Workshop: Spring Detox – Symptoms

THE LIVER POWDER KEG

Old age is something we are told just happens to us without any control over the effects. Symptoms of old age can begin for many in our 20s (some even earlier). Male pattern baldness and grey hair are just two of the signs we are ageing. Thickening around the middle is another.

Baldness has recently been linked to high acidity levels and an enzyme deficiency which inhibits hair growth. Grey hair is directly linked to stress. 

Up until recently, arthritis was considered an old person's disease, but we're seeing rises in all kinds of auto-immune, inflammatory tissue diseases and they are all linked to lifestyle habits including diet, plus blood contaminants and environmental pollutants.

All diseases are linked to the same thing – stress, caused by contaminants and environmental pollutants. Increasingly, these poisons are stemming from our main sources of nutrition and from the places we live and work. We can't really escape so easily when the stresses are all around us all the time, but we can increase our chances of purging from the body the causes of disease.

The liver is our hardest working organ at keeping the body free from contaminants, and this includes managing the enzymes that break down our food, flushing out our digestive system from rotting food and keeping the blood free of parasites and nasty poisons. Unfortunately, with such a huge amount of toxins in our environment and in our foods, the liver is becoming over-burdened and depleted of the energy it needs to function. Without a chance for rest and recovery, the liver becomes congested over time and as it swells up in size, so does the abdomen – making us more barrel shaped.

People who were pencil thin in their younger days, can begin to 'thicken' around the middle as they develop a barrel chest. The person may resemble a slim person everywhere else apart from showing a distended belly - which is a classic symptom of a fatty liver. This change in body shape occurs when the liver begins to encroach on the space where the diaphragm usually contracts and expands to take air into the lungs. As the space is taken over by the swollen liver, the abdomen shifts the bowels to retain ample lung capacity and opens the intercostal muscles more so the chest can open up.

The Greater Omentum
To protect the bowel, there is a sac called The Greater Omentum, which hangs down like a curtain -filling up with fluid when there's a greater need to protect, cool or flush the digestive system. 

When the system is compromised from working properly, the belly will remain permanently distended, with a water-filled sac covering it. The appearance of someone who's system is not working as it should be, will reveal a large belly and fat deposits covering other area of the body including the neck, the upper arm, under the armpit and around the pectoral/chest, also the top of the thighs in the groin area and lower back around the lumber spine area. These areas hold waste in the fat and fluids, ready to be expelled through the skin when performing exercise and out of the lungs when we exert ourselves. 

Symptoms
Some of the behavioural signs of a congested liver and bacterial toxic load in the body include the following:

– Disrupted sleep (usually around 2.30-4pm
– Tiredness on waking
– Low energy 
– Tiredness after eating
– Tiredness after consuming alcohol
– Prone to sudden outbursts of anger
– Food cravings, especially sweet foods and fast carbs, like bread or pasta 
– Alcohol dependency
– Caffeine dependency

Some of the visual effects and symptoms of a congested liver and an impaired digestive system include:

– Dry & dull skin
– Dull eyes
– Spots on the body, especially around the upper belly and around the back of the lower ribcage
– Congested lungs
– Constant runny nose and/or congested sinuses
– Constant need to clear throat
– Watery eyes
– Sticky fluid in the eyes
– Blurry vision
– Water retention
– Bloating
– Flatulence
– Irritability
– Itchy skin
– Rashes & sore skin under the armpits, in the groin and around the nose
– Aching joints
– Weak knees
– Stiffness in the abdomen
– Restricted movement of the lower back
– Siezed-up hips and glutes
– Frozen shoulder (especially right side)
– Puffy bags under the eyes
– Puffy feet and soreness when walking
– Painful joint of the big toe
– Painful joint of the thumb at the heal of the hand
– Swollen fingers and toes
– Diarrhea
– Hot and cold flushes
– Headaches and brain fog

All of the above can be acute symptoms that lead to chronic illnesses we call:

– Gout
– ME
– MS
– Pancreatis
– Arthritis
– Asthma
– Depression
– Obesity
– Cancer

Phantom illness
When we perform cleansing diets - quite often, the purge from toxins can temporarily overload the liver and give us symptoms that resemble a chronic illness. Our joints and muscles can swell and ache, our thinking become foggy, with headaches sapping our motivation to continue and perhaps with our mobility impaired, we stop exercising too. We may feel 90 years old until this period passes. Its important to keep moving and hydrating to flush out what is causing the phantom illness.

The gut and large intestine loops from the pelvic floor up and over the small intestine, making the entire lower abdomen react to the toxins that have flooded the digestive system. This means all connective areas in this region are impacted.

All Is Connected
All the vertebrae and nerves that link to the lumbar spine, also link to the gut. Any die-off of bacteria in the gut, starved of sugar and any waste disposed from the liver that sits in the gut, can leak into the intestine wall into the lower waste pipes (the beginning of the large intestine and colon), leaking into the area around the hips and lower back – poisoning the glutes medius, creating a tightening of the piriformis leading to sciatica (base of the spine and coccyx), contraction/shortenning of the psoas leading to lower back issues (hip flexor), tightening of the muscles and blood vessels impacting blood flow around connective tissues of the groin and the outer connectors that link the IT band to the lower thigh – affecting the workings of the knees too!

The entire lower abdomen and all the connective tissues surrounding the gut, can be impaired by the toxicity now released into the digestive system. The body will be attempting to flush the body of toxins and it is vital at this time to top up the fluids with plenty of clean water, so the flushing process can fully complete its cycle to remove the invaders and rubbish.

As the body disposes of waste mainly through breathing and sweating – expect to have congested lungs, hot flushes and sweating around the groin, under the arms and from the feet and hands. Bad breath and flatulence are usually signs of putrifying and fermenting of waste. Light exercises such as walking (in the park is best), stretching and yoga (especially inversions), really help to rid the body of toxins as we go through these purges and return ourselves to a state of balanced health.

Lifestyle Of Drink, Drugs & The Liver
Unfortunately, some folks who've managed a life lived with hedonistic pursuits involving alcohol and drugs, may not fully realise how high in cholesterol cigarettes/tobacco, and alcohol is and how the effects of continuing with a hedonistic lifestyle will add up. 

As we pass 50, the build-up of toxins, compacted cholesterol and scarring of the liver, can reach a point of no return. It was sad to see the effects of a toxic lifestyle ramp up over just three years at the end of George Michael's life, and the signs were there for all to see.

The Powder Keg In The Room
George abused his body with excessive smoking weed and with food & alcohol dependencies on top, he bloated in size at 50, lost his vigour and looks and became depressed. The falling asleep at the wheel of his car, the moodiness, the bloating of his abdomen and neck and the deterioration of health seemingly came quickly as his liver became too compromised to recover. He couldn't 'see' what had caused his demise.

The verdict at his passing was 'natural causes' and at 53 (my age now in 2025), this was another wake-up call for me in 2016 to study the real causes of disease to understand how perceived 'natural causes' yet to be diagnosed, can be our downfall through an over-reliance on the state health system to help us and ignorance of the Truth about what we do to ourselves. 

The age of information is here and the symptoms and causes as well as the solutions – are there for us to see and take affirmative action.