Meal Plan Archives - Back to Balance

Why attempt a Liver detox? Weighing in between 3.2 and 3.7 pounds, the liver is a complex organ that
works 24 hours a day! It processes virtually everything you take into your body; from eating, drinking, and breathing, even to what you place on your skin. These are just some of the many different functions of the liver.

The liver is considered a gland—an organ that secretes chemicals—because it produces bile, a substance needed to digest fats. The salts in bile break up fat into smaller pieces so it can be absorbed more easily in the small intestine.

Everyday the liver is responsible for providing our bodies with energy, fighting off infections and toxins, helping the blood to clot, regulating hormones, etc. Here is a small list of the liver’s functions:

• Cleanses blood
• Regulates the supply of body fuel
• Manufactures many essential body proteins
• Regulates the balance of hormones
• Regulates body cholesterol
• Regulates the supply of essential vitamins and minerals such as iron and copper
• Produces bile which eliminates toxic substances from the body and aids in digestion
• Stores the simple sugar glucose
• Converts stored sugar to usable sugar when the body’s sugar (glucose) levels fall below normal
• Breaks down hemoglobin as well as insulin and other hormones
• Converts ammonia to urea, which is vital in metabolism
• Destroys old red blood cells

Benefits of a Liver Detox?

• Boosts your Energy
• Rids the body of any excess wastes
• Aids in weight loss
• Improved immune function
• Improved skin
• Improved digestion
• Improved cognitive ability (i.e. better concentration)
• Improved sense of well being and mood stability
• Regular bowel movements
• Decreases aching joints and muscles
• Decrease severity of allergies
• Improved sinuses
• Decrease frequency of infections

Have you been experiencing gut issues? Bloating? Gas? Inflammation? Sleepless nights? Constipation? Diarrhea? Any IBS symptoms? Feeling or being exhausted all the time, even with “sleep”? Brain fog? Painful joints? Unexplained regular headaches? Regular heartburn or indigestion? If your answer was YES to any of these, you are in the right place as a starting point! The Back to Balance Digestive Holiday Meal Plan may be the answer you’ve been looking for.

Gut health is one of the most important and one of the most overlooked options in traditional medicine
today. Why is it so important you ask? A healthy functioning gut contains healthy bacteria and immune cells that ward off infectious agents, such as bacteria, fungi, and viruses. I always say we have two brains- our gut brain and our head brain. These two brains need to communicate properly, via nerves and hormones to help maintain general health and well-being. If your gut brain is not functioning, then the communication loop is interrupted, and we can feel terrible with any number of the symptoms listed above. A healthy gut contributes to a strong immune system, heart health, brain health and function, improved mood, healthy sleep, and effective digestion. Our gut contributes to our overall general health and is more complex than previously thought.

This digestive holiday meal plan is meant to help heal your gut lining, add support to your system- adrenal glands, intestinal lining repair, bacteria balancing, and overall stabilization of your system.

Following this meal plan and instructions closely will result in success. This meal plan is meant to be a short-term solution and should only be followed for 4 weeks. Once the 4 weeks are completed, continue using the recipes from the guide and slowly add in foods again, once every 2-3 days or so and record any
symptoms that occur and how long after you ate. This will guide you to any underlying issues in the gut
that need to be addressed further by a Naturopath or will show you any intolerances your system has,
and those foods should be avoided to maintain optimal gut health.