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I am not a medical professional of any sort, but I've learned a few things regarding liver health, particularly as it relates to lifting, that I'd like to share.
Often when lifters are running bulking diets they may also be taking exogenous male hormones by mouth. Practicing both of these lifestyle habits at the same time can put enough stress on your liver to potentially cause some problems. I've been there and done that, and had some liver area tenderness as a result. Here are a few things I've found that helped a lot.
Informed lifters now know that most orals (primo being a notable exception) are alkylated to survive liver metabolization. Excess exposure to alkylated compounds can scar the liver, thereby reducing it's ability to carry out critical processes for the body.
Many also now know that milk thistle (standardized to 80% silymarin) and the proprietary products Liv52/LiverCare have a protective effect. These supps are only two of which I am aware that have good clinical evidence supporting their ability to enter liver cells and protect it against potentially harmful stuff. Everything else that is supposed to work is just anecdotal. Doesn't mean it doesn't work, just know that there is no clinical evidence that it does. The hype could be pure bullshit. Look at the ingredient lists of the newest products and see if it contains silymarin standardized to 80% or any of the same herbs as Liv52 or LiverCare.
The bulking diet adds additional stress to the liver for a few reasons. Protein metabolization produces ammonia, which must be cleaned from the body by the liver. Lots more protein means more ammonia, which in turn means more workload for the liver. So let's not follow Arnold's "supersaturation" theory (LMAO) and consume retarded amounts of protein. The timing and quality of our protein intake are the most important characteristics.
The bulking diet will also contain a higher amount of dietary fat. Typically our bulking diets can run 30% fat, perhaps higher. Because the liver collects cholesterol from the bloodsteam to create bile, increased amounts of lipids can backup in the liver creating a condition that physicians often call a "fatty liver".
When the liver gets backlogged with congested bile this sets the stage for the development of gallstones, which in turns can back up the flow of bile even further. Then the liver's ability to collect that additional ammonia and fat from your high protein/higher fat diet becomes reduced. Also, because the liver rids itself of accumulated toxins via the bile, not being able to freely release it into the intestine is bad news. Toxin build up in the liver can impair it's ability to carry out other critical functions for you. It's like a long traffic jam developing from a small collision on a busy interstate.
Ok so what do we do to keep this from happening? I recommend the things I know from personal experience actually work.
Avoid saturated fats and cholesterol. Get your dietary lipids and protein from foods with unsaturated fats. Flax, olive oil, almonds, fish, whey, 93/7 ground turkey, 96/4 ground sirloin, egg whites, etc. Less saturated fat means less of that thickening effect on the bile in the liver. You definitely want that.
Assloads of fiber and water. The water itself is good for the liver and it also hydrates the fiber which helps keep everything chugging along in the GI tract. Higher fat diets tend to make the digestion sluggish, guys. You must dramatically increase your fiber when you go on a higher fat bulking diet. Add unflavored psyllium fiber (like metamucil but w/o the orange flavoring shit) to your protein drinks and meals throughout the day. You can buy psyllium powder dirt cheap on any vitamin/supp site. 50g daily of fiber would be the minimum. If you're not loading up the commode at least once daily, you aren't getting enough.
Thin the bile with fresh beets Fresh beets are cheap, and they are well known to thin out sludgy bile. You'll piss and crap red, but don't freak out. You're not hemorrhaging. I quarter them and drop one into boiling water for one minute. Comes out the consistency of a fresh apple and fairly sweet too.
High sulfur foods like fresh onions and garlic. This really works, and it's cheap as hell. Yes you'll stink like shit, but the detoxifying effect it has on the liver is immediate and profound. Ground onion and garlic are useless. Eat a few big fat slices of fresh onion with a few of your meals each day and aim for 1/2 a bulb (about 5 or 6 of the little sections) of garlic eaten throughout the day. It's the stink that signals it's sulfur content, so it's got to be fresh. Do not substitute garlic caps or tabs from the grocery store. They do not preserve the sulfur content you need. (If you've got the money you can buy the very high quality freeze-dried garlic preparation by Pharmax. It is expensive, but much less stinky)
Dont drink. Duh. On cycle and bulking? Put away the booze.
Other hepatotoxic compounds. Know what you're taking. Most of us have heard by now that acetaminophen can be rough on the liver, but there are other things that have gotten little or no media attention that may be tough on the liver too. Check out anything you currently take. A two minute web search on anything you take could save you a lot of problems down the road.
