The liver’s ability to heal and regenerate can greatly improve your wellbeing.

Sarah Di Lorenzo is a clinical nutritionist. Her four-week plan has helped hundreds of her patients repair their inner health. Now she’s sharing it in her book,The Liver Repair Plan, which includes practical guidance, easy-to-follow meal plans, more than 50 delicious, nutrient-dense recipes that will support your liver’s health and vitality.

Good Reading caught up with Sarah to find out more about how she can help us revitalising our liver health.

What role does the liver play in improving your wellbeing?

The liver has such an important role in our wellbeing. It is responsible for over 500 vital functions, it filters, detoxifies and stores energy keeping us balanced and healthy.

Detoxification is one of the main roles of the liver, think of the liver like the body’s filter, it removes toxins such as alcohol and waste products, it also can process harmful substances before they cause damage to the body.

Metabolism and energy storage is another role, our liver converts carbohydrates into glucose for energy, stores glucose as glycogen and helps with regulating blood glucose levels.

Our amazing liver also plays roles in processing nutrients and digestion. It produces bile to help digest fats, breaks down proteins, carbohydrates and helps absorb fat soluble vitamins A, E, D and K and storing them in the liver cells.

The liver also plays a role in making proteins for blood clotting and producing albumin to maintain fluid and balancing fluid in the body. Our liver also breaks down processes of old red blood cells and recycles iron and converts bilirubin for removal.

So you can really see how important our liver is to our overall health.

What are some of the best preventative courses you can take to protect your liver function and health?

I would have to say first and foremost make sure you are eating a healthy diet full of fruit, vegetables, healthy fats, lean proteins, whole grains, keep well hydrated (this is very important) , still enjoy your coffee and include a cup of green tea if you can. It is important to avoid refined carbohydrates, excess sugar, processed and fast foods plus soft drinks including ones with artificial sweeteners. One of the best things you can do is avoid alcohol but being a realist know this is hard for many so minimise it. Excess alcohol directly causes liver inflammation and damage.

Getting to (if needed) and maintaining a healthy weight, exercising daily, sleeping well and managing stress are all so important.

Manage your medications well, be sure to only take what you need and be aware that over use of over the counter painkillers can be harmful to the liver.

Have a think about your vaccinations, you can protect your liver from Hepatitis A&B.

Can liver damage be reversed? And if so, how?

Yes!! In so many cases it can be reversed and I have done this time and time again in my clinic but so much of this journey depends on the severity and really the individual. The liver is so incredible and is the most regenerative but early detection is best. There is a point though when the liver has advanced scarring called cirrhosis where it can’t be reversed.

Fatty liver disease early stages is the easiest to reverse, Hepatitis can also be reversed. In my clinic I have had a patient with fibrosis who I have managed to reverse her liver damage so it can be done but where there is cirrhosis it is irreversible.

The best way to

From a lifestyle perspective be at a healthy weight or aim to get to a healthy weight, make sure your managing your blood sugar and getting your cholesterol checked, stay on top of all medications and make sure you are taking a comprehensive approach by getting on top of any stress and focusing on around 7 – 9 hours of sleep. All the magic happens when we are sleeping well.

Making sure you are vaccinated and never share razors or needles.

Who is The Liver Repair Plan for?

The Liver Repair Plan is for everyone. It can be for people with any stage or any type of liver disease and also for people who may just want to practice some preventative medicine by knowing about the liver and learning what is the best diet plan for liver health.

The Liver Repair Plan is a four week plan teaching people a menu that our liver loves . I have seen people do the plan with all different stages of liver disease, some have healed their liver in 4 weeks and others with much more severe liver disease repeated the plan and its guidelines for 6 months to get results which they did.

What are the key steps in your liver repair plan? And what kind of benefits can readers hope to get from following it?

As an author I set out to educate, I write comprehensively about everything you need to know about the liver, its functions, anatomy, role with other organs, diseases, stages of disease, what to look out for and so much more.

The Liver Repair Plan is not just the 4 week menu but also has lifestyle and exercise guidelines.

The plan itself starts with supporting the liver’s detox pathways in week one, in week two lowering inflammation, in week three dosing the liver up with the nutrients our liver loves and week four brings it all together teaching people the way forward.

The benefits for the reader is a complete education about the liver encompassing everything you need to know.

What are some of the biggest telltale signs of liver disease?

There are some very obvious signs and some not so obvious. Common signs are jaundice which is the build up of bilirubin ( a waste product of the liver) that makes eyes and skin yellow. Itchy skin without a rash is another unusual one as well as excess flatulence. Very obvious are dark coloured urine, imagine it dark orange in colour and pale stool.

Abdominal swelling is advanced liver disease known as Ascites and welling in the legs and ankles can be from fluid retention. Feeling tired all the time, nauseous, loss of appetite, unexplained weight loss, tenderness to touch the upper right quadrant of the abdominal cavity, feeling confused, memory loss and bruising easily are more signs.

Liver disease can also be connected to many other diseases such as PCOS, heart disease, high blood pressure, obesity, metabolic disease and Type 2 diabetes.

In what ways are gut health and the liver connected?

The gut and liver are closely connected through what is known as the “gut liver axis”, it is a bidirectional communication network where the liver processes nutrients and gut derived substances while also influencing gut health through bile secretion.

The portal vein is a blood vessel that carries blood from the digestive organs to the liver, basically meaning our liver gets the nutrients first and toxins are absorbed from the gut too. Bile is produced in the liver which we need to digest fats, it is shared into the small intestine via the bile duct when it plays a role in fat absorption.

The communication as mentioned is bidirectional, when the liver speaks to the gut it secretes bile acids that not only regulate the composition of the gut microbiome but also the integrity of the gut barrier and when the gut speaks to the liver the gut microbiota produce metabolites that can impact our liver health.

The key roles between the gut and liver are metabolism and immunity. Where the is leaky and has an imbalance in the gut microbiota this will contribute to liver disease. So good gut health is essential for a healthy liver.

What’s the biggest misconception surrounding the liver / liver disease?

I would have to say the biggest misconception is that most people believe that liver disease is caused by only alcohol.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Sarah Di Lorenzo is a qualified clinical nutritionist with over 20 years’ experience in the wellness industry, who is dedicated to overhauling the health of her clients. As well as running a successful clinic in Sydney’s inner city, Sarah is a regular public speaker and media nutritionist, well-known due to her appearances on Channel 7’s Sunrise and Weekend Sunrise. A single mother of three, Sarah is also an avid exerciser and firmly believes in the benefits of a healthy lifestyle.

Visit Sarah Di Lorenzo’s website