Your Liver, the Seat of Emotional Well-being

In Leviticus 23, it is commanded to fast at least one day each year for spiritual reasons and as part of God’s plan to usher in his kingdom. However, there is a hidden health benefit. Once a year, God allowed us to rebook our immune systems. He’s thoughtful like that. What happens, though, when we make intermittent fasting part of our lifestyle?

Recent scientific evidence suggests fasting reduces liver triglycerides and increases the expression of genes that prevent fat from being stored in the liver (Muenchen 2016).  Fasting is also associated with increased lifespan and reduced risk of diseases, including cancer and diabetes. What are triglycerides? They are a type of fat, also called lipid, found in the blood. Our bodies convert calories it does not need right away into triglycerides when we eat. 

These fats, lipids, are then stored in the body’s fat cells for later use between meals. When we make it a habit of eating  more calories from high carbohydrate foods than the body burns, the body becomes high in triglycerides, lipids or fats (Slaga & Keuneke 2003). The body’s state of being high in fats causes a health problem. It's basic biology.

The liver is a vital metabolic organ, and its metabolic function is to process, break down, digest, make use of, and absorb what we eat and drink. The work of the liver is controlled by insulin and other metabolic hormones. It’s not just what we eat or even how much we eat. New research is shedding light on the importance of when we eat. The natural health practitioners interviewed all agree that fasting and time-restricted eating, also called intermittent fasting, reduce the risk of many diet-related diseases. Intermittent fasting benefits the body and all its systems. The practice increases explicit liver metabolism and has miraculous fat-burning power (Slaga & Keuneke 2003).

It is a good practice to consult your physician when considering new health solutions.  However, when informed, we are able to ask our doctors the right questions.  According to the  2017 Health periodical, there are five basic ways to begin detoxing your liver:

1. Drink a glass of fresh lemon water in the morning to increase electrolytes from your nighttime fast.
2. Brush your skin at bath time to help keep your pores unclogged.
3. Put Epsom salt in your bath water because our skin needs the magnesium contained in it. 
4. Help stimulate digestion and elimination by stretching and exercising. Eat green leafy vegetables every day, at every meal, if you can.

"A lot of digestive discomforts come from stress," says Dr. Patz in the 2017 Health periodical, "so by releasing gripping and holding in the belly and taking deep, calming breaths, we can relax the muscles, allowing the GI system to do a better job,” continued Dr. Patz.  Medina Nance posted information about the liver on her social media and permitted me to use it. This is what she said,

If you have insomnia and can't get to sleep at all, or if you wake up late at night

and you can't go back to sleep, there could be difficulties with your liver. Many

may not be aware of it, but that's one of the top symptoms of an overloaded liver.

Since the liver filters the blood first and the kidneys last, the liver can quickly become

bombarded and overburdened. The liver performs over 500 functions throughout

the body. However, doctors are not advising us to cleanse the liver nor the blood

that it filters. Generally, people take a sleep aid, a pill to help them sleep, and

rarely ask or consider why they cannot get to sleep or stay asleep. Let's cut

to the chase. You will need some Liquid Chlorophyll, a Liver Cleanser, Milk Thistle, or an herbal combination that cleanses the liver. Not everyone's system is the same. Many people are on medications, but it's important to space any medicines whether

over the counter or prescribed 1-2 hours apart from your supplements.

Take one teaspoon of Liquid Chlorophyll in 8-16 oz of water and 2-3 Milk Thistle or Liver Combination caps/tabs the first thing in the morning again before bedtime,

or at least 2-3 hours after your last meal. Do this regiment for 90 Days, You can

add Fiber and Hydrated Bentonite if you like, but only if you drink at least 2-3 quarts

of purified water daily. Some may need an herbal laxative to push fiber, though. This

should be done for 90 Days because our Livers are filtering 50-60,000 miles of Blood Vessels and a 'Lifetime' of built up accumulated toxins, lead, chlorine, fluoride in the water, and other toxins. Chlorine is said to thicken the blood and raise LDL cholesterol,

synthetic, processed chemical-laden foods. When we add stress to the mix, we lose

sleep at night when the body should use sleep as a self-healing tool. This

herbal and supplement regiment not only helps you sleep and rest better at night,

but it's also a great way to help prevent a lot of things that 'run in the family,' those

generational health problems that wreak havoc on our lives. These health problems

cause Americans to consume 80% of the world's pharmaceutical drugs. In China, they

call the liver, the organ of emotions, things like anxiety, anger, depression, panic

attacks, etc. are just ‘symptoms' of an overloaded liver and a damaged nervous

system.”

