How To Keep Liver Healthy With Liver Cancer
You probably don’t know how important your liver is. For starters, it is a major player in your digestive health.
Everything you consume passes through your liver. Therefore, it is important to take care of it, so it does its job.
What Does A Healthy Liver Do?
Your liver sits just below the lower part of your ribcage on the right side. Your liver is about the size of a football.
The liver has some pretty important functions, including the ability to clean out your blood by getting rid of harmful substances made by the body. It also uses a chemical called bile to break down the fat you consume and is a storage for glucose (blood sugar) which you need for energy.
You need your liver to survive and everything you breathe, eat, and drink passes get processed by your liver. Since the liver has so many different functions, any complications, as a result of disease and bad lifestyle choices, can be drastic.
Tips for Keeping Your Liver Healthy
Your liver can fully regenerate and is always working to repair the damage. Just because it can heal, it doesn’t mean you should it punish on a consistent basis.
Excessive damage eventually results in complications in the form of liver diseases. Therefore for is important to practice healthy behaviors to preserve liver function and to prevent disease.
Here are some lifestyle habits that can help you to maintain a healthy liver.
1. Limit Alcohol Consumption
Frequent overconsumption of alcohol can destroy liver cells and cause inflammation and swelling that leads to liver cirrhosis.
This condition causes liver scarring and eventually liver failure.
The Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommend men drink no more than two alcoholic beverages per day and women no more than one drink daily.
2. Avoid Fatty Foods
Anytime you eat more food than your body can digest, the fatty tissue gathers in your liver.
The build-up leads to scarring and inflammation, and sometimes, a condition called non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD.)
To reduce your risk for NAFLD, avoid processed foods high in saturated fats, such as fast food, red meat, and junk foods. You should also avoid fatty foods if you have a medical condition that makes it hard to manage fat intake.
3. Don’t Smoke
Tobacco use has been linked to adverse effects on the liver and other internal organs. It is also linked to liver cancer and quitting smoking will minimize your liver cancer risk and recurrence.
While smoking doesn’t damage liver cells, it does increase your risk for liver diseases, including cirrhosis and NAFLD.
4. Lose Weight
Losing weight leads to less fatty tissue in the liver. Regular physical activity will also help keep your liver healthy and improve your overall health.
Make sure any weight loss is gradual. If you lose weight too fast, this, too, can also cause liver problems.
5. Get Regular Health Checks
Seeing your doctor can help you to avoid problems with your liver. If you suspect that there is a problem, talk to your doctor about blood work to check your liver function.
The results from liver function tests show how well your liver is working.
If your tests indicate impaired liver function, there are treatment options available that can be highly successful, especially with early diagnosis.
6. Use Medications Wisely
You should never take more the recommended dose of medications. Some medications damage liver cells and should be used sparingly and as instructed by your doctor.
Stay away from illicit drugs as they can contain ingredients that are very toxic to your liver. The intravenous drug has been linked hepatitis B and C - two very severe viral infections of the liver.
7. Wash Your Hands
You should always wash your hands after going to the bathroom, changing a diaper and before touching and preparing food.
Regular hand washing, especially before and after some activities, is a good way to remove germs and not spread them and to avoid getting sick.
8. Drink Plenty of Water
You should be drinking between eight to ten glasses of water daily. This way your liver can flush out toxins.
A good way to start your day is with a large glass of water with fresh lemon juice. Lemon has detoxification abilities.
9. Need for a Healthy Liver
Having a healthy liver is vital to your overall health and an unhealthy liver will lead to many health problems. A healthy lifestyle is the best way to keep your liver healthy and doing its job.
To keep your liver healthy, make sure you are maintaining a healthy lifestyle, limiting unhealthy habits, such as alcohol consumption, and watching your medication use. The liver is forgiving, but there is only much it can handle.
