To help keep your liver going strong this season, try adding Milk Thistle to your daily regime. It'll help protect your liver from toxins (yes, alcohol counts as one) and also help increase bile production—important for digesting fats, like the butter in those shortbread cookies!

Because we're up against a host of environmental toxins all of the time, not just during the holiday season, it's important to support our liver year-round. Milk Thistle can help with that. It's one of the premier liver tonic herbs, helping it to function better and even regenerate liver cells.  Use it for 6 weeks, followed by a break for a couple of weeks.

It's also excellent combined with Dandelion, Licorice and my all-time favorite herb, Turmeric, for overall liver support.

While the milk thistle plant is native to regions of the Mediterranean, it can also be found growing throughout the world from Europe to Asia, and from Africa to North America. This stout thistle usually grows in dry, sunny areas. The stem branches at the top, and it reaches a height of 4 to 10 feet. The leaves are wide compared to other plants of its species and have white blotchy veins.

Milk thistle helps relieve the symptoms of hepatitis, cirrhosis, and inflammatory liver conditions. It is one of the most effective herbs known for relieving liver disorders.