Consequently, the liver is essential for digestion, but it is also vital for the circulation of emotions. Emotions are energies that need to circulate throughout the body and not get trapped in one body system, especially the liver. The liver is considered the seat of negative emotions such as anger, envy, irritability. Possessing negative emotions like anger, rejection, envy, irritation, frustration, and even disappointment in oneself weakens the liver. For healthy wellbeing, positive emotions such as determination, courage, enthusiasm, and joy need to circulate through the body as well. Both hyperactive and underdeveloped capacities for will, courage, enthusiasm also affect the liver’s health (Gallagher 2008). Gallgher’s statement about liver function on either side of the spectrum reminds me of Proverbs 4:27 “Turn not to the right hand or to the left: remove thy foot from evil.” A hyperactive liver leads to disease and a liver that functions under capacity also leads to disease.

One way to protect your liver from the negative emotions is by practicing maintaining a high-fiber low-fat diet with little to no meat. Certain foods, especially the bitter-tasting ones, do a lot of good to the liver, mainly by having a cooling effect on the fiery organ. Herbs and foods like aloe vera, neem, ginger, and turmeric are used for both protection and boosting the liver’s health. Green leafy vegetables, beetroots, carrots, and apples are also suitable for the liver (Gallagher 2008).  

Moreover, many places in the Word advises us to meditate on God’s Word and to pray. The regular practice of forgiveness, meditation, and prayer is a useful tool for protecting the liver against negative emotions and keeping them from becoming trapped and damaging. I interviewed a few natural health practitioners regarding the liver and emotions. When asked, “If you were giving a massage to a woman whose doctor diagnosed her with liver issues, is there a specific focus you would give her in a massage?” Natural massage therapy and natural energy practitioners had these responses:

“Laugh through the Anger. This is the short answer I would have us both focus on

the emotions of anger and replace it with laughter. What life experiences caused

such deep-seated anger that she can receive the lesson and laugh about it? Laughter

is healing.” Hadassah EL 

 

“I would check in the meds she was taking. Certain meds you shouldn't massage

clients, like blood thinners. Then I would proceed if there aren't any more conflicts.

Relaxation is important and helping client destress” Marguerite Wright  

 

Additionally, endorphins trigger a positive feeling in the body, similar to that of morphine. To keep this natural and positive chemical flowing through the body, one needs to laugh and exercise. The release of endorphins supports euphoric feelings circulating and helps us keep a positive outlook on life. Stress and negative emotions can kill; we hear that a lot, and it is a fact. Negativity increases chances for disease, primarily because of those generational health challenges Medina talked about. Endorphins reduce the body’s awareness of pain and act as sedatives. Endorphins are manufactured in the brain, spinal cord, and many other parts of your body and are released in response to emotion, which creates brain chemicals called neurotransmitters. The neuron receptors that endorphins bind to are the same ones that bind some pain medicines. However, unlike strong pain medicines, the activation of these receptors by the body's endorphins does not lead to addiction and dependence. Rather, addiction to strong pain medicines changes the body’s perception of its natural endorphins. Be mindful of the medications you are prescribed.  Ask tons of questions; get the facts. According to Dr. Suni:

Emotions travel throughout the body. Anger, rejection, disappointment, other negative thoughts get trapped in the body, but they can be shifted and managed with detox and energy work. Thoughts are energy and can be moved or trapped in various parts of the body, including the liver. Meditation and prayer, and other energy tools used by a skilled professional can help. A person needs to be assessed from the energetic level to see where the problem is coming from and where the negative emotion is trapped. Being an iridologist, I can look into the body through the eyes to determine the affected area. Though the anger, rejection, disappointment, and negative energy may be affecting the liver it is generally not only trapped in the liver but trapped in other parts of the body as well.

