Ah… the bathroom, nature’s thinking room. The one place where we create many thoughts that turn into ideas, a place to read, and the place where we want peace and quiet. Known as many different names,  the bathroom is the one place where we flush out our systems after consuming quantities of food. However, did you know that the bile inside your body plays a huge important role in our system?

Bile is a vital body fluid that absorbs nutrients in our small intestines and flushes the toxins out of the liver. Bile continuously is being produced in the liver and then stored in the gallbladder. It also works as a signal molecule for both inside and outside the liver as well. When the liver and bile is disruptive, it can cause many problems for the body.

 

TCM (Traditional Chinese Medicine) stated that the liver is known as the “master organ” and it is the causative factor in many of the body’s ailments. When there are major imbalances on our bodies, it causes liver dysfunction. In TCM, the liver actually helps with detoxification; enzyme, hormone, and bile production, immune cell activation and stores vitamins and iron.

 

How Does the Liver Work?

The liver’s main job is to get rid of bile in our internal system. Not only that but the liver plays an important role by distributing nutrients by converting those nutrients into metabolizing energy. As well as storing vitamins and minerals for later use.

 

However, in today’s fast-paced society, the liver can’t perform right as we don’t give the liver it’s essential nutrients that it needs to function. Which causes blockage in the gallbladder, diseases, and digestive issues.

 

The Importance of Bile

As stated, bile has many functions that play an important part in the liver. Bile actually lubricates our small intestines and stool for easy disposal. But when there is less lubrication in our small intestines and stool, it can lead to constipation and too much lubrication can lead to diarrhea.

 

There is also a chance of blockage in bile where it can increase the accumulation of toxins in our body which creates oxidative stress and back up our waste matter. When we eat too much food and it’s still in our intestines, it will ferment and causes a leaky gut as toxic gasses penetrate the intestinal lining.

 

Another function is that the bile salts break down and processes fats that are essential for weight loss. Bile can also transport toxins out of our liver to feces while keeping everything free-flowing. When there isn’t enough bile being produced, cholesterol stones are forming.

 

Vitamins like, vitamin A, D, E and K can break down the excess fat in the body if there is an adequate amount of bile. But if patients had gallbladder surgery must be taken to account that they don’t have a bile storage system, and must manage their bile production.

 

Liver Functions for Hormonal Balance

Did you know that the liver and thyroid have a synergistic relationship? That’s because the T4 is converted to T3 for the liver. It turns out that the T3 is more potent in the thyroid hormone and is metabolized from iodine. When a patient has a thyroid problem, it could actually be the result of a bile or liver malfunction.

 

When our mood and mental state is imbalanced, it can be the results of a sick or fatty liver. Due to the fact that the liver influencing on our hormones. Because our mental state and our moods correlate to our hormones, it is important to keep the liver healthy but also finding a good place in our state of mind to make sure that we keep our liver healthy as well.

 

Signs of Liver Imbalance

There are many symptoms that can cause the liver to be imbalanced and can contribute to a low bile count:

• Constipation, bloating, gas
• Leaky gut
• Fatigue
• Weight gain
• Irregular stool
• High cholesterol
• Tendon problems

Ways to Support the Liver and Produce More Bile

Now that we understand what symptoms that causes our liver to be imbalanced, here are 5 ways to make sure that you are protecting your liver and producing a healthy amount of bile.

1. Removing Causative Factors

The first and foremost factor in protecting your liver is to get rid of the causative factors that are harming your liver. Things like an excessive amount of lactate in coffee, sugars, alcohol, and processed foods can disrupt your liver’s health. It’s ok to enjoy those things sparsely but, if you are trying to maintain a healthy liver, it’s best to ease up on the consumption of those lactate factors as much as possible.

2. Eating Liver Supportive Foods

There are many foods that actually help support the liver. Grapefruit, blueberries, cranberries, prickly pears, and bitter greens are just some of the foods that can actually help your liver and bile production. We here at Injury Medical Clinic, always inform our patients the importance of whole nutritious food to heal and repair what ailments in our patient’s bodies.

3. Practicing Deep Breathing Exercise

Practicing deep breathing exercises have been known to lower stress and diaphragmatic breathing exercises is no exception. Since the liver is positioned below the diaphragm, when we do any deep breathing exercises; these motions actually massages our liver and stimulate bile production. Hence why singers do these exercises when they are getting ready to perform. They are massaging their liver without even knowing it.

4. Intermittent Fasting

Since we now know that bile is continuously being produced in the liver and being stored into the gallbladder when we are not eating, intermittent fasting is a good way to increase the bile production in the gallbladder. Plus it has been known for weight loss and beneficial for the body to heal while getting rid of the junk in our cells.

5. Stress Less

Stress is one of the huge factors that can either cause our body to improve our immune system or causes the body to chronic illness. Emotional stress is known to cause a huge burden to our organs because it is tied to our hormones. When we get emotionally stressed, our liver cannot get rid of the excess toxins and hormones.  So we have to find ways to de-stressed ourselves so we won’t hurt our organs, especially the liver.

Conclusion

So when it comes to our liver, we must make sure that the bile that we are producing is turning into energy all the way to feces. So, when we have to go to the bathroom we can let out the toxins naturally without any complications. If we can lower the factors that are causing us to have an inadequate bowel movements, then we can improve our body’s ability to detoxify.

---

 

NCBI Resources

Western diets, high in sugar and fat, cause liver inflammation, especially in males, according to a new animal study in The American Journal of Pathology. Inflammation was most pronounced in males that lacked farnesoid x receptor (FXR), a bile acid receptor.