Limiting Alcohol Provides These Surprising Benefits

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What do thick healthy hair, glowy skin, and efficient fat burning have in common? A healthy liver!

In this post I will cover both the physical benefits you will notice when you focus on liver health in addition to ways to improve it so that you can reap those benefits even sooner!

There are certain things most people associate with quitting/reducing drinking – less hangovers, less anxiety and regret, and less puffiness and added pounds. These are all true and do happen, but the liver health that comes with it has a lot more physical benefits than you would expect.

I wanted to share the things that I noticed unexpectedly as I was recovering from a liver virus. Should you choose to focus on improving your liver health, here is what you can expect:

Healthier Hair.

This terrified me. When I got sick, I lost probably half of my hair, and the texture changed (to a really gross one). My doctors thought it was from telogen effluvium (when stress messes with your hair follicles so that those in the rest phase stay there and stop growing new hair).

By the time I really started noticing it though, the stress was gone, so I was in a sheer panic that the thick, healthy hair I’d always had was gone, and now I was going bald??

Fortunately I did a ton of research, and it comes back to liver issues. Growing new hair is an energy intensive process and involves a lot of nutrients. As it turns out, when your liver is fighting hard to keep your body alive, this ancillary function goes by the wayside and is ignored. The nutrients required to grow new hair weren’t available to me, and my body was so focused on using its energy for survival that hair growth didn’t matter so much to it.

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I am happy to say my hair is back to normal (or rather, the new growth is). After a few months on my new liver-healthy diet, my normal hair grew back in in the same thickness and texture.

Side note: a tip I found that helped when I was losing so much hair was rosemary oil. It has no side effects and is as effective as minoxidil! I just put a few drops into my shampoo when I wash it. Not only does it help with hair regrowth, but it opens up your sinuses and makes your shower feel like you’re at a spa!

Anyway, the bottom line is that hair growth was never something I associated with a healthy liver until I had an unhealthy one!

Better Skin.

Your skin will be better hydrated without the effects of alcohol. It will also have more of a glow courtesy of the extra nutrients your body is storing.

Finally, it will be less itchy. It is unclear why liver issues cause itchiness, but improving the health of the organ should alleviate this.

Mr. Monthly Visitor Is More Consistent.

This one was a total surprise. Your liver is central to your body’s regulation of hormones, so when its under stress, this is one more sort of ancillary function that also goes by the wayside.

When your liver is healthy and working at its peak function, you have hormonal balance which does many things, one of which is regulating your cycle.

Better Sleep.

You saw this one coming. That glass of wine or two may help you fall asleep, but it also wakes you right back up. Then you like in bed rolling around stressed that you can’t fall back to sleep because you have heightened anxiety resulting from the alcohol your body is trying to remove from you system.

Less Tummy Discomfort.

Less bloating, less heartburn, less yucky feeling. I’ll leave it at that.

Weight Loss with No Daily Diet Change.

While yes, alcohol adds empty calories to your diet, and yes, without it you won’t be getting those calories. However, there is a bigger effect that automatically puts your body in a bad place:

Any time you drink, your liver cannot burn fat for 36 hours.

When your liver is working more efficiently without the junk of alcohol, it is able to filter blood, store nutrients, and burn fat. That means you lose weight without making any other changes.

Better Bloodwork and Overall Feeling Great.

This is a double whammy because you’re both removing a negative and adding a positive.

Removing the negative means that you aren’t introducing alcohol into your system. That removes the toxins that cause inflammation and stress to your body. Adding the positive means nutrients – by freeing your liver from removing alcohol means it can do one of its main jobs of storing nutrients.

If you want to reap some of these benefits, there are a few steps you can take. First of all, cut back on three things:

1. Alcohol. No surprise here. Read more on why and how to do that HERE and HERE.

2. Salt. This clogs up your liver and along with the other two items on this list, can leave fatty deposits that makes your liver less efficient.

3. Excess sugar. Yes, it is possible (common, even) to be addicted to sugar, but you can break that craving cycle! Read more about how to kick your sugar habit HERE.

4. Advil and Tylenol. Taking these types of things regularly does a number on your liver (imagine the double whammy of taking one for a hangover, when it’s already working extra hard to process the booze from the night before). This doesn’t mean you can never take them; just try to use a different method of pain relief before resorting to these.

Rather than focusing on not consuming these things, let’s instead focus on what you should be eating to have your healthiest liver – unprocessed foods, particularly lots of fruits and vegetables!

If you have a hard time getting your daily dose of produce, there are three things I always rely on:

Balance of Nature.

This is a daily regimen of 6 capsules filled with freeze-dried fruits and vegetables that have been flash-frozen and ground into a powder. It is remarkable to fit your entire day’s recommended servings into 6 pills (and any additional produce you eat is an EXCELLENT bonus).

To read my review on the system, read my blog post here or click here to get 35% off your first order with discount code SARA!

Evive Smoothies.

We all know smoothies are a vehicle to shovel more produce into your gullet. However, I love these smoothies in particular because they allow me to be as lazy as possible. You get frozen cubes of pre-mixed smoothies that you just put into a glass of water or milk and shake when they melt – no blender needed!

Click here to see the flavors available for your new go-to last minute breakfast!

Daily Greens.

This is a powder filled with 34 superfoods and 11 herbs and extracts that deliver tons of vitamins, minerals, prebiotics, and probiotics and can be stirred into a glass of water or juice. It is great to keep in your gym bag, desk, or suitcase to give you extra energy and produce when your schedule makes eating well difficult.

Click here to read my post about the benefits of Daily Greens!

In addition to produce, there are two things that give your liver an added boost:

Beet Juice Powder.

Beet juice is consistently linked to liver health because it protects from toxins and helps break down fatty deposits. However, beet juice is hard to come by. Beet juice powder, though, is easily stored and portable, so I swear by it! This is my favorite kind – just add it into a glass of water every morning, and you prime your liver for health!

As an aside, this benefits more than your liver! Beet juice has been associated with lower blood pressure, improved workouts (it helps endurance!), and lower cholesterol…plus it is a great source of vitamins and minerals and fights cancer.

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Milk Thistle.

Be sure to check with your doctor before taking any supplement, of course. While the research is not definitive, it has been linked to the prevention of and treatment of liver disease. I take it every day! It also has been associated with lowering cholesterol and blood sugar.

If this sounds like something that you want to incorporate, I encourage you to do further research and talk to your doctor.

If you are ready to go all in on your liver health, sign up here for my FREE Liver-Friendly Sides Menu, complete with a shopping list and recipes, perfect for the holidays or any family meal!

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