Lent, the long fasting period, usually comes before Easter. But this year, it comes after the holiday for me.
You see, we organized a Russian Easter for our Russian friends – with all kinds of strange foods: Naturally dyed eggs, of course, pickled herrings, smoked sturgeon and smoked eel, red caviar, red herring salad, sheika (a pork sausage), pashka (an impossibly sweet farmers’ cheese with butter, raisin, orange peel and almonds), kulitch (a cake similar to the Italian pannetone). You get the idea: Delicious but deadly.
And I haven't even mentioned the vodka ... which I left out, it being brunch time. I also didn't cheat on gluten - it just makes me deathly sick. But the rest was enough to do me in: Fatigue and arthritis are hampering me now.
So, this week after the feast I am indulging in three cleansing modalities:
1. Sauna
2. Garden tea
3. Fasting.
Garden tea, so far, has been mostly been made with stinging nettles, chives and dandelions – not much else being available. And fasting works best with a vegetable broth, made from whatever was in the fridge (with the exception of nightshades).
In Germany, we have a saying that you have to celebrate as feasts come along – and I couldn’t agree more. But then, you have to pay the price, roll up the sleeves and clean up the mess. Especially the mess inside your body. Read More
Blog: On Health. On Writing. On Life. On Everything.
These Times Are Hard On Your Liver
November 30, 2010
The liver is the heaviest organ in the body, and during the holidays, it is also the hardest working organ. Because the liver is your detoxification organ.
Too much heavy (sweet, fatty, alcoholic) foods hurt your liver – and too much even of good stuff can be hard on this most precious organ. But this is probably not the time to preach moderation. So what can you do to survive these taxing times? (I hope you hear the irony in my voice – when half of mankind is still starving).
Everything unhealthy has to be eliminated via the liver: spoiled and rotten food, modern preservatives, artificial colors and flavorings. If the liver is overloaded with rich foods and toxins, you end up with a fatty liver – a diseased liver that cannot fulfill its tasks properly. And if it gets really bad, you end up with cirrhosis, the shrinking of this valuable organ. Fatty liver is reversible with a better lifestyle; cirrhosis is not.
These are the essentials for a healthy liver:
• Drink enough water – not ice-cold. Herbal teas are helpful, especially in the winter season. Some of the herbs below come also as teas – make use of them. Enough fluid will flush out your liver.
• Elderberry juice helps regenerate the liver.
• Keep alcohol (wine, beer, liquor) at a minimum.
• After a big meal, go for a walk. A walk uses up some of the calories you have been ingesting, and it gives your whole digestive system a little boost – things in your stomach can settle, and the peristalsis gets a jumpstart. In Europe, Sundays and holidays will bring people out of their houses in droves – everybody goes for a walk after a feast.
• These herbs help to improve liver function: Most beneficial is milk thistle – you should have it at hand these days. Also helpful are bitter plants like dandelion, artichoke, sage, and gentian root. Most are available in capsules, often in combination.
• Kitchen herbs and spices also help digestion: For instance, the traditional stuffing for a goose is: grind the gizzards, add cut apples, raisins, walnuts and two hands full of fresh (or less of dried) marjoram. No bread!! Don’t know who invented the bread filling…
• A working gut relieves an overworking liver – and a probiotic helps with useful bacteria.
• Fermented foods like sauerkraut, soy sauce and miso help digestion. Traditional kitchens have very specific fermented foods – explore a Japanese or Korean store. Make sure you buy the real thing – not a modern product that still has the taste but no actual fermentation any more in the production process. Look up “fermented foods” in one of my earlier blogs.
• Make sure you eat not only meats and cakes and cookies – but also cabbages, red beets, celery and celeriac, carrots, cucumbers, radishes are famous for relieving a moaning liver.
• Take some very deep massaging breaths: Always start with exhaling. Deep breathing moves the abdominal organs, and oxygen is required in myriad detoxing chemistry processes of the liver. If you feel stuffed, do the deep breathing by lying on your back.
• Stop all unnecessary medications, especially over-the-counter drugs. They only burden your liver more.
And since we are discussing liver health: Hepatitis A can be acquired through food (especially uncooked oysters, and such), hepatitis B and C through sex, drugs and blood. There are vaccines available against A and B. Unfortunately not against C. It might be wise to get vaccinated. Talk to your doctor.
And enjoy the festivities! Read More