Your liver is the most important organ in your body. Without it, you would die within 24 hours. But what does the liver have to do with weight loss? I bet you'll be surprised.

One of the primary purposes of the liver is to filter the blood, cleaning out anything that could be toxic to your body. This would include things like pharmaceutical drugs (yes, your body sees those as toxic), undigested foods, alcohol, viruses, bacteria, ingested chemicals (these can enter the body orally or via the skin, like pesticides, lotions, deodorants, make-up, hairspray). The liver is also involved in metabolism, hormone balance, and immune functions.

Imagine pouring something through a mesh strainer. At first the liquids run through easily, but eventually, if there are too many solids, the strainer gets clogged and the liquid has no where to go. If the liver has to work overtime to cleanse toxins, a similar situation can happen to the liver. It gets clogged with toxins and at that point fails to run efficiently.

When the liver becomes clogged, every organ in your body is impacted and efforts to lose weight are blocked. Here are just some of the impacts:
--It can cause an accumulation of sodium which can raise blood pressure.
--It can cause water retention which adds body weight.
--It can cause a hormone imbalance which makes us moody.
--It also can't regulate glucose making us hypoglycemic which in turn can result in sugar cravings, weight gain, and Candida overgrowth.
--It cannot process toxins out of the body, so they escape into the blood stream which creates an immune response by the body. If this continues, then your immune system becomes burdened. This in turn can result in autoimmune diseases like arthritis.
--It cannot burn body fat making all of your weight loss efforts a complete waste of time.

Doing a liver and gallbladder cleanse can help alleviate this situation and aid in your weight loss efforts. It is recommended that you precede the liver / gallbladder cleanse with a colon cleanse. If your colon isn't operating efficiently (constipation, fewer than 1-3 bowel movements per day), then the toxins will be released from the liver into the blood stream rather than flushed out of the body through the colon.

There are numerous cleansing programs on the market. Do your homework and find one that is backed by a company with a good reputation, positive product reviews and customer testimonials.

Once you have cleansed your liver, a good daily practice is to begin your morning with a glass of water with a wedge of fresh squeezed lemon juice. This will support your digestive organs by cleansing and activating the liver. Additionally, consider reducing the toxic load by avoiding some of the stressors mentioned above.

Don't take your liver for granted. Although it can regenerate, if it isn't functioning properly, you won't either!