Have you heard the terms ‘Green with envy’, ‘Angry liver’. Anger and frustration are key emotions connected to the liver. Feelings of anger plague us all the time. We are all capable of flying off the handle, saying things we didn’t mean or doing things out of character. Our real emotions lie below the surface and most of the time we are too anxious, afraid, uncertain , scared or frustrated to let them out, or we don’t know how to communicate our feelings efficiently, so instead we resort to anger. Becoming aware that this pattern of behaviour is the first step to making change.
Liver origin – The liver resides resides on the right side of the body in the upper quadrant. It plans silently how to sweep up and filter the remnants of a good night out spent over indulging in alcohol and or eating a rich meal. This sophisticated organ process’s everything you eat and drink. It provides energy and nutrients so that your body can use them to be the best possible you. Sadly quite often we take the liver for granted and we abuse it with the wrong foods and alcohol. Although the liver can regenerate itself, if you don’t respect it through your nutritional choices, it’s capacity to perform the wizardry might run out. The fresher and cleaner your food and water the better it will perform. This includes your mind and body, being the best version of you physically and mentally.
Poor quality foods provoke negative thinking and a weak physical body. If you have bags under your eyes, spots on your jawline, dehydrated skin and bloodshot eyes it all comes down to how well your liver is filtering and processing everything.
Carbohydrate metabolism – Excess glucose from the food you eat is converted to glycogen for storage in the liver before being used by the body as required. This maintains a constant energy supply all the time. It’s critical for the oxytocin to maintain blood sugar level at 70-90mg/dl and this ranges are important to the functioning of the liver.
“As a key metabolic organ, the liver is central to the imbalance of high-caloric diets, and particularly dietary fat consumption, in the industrialized countries and their association with the increasing prevalence of morbid obesity. By interacting with the intestinal tract and adipose tissue, the liver plays a key role in various aspects of lipid metabolism”.1
Emotional body – The liver holds the frustrations and manifestations of pain and anger. It is also tied to feelings of envy, irrritability, frustration , impatience and excessive ambition. On the positive side when it is healthy it is associated with expressions of willpower, courage, confidence, anger, acceptance and surrender. Our emotions tell us about the state of our body
Physical body – If you are experiencing digestive problems, circulation problems, red, dry or puffy eyes, retention of water or oedema, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, right shoulder pain, pain across the shoulder blades , lack of energy and an overall feeling of distress it could be a sign of your liver on distress. I see this alot with clients who are on alot of prescriptive medical drugs.
The liver is connected with many other systems and organs in the body and there is always movement with each system. The skin or superficial fascia is the biggest organ of elimination. We need to remember that the body cannot tell the difference between a high intensity exercise or a divorce. Stress is stress at a cellular level. Too much HIT, insanity, running, spinning (working out/catabolic breakdown) and not enough of more gentler exercise forms like yoga, tai chi, pilates and meditation will just cause a more sympathetic response rather than parasympathetic in the central nervous system.
The central nervous system and the liver
The (ANS) Autonomic nervous system regulates without asking or being prompted. It takes control of your blood pressure, heart rate, arousal and is controlled by the area of the brain called the hypothalamus. The hypothalamus is a bit like a fat controller in ‘Thomas the tank engine’, making sure everything works and runs efficiently . We have two branches of the ANS, the parasympathetic nervous system (PNS) and the sympathetic nervous system(SNS). We need to have balance between the two as the PNS is responsible for rest and digest, where a the SNS is the fight of flight side.
So next time you reach for that processed food, alcohol or fizzy drink, give a thought for your liver.
Bibliography
1.Lipid metabolism in the liver. Canbay A1, Bechmann L, Gerken G.
‘Messages from within’ – Emma Lane
‘The best possible you’ – Hannah Richards
‘Eat, move and be healthy’ -Paul Chek