You can use meditation and prayer to control your thoughts. God comes into your mind, and thoughts are activated through your brain. You may even feel the thoughts in your gut. We call it our following our first mind.  The next time you have a strong negative emotion, take note of how it feels in your gut.

We know we are fighting spiritual warfare, right?  We talk a lot about it but how do we analyze this war and break it down into terms that could help us with application in our lives? We know that obedience to the commandments, prayer, and fasting are tools we use to fight the tough demons. Knowing where emotions derive and how to control them can also help. 

“Let's talk about roots”, says Arleasia Lee Custom Health Advocate, “The

the root of rejection is a strongman that creates strongholds that have a very

significant influence over one's behavior, thinking, and living.

 

Furthermore, we have to be open to God to pray to Him and meditate on his Word. Believe it or not, some people in truth, don’t pray, they only study. Thoughts are spirit. Meditation and prayer open the door for good, positive, healthy, and righteous thoughts. They help us process information using the relationship between our conscious and subconscious. It is the science of neuropsychology. In her book Who Switched Off My Brain, neurologist Dr. Caroline Leaf says:

Everything you do is first a thought in the physical brain. You think, and then

you do, which cycles back to the original thought, changing it, and the thoughts

connected to it, in a dynamic interrelationship. Therefore, if your thinking is toxic,

then your communication and behavior are toxic, and vice versa.

 

Thought promotes action which either changes the thought or enhances the thought so it becomes part of us. We also have the ability to reject that thought. We want to practice keeping the good thoughts and allow them to be part of us while we need to practice rejecting the negative thoughts so they don’t become trapped and toxic. We can push them out of our minds by meditating on the Word of God, as it tells us to do.  Scientists are attempting to take spiritual matters and put them in physical terms allowing us to understand them scientifically.  It is advanced human biology and quickly becoming common knowledge. Information can be found in most science books. So, God is the ultimate scientist; all knowledge belongs to him.  The closer we get to the end, the more knowledge is uncovered. Additional tools we need to combat negative thoughts are in his Word.  2 Corinthians 10:5 tells us, “Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ. Isaiah 26:3 states, “Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee.” There is so much more ammunition we can use to fight this spiritual war with our “spiritual” thoughts in his Word.  Just read it and apply the principles.

To sum it up, you are a complex physical being with thoughts, which are spirit, flowing through your body acting as energy sources which we need to learn to manage not only for the sake of good health but for the sake of eternal salvation as well. The liver is an important organ that helps to manage digestion as well as emotions and feelings. Detox your liver, analyze your diet, eat well, drink plenty of water, and release your natural endorphins that help prevent emotions from being trapped, exercising, and laughing. Forgive others as well as yourself, pray, meditate, keep the commandments, strengthen your faith, and don’t forget to praise HIM, then repeat. Find joy in small things. We get a chance to increase several Fruits of the Spirit: joy, patience, longsuffering, temperance, and faith. Let the good spirits flow through you regularly. Be happy! Be well! 

Disclaimer: This is a gathering of information not health  advice from a medical expert. 

 

References

Gallagher GB. (2008). Total liver detox. Better Nutrition, 70(9), 53–54.

Muenchen H. Z.  (2016).  German Research Centre for Environmental Health.

How fasting helps fight fatty liver disease, 5(9). ScienceDaily. 

Leaf, C. (2007). Who Switched Off Your Brain, 75.

Patz, A. (2017). 5 Little Ways to Detox Your Body. Health, 31(7), 83–86.

Slaga, T. J., & Keuneke, R. (2003). The Detox Revolution: A Powerful New Program for

Boosting Your Body’s Ability to Fight Cancer and Other Diseases. McGraw-Hill

Professional.