Noodle Padoodle

To save your liver, you have to give it a break. The liver’s job is to clean the toxins out of your digestive and circulatory system, and if it’s constantly working to filter out the junk we throw at it, it can’t work very hard to kill a virus like Hep C.  To reduce further damage, you’ll want to put the dear old liver on a junk-free diet.

Very early on, even before I knew I had this disease, I noticed that organic, chemical free living really does make a difference in how I feel. I’m 42 now, but I’ve had organic tendencies since college, over 20 years ago. Little did I know, it wasn’t just a ‘quirk,’ in my personality, it actually made life tolerable for me. Back then I had to drive 25 miles out of the way just to get an organic fruit. (Does anyone remember the old “Bread of Life,” in Hollywood, Florida?) Now, organic stuff is everywhere.

Way back in the day, twenty or thirty years ago, we were taught that the skin was an impenetrable ‘barrier’ that protected us from toxins. Of course, now we know that this is incorrect, however the FDA hasn’t recognized this. Although ingredients in shampoos, cosmetics, and lotions do penetrate the skin and enter the body, and often affect us in undesirable ways, the FDA doesn't regulate ingredients or claims to organic content, for cosmetics or detergents. Just because it says 'organic,' unlike a food or a drug, a cosmetic isn't required to have any actual organic ingredients in it.

To find out the truth about consumer ingredients, the Environmental Working Group has an easy-to-use search engine on their webite, Cosmeticsdatabase.com. There is also a shopping guide from EWG- FoodNews.org and one I've put together specifically for liver health: What To Eat (coming soon).

Because of frequent pain even after my gallbladder was removed, I gave up my very infrequent drinking of wine. The pain in my side and in my stomach like-ta kilt me more than once or twice on a Christmas or Thanksgiving holiday dinner, even though I hadn’t indulged all that much. Smoking, well since that only went with the wine, it wasn’t difficult to give up; it just sort of went naturally when because of pain, I was forced to remove all alcohol from my diet two years ago.

Hepatitis C Environmental Changes:

Banished: Conventional beef and milk, produced by standard farming methods, are fed ungodly things and treated in ungodly ways. The toxins these poor animals are fed are shocking, and those poisons stay in their bodies after slaughter. Your liver will have to filter out everything those cows were forced to eat. Conventional beef and milk are not something I’ll feel too badly about giving up. Pork – ditto.

Banished: Foods with ingredients you don't recognize. If you can't pronounce it, chances are, your live won't know what it is either, and will work hard to get rid of it. Don't overwork your poor liver!

Banished: For me, there will be no more sodium laurel (or laureth) sulfate, or penetration enhancers like Propylene Glycol (allows other chemicals to penetrate skin), preservatives like Methylparaben (which alter hormone levels and put unborn children at risk), Cocamide DEA /MEA (may combine with other chemicals to form carcinogenic nitrosamines), or Cocamidopropyl Betaine which may contain nitrosamines.

Banished: Laundry soap, bathroom cleaner, dishwasher soap, and Windex. The liver-saving versions of these things will be green to the environment, and definitely cheaper. Vinegar and water is a great cleaner, so is lemon juice, and borax is a great laundry additive for enhanced cleaning power of your natural soaps.

Banished: Bug sprays, lice treatments, and mosquito repellant. There are natual herbs and other things out there that are effective, and certainly worth looking at. Borax is a flea and roach repellant, and I've heard that cinnamon, peppermint, and tea trea oil are effective too.

Banished: Room deodorizer, plug-ins, Fabreeze, and laundry sheets.  Again, these chemicals are inhaled, and unregulated! Also, there will be no more perfume, no scented shampoos, conditioners, or lotions.  I’ve learned over the last three months that there are really great alternatives, and I’ll be writing about these shortly.

If you or your family can’t give up these cleaners, at least don't use them yourself. This is a good time to get other family members to help out with the laundry and cleaning, and at least, be sure that your own laundry has no scents or chemical deteregents. My conscience won't let me use the things on this list around my kids, so our house is almost completely toxin-free. This may not be an option for everone though. If you can afford it, hire a housekeeper who has a healthy liver. If you have someone in every other week or even weekly, they can use the chemicals that you can’t, and it will really help when you’re feeling sick and tired.