How Does Olive Oil Support Liver Cleansing?

Over 30 million people in the United States live with a liver-related health concern.^[1] Typical Western diets filled with toxins like sugar and alcohol certainly don’t help. In fact, severe liver conditions like non-alcoholic fatty liver disease are on the rise in the United States.^[2] If your liver health isn’t where you want it to be, then you should know all the resources you have at your disposal.

Toxins and chemicals are the root cause of almost any serious health concern, and your liver is no different. Liver cleansing, when done correctly, can help flush the liver of accumulated bile, toxins, and chemicals. Additionally, relieving your liver of harmful organisms will help you maintain a healthy body and mind. While there are different variations of organic liver cleansing regimens, nearly all take advantage of one key component—olive oil.

How Your Liver Works

Your liver plays a central role in detoxifying your body by keeping your blood clean and free of damaging chemicals and toxins. The primary duty your liver performs is filtering the blood that comes from your digestive tract. From the liver, blood flows to the rest of your body. Your liver also metabolizes alcohol and prescription drugs. As your liver performs these critical functions, it produces and releases bile to aid in digestion. When your liver is healthy it releases and safely passes the bile from the body on a regular basis.

Benefits of a Liver Cleanse

The main advantage of performing a liver cleanse is getting rid of the excess bile that builds up over time. Your liver health often depends on your diet and lifestyle. If you eat clean, non-GMO foods and live a healthy lifestyle, then your liver will show it. If you live a mainly sedentary lifestyle and consume fatty, unhealthy, or toxic foods, then your liver may be overworked and bogged down.

People with bad diets and exercise habits will experience the greatest benefit from doing a liver cleanse. Whether you use the Global Healing Center Liver Cleanse Kit™ or you try another all-natural liver cleanse approach, detoxifying your liver often can help you feel more energetic and mentally clear. Some people even feel lighter and slimmer following the cleanse.

How Olive Oil Cleanses Your Liver

Olive oil has many health benefits, and it is one of the best all-natural solutions available for cleansing the liver. The theory is that drinking large amounts of olive oil sends signals to the liver to open the bile ducts. As these bile ducts open up to process the excess quantities of oil, anything that was previously stuck can more easily flow out. Most of what comes out of the liver during this process is bile, but some people see liver and gallbladder stones released from their body.

What Is the Best Olive Oil for Liver Cleansing?

While there are many healthy oils out there with great nutritional benefits, stick with olive oil for natural liver cleanses. People have tried to substitute with coconut oil, but olive oil remains the most beneficial oil for liver cleansing because of how predictably it works.

When choosing an olive oil to use for a cleanse it is important to select something that is minimally processed. Look for extra virgin olive oil that comes from fresh olives and does not use heat or chemicals to produce the oil. Freshness is important when choosing the best olive oil. Even under the right storage conditions, olive oil can degrade and lose nutritional benefits the longer it sits. Avoid olive oil that is more than two years old. Instead, choose the freshest olive oil you can find.

How to Cleanse Your Liver Using Olive Oil

Aside from olive oil, the most important thing you’ll need for a liver cleanse is Epsom salts. Epsom salts work synergistically with olive oil to relax the liver’s bile ducts and remove toxins from the body. While the complete recommendations can be found with our Liver Cleansing Kit instructions, here is a basic rundown of everything you need to know before your cleanse.

Cleansing Prep

Prepare by eating malic acid and sulfurous foods for several days before beginning the the liver cleanse. Malic acid is an organic compound that is responsible for the pleasantly sour taste of many fruits and drinks like apples or apple cider vinegar. For best results, try eating an apple or drinking apple cider vinegar several times a day leading up to cleanse day. The sulfurous foods could be any whole natural food with sulfur compounds, but you should stick to organic fruits and vegetables such as broccoli and cabbage for the cleanse. These organic fruits and veggies should be the mainstay of your diet up to four days before cleansing your liver.

Day of the Cleanse

On the day of the liver cleanse, eat only fruits and veggies for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. A few hours before you go to sleep—try for around 7 p.m.—it will be time for the Epsom salts. Mix one tablespoon of Epsom salt with eight ounces of distilled water and drink. Be aware that loose or liquid stools may happen around 20-30 minutes after drinking the mixture. Immediately before bed—try for around 10 pm—drink six ounces of the extra virgin olive oil and immediately lie in bed on your right side for 30 minutes. After that, you can go to sleep like normal. The next day you should pass the bile and may even see liver stones in your bowel movements.

After the Cleanse

After the cleanse, there are still many things you can do to promote a healthy liver. Diet and exercise are essential to any healthy lifestyle. Consume healthy foods and herbs to help sustain a healthy liver. Perform a liver cleanse up to three times a year to get the maximum benefit. If needed, liver cleanses can even be done back to back with a few days off in-between.

Tips and Tricks for Liver Cleansing With Olive Oil

For many people, drinking six ounces of olive oil at once can be difficult. Try refrigerating the oil first, then mix it with grapefruit or orange juice. Be sure to shake and mix thoroughly before you drink it. Likewise, drinking the Epson salt mixture is not easy for everyone. For the day of the cleanse, make sure you have time set aside to stay at home and go to the bathroom as needed. Many people like to prepare their bathroom with a good book and essential oil diffuser to improve their experience.

Additional Health Benefits of Olive Oil

While olive oil is great for kickstarting a liver cleanse, there are many other additional health benefits of olive oil. It contains healthy monounsaturated fats, which is one of the main reasons the Mediterranean diet is effective at reducing risk factors for stroke and heart disease.^[3] Olive oil can also help lower bad cholesterol (LDL) and triglycerides levels.^[4] Extra virgin olive oil is also an excellent source of antioxidants and phenols that promote healthy cells and longevity.^[5]

Dr. Group’s Liver Cleanse Recommendations

While Epsom salts and olive oil are the basis of any good liver cleanse, there are ways to help increase the effectiveness of your liver cleanse routine. Global Healing Center has developed several all-natural herbal formulas, including Livatrex®, which promote a healthy liver. To help you get started with taking control of your liver health, we created the Liver Cleanse Kit™. This Health Kit includes step-by-step instructions to walk you through the cleanse. The Liver Cleanse Kit has a multi-tiered approach that uses the power of Livatrex to kick start your liver’s natural cleansing abilities and Oxy-Powder to facilitate toxin removal.

Have you used olive oil to help cleanse your liver? Tell us about it in the comment section below.