1. Overview of Aging and Chronic Disease
The fundamental cause of disease is insufficient real nutrition (raw fruits, vegetables, nuts and seeds), insufficient hydration (the body is about 70% water and requires at least one ounce of water not coffee, alcohol, soda, tea, etc. - each day for every two pounds of body weight) and way, way too much "Recreational food" (sugar, white flour, processed and cooked foods).

1. This diet causes the digestive system to be overloaded and fills the colon with unprocessed wastes that is not moved out of the body. These putrefying wastes produce toxins that are reabsorbed into the bloodstream and fed to all the cells of the body by way of the liver! This causes a reduction from vibrant good health that is perceived, but is still "symptomless" from the point of view of conventional medicine (whose practitioners receive only few hours of nutrition education in their 8 to 12 years of medical education).

2. Unable to handle all these toxins, the elimination organs (liver and kidneys) are overwhelmed and start to store the toxins in themselves, which reduces their effectiveness even more. This produces physical and mental symptoms, such as constipation, insomnia, fatigue, depression, elevated cholesterol, or indigestion.

3. The continuing degeneration of the elimination organs leads to chronic degenerative diseases like heart disease, cancer, high blood pressure, diabetes, arthritis, chronic fatigue syndrome, fibromyalgia, etc. The whole body is being poisoned. The organs that become diseased are those that were genetically weaker to begin with.

3). The Liver: Functions; Symptoms & Causes of Dysfunction.

The liver weighs about three pounds and performs more than 500 functions for the body. After the heart and lungs, the liver is the most important organ. Because the liver is so important, your body is designed so that if as much as 80% of your liver were cut out, it would grow back to full size in approximately 3 months! Your body can function almost normally with as little as 1/6th of your liver. Because the liver is designed in this way, it is usually hard to determine if the liver is damaged until the damage is quite advanced.

Traditional Chinese medicine says the liver and kidneys are the organs that "age" us. For this reason, almost all longevity herbs used in Chinese medicine are liver and kidney tonics. Without a clean, efficient liver and healthy kidneys, toxins and waste products are not filtered out of the blood, which then becomes heavier and more sluggish. This causes poor circulation and reduced oxygen and nutrient carrying capacity. As a result, tissues fed by the blood are undernourished. Cells begin to deteriorate and age. The eye and brain cells are especially affected because the blood has to flow against gravity to reach them.

Some Major Liver Functions

• Making three-quarters of your total cholesterol, which is used to produce hormones and bile salts
• Storing as much as 1 liter of blood in times of excess blood volume to be able to supply it in times of blood loss or heavy exercise
• Metabolizing up to an ounce of alcohol per hour
• Making 1 quart of bile per day for fat metabolism and neutralizing the acidity of toxins
• Detoxifying incompletely digested proteins, excess hormones (estrogen, progesterone, testosterone, etc.), drugs, food additives, poisons, etc.
• Converting beta-carotene to Vitamin A
• Breaking down and absorbing vitamins A, D, E, and K. (If your liver is dysfunctional, you will not be able to metabolize these vitamins, no matter how much you take!)
• Storing excess vitamin A, B-12, D, K, and iron
• Converting ammonia, a byproduct of protein metabolism, into urea for kidney excretion
• Filtering out bacteria in the blood from the intestines before it enters general circulation
• Synthesizing up to 4 ounces of glucose daily, if needed; for example, during fasting or diabetes
• Reducing blood sugar swings up to 65%.
• Possible Symptoms of Liver Dysfunction
• Poor digestion
• Excessive amounts of hormones (The liver deactivates them and is, in fact, the most important organ for hormone regulation.)
• Increased cholesterol levels
• Abdominal bloating or tenderness in the liver area
• Acne, skin rashes, itching, or jaundice (yellow tinge to skin)
• Constipation
• Fatigue (low energy)
• Loss of appetite
• Bitter or metallic taste in the mouth
• Split ends (hair)
• Brittle nails
• Mood swings (due to large swings in blood sugar)
• Hemorrhoids or varicose veins (due to liver congestion producing pressure on the veins)
• Pain in the back between the shoulder blades
• Inability to digest fats
• Water retention in the legs
• Muscle pain when inflating a blood pressure cuff around the calf
• Gallbladder problems
• Sleep disorders
• Heart palpitations or even heart attacks (All the blood to the heart goes through the liver. So, if it is congested the heart may not get as much blood as it needs.)
• Poor memory
• Allergies
• Arthritis
• Thyroid problems
• Frequent numbness in the extremities
• Frequent infection
• Fainting
• Night blindness or blurry sight (The Chinese say that the liver is the river into the eyes. Clean and nutrient-rich blood flows into and nourishes the eyes.)

