Dr. Frost’s Spring Message : It’s all about the Liver!
Did you know that most liver damage is NOT FROM ALCOHOL?!
I have the wonderful opportunity to PLAY in a health-care practice that places most of it’s attention on well care so most of my students don’t overuse alcohol or drugs so they think their liver is safe.
But alcohol isn’t the biggest worry.
If you’re stressed and angry that can be a big problem. And if you’re stressed, angry, and one of the 65% of Americans that are having a weight challenge this could be a HUGE PROBLEM!!!
So let’s look at the evidence: Alcohol contributes to only 6% of liver damage. The much higher risk factor for liver damage is obesity. It alone contributes to 52% of liver disease.
These statistics come from the article “ Obesity is the cause of Most Liver Damage: Risk of Disease Fourfold Higher in Obese.” By Mitchel L. Zoler in the Journal of Family Practice News. July 1, 2004 edition.
Zoler further states that, “when an overweight person drinks, the chances of liver damage are dramatically increased.
Let’s look at some real numbers so you can get a better picture of what the risks are.
So if your overweight, you have a twofold increased risk. If you’re obese (body mass index over 30), you’re four times more likely to develop liver damage than a normal weight individual. Let me say that the BMI index is not totally credible in defining an overweight or obese individual. We will however use this measuring model for the time being because it is still the standard of statistical referencing practice.
So if you add alcohol to the mix the picture appears to be even more bleak. For example, if you are of normal-weight drinking two or more glasses of alcohol a day has a two-fold risk of liver damage. An obese person with the same drinking habit would have a 5.9-fold increase. That’s nearly six times the chance of developing liver disease. And if your overweight two or more drinks per day give you a 3.4-fold increased risk factor.
THESE STATISTICS SPELL BAD NEWS FOR THE LIVER!
Your liver is the most overlooked and often ignored organ in your body. It is however arguably the most important!
Your liver:
• Manufactures a full quart of bile daily to break down fat. Bile is the yellowish-green fluid that’s produced in your liver and stored in your gallbladder. Bile also plays an essential role in emulsifying – or breaking down – the fats you eat. Think of bile as a detergent that gets rid of grease from your dishes.
• Filters harmful toxins and substances (including alcohol) out of nearly 100 gallons of blood every day and allows nutrients to get to your cells.
• Produces more than 13,000 crucial chemicals and hormones including cholesterol, testosterone, and estrogen. Plus, your liver manages over 50,000 enzymes to maintain a healthy body.
• Regulates blood sugar levels and prevents dangerous spikes and lows.
• Stores essential vitamins and minerals – including vitamins A, D, K, B12 to help keep your bones from crumbling.
• Detoxifies all internal and external environmental pollutants. If your liver didn’t continually remove metabolic trash and toxins from your blood, you would be dead in a matter of hours.
Even more important than what your liver does, is what happens when your liver is not functioning properly.
To get rid of all the waste, your liver will create balls of fat that collect in the liver itself. (This is the start of a “fatty liver.”) Those fats will also spill into your blood stream in the form of triglycerides, which boost your risk of heart related disaster.
Your liver will also move those toxins to different places in your body including your skin. In fact, many skin conditions like dandruff and psoriasis are tell-tale signs of a sick liver.
All of this contributes to a systemic poisoning that zaps your strength, vitality – even your sex drive. Chronic fatigue, high blood pressure, auto immune disorders, and “problems in the bedroom,” often have a connection to a sluggish or sick liver.
If you haven’t started on a weight-reduction plan, get started today. It doesn’t have to be difficult. My most important rule of healthy weight reduction is simply eat foods in their natural, unadulterated forms. That includes healthy sources of meats, fish, poultry, eggs, and unprocessed dairy (except in dairy sensitive individuals) most vegetables, seasonal and locally grown fruits, and sprouted nuts and seeds.
Avoid anything processed or refined. And start a heart healthy exercise program- like my Qi Robics® (Integrative Tai Chi and Qi Gong) program. You can start off easy by just walking around the block – add a few hills in with that walk for some variable intensity.
For those of you looking for a more profound experience you may want to check out our clinically supervised 21 day purification program. Call our office for more info and a free consultation at 216 426 1099. Or check us out at www.drmichaelfrost.com…
