I hope you all had a restful night last night (sans alcohol) and can enjoy your weekend
If you have listened to the lecture with Dr Perry Nickelston, you will know that the liver plays a big role in supporting lymph. The liver and lymph work “hand-in-hand”.
Lymph is the clear liquid that surrounds the cells of your body. Except for cartilage, nails, and hair, your entire body is bathed in lymph. You are literally swimming in lymphatic fluid, so its nickname is the “Body Aquarium”. If you haven´t listened to this recording, please take a few minutes to view it.
Do you sometimes feel sick and tired when you start eating clean or when undertaking a detox diet? This may be a sign that your lymphatic system is not working effectively. The lymphatic system is often overlooked, but it is an important player in the process of keeping your immune and detoxification systems in check. The lymphatic system is a network of organs, lymph vessels, cells, and nodes that works alongside your circulatory system. It is designed to provide a variety of detoxification functions: It
is the body´s “garbage collector”. It picks up and dispose of cellular “trash” like white blood cells, bacteria, viruses, toxins and other molecular debris from every tissue in your body.
When lymph is not flowing well, you may end up with an accumulation of waste and toxins that compromises the body’s ability to maintain a healthy state. Feeling sick and tired when starting a clean diet and lifestyle may be a sign of a sluggish lymphatic system that can’t keep up with the demands of removing toxic waste from your body. Toxins are deposited from your circulatory system into the lymph vessels to be filtered by the lymph nodes. We produce about 3 liters of lymph per day, and if it is malfunctioning we start to swell.
There is a “highway” of specialised vessels moving lymphatic fluid from the tips of your toes to the top of your head and to centralised lymph nodes. It helps regulate the balance of all fluid in your body and is essential for Detoxification.
About a third of the lymph is produced in the liver which drains into the abdomen and the lymph channels. Hormones surf in the lymph too. So if you want a healthy liver and a healthy lymphatic system you need to be supporting both.
The lymph does not have a pump so to move lymph and help it filter and not become stagnant, we need to move! If all lymph vessels in the body were put head to tail they would circulate the globe approximately 4 times. The best activities to encourage lymph drainage are movement, deep breathing, rebounding/releve pulses using your calf muscles, massage and skin brushing.
When lymph is flowing well, it helps to maintain a healthy and balanced state in the body.
Try and see what you can do today to support lymphatic flow!
