Healthy diet for your liver. What should we eat to protect our liver?

• Health

Liver is one of the most important organs in human organism, hence it is crucial to ensure that it functions properly. Healthy diet stands as one of the factors posing a profound influence on its condition. Therefore, it is worth knowing what should we eat, what foods should we avoid to properly protect our liver.

Principles concerning liver diet

Liver is an absolutely vital organ of the human body. Not only does it produce bile, which removes toxins from the system, but it also generates and stores proteins, and what is more it manages the water-electrolyte balance along with playing the role of a storehouse for vitamins D and A.

That is why it is so important to make sure that the liver is in the best possible condition for as long as possible. This is where appropriate diet proves indispensible. Apart from the above, it is advised to implement principles, which should accompany the consumption of foods recommended in the liver diet.

The best foods include light, fat-free meals, which have been cooked, steamed, baked in aluminium foil or under cover, or braised without frying. These dishes should have a proper temperature: they can neither be too hot nor too cold. Do not overburden the liver with excessively abundant meals. It is better to eat 5-6 small meals during the day, than to consume 2-3 large dishes. These meals should be prepared daily, before serving (it is not recommended to reheat dishes prepared the day before).

What should we eat to have a healthy liver?

What kind of nutrients should we choose to protect the liver? Diet for people willing to protect their liver differs from the menu of people undergoing certain therapies related with various liver diseases. Let's take a quick look at a menu recommended for preventing liver problems. The best diet for the liver should include the following:

1. fruit and green tea, roasted grain coffee, smoothies, juices;
2. rusks, wheat bread (preferably stale bread);
3. rice, pasta, pearl barley and farina;
4. rabbit meat, poultry, veal, beef, chicken sirloin;
5. lean fish (such as cod, trout, sole, pollock).

Soups should be prepared on the basis of a vegetable stock. You can consume fruits and vegetables, preferably green, orange and yellow, for example peaches, apricots, pumpkins, dill, carrot, parsley and potatoes. Meals should be diversified with gently seasoning, including marjoram, cinnamon or honey.

What should we exclude from the liver diet?

Now that we know which foods are good for the liver, we need to learn what to exclude from our menu to avoid having problems with the liver. First and foremost, you should cut down on alcohol, along with other stimulants, just like strong coffee and tea, along with nicotine and sweets (simple sugars).

Healthy diet for the liver also excludes the consumption of fats, especially animal fat, as their intake is not supposed to exceed 20% of the daily portion. Fatty dairy products (such as cream, whole milk), oily fish (such as salmon, mackerel), fatty meat (pork, mutton, game, offal, lard, bacon, etc.), along with high-fat snacks, including crisps, peanuts or French fries have to disappear from the menu. What is more - it is not recommended to consume foods and products that cause flatulence, spicy as well as canned and pickled foods. Onion, garlic, leek, pear, cherries, brassicas, green beans, etc. stand as components, which should preferably be limited as far as everyday consumption is concerned.

What does the liver like?

Apart from eating appropriate foods and preparing them in a proper manner, another thing that the liver is quite fond of is movement. Physical activity helps loose extra pounds, as excessive weight may result in the occurrence of certain liver ailments. That is why regular exercises will definitely support your liver.

In order to maintain the liver in its best possible shape, it is worth providing it with vitamins, especially B vitamins. To keep these dietary ingredients in the organism for longer, it is good practice to implement a dietary supplement, which is recommended as supplementing the diet of adults willing to support the proper functioning of the liver and to maintain the proper fat metabolism – Menavitin Liver. This is the only product on the market that contains the unique, innovative 1-MNA substance combined with choline. 1-MNA is an endogenous active substance of vitamin origin. The 1-MNA particle stands as the main metabolite of vitamin B3 and is created as a result of metabolic transformations taking place in the liver.

Choline is a vitamin-like substance constituting a part of certain phospholipids, such as lecithin. The human organism synthesises choline individually only to a certain degree, and that is why it is advisable to provide the human body with the amount sufficient to ensure its proper functioning, it is worth supplementing choline or provide it in the food we eat. Good sources of this nutrient include eggs, meat and poultry, especially the liver, as well as wheat germs. Choline reveals a considerable physiological significance. It stimulates proper functioning of the liver and contributes to maintaining the proper fat metabolism.

What does a sample menu look like in a liver diet?

A sample menu that can be implemented in everyday diet for a healthy liver is as follows:

1. sample breakfast may include a wheat sandwich with lean chicken ham and a red bell pepper stripe and several leaves of green parsley, along with a roasted grain coffee;
2. lunch can include a low-fat natural yoghurt containing pieces of peach;
3. dinner could cover a vegetable soup (excluding the previously mentioned vegetables) on a vegetable broth, steamed chicken fillet with potatoes and carrot;
4. for an afternoon snack it is worth preparing an oatmeal from instant oat flakes with apple puree and dried cranberry;
5. the supper may cover spinach stewed under a lid, served with pearl barley.