Ways to help your body recover in January

With Christmas and New Years’ behind us, many of us will have enjoyed an abundance of delicious foods and one or too many drinks. Now, many people are looking for ways to detox and recover. What can you do to look after your body, specifically your liver? Siggi Clavien shares his advice for taking care of your liver health and how to speed your recovery after the holiday season.

When most of us think about liver health, the first thing we think of is alcohol. Ever heard anyone — or yourself — say, “I need to take a break from drinking to help my liver detox”? Besides taking this break in January, there are more things you can do to protect or help your liver recover.

What is considered overconsumption?

Eight or more drinks a week is generally considered heavy drinking for women. And for men, this is 15 or more drinks per week. Overconsumption of drinking can lead to liver damage, which can lead to severe illnesses such as brain damage and even coma. It can also lead to indigestion problems and severe bleeding due to blood clots. Just one binge-drinking session puts enormous pressure on your liver, so let’s try to treat our liver a little better this time around.

Rehydrate!

The main cause of a hangover is dehydration. You can limit your hangover by drinking a big glass of water before you go to bed and when you wake up. There are also rehydration sachets available to help your body replace lost electrolytes.

Eat liver-friendly foods.

Detox your liver naturally by incorporate liver-friendly foods. There are certain herbs that you can include to improve your liver health. Milk thistle is one of these as well as turmeric.

Incorporate eggs.

Eggs are full of amino acids, which is great for liver function and helps breakdown acetaldehyde. This is the headache-causing chemical that causes headaches. So go ahead and make yourself scrambled, poached or fried eggs for breakfast.

Opt for resistance training.

You might want to sweat out the alcohol with an intense cardio session. However, this might just dehydrate your further. Instead, opt for resistance training. According to a study by the University of Haifa, resistance training may reduce fat in the liver and reduce blood cholesterol levels. So try to incorporate this in your training.

Be kind to your body. Set aside those drinks for a while to give your liver a break, drink lots of water and eat whole foods. All the best in 2021!