2). The Road back to Good Health

1. Eliminate consumption of recreational food.

2. Divide your weight in half and drink that many ounces of non-polluted water each day or three-quarters your weight in fresh raw juices.

3. Decrease cooked food to no more than 50% of the diet. The rest should be raw fruits, vegetables, seeds and nuts.

4. Ensure you are using Celtic sea salt rather than any other kind of salt. Pure white salt has been heated and the 78 trace minerals your body needs have been removed.

5. Cleanse the colon so there is no more self-poisoning from putrid, un-evacuated waste.

6. Exercise vigorously for an hour each day. Exercise stimulates blood circulation, which improves all the organs. Stretching and deep breathing exercises in the morning provide great benefit for a weakened liver. According to Chinese medicine, the liver works hard to filter blood from 1 to 3 AM while we sleep. If the liver is congested, a significant amount of blood may be retained in the liver on arising. Early morning exercises get the blood moving out of the liver into circulation. Symptoms of a congested liver are stiffness, numbness in the fingers or dizziness due to lack of circulation.

7. Cleanse your liver. It is too vital to leave polluted and congested.

8. Cleanse your kidneys.

I. Diet

A. Fried foods, animal fats, hydrogenated vegetable fat (margarine, etc.), too much vegetable oil, and roasted nuts all congest the liver.

B. The tannic acid in tea and BHA (a common food additive) are bad for the liver.

C. B vitamin deficiency can compromise the liver.

D. Too much meat, gluten, or soy protein overworks the liver because the metabolism of protein creates ammonia as a byproduct, which the liver must convert it to urea for excretion by way of the kidneys.

E. Refined sugar decreases the ability of the liver to breakdown excess triglycerides, which causes elevated triglyceride and cholesterol levels.

F. Artificial sweeteners have caused liver damage.

G. Alcohol causes cirrhosis of the liver.

H. Tobacco and caffeine are also detoxified by the liver and can overwork it.

II. Drugs

A. Ferrous sulfate as an iron supplement can damage the liver.

B. Strong medications, cleaning solutions, soaps, deodorants, birth control pills, pesticides, herbicides, food additives, polluted air and water, etc. can overtax the liver and damage it.

C. Cortisone, carbon tetrachloride and tetracycline can all cause liver damage.

D. Medical drugs of all kinds are another important cause of liver disease.

III. Compromise of other organs

A. Pressure on the nerve from the spinal cord to the liver can cause liver dysfunction.

B. Problems with the other organs of elimination (colon, kidneys, lungs, or skin) can overload the liver by giving it more work to do.

C. A major cause of liver dysfunction is a clogged, toxic bowel resulting in constipation. This overworks the liver causing it to be congested and sluggish.

The liver detoxifies most of the poisons we consume and breathe daily. The liver reaches a saturation point and then causes symptoms. One person, constantly exposed to toxic chemicals, ate a diet high in fatty foods: corn chips, vegetable oil, peanut butter, and fried foods. He broke out with a skin rash and hemorrhoids. His liver could not handle the chemicals and the fatty foods. After some acupressure and eliminating the oily foods from his diet, his symptoms cleared up. A few months later, he went back to eating fatty foods and his symptoms returned until he cleaned up his diet again.