The liver is the largest glandular organ in the body and performs multiple critical functions to keep the body pure of toxins and harmful substances. Without a healthy liver, a person cannot survive.

The liver secretes a substance called bile. Bile’s salts break up fat into smaller pieces so it can be absorbed more easily in the small intestine.

In addition to producing bile, the liver detoxifies the blood to rid it of harmful substances such as alcohol and drugs, stores some vitamins and iron, converts stored sugar to functional sugar when the body’s sugar (glucose) levels fall below normal, breaks down hemoglobin as well as insulin and other hormones, converts ammonia to urea, which is vital in metabolism.

Now you don’t want to mess with this organ. You want to keep it healthy and you want to keep it pampered considering what you stand to lose if anything goes wrong with it. It wouldn’t be too much to give it some attention once in a week right? Let’s dedicate Mondays to cater for and pamper our Liver.

I will unlock a secret liver magician every Monday and you can make whatever dish, salad, smoothie or juice out of it. The Liver magician for today is GRAPEFRUIT.

Grapefruits are rich in Vitamin C and antioxidants, two powerful liver cleansers. Grapefruits contain compounds that boost the production of liver detoxification enzymes. It also contains a flavanoid compound naringenin which causes the liver to burn fat rather than store it.

Give your body a green treat today.

Follow @thegreenfoodshop on instagram for more recipes and tips.

Olubunmi