Oh, the mighty liver. This organ is your body’s primary “filter,” and in some healing systems is considered the seat of anger and frustration. With the amount of work the liver completes each day, it’s nice to know there are natural ways to offer support with herbs like Milk Thistle. The liver processes all of the hormones, medications, and toxins that pass through your body and produces glucose, your brain and muscles’ primary fuel.  The liver is also the only part of the human body that can re-grow itself! You can lose up to 2/3 of your liver to disease or injury and it will regenerate. Most people would, of course, prefer to avoid this experience. With an organ as amazing as the liver, take a look at how you can offer support with the benefits of Milk Thistle.

Benefits of Milk Thistle

Milk Thistle seed has been used for ages to protect our livers from damage. It is most effective in an extracted form, such as Kroeger’s Milk Thistle Complete Concentrate. When taken regularly this wonderful herb has been shown to help reduce wear and tear on your liver and offers basic support to its function. While we may take this organ for granted, it’s important to remember that everything we put in our bodies is filtered through our livers. Aspirin for a headache, a cocktail at dinner, processed foods… each of the items are addressed in some way by our livers. If this organ is dirty or over-worked, toxins are allowed to enter our bodies because the liver is unable to perform at its peak. By adding Milk Thistle to your daily herbal or vitamin regimen, you can enjoy the benefits it provides to the basic function of your body.

Beyond the Benefits of Milk Thistle–other herbs for liver support

To help “clean the liver out,” and help everything flow smoothly, Dandelion root, Yellow Dock root and St. John’s Wort are traditional remedies. As well, a strong flush using Epsom salts, olive oil and grapefruit can be a powerful tool. We here at Hanna’s make a kit called, would you believe it, the “Liver Cleanse Kit” designed for just this purpose.

On the more esoteric side of things, there are herbs that can be used to ease emotional turmoil “stored up” in the liver. Lavender and Melissa (Lemon Balm) are used to “relax” the channels of “chi”. This allows anger and stress to be released. St. John’s Wort fits this bill as well. It may sound like these things are completely unrelated, but Chinese herbalism has recognized the connection for thousands of years.

Find an all natural Liver Cleanse Recipe from a previous post here.