Take care of your liver.

Our blog is inspired by the movie "Sugar Coated” created by Michele Hozer. As the key discussion of this movie was sugar, and all of its toxic harms, we wanted to focus on the body’s processing plant, the Liver, and how Neglecting your liver will bankrupt your life, and overall well-being. Your liver can be harmed overtime, with almost no warning signs and no symptoms. Often times people wait until a symptom starts appearing before they take action– often times it’s too late. When we think of liver disease, we immediately think of alcohol abuse, but that’s not always 100% the case. Your liver can get diseased from simply putting the wrong types of food in your mouth. When you eat a bad diet, cheese burgers, pizza, soda pop, sit around all day and lacking exercise, your liver can become fat making it much harder for your liver to filter out all the bad stuff.

1 in 10 Americans have some form of liver disease every year. Every year 19,500 die from liver cancer, 49,500 Die from Cirrhosis, (Cirrhosis occurs in response to damage to your liver.) In the world liver cancer deaths per year amounts to 745,000 and over 1,000,000 from Cirrhosis. Fatty liver disease from alcoholic and non alcoholic fatty liver disease on an upward trend:

Alcohol consumption is the leading cause of FLD (Fatty liver Disease) (25%-35% of the general population and Non-alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease currently affects 25% of Americans and expected to reach 50% by 2030.

This is a disease that has to do with what we put into our mouths, we call this SAD (Sad American Diet). The choice is clear, neglect your liver and your liver will neglect you!

The best way to attack “neglect” is to become more in tune with how your organs function, their purpose, how they gets effected and how they can add more years to your life! YES your liver should be treated like your own child, love, care, and respect and NCL has some pointers that will make you think about your liver on a more conscientious state.

Lets jump into your liver and take a look!

Your liver is one of the heaviest organs in the body weighing in at slightly over 3 pounds, yes 3 pounds, and it’s in charge of many different processes and functions in the body. Think about your liver like a factory. A factory has a warehouse, manufacturing capabilities, and can process material into a finished product, sending off finished goods to the end user for utilization–this process is exactly how your liver functions.

Everything you eat filters through your liver, it metabolizes nutrients and stores them, even detoxifies your system of harmful toxins from the blood. This is of course when your liver is healthy–everything you eat has to filter through your liver.

If you build fat in your liver it won’t be able to filter out toxins and break down essential vitamins and key nutrients. When you have a fatty liver, it cannot get normal blood supply, which can cause all kinds of damage to your body.

Your liver is really your bodyguard.

When you eat food your liver strips out important vitamins and nutrients, feeding your cells with those needed nutrients and then storing them up until your body is in need again. For example, with carbohydrates your body breaks it down and converts it to sugar for your body’s energy use. When you have excess of what your body no longer needs, your liver will store them and use them for later use– sounds like a good neighbor! Your liver is actually a genius, it can detect toxins and immediately and rid them kidneys and into your intestines.

Through the manufacturing side, your liver has a production component, everything from producing blood plasma protein, which transports fatty acids and helps form blood clouts, to cholesterol production which help your body to create hormones, not to mention vitamins and substances that help in the aid of digestion.

The most vital product that your liver manufactures is that oozing green looking substance, it’s called Bile. Like an Eco-friendly treatment plant your liver uses cells called Hepatocytes to convert toxic waste products, A hepatocyte is a cell of the main parenchymal tissue of the liver. Hepatocytes make up 70-85% of the liver’s mass.

Bile is then funneled into a small container below the liver called the Gallbladder before being dumping into the intestine which then break down fats, destroys microbes, and helps stomach acids. Bile also helps carry other toxins and unnecessary by products from the liver out of the body, again, what an amazing neighbor!

Your liver really is a factory in charge of multiple functions, helping keep your body strong and healthy. However, such a complex system needs tender loving care, self awareness, and a proactive mind set. The ability to look at soda pop and make a rational judgment call is key. You are no longer in a state of neglect, you are in charge of the situation, the situation is not in charge of you.

When liver damage strikes, its often too late for treatment, or too difficult for treatment. The reality is disease happens before any symptoms appear and the best way to check your liver is simply being more proactive with your health care. Getting to know the real you from inside out. Getting critical information about your body before it’s late.

70-80% of all clinical decisions come from lab testing and NCL supports those who are proactive with their healthcare, who are looking for ways to improve health and wellness.

The best time to check your liver health is when you don’t have signs and symptoms, this can be done through 1 simple blood draw. NCL makes getting a test affordable, convenient, and fast. You no longer need to call to make an appointment at your doctor’s office, no long waiting rooms, no co-pays, no need to deal with pesky insurance companies. Simply order online, from your PC or your cell phone. Pick your lab tests and check out with your credit card. Your lab order will be emailed to you– you are now ready to get your blood drawn– we’ll show you where to get your blood drawn nearest you. Your results then get emailed to you privately and securely. If you need to take your results to your doctor to have a meaningful conversation about your results please do so we recommend it.

Remember all it took was you becoming more self aware–just 1 blood draw can change your life. Knowledge is power and when you get critical information about your body, you begin to make positive changes.

Appreciate what the liver does for you!

Ordering these tests can help you and your doctor understand your liver health, so we made ordering your liver function test super easy and super affordable:

Hepatic Function panel $15.00

This test includes:

-Total Protein

-Albumin

-Globulin (calculated)

-Albumin/Globulin Ratio (calculated)

-Total Bilirubin

-Direct Bilirubin

-Indirect Bilirubin (calculated)

-Alkaline Phosphatase

-AST

-ALT

Complete blood count (CBC) $15.00

Test Includes:

-Platelet count The number of red blood cells (RBC count)

-The number of white blood cells (WBC count)

-The total amount of hemoglobin in the blood The fraction of the blood composed of red blood cells (hematocrit)

-Average red blood cell size (MCV)

-Hemoglobin amount per red blood cell (MCH)

-The amount of hemoglobin relative to the size of the cell (hemoglobin concentration) per red blood cell (MCHC)

GGT $15.00

- Elevated GGT is found in all forms of liver disease.