Hello and welcome back, so great to see you and thanks for visiting and being part of our thriving yoga and wellbeing community.
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Continuing in our theme of looking at how you can cleanse your body through natural foods and yoga, today I would like to share with you an easy detox technique-the Liver Flush. This is a detox technique I use to cleanse and purify myself from the inside out.
The Liver Flush is great to boost and cleanse your system, especially at this time of the year, when your energy and vitality levels are low and you struggle to maintain your New Year Healthier and Fitter You resolutions.
If you are feeling sluggish, demotivated and your system in need of a cleanse, the Liver Flush, may well be the detox technique you need to motivate and kick-start your desire for a Healthier 2012
In today’s post, I will share with you the basics of the Liver Flush and in later posts we can go into a bit more detail and look at what foods you can eat and yoga poses to include whilst on the Liver Flush. Who knows, we could even end up doing an on-line Liver Flush together! Food for thought. First things first, what is The Liver Flush and what can it do for you to feel healthier and clearer?
The Liver Flush
The Liver Flush drink is something which I am the first to admit takes a while to get use to, yet if you can overcome your resistant to drinking olive oil, (a key ingredient in the liver flush) you will feel amazing after a day or so of following this simple purifying diet.
What is the Liver Flush?
I first came across the Liver Flush as part of my teachings with my teacher, Shola Arewa. It was 2000 and I was part of a group of eager women participating in a 12 months Personal and Spiritual Development Course. During the first meeting, Shola announced we would spend the first part of the programme on a detox-including a Liver Flush to help prepare us-physically, spiritually and emotionally for the year ahead. At the time, I remembered grimacing and thinking “I aint doing that…what’s that..that sounds harsh…” I had thought of us sticking tubes and other objects into our liver as well as our bottoms! But, as the day progressed, I realised the Liver Flush – and accompanying diet plan-was simply a mixture of everyday ingredients – ranging from ginger, olive oil, garlic, grapefruits, apples and lemons, blended together and drank first thing in the morning, followed by the Liver Flush Herbal Tea and mindfully eating natural and wholesome foods during the rest of the day.
If you are thinking you would like to try this cleanse, I would say, just try the Liver Flush drink for a couple of days, see how you get on and then, try it again when you are ready to do a more in depth detox, details of which I’ll share with you in later posts.
What Does The Liver Flush Do?
The purpose of the Liver Flush, is to help flush waste out of the system and stimulate and lubricate the digestive organs. It is an alkaline diet designed for elimination and internal cleansing. After a couple days drinking the Liver Flush, especially if you incorporate it into a full detox programme, eating raw, wholesome and natural foods, you will notice just how huge, moist and smooth your bowel movements are!
There are numerous versions of the Liver Flush available. This particular version is based on the teachings of Dr Stone and further details can be found in my Polarity Therapy teacher’s book -Polarity Therapy-The Power That Heals by Phil Young. More information about Polarity Therapy can be found here.
As you know, your lymphatic and circulatory system, as well as your liver, kidneys and bowels help to eliminate the build up of toxins and bacteria which accumulate in the body. The best time to take the Liver Flush drink is first thing in the morning as it helps to cleanse and flush out the system.
What Ingredients Do You Need For The Liver Flush
There are various versions of the Liver Flush drink you can use:
The Basic Liver Flush
As far as I’m concerned the Basic Liver Flush is gross and takes some getting used to! For this you need
1-5 Tbsp. Cold-pressed virgin olive oil
3 times as much lime or lemon juice
Simply stir or blend these ingredients and swallow! Follow it with two cups of warm water mixed with the juice of one lime or lemon or the Liver Flush Herbal Tea (see below)
A more palatable Liver Flush, the one which we used in our course consists of:
Juice of 2-3 oranges or grapefruit
4-6 tablespoons of lemon or lime juice
2-3 tablespoons of cold-pressed olive oil or sesame oil
1-3 cloves of crushed garlic (optional)
Blend, stir, mix and drink…follow this flush by drinking warm water mixed with the juice of one lemon or the Herbal Flush Liver Tea (see below).
Even More Tastier Liver Flush
If you are feeling this is still too bland, (and garlicky!) for an even more tastier version, try this
2 0z Orange juice
2 0z Grapefruit juice
2 oz Pineapple juice
1-5 Tbsp. Olive oil.
Stir, mix or blend and drink. Follow this with two cups of hot water and the juice of one lemon or the Liver Flush Herbal Tea (see below)
Whether you drink the basic Liver Flush or the more tastier version using pineapples, grapefruits or orange, the Liver Flush is followed by the Liver Flush Herbal Tea or a cup of hot water and juice of a lemon or lime.
