/hangover the day after excessive imbibing.
So when any of the liver loaders (in this case, let’s remain focused on cholesterol) arrive at the front door of the liver, they undergo the first stage of change (phase 1 liver detoxification). Between the front door and the middle of the liver, cholesterol is still cholesterol, although it has been slightly changed. This slightly changed cholesterol then wants to go down one of the five phase 2 detoxification pathways and, once it has done that, it has been slightly changed again, and it is this substance that can then be excreted and gone from your body forever.
Health problems can arise, however, when the traffic on the phase 2 pathways gets jammed like traffic on a highway. After years of routine consumption of liver loaders, and hormonal or bowel problems, the roads out of the liver can become congested. Conventional blood tests for liver function do not show this. The liver takes years of battering before conventional blood tests reflect the congestion that led to them becoming elevated in the first place. When the traffic is jammed, the cholesterol (or estrogen) undergoes its first stage of change and arrives in the middle of the liver, ready to go down its appropriate path for the second stage of the transformation it must undergo before it can be excreted. If the phase 2 pathways are clogged, the cholesterol (or estrogen) sitting in the middle of the liver has nowhere to go, but it cannot remain waiting in the middle of the liver, as there is more garbage constantly coming through the front door. When this happens, the best way to imagine it is that the liver has a trap door, and it releases the cholesterol (or estrogen) back into the blood and the recycling of that substance begins. It is the recycling of these substances, not the substances themselves, that is potentially harmful to human health. What organ can we take much better care of if we want to stop this recycling from happening? Our precious liver.
On another note, it is the recycled form of estrogen that is of such concern for women regarding the risk of developing numerous reproductive cancers. Estrogen is a beautiful hormone in the right amount and with the right types of estrogen being dominant. Too much total estrogen or too much of the wrong type are the problems, because of the estrogen itself and also because progesterone production can never match it. Our livers need more love and less of a load.
Antioxidant defense mechanisms
The other way the body detoxifies (other than by phases 1 and 2 detoxification pathways) is through our antioxidant defense mechanisms. This is a superb aspect of our chemistry. Humans stay alive through a process called “respiration,” meaning that we breathe in oxygen, and we exhale carbon dioxide. If you could see oxygen in space, it is two Os (two oxygen molecules) stuck together. Figure 12 below illustrates what I am about to describe.
Figure 12: Free radical protection from antioxidants
The oxygen donation of antioxidants.
When we breathe, oxygen splits apart, forming two single oxygen molecules. These are known as free radicals, and they are angry little critters, as they have lost their buddy. They have the potential to damage your tissues. One of the main ways the body defends itself from damage by a free radical is through the consumption of antioxidants. Antioxidant-rich foods are our colored plant foods. Blueberries, green tea, red wine, and chocolate are rich in antioxidants and the most common antioxidant-rich foods called out at my live events when I ask the audience for ideas! It is the skins and seeds of red grapes that are especially high in antioxidants, so grape juice is just as powerful as red wine (from an antioxidant perspective!). If you could imagine a large platter covered in beautiful, brightly colored fresh produce, that platter would pack an antioxidant punch, and we want to obtain the majority of our antioxidants from our plant foods.
The way it works is that the antioxidant donates one of its oxygen molecules back to the single guy (free radical) and they pair up. The oxygen is then as happy as a duck again; it has its buddy back and will no longer damage your tissues. Isn’t that magical?
To understand one powerful way free radicals can damage our tissues is to imagine a blood vessel leading to your heart. A free radical zips about through the blood and suddenly does a dive bomb and makes an indentation in the wall of the vessel. It resembles the divot in the grass beneath a golf swing that has taken too much soil with it. The damaged vessel sends out a cry for help, and, in this case, cholesterol—that up until now has been floating along in your bloodstream—wants to be the hero.
Cholesterol behaves like a Band Aid in this situation, coming along and sticking itself over the top of the injured site. It then sends out a message to all of its cholesterol friends to join the party, and they too come and stick themselves over the top of the first cholesterol globule that arrived. The cholest
erol piles up, and then it oxidizes and hardens. This is one form of atherosclerosis or plaque, and it narrows the interior of the arteries—garbage can also accumulate inside the walls of blood vessels. Where once the blood could flow through a wide, open vessel, it now has a very narrow, restricted path to follow. Your blood is the only way for oxygen and nutrients to get around your body. Your heart is a muscle, and it needs both oxygen and nutrients to survive. If it is starved of either of these for long enough, this is one way we can go on to have a heart attack.
The good news, though, is that this condition is reversible. The hardened, built-up cholesterol is LDL cholesterol, which is why it is commonly known as “bad” cholesterol. “Good” cholesterol (HDL cholesterol) comes along and unsticks each globule of cholesterol and carries it off. Where to? You guessed it… the liver. It arrives at the front door of the liver to undergo its detoxification process and, when the liver is functioning well, the cholesterol is processed, excreted, and gone forever. However, if the liver is loaded up with substances with higher priority up the detox order than boring old, home-made cholesterol (in other words most other substances entering the liver), then the cholesterol reaches the midpoint of the liver, is released too soon, and gets reabsorbed. And that is one major way our blood cholesterol goes up and up and up. Cholesterol can also be elevated when thyroid function is poor.
I don’t say this to blow my own trumpet but simply to demonstrate the power of outstanding liver function: in the 17 years I have been working with patients, there is not one person whose blood cholesterol I haven’t lowered back into the normal range, simply by helping them to take better care of their liver. Not one. It doesn’t matter if cholesterol levels are through the roof, or only slightly elevated and the GP/MD wants it back into the “normal” range, the body responds. And even more miraculously for the majority of people this occurs in less than eight weeks. No medications, just appropriate dietary change and liver support. Given the critical role cholesterol plays in metabolism, I am not overtly concerned with its elevation in the blood. What matters to me is a change in the level for an individual, as something has caused this. I see elevated blood cholesterol as a reflection of biochemical processes that need attention, such as the phase 2 liver detoxification pathways. The cholesterol itself is unlikely to be a problem; it is what has led to its elevation that must be addressed.