Five Things to do More of and Three Things to do Less of to Nourish the Liver in the Spring
(published in the 人民日报People’s Daily on Feb 17th, written by Ai Mei Wang)
1) Many Foods Can Help Protect the Liver
There are a lot of foods that can help with liver function. There are some that can effectively nourish the liver and protect the liver, and help the liver detoxify, which will inevitably help with overall health.
(some good liver nourishing foods and herbs can be: milk thistle, young plants, fresh greens, fennel, mint, turmeric, beets, taro root, broccoli, turnip root, cabbage, sprouted grains).
2) Eat More GouJi Berries to Protect the Liver
GouJi Berries have the ability to strengthen the kidneys,, and benefit the essence, as well as nourish the liver, brighten the eyes, moisten the lungs, and generally nourish Yin energies of the body. It’s suitable for damage to Kidney yin energies, and depleted liver energy, which can lead to such symptoms as weakness in the lower limbs, dizziness and tinnitus.
(Too many GouJi berries can also cause liver fire (not good). A small handful, either dried, or in a tea, is enough to eat daily, unless your TCM practitioner prescribes differently. We can also see here the reference to yin and yang, and how it is used in modern language in China. But, of course, Chinese people are taught about this from a very young age.)
3)Do More Outdoor Exercise
Increase outdoor exercise, which can help to increase blood circulation, and help increase the speed of detoxification, and decrease the amount of endotoxins in the body. Furthermore, it can increase the body’s resistance (to illness) and strengthen the body, which can aid in the liver’s functions.
4) Pay More Attention to Maintaining a Stable Mood
TCM believes that the temperament can easily lead to a binding stagnation in the liver. Feelings easily fluctuate, and can give rise to a hot-tempered liver fire. Therefore, in the spring, it’s good to maintain an even temper, and a good mood. This can help to nourish the liver and protect the liver.
(In TCM each organ has an emotion associated with it. The emotion of the liver is considered to be anger. Therefore, too much anger, or frustration can lead to a hyperactivity in the liver.)
5)More Massage
In life it is difficult to avoid grievances. If these grievances pile up over a period of time it can result in damage to the liver. At this time, it is good to massage the 7 “venting points” on the upper body. These can alleviate pent up emotions. This can help to soothe the liver, and aid in overall health.
(This relates to the liver’s function of helping maintain stable moods, and moving through emotional states; i.e. not getting stuck in one emotion. Additionally, the tendons are considered to be the main ‘tissue extension’ of the liver. So, massage in general is great to do in the spring, and these points can help alleviate “stuck” or “stagnant” moods).
6) Avoid Overwork
Life can follow a biological clock of early to bed, early to rise. Daily life can follow regular patterns, and to the best of one’s ability, we should try to avoid overwork, and especially staying up very late. This can easily lead to the liver being attacked by fire, in which case, the liver will not be able to detoxify.
(‘Being attacked by fire’ is a common term in daily modern Chinese. It can refer to a type of inflammation or hyperactivity of an organ. In this case, we can also see the liver’s role, and it’s ability to influence the mood).
7) Drink Less Alcohol
Alcohol can injure the liver. This is common knowledge. Although we all know this, it is sometimes hard to avoid. We must try to keep alcohol intake to a minimal amount. If we drink alcohol and take cold or flu medicines, this can cause even more liver damage.
8)Decrease Your Intake of Prescription Drugs
As the saying goes, there are 3 divisions of toxins from medicines, and the liver is the organ that is easiest to be affected by these. It has been widely reported that many medicines can be harmful to the liver. Therefore, (spring) is a good time to avoid taking medicines, or at least try to minimize the amount of medicines we take.
(If you are taking any prescription drugs, spring could be a good time to talk with your doctor about reducing the dose of the medicine you are taking, or possibly work towards getting off of the meds).