Healthy Inside and Out: From Liver Flushing to Your Inner Child
Explore the depths of Eva Hooft's knowledge on liver flushing and the impact of emotions on one’s wellness journey. Join Leslie, the founder of Vitaminis, in an enlightening discussion with Eva, a leading advocate in this domain. Immerse yourself in the condensed transcript for a dose of wellness inspiration!
Eva: I had a lot of interest in the health and wellness space because I was in the modeling industry. For me, I had a certain interest in eating healthy and eating clean, but it was more from a perspective of “How can I stay skinny?” or “How can I lose weight, right?” So, it was a very, very different energy that I brought into this space originally. I just kind of got obsessed with figuring out – What are macronutrients? How do calories work? How do I lose weight? What does it mean when I need to eat healthy and look good? So, that was kind of my start into the health and wellness space and industry but mostly more into the diet culture. I was in that industry for ten years and, as I’m sure many people can imagine, it's such a competitive industry. It's all about your physical body. It’s not about how you feel. It's not about your health internally. It's only about your waist measurements and your weight. So, unfortunately, I got myself sick with the frequent switching of diets.
Eva: It wasn't until I found detoxification and liver flushing that I found out that the root cause of all my digestive symptoms was mostly in my liver. No one kind of pointed me in that direction. It was all like, “It's your gut. It's Sibo. It's Candida.” And yes, absolutely, it was. And, I did all the elimination diets and all that, but what is the root cause of even that? How do we get to where we have Candida? And so, in my case, I found out I had a severe parasite infection in my liver. With parasites in the liver, it's really hard to diagnose. They can't always find it on stool tests, which is why I don't think they're always accurate. But, I got into liver flushing, which is one thing that I now primarily focus on with my clients. I was flushing up 500 parasites at a time in some of my flushes. It was really disturbing to see, but it finally all made sense. They were feeding on my bile, and bile is an essential digestive fluid. If we don't get that, then we have too much acidity in our bodies because our stomach acid is acidic. We don't properly digest what we're consuming, so there's unadjusted waste in the colon. Then, it creates a lot of dampness. This is where overgrowth tends to happen. I'm seeing a lot of people's digestive issues coming from an overburdened toxic or a congested liver. The liver flushes that I now do with my clients are flushing out gallstones the size of golf balls; they're flushing up parasites.
Leslie: What causes these problems you would imagine a normal healthy person doesn't need liver flushing, or does everyone need to do this once in a while? What is the cause of this?
Eva: Because food is so accessible, I think that everyone needs to do it from time to time because we're so used to just constantly eating and eating and eating. Anytime that you snack between meals, your gallbladder is only emptying halfway or a little bit. It's kind of a dumping bile, but it's never fully emptying. All this residue will calcify over time. People who are more at risk are people who are doing low-fat diets because their gallbladder doesn't empty fully from time to time. And then things like taking prescription medications, just having a toxic lifestyle, drinking, eating a lot of acidic foods, and smoking cigarettes put you at risk for stone formation. We're sensitive beings, and we're constantly poisoning ourselves even just by breathing and living in the cities that we do. I think it's the number one thing that everyone should be doing, but, obviously, with precaution and with a provider, the right coach, practitioner, or after doing a ton of research and knowing what you're doing so you don't end up in the hospital.
Leslie: How do you recommend people think about doing this?
Eva: That is a really personal question. Every body is so different. Everybody responds differently. For me, it's actually what happens when you start a cleansing journey. How do you get back to your intuition? How do you know, what's the right amount of cleanses for you or what's the right food for you?
Leslie: I did want to talk about the intuitive eating that to me is very logical. Our bodies are made to, when they're hungry, eat certain foods that you need but, to your point, tell us about that. What brings you away from intuitive eating? Is it usually driven in your experience? What sorts of things get you away from it, and what are some benefits of getting back to it?
Eva: It's a full-time job because, if you want to get back to intuitive eating, that means you also need to feel your emotions so that you can recognize in the moment that you feel a certain emotion. What you need might be a hug or to sit and to meditate and ask yourself, “Where is this coming from?” Someone said something mean to me at work, can I feel into that and work through it? The benefits of being in tune with your intuition and intuitive eating is that you'll never eat too much and your body always perfectly digests it because you're in touch with your intuition.
Leslie: Emotional connection comes into it. Tell me more about that emotional wellness connection in your experience.
Eva: What we put in our bodies, how we treat our bodies, how we exercise, and how we take care of it is literally connected to our self-love and our sense of self-worth. If we think that we don't deserve to be healthy or be loved, then our actions are going to match that. If we don't love ourselves unconditionally, then we're also not making loving choices for our bodies. And, so, it's all so connected; it's all intertwined.
Leslie: Thank you so much. I feel like we've covered a lot of ground, but where can people find you? How do you connect with people who might be interested in learning more about what you do?
Eva: Currently most of that goes either through my website or my Instagram. My Instagram is @eva.hooft, and my website is https://www.evahooft.com. I share a little bit about my coaching, protocols, and my one-on-one work. I also offer some sort of one-off sessions in terms of emotional release work. There's lots to talk about, but, if you're ever interested, just shoot me a DM on Instagram as I'm always responsive there.
