Bitter Greens For Liver Health

Imagine if you could eat something that would help your liver act as a gentle diuretic to purify your blood, cleanse your system, assist in weight reduction; cleanse your skin, eliminate a host of health problems, improve your bowel function, prevent or lower high blood pressure, prevent anaemia, lower your serum cholesterol by as much as half, eliminate acid indigestion and gas build up by cutting the heaviness of fatty foods, and, at the same time, have no negative side effects.

Don’t give sickness the green light to establish itself in your body. Use green foods to alkalise and reduce acidity, because even a slight rise in acidity can turn your body into a breeding ground for illnesses and disease. You will find a plethora of delicious dishes in my latest book Go Vegan that will keep your liver in tip-top condition. Remember, the liver is the 'governor' of health. Compared to the rest of the body, the liver has a significant amount of blood flowing through it — an estimated 13 percent of the body’s blood is in the liver at any given time.

The many cells of the liver, known as hepatocytes, accept and filter this blood. They act as little sorting centers, determining:

• which nutrients should be processed
• what should be stored
• what should be eliminated via the stool
• what should go back to the blood

The liver does so many jobs as well as storing vitamins and minerals such as copper and iron, releasing them if the body needs them. The liver also helps to break down fats in a person’s diet. It either stores fats or releases them as energy.

Chlorophyll is rich in all green foods, I like to equate this to being the life blood of the plant. Green foods are the closest component to the human body. If there was a perfect food for the body, it would be green food.

Energised Greens and Liver Health

When scientists look at blood and when they look at green foods there is only one difference, one molecule difference. In blood it’s haemoglobin, it’s iron, and in green foods it’s chlorophyll and as you know chlorophyll delivers oxygen to the plant so anything green is like having the life blood of the plant.

Knowing now, haemoglobin red blood cells, and green foods chlorophyll are virtually the same, makes it the most perfect food for the human body.  It works on the blood.  It helps us create healthy vibrant blood cells which then give us vibrant health and a disease-free body.

If the foods, you eat are acidic they settle as acidic ash in the blood.  If you eat Mother Nature’s food, it is alkaline food which is the way nature intended us to eat ‘unprocessed’. Alkaline foods deliver good health and a natural slim body. What makes the food alkaline is enzymes, it’s like an electrical charge in the food.

All our bodies work on a very subtle electrical current and there are two ways in which we charge our body up. We get energy from the sun and through the power of alkaline foods which are all the foods on this planet that are natural.  Acidic foods have no energy as they have in some way been treated.  Anything that will last in your refrigerator or cupboard for more than a week is generally acidic.   Green food is one of the most alkaline foods you can put in your body because it is oozing with enzymes.

I use bitter greens at least 3 times a day.  This food tastes good in salads, teas, and soups and thankfully you have nature on your side, providing these miracle plants in abundance during spring and summer! Try some of the amazing tasting vegetable and side dishes in my book Go Vegan. 

Dark and leafy greens 

Here are some great examples, broccoli, and kale, watercress and parsley, coriander, rocket and a plethora of others are powerhouses of chlorophyll. In addition to being vitamin-rich (like most greens), bitter greens are exceptionally beneficial for digestion.

Vegetables, beans, wholegrains and fruits have the best ratio of nutrients to calories.  These are the diamonds, platinum and gold of your diet.  They give you the most nutritional value per calorie, hence why they have the highest nutrient density scores. Raw leafy greens are the top of my list, solid green vegetables second, non-green, non-starchy vegetables third and starchy vegetables fourth.

The typical western diet is calorie rich and nutrient poor.  By contrast, refined grains and many oils to name but a few fatten you up while cheating you of the nutrients their wholefood counterparts contain. You wind up tired, deficient, and plagued by chronic health problems.

Here are the top health benefits of eating energised bitter greens:

1. They're a nutritional powerhouse.

Bitter greens are packed with vitamins A, C and K, and minerals like calcium, potassium and magnesium. Filled with folate and fibre and low in fat and sodium, these greens are a nutritional powerhouse! They promote great skin (beta-carotene), a strong nervous system (folate), healthy blood clotting (vitamin K) and contain phytonutrients shown to support eye health.

2. They're digestive magic.

Eating bitter food activates taste buds that simultaneously stimulate enzyme production and bile flow, which promotes digestion. The better your food is digested, the more nutrients you'll absorb from your food. It doesn't matter what you eat, if you can't absorb it, it won't be of much benefit to you. The high fibre content in bitter greens also helps to eliminate waste through the digestive tract.

Bitter greens also promote natural detoxification of the liver, which regulates cholesterol, balances hormones, detoxifies the blood, and metabolizes fats. We need to eat more bitter greens to digest fats in a more efficient manner.

3. They'll balance your taste buds and reduce cravings.

Unfortunately, a western diet primarily consists of sweet and salty tastes and is lacking in others. It is to our benefit to eat foods that activate all of our taste buds and start with incorporating some seriously healthy bitter greens! It’s also been suggested that consuming bitter greens daily may also reduce food cravings and aid in weight loss!

Greens will keep in the refrigerator for 2 to 3 days, but it’s best to use them as soon as possible. To prepare greens for cooking, wash or “bathe” greens in a sink full of water and then remove any hard stems or stalks.

Steaming greens reduces bitterness, enhances digestibility, and even releases nutrients for easy absorption. The more alkalising foods you eat, the less sugar you will crave. Easy!

In good health