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Diet for Jaundice

Jaundice is a condition whereby both the skin and the whites of your eyes turn a yellowish shade, caused by problems with the liver. While jaundice is not a contagious or necessarily dangerous disease, its affect on your appearance might make you anxious for a remedy. While the most effective remedy will be obtained through the advice of your medical practitioner, you can always buttress that suggestion with adherence to a liver-cleansing diet to help get things back on track.

  1. Causes of Jaundice

    • The liver is your body's main organ for detoxification purposes. One of the substances that is normally processed through the liver and disposed of is called bilirubin. Bilirubin is a naturally occurring waste product created by the destruction of old red blood cells. When bilirubin production exceeds the liver's ability to remove it from the body, the result is jaundice. This can occur for many reasons, but the most common are the existence of a disease causing red blood cells to die at an accelerated rate, a genetic defect in the liver that makes disposing of bilirubin more difficult, or partial blockage of the ducts carrying bilirubin out of the liver.

    Liver Cleansing Diet

    • As backup in the liver's normally efficient processes is causing the jaundice, a common dietary strategy would be to remove excess strain on the liver, allowing it to devote additional time to disposing of the excess bilirubin. This is accomplished by adherence to a liver cleaning diet. While on a liver cleaning diet, you should completely abstain from alcohol and drug use, as these substances are incredibly taxing on the liver. Restrict daily protein consumption to no more than 1 g per kg of body weight (2.2 lbs). Consume no more than a total of 2 g of salt per day (which will have the added benefit of reducing blood pressure as well). Increase your intake of healthy carbohydrates while decreasing your intake of unhealthy carbs. Healthy carbs are generally fruits, vegetables and whole grains, whereas unhealthy carbs include white flour items, sugars and processed foods. Finally, eliminate all consumption of unhealthy trans fats and heavily restrict consumption of saturates while increasing consumption of unsaturates (peanuts, walnuts, almonds, olive oil, coconuts and avocados). Sticking to a diet consisting of wholesome, natural foods will allow your liver some breathing room so that it can best tackle the problem at hand.

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