Alcohol is not inherently bad for the body. Still, too much of it causes problems that affect your physical health, especially the liver. People who consume excessive amounts of alcohol expose themselves to liver problems that can lead to chronic diseases.
Cleansing your liver from alcohol can help keep it healthy, but it won’t repair pre-existing damage. Liver cleansing provides temporary relief for your liver since it doesn’t have to filter and process alcohol.
As such, if you’re experiencing symptoms that might be related to liver disease, you must consult a licensed physician right away.
With that said, here are five proven ways to help reduce the mileage and quantity of alcohol in your liver:
5 Ways to Cleanse Your Liver from Alcohol
When it comes to successful liver detox for alcoholics, It’s important to always start with the right mindset. The patient needs to be committed because the process calls for discipline.
There are different ways to cleanse the liver from alcohol and alcohol-induced toxins in the liver. These include:
1. Abstain from Alcohol
If you want to rid your body of alcohol, the first step is to stop taking more of it. This often requires a long-term commitment. There’s no fixed time frame on how long you should abstain, though it might be best to stop drinking altogether. This means not drinking for months during the first phase of the alcohol detox.
Alcohol stays for about six hours in your blood, and it takes about one hour to metabolize it. But it stays in your system for more than that period. Alcohol will stay in your hair for as long as 90 days.
Abstinence to detoxify the liver can help eliminate the remaining alcohol in the body without adding more. The length of alcohol dwelling in the body usually depends on the person’s age, weight, gender, food consumption, tolerance, and other factors. Alcohol tends to stay in the body for longer periods in older people.
That’s why your first detox goal is long-term abstinence. It’s no use to abstain for a week only to go back to drinking right after. Consider seeing a therapist if you find it hard to abstain from alcohol. Alcohol addiction is a mental health problem. You’ll have difficulty abstaining from it without checking your mental health status.
2. Drink Lots of Fluids
Processing alcohol in the body requires fluids. That’s why people tend to urinate frequently when drinking alcohol.
Hydration is important in the early phases of alcohol cleansing and abstinence. Your liver did a great job converting alcohol into chemical compounds that can be easily released into the body. In exchange, the body uses too much water to remove it from the body.
The best way to rehydrate quickly is by drinking electrolyte drinks. They rehydrate more quickly than plain water. You can do this in the first few days of abstinence from alcohol. Many recovering alcoholics take electrolyte drinks as supplements to plain water. Sports drinks aren’t a quick solution. You should also try drinking four liters of water daily to replenish the lost fluids.
The obvious effects of alcohol are dry skin because of dehydration and intoxication. If you stop drinking alcohol and replenish lost fluids, your body will start recuperating from dehydration, and your skin will start looking healthy. You’ll also regain energy once the body processes the alcohol.
These are the two most obvious signs your liver is healing from alcohol. But overall, abstinence from alcohol and proper hydration has positive effects on your internal organs.
3. Eat Healthy Foods
Cleansing the liver from alcohol is not just about replacing lost fluids. You also need to pay attention to the food you eat. Alcohol damages the liver but your diet is also a contributory factor in liver damage. A common liver problem for alcoholics is an alcoholic fatty liver disease (AFLD). This is a stage one liver disease, and 20 percent of heavy drinkers and alcoholics develop AFLD.
However, fatty liver disease can also be present in non-alcoholics. So if you’re living an unhealthy lifestyle coupled with heavy drinking, you may develop AFLD or worsen non-alcoholic FLD.
But this begs the question. Can alcohol-fatty liver be reversed? Yes, it is reversible through long-term alcohol abstinence. Though, the time needed to reverse AFLD depends on several factors, including your weight, age, and diet.
You may want to speak with a hepatologist or a liver specialist for more information. Eating right and living healthily may reverse a fatty liver over time, but with the aid of prescribed medications, it might be possible to speed up the recovery process.
4. Stay Active Through Exercise
If you’ve heard that exercise releases alcohol through sweat, that’s not true, and it’s one of the most popular myths about alcohol cleansing. These myths about how to cleanse your liver from alcohol can make things worse. No, exercise won’t rid your body of alcohol but being active leads to a healthy lifestyle. Exercise means burning fat and losing all the stored energy in your body as a result of excessive drinking and eating unhealthy food.
Exercise helps improve and boost recovery from FLD. By abstaining from alcohol and staying active, you help your body eliminate excess fat and reduce the strain on your liver.
5. Seek Medical Help if Necessary
If you find it hard to cleanse your liver from alcohol on your own, there are alcohol detoxification services available in alcohol rehab centers. Moreover, you also need to consider seeking professional treatments for possible addiction problems that hinder your alcohol abuse recovery.
Conclusion
The liver is tasked with regulating the body’s chemical composition. The liver takes a beating by drinking too much alcohol since it needs to work harder to break down alcohol into simple compounds so the body can release them. The body also uses too many resources and energy in the process.
Keep your liver healthy. Abstain from alcohol and start the journey to a healthy lifestyle. If you need professional help with alcoholism or related addictions, talk to us at Restore Treatment Center. You’ll find various alcohol addiction treatment programs that are personalized for your treatment requirements. Call now at (818) 646-5160 to schedule an appointment.