Often when lifters are running bulking diets they may also be taking exogenous male hormones by mouth. Practicing both of these lifestyle habits at the same time can put enough stress on your liver to potentially cause some problems. I've been there and done that, and had some liver area tenderness as a result. Here are a few things I've found that helped a lot.
Informed lifters now know that most orals (primo being a notable exception) are alkylated to survive liver metabolization. Excess exposure to alkylated compounds can scar the liver, thereby reducing it's ability to carry out critical processes for the body.
Many also now know that milk thistle (standardized to 80% silymarin) and the proprietary products Liv52/LiverCare have a protective effect. These supps are only two of which I am aware that have good clinical evidence supporting their ability to enter liver cells and protect it against potentially harmful stuff. Everything else that is supposed to work is just anecdotal. Doesn't mean it doesn't work, just know that there is no clinical evidence that it does. The hype could be pure bullshit. Look at the ingredient lists of the newest products and see if it contains silymarin standardized to 80% or any of the same herbs as Liv52 or LiverCare.
The bulking diet adds additional stress to the liver for a few reasons. Protein metabolization produces ammonia, which must be cleaned from the body by the liver. Lots more protein means more ammonia, which in turn means more workload for the liver. So let's not follow Arnold's "supersaturation" theory (LMAO) and consume retarded amounts of protein. The timing and quality of our protein intake are the most important characteristics.
The bulking diet will also contain a higher amount of dietary fat. Typically our bulking diets can run 30% fat, perhaps higher. Because the liver collects cholesterol from the bloodsteam to create bile, increased amounts of lipids can backup in the liver creating a condition that physicians often call a "fatty liver".
When the liver gets backlogged with congested bile this sets the stage for the development of gallstones, which in turns can back up the flow of bile even further. Then the liver's ability to collect that additional ammonia and fat from your high protein/higher fat diet becomes reduced. Also, because the liver rids itself of accumulated toxins via the bile, not being able to freely release it into the intestine is bad news. Toxin build up in the liver can impair it's ability to carry out other critical functions for you. It's like a long traffic jam developing from a small collision on a busy interstate.
Ok so what do we do to keep this from happening? I recommend the things I know from personal experience actually work.
Avoid saturated fats and cholesterol. Get your dietary lipids and protein from foods with unsaturated fats. Flax, olive oil, almonds, fish, whey, 93/7 ground turkey, 96/4 ground sirloin, egg whites, etc. Less saturated fat means less of that thickening effect on the bile in the liver. You definitely want that.
Assloads of fiber and water. The water itself is good for the liver and it also hydrates the fiber which helps keep everything chugging along in the GI tract. Higher fat diets tend to make the digestion sluggish, guys. You must dramatically increase your fiber when you go on a higher fat bulking diet. Add unflavored psyllium fiber (like metamucil but w/o the orange flavoring shit) to your protein drinks and meals throughout the day. You can buy psyllium powder dirt cheap on any vitamin/supp site. 50g daily of fiber would be the minimum. If you're not loading up the commode at least once daily, you aren't getting enough.
Thin the bile with fresh beets Fresh beets are cheap, and they are well known to thin out sludgy bile. You'll piss and crap red, but don't freak out. You're not hemorrhaging. I quarter them and drop one into boiling water for one minute. Comes out the consistency of a fresh apple and fairly sweet too.
High sulfur foods like fresh onions and garlic. This really works, and it's cheap as hell. Yes you'll stink like shit, but the detoxifying effect it has on the liver is immediate and profound. Ground onion and garlic are useless. Eat a few big fat slices of fresh onion with a few of your meals each day and aim for 1/2 a bulb (about 5 or 6 of the little sections) of garlic eaten throughout the day. It's the stink that signals it's sulfur content, so it's got to be fresh. Do not substitute garlic caps or tabs from the grocery store. They do not preserve the sulfur content you need. (If you've got the money you can buy the very high quality freeze-dried garlic preparation by Pharmax. It is expensive, but much less stinky)
Dont drink. Duh. On cycle and bulking? Put away the booze.
Other hepatotoxic compounds. Know what you're taking. Most of us have heard by now that acetaminophen can be rough on the liver, but there are other things that have gotten little or no media attention that may be tough on the liver too. Check out anything you currently take. A two minute web search on anything you take could save you a lot of problems down the road.
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