May 2013 - Liver Awareness

Take care of your liver and it will take care of you. Most people are not aware of the many important jobs the liver does within the human body. The average liver weighs about 3lbs and is one of the largest organs in the human body. I bet you didn’t know that the liver has well over 500 functions that it performs daily in the body. Some of the functions of the liver are: 
* metabolizing proteins, fats, and carbohydrates
* storing vitamins, minerals and sugars
* filtering blood
* creating bile
* storing extra blood and
* clotting factors

What happens if you don’t take care of your liver? If you consume alcohol, the amount you drink should be limited because alcohol can damage and destroy liver cells. The damage may lead to inflammation of the liver known as alcohol hepatitis and or scarring of the liver known as cirrhosis. Medication can also cause harm to the liver so it is very important to follow the directions as prescribed for the medication but also ask questions about how the medication will affect the liver. Lastly avoid breathing in or touching toxins because toxins can hurt liver cells.

The liver our body’s filter and laboratory is vital to sustain our lives so please be sure to thank your liver every day for all the hard work it does. I know I am working on thanking mine. How do you thank your liver? You thank your liver by eating healthy and exercising regularly this helps the liver perform well. So raise a glass of water and drink to the liver the large organ that handles many jobs on a daily basis without it our bodies would be in trouble.
The month of May’s Amplify Your Expertise on liver awareness was sponsored by the American Liver Foundation. www.liverfoundation.org

May also has other monthly health awareness focuses here are a few:
*Arthritis Awareness Month sponsored by the Arthritis Foundation www.arthritis.org

* Hepatitis Awareness Month sponsored by Hepatitis Foundation International www.hepfi.org

* Better Hearing and Speech Month sponsored by the American Academy of Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery www.entnet.org
 * Better Sleep Month sponsored by the Better Sleep Council www.bettersleep.org
 
* Lupus Awareness Month sponsored by the Lupus Foundation www.lupus.org

* Stroke Awareness Month sponsored by the National Stroke Association www.stroke.org
and

* Ultraviolet Awareness Month sponsored by Prevent Blindness America www.preventblindess.org

There are many more unnamed monthly observances. Next week we observe Children’s Mental Health Week sponsored by the National Federation of Families for Children’s Mental Health www.ffcmh.org 
 Occupational Safety and Health Week in North America sponsored by the American Society of Safety Engineers www.asse.org/ naosh and lastly Run a mile days sponsored by the American Running Association www.runmile.org

I strongly suggest that you look into the listed and unlisted observances for the month of May to Amplify Your Expertise.

-VHHughes