Liver Flush Herbal Tea
Boil three cups of hot water and add 2-5 slices of thinly sliced fresh ginger root. Boil for several minutes then add, 1 tsp of liquorice root, 1 tsp fennel seed, 1 tsp fenugreek seeds and 1 tsp peppermint leaves.
Let this seep and sip slowly after taking your Liver Flush drink. What I like to do is keep this mixture topped up and sip throughout the day.
Final Thoughts
Well, what do you think? Do you think you could give the Liver Flush and Liver Flush Herbal tea a go?
Next time you go to the supermarket, take this list with you and buy the ingredients.
Set aside one or two days next week and instead of your usual breakfast try the Liver Flush drink and Liver Flush Herbal tea. Just take your time, ease the practice into your day and find out for yourself how easy/hard/difficult it is. Sometimes, you just need to make small adjustments to your day to feel healthier and look more gorgeous.
I’d love to know what you think of the Liver Flush. Is it something you can see yourself doing? And what do you think about my idea for us to do a group on-line detox? Feel free to share your thoughts, comments and suggestions in the comment box below. Thank you.
If you enjoyed this post and feel your friends would benefit from knowing this information, click and share via your favourite social media icon below and; stay tuned for the rest of this mini yoga detox series, where we will be looking at what foods you can eat if you wish to take the Liver Flush one step further.
Remember, the more time you take to care for yourself, the more energy you have to be positive and productive at work and enjoy fun time with your family.
Images-with thanks by Ruta&Zinas and Jazzijava – all via flickrr.com
It was a very good post indeed. I thoroughly enjoyed reading it in my lunch time. Will surely come and visit this blog more often. Thanks for sharing.
Thank you, for letting me know. I am glad you found it useful. Keep well.
Hello, great info! I'm interested in the grapefruit/ orange juice mix. how often should I do the liver flush though? Once a month, once a week?
Hello May, glad to hera you are interested in the grapefruit/orange juice. How often…it all depends on your overall health, constitution, support network and reasons for doing the cleanse. If your diet is reasonable clean and you're in good health, you could get away with just doing 2-3 days of the Liver Flush every season.
However, if your body is quite acidic and you're making changes to your overall way of eating, then with appropriate support, I would suggest doing the Liver Flush as part of a 3-10 day cleanse and then once a fortnight, have a day where you make extra effort to drink the liver Flush Tea and eat extra healthily for that day.
Listen to your body, practice breathing and yoga and see how you feel on a daily basis. Would love to know how you get on.
Thanks for taking care of your body.
I did this liver flush and mixed it with eating whole foods, vegetables and fruit. At the same time, I also took up cycling for exercise. My energy levels have rocketed. Mental focus, attention span, motivation, sleeping and general well being have all been affected positively. I have also dropped 5 kg in weight in 2 months!!
I'm so excited to get started on the liver flush! I've been looking for the right one that will meet with my busy schedule while keeping out of remission ; ). Can you please recommend the types of foods I should eat while I detox, I plan on starting on a two day flush.
Lupita Venegas
Bless you Lupita, I'm so glad to hear you have found what you are looking for and well done for taking the time to care for yourself –esp as you are in remission. Re foods aim to eat a variety of ideally raw, organic fruit and veg, avoid wheat, diary and sugar products and take time to breathe rest and pray. let me know how you get on. am rooting for you. Hugs and blessings.
Hi NtathuAllen,
Thank you so much for sharing your valueable advice with us, was wondering why is it idle to take it in the morning not during the night time? cause this lady on this site recommends to take it during the night time and lie on the left side , could you please confirm what's better , during the day time or the night time ? and what are the differences?
Thanks
M C Das
Hi some of the herbal tea ingridents are not available like liquorice root and pappermint leaves. Is there any alternative to this?
Thanks Dhruti for asking. Yes it can be difficult to get all the ingredients needed for the Herbal tea. You can drink hot water with a few slices of lemon in as a substitute of brewing the herbs. Or you could try just boiling cups of water and adding several thin slices of fresh ginger root. I'll ask around my other friends and see what suggestions they come up with. Take care. Are you thinking of using the liver flush. If you are, let me know how you get on. Thanks.
I love the way you've included different levels of Liver Detox. It's great to have a choice. This is far more encouraging than the usual 'this is the dextox' end of!
I've only ever tried lemon juice in hot water first thing in the morning and I'm curious as to what oil adds to the detox. Thanks Jan x
Hi Jan, sorry for not replying earlier. I missed your comment in the flurry of emails during Better Bloggers Course! The oil acts as a lubricant. I am not sure of the specific reasons, so if you give me a few days I will ask around. Thanks for your time and sharing. Are you thinking of using the Liver flush? If you do, let me know how you get on.