Love your liver: prepare for hay fever season
As the trees come into flower, reminding us that hay fever season is just around the corner, it’s a good time to be kind to your liver.
What does the liver have to do with hay fever?
The immune system reacts to allergens very efficiently by producing histamine.
Histamines act like bouncers at a club. They help your body get rid of something that’s bothering you — in this case, an allergy trigger, or “allergen.”
Webmd
The liver breaks down all chemicals including the ones made by the body. The more ‘sluggish’ the liver, the longer it may take to metabolise the excess histamine.
Think of it in terms of the amount of work the liver has to do. If its busy dealing with exogenous (made outside the body) chemicals, (eg from pollution, drugs, medication) then it may take longer to metabolise its own hormones and other bodily by-products.
Love your liver
While you can’t always avoid the pollens that cause hay fever, you can give your liver a little extra love to hopefully reduce its load.
Take a break from:
Alcohol – feeling a bit ‘average’ or fully hungover after drinking is courtesy of the liver working hard to break down the alcohol.
High fructose corn syrup and the chemically similar ‘natural’ agave – are metabolised in the liver, just like alcohol.
Drugs – some you can’t avoid like prescribed medication, but the recreational variety is entirely optional.
Smoking – cut down if you can’t stop. On top of the liver breaking down the thousands of chemicals in a cigarette, inhaling smoke can irritate your airways worsening hay fever symptoms. Vaping mightn’t be much healthier.
Fried and fatty food, dairy products, sugar and processed food.
Bitter tasting food and drinks stimulate the release of liver enzymes.
Try to include as many of the following in your diet:
Lemon juice in warm water is a slightly bitter, liver-friendly way to start the day.
Bitter leafy greens – eaten raw, steamed or cooked as horta. Try radicchio and chicory, or unsprayed spring herbs including nettles and dandelion leaf.
Globe artichokes – try these surprisingly filling stuffed artichokes (vegan).
Dandelion root or St Mary’s thistle tea.
More liver love
Eat lots of veggies and other unrefined plant-based foods, such as lentils, oats and grains.
Drink at least two litres of water/herbal tea a day.
Exercise – there’s strong evidence that regular exercise can improve liver function, including in some hepatic diseases.
You don’t need allergy season as an excuse to give your liver a little love. These liver-supporting measures can also help clear stress and reproductive hormones, regulation of blood sugar and much more.
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