The Liver is our largest metabolic organ, and has to process everything we put into the body, including drugs, medications, food additives, pollution in the water and air
The liver also aids in digestion,assimilation, elimination, detoxification, and filters out unwelcome invaders that can create illness. When the body is over-loaded the liver is one of the primary places the body can store waste products and toxins until they can be processed. Many things can affect the cleansing ability of the liver including high fat diets, poor nutrition, too much alcohol, pharmaceutical drugs, and stress. Congestion of the Liver can produce physical and emotional symptoms including high cholesterol, headaches, poor digestion, low blood sugar, eye problems, high blood pressure, hormone imbalances, dizziness, chronic indigestion, skin conditions, depression, irritability, lack of motivation and restlessness to name just a few.
There are many ways to approach cleansing the liver. Some therapies take anywhere from three days to several weeks and include strict diets or juice fasting, drinking herbal teas or tinctures, special exercise, acupuncture, and aromatherapy
According to Jewish wisdom spring is a season of rejuvenation and the liver is considered a rejuvenating organ because it is constantly cleaning the blood. For this reason spring has been know as the best time for a liver cleanse.
Simple ways to help support the liver daily are by eating a diet rich with fresh green vegetables. The best ones are cabbage, broccoli, leeks, spinach or other greens, leaf lettuce such as Romaine or red leaf lettuce, celery, green onions, carrots, green lentils, or green split peas, artichokes, chicory root, beets, and carrots. Also eat plenty of fresh fruit and fresh fruit juices. The best choices are grapefruit, orange, tangerine, lemon, lime, apple, and light berries such as strawberries. Drinking a cup of lemon water first thing in the morning is a simple and helpful way to support good liver function
Foods to Avoid in general and especially if we want to aid our liver are fatty foods, fast foods, junk foods, processed foods and alcohol
Many teas for liver cleansing are available packaged at health food stores. Some of the best herbs to use in teas are Milk thistle, Stinging Nettle, Dandelion Leaves, Spearmint, Red clover and Burdock Root
Shalom,
I am from Oregon and I love reading your posts. I am Jewish and I love your approach.
Could you elaborate for me more on the 5 levels of healing that correspond with the soul?
I am a healer myself…do anesthesia for a living, garden, and now am making healing cannabis salves.
I would love to learn and hear more about healing from the Rambam.
Thank you
Hi Shalhevet, how great that you found our blog and enjoy the articles. We learn about the 5 levels of healing in the course of Jewish emotional therapy and it needs several introductions in order to understand and practice it. However, the source of 5 levels of healing is found in Kabbalistic literature explaining the 5 levels of energy that are in us and surrounding us with relation to our mental, emotional and physical life force within us and the astral energies that surround us and connect us to the infinite. I use this method integrated with Rambam's doctrine of behaviour and mental health for more than two decades with great success.
The College of Jewish Medicine is at the moment working to build online courses and we hope to be able to offer them also in English