Whenever I refer to “cleansing” in my wellness coaching practice I make it clear that what I really mean is nourishing, which I define as being kind to our bodies, minds, hearts, and souls. As I help clients through a cleanse, I don’t ordinarily single out a particular body part or organ because the body all works together in such specific and amazing ways. But I do like to focus on liver health, since it works so hard for us as a detoxifier. It’s our second largest organ, and when it is in good shape, the rest of us looks pretty good too—especially our skin. So here are my ideas to help you through a liver cleanse.
Signs Your Liver Could Use a Cleanse
Wondering about your liver health? If you experience any of these symptoms, it might be time to clean house.
- Waking frequently between 2 a.m. and 4 a.m. (unrelated to noise/light)
- Feeling stressed
- Frequent headaches or migraines
- Diarrhea, constipation, strong-odored bowel movements
- Dark-colored urine
- Acne, greasy or oily, dry or dull skin
- Brain fog/forgetfulness
- Stubborn extra body weight that’s hard to shift
- Indigestion/bloating
- Exhaustion/fatigue
- Sugar cravings
- Dark circles around your eyes
- Pain in the area around your liver (upper right abdomen)
- Feeling overly sensitive/angry much of the time
- Extreme sensitivity to perfume, smoke, or alcohol
Read More: 5 Foods That Help You Reduce Stress
Signs You Might Need a Liver Cleanse
You may also need a liver cleanse if:
- You regularly consume coffee, alcohol, sugar, “bad” fats, or artificial flavors, sweeteners, and food colorings (and you smoke).
- You are exposed to chemicals (cleaning products, dry cleaning, perfume, etc).
- You live in a city.
How to Cleanse Your Liver
So now that we’ve determined that your liver needs a little attention, how do we do it? First try out this popular liver-flush recipe.
Lemon & Olive Oil Smoothie
- 1 whole organic lemon or lime OR 2 small ones (cleaned & cut into quarters)
- 4 cups filtered water
- 2 tbsp. olive oil (organic, unfiltered, cold-pressed)
- Optional extra: 1 inch piece of raw ginger root, peeled & cut to small pieces.
Toss the lemon, filtered water, and olive oil into the blender Add the ginger. Blend for about a minute until smooth. Strain through a fine mesh sieve to remove the seeds & pulp. Sip one glass about an hour before bed (save the rest and enjoy over a few days).

Image: William Felker/Unsplash
Whole Foods That Help
Try to regularly include these foods to promote a healthy, happy liver:
- Garlic activates liver enzymes and flush toxins.
- Tumeric regenerates damaged liver cells (pair with black pepper).
- Berries reduce blood sugar, burn fat, and decrease fatty liver.
- Sour citrus provide antioxidants and vitamin C that boost detoxifying enzymes and cause the liver to burn instead of store fat. Try a whole grapefruit for breakfast, fresh lemon or lime juice in your morning water.
- Beets help repair damage from toxic build up.
- Beta carotene rich vegetables and fruit (sweet potato, carrot, red cabbage, red bell pepper, cantaloupe, turmeric, broccoli, dark leafy greens, butternut squash and pumpkin.) stimulate liver cells
- Dark leafy and bitter greens stimulate liver cells. My favorites are arugula, dandelion greens, collard greens, kale, mustard greens, young nettle leaves (in spring), and spinach.
- Herbal tea infusions such as dandelion, burdock, nettle, and milk thistle are all good liver healing choices.
Non-dietary Changes to Consider

Image: EllenaZ/iStock/Getty Images Plus
There are so many little things to tweak to help your liver out!
- Practice mindful meditation to reduce stress (start with 2 minutes a day and build to 20).
- Consider getting an air purifier for your home/office, and bring lots more green plants into your life. I suggest starting with easy-to-care for plants such as a spider plant, dracaena, ficus, aloe or mother in law’s tongue, which are all good detoxing plants.
- Use green cleaning products and personal care products. Instead of perfume try using pure essential oils.
- Reduce your use of plastic; never heat food in plastic, and it’s best not to store in plastic either (glass mason jars and ceramics are best for storing). Avoid plastic-bottled water.
- Take Epsom salt baths to increase magnesium and pull toxins out of your body. As a bonus, this relaxes and soothes tired muscles and can help improve sleep.
- Increase your exercise to improve your overall liver function.
- Always filter your water. Not just for drinking, but also for cooking and filling your kettle. Store in a glass pitcher (not plastic) and get a good filter. There are many to choose from but I really like the filter from Aquaspace, which I place in my glass pitcher. Be diligent about cleaning your filter daily and changing it out according to the guidelines of your particular filter.
- Reduce stress as best you you can. Easier said than done in our society, I know, but stress releases hormones and endorphins into our bloodstream, creating toxins for the liver to process, thus making it (and us) sluggish.
- Reduce or eliminate coffee, alcohol, and sugar.
- Avoid “bad” fats, processed food, “diet” sugar, and artificial colors, flavors, and sweeteners.
- Also avoid overeating, speed eating, eating on the run, and eating too late at night.
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Sacha Jones is the founder of Stiggly Holistics, a holistic wellness practice based in New York City and Sullivan County, NY. She studied at the Institute for Integrative Nutrition and is a lifelong learner. Inspired by her own healing she has created wellness packages for various learning styles—one-on-one coaching, small women’s groups, and larger group “cleanse & nourish” classes. She is also a Lifecycle Celebrant, trained at the Celebrant Foundation and Institute and believes very much in the power of ritual for healing and wellbeing. Find her at Stiggly.com.
A version of this article was originally published in June 2017.
Great article. Thank you for sharing! This will be my starting point.
Thank you for another wonderful article, Ms. Jones! Informative without being overwhelming and a great reminder to give our “cleaning ladies” a raise in the form of good foods, good moods and all kinds of good nourishment and gratitude for all that those little gals do in our bodies
Excellent! recommendations! I will give the lemon/olive smoothie a try! Thanks so much for sharing.
Excellent article, Sacha! Thank you for sharing a bit of your vast wisdom with us. I hope you will be writing more articles in the near future.
Great info! Thanks!