Guest blog – vegetables for liver cleansing by Patrick Bailey
5 Liver-Cleansing Vegetables You Could Grow in Your Garden
Our livers are crucial to us as they help to keep our blood free from toxins and other impurities. If they do begin to fail, then it can cause a range of unwelcome symptoms, and even be deadly to us.
Alcohol and other substances are among the things that can cause havoc with our livers, but it is not only people with addiction problems that can have such liver problems. The good news is that vegetables can help your liver to heal.
Even better, you do not have to always go to the grocery store to buy vegetables if you have a small garden in your backyard. It is easier than you think. Not only will eating them be good for your liver, but the act of planting them, growing them, and harvesting them may be good therapy, too.
Besides, they will add color to your backyard and look great.
Here are some tips on how to heal your liver with five humble vegetables you can easily grow in your backyard.
1. Carrots
Carrots are root vegetables. They grow beneath the soil surface and have flower-like leaves above the soil surface. They grow well during spring or fall. They will certainly look great in your garden.
Carrots are fun to chew and nutritious. They are crunchy, tasty, and rich in vitamin A and K. They are also a good source of potassium, antioxidants, and fiber.
Carrots contain a compound known as glutathione. This is a form of protein that aids in detoxifying the liver. Glutathione is also naturally produced by the body and it contains sulfur traces that are effective in trapping toxins. Carrots work to enhance the glutathione levels in the body.
It would certainly be fun and convenient to uproot a carrot from your backyard, wash it properly and enjoy it as it is. Carrots are best eaten raw if you are seeking the detoxification benefits.
2. Garlic
Garlic is a popular ingredient in kitchens around the world. Its rich flavor and smell make it an ideal ingredient for almost any food.
Garlic is quite easy to grow in a garden as well. It grows well in warm and wet conditions. It is a stem tuber and its green leaves will be quite colorful in the garden.
Garlic is one of the most effective vegetables when it comes to liver detoxification. Its list of health benefits includes that it has compounds that activate the enzymes in the liver that are responsible for flushing toxins from the body. It also contains allicin and selenium, potent minerals that are effective in protecting the liver from getting damaged by toxins.
3. Leafy Vegetables
Spinach, kale, dandelion, and arugula are among the leafy vegetables. Arguably the easiest vegetables to grow in a backyard garden, they do well in most conditions, so long as it’s not too cold or too hot. They just need to be planted in wet soil.
Leafy vegetables have a string of vitamins and nutrients that are essential for the body. More importantly, they contain various liver-cleansing compounds that can trap toxins such as heavy metals. Leafy vegetables also capture and eliminate herbicides and pesticides from your body as well.
4. Tomatoes
Everyone loves a big ripe tomato. A slice of raw tomato adds much-needed minerals and nutrients to your burger. It gets even better because it is quite easy to grow some tomatoes in your backyard.
There are different tomato varieties and you should choose the variety depending on the type of soil you have and the climate.
Juicy red and raw tomatoes are the best for liver cleansing purposes. They also contain high levels of glutathione. As mentioned above, glutathione is quite effective in trapping and flushing out toxins from your body.
Tomatoes also contain vitamin C, vitamin K, antioxidants, and potassium. All these nutrients and minerals are essential for the body.
5. Beans
All kinds of beans—kidney beans, lentils, split peas, and navy beans—are rich in fiber and protein and quite easy to grow in a small backyard garden or even in containers. You just have to plant the seeds in wet and rich soil, and they will germinate.
The fiber content of the beans combines with the material in your GI tract to help in pushing out waste from your body. Quicker expulsion of waste from the body reduces the number of toxins that are absorbed into the blood, and to the liver.
There are many more liver-friendly foods—from walnuts to herbs, beets to green tea, apples to citrus fruits—but these are the easiest to grow yourself.
If you love gardening, tending to these vegetables, from seed to harvest, may help heal and detoxify your liver the natural way, meaning toxin-free blood and better overall health.
