True Valentine's Day Glow Isn't in a Bottle, It's in Your Liver

Axay Shah is the Founder of RawFoodiest.com and a plant-based raw food lifestyle coach with 21+ years of documented health transformation. He is the author of IN NATURE WE TRUST: A Raw Food Manifesto For Energy, Healing & Longevity (launching March 2026).

This Valentine's Day, I'd like to invite you to consider something you probably haven't thought about: your liver.

I know that sounds unromantic at first. But over the past 21 years, living a plant-based raw food lifestyle and documenting my health journey, I've discovered something that no skincare brand talks about. The radiance we see on someone's face that genuine, luminous glow often reflects what's happening deeper inside, particularly in how well our liver is functioning.

The Liver-Skin Connection I've Noticed

Your liver is essentially your body's filtration system. When I began researching my own health transformation, I learned that every substance we consume refined sugar, processed salt, synthetic oils, dairy, grains puts a demand on our liver's detoxification capacity. When the liver becomes overwhelmed, the skin often becomes the visible indicator of that struggle.

Over my 21-year plant-based raw food journey, I've monitored my liver enzyme (ALT) as a marker of detoxification health. What I discovered was striking: when I eliminated the five substances I call the "Slow Poisons," my ALT enzyme dropped from 44 units/L to 21 units/L and has remained stable there for over seven years. The normal range is less than 59 units/L; the optimal range is less than 30.

This isn't just a number on a lab test. Research suggests that optimal liver enzyme levels correlate with improved skin clarity, reduced inflammation, and a more radiant complexion.* What I've experienced personally aligns with what the science tells us: a liver functioning optimally creates the conditions for genuine skin radiance.

What Creates That Inner Glow

Over these two decades, I've noticed patterns of things that seemed to make a real difference in how I felt and how my skin looked. These insights have shaped how I think about beauty and wellness:

Reducing the Burden on Your Liver

The five slow poisons refined sugar, processed salt, processed oils, dairy, and grains create an inflammatory response in the body. When I removed these, I noticed my skin transformed. Not because of products or treatments, but because my liver finally had the capacity to do what it's designed to do: detoxify efficiently. Within weeks of this shift, the breakouts disappeared. The dullness lifted. My complexion became clearer.

Exploring Living Foods

Raw, plant-based foods are enzymatically alive in a way that processed foods are not. When your digestive system encounters living foods, it doesn't have to work as hard to break them down. Your body can redirect that energy toward healing including skin repair, collagen production, and cellular regeneration. This is something I've personally experienced, and it's a pattern I've noticed in others who've made similar dietary shifts.

Understanding Energy as Health

This is the insight that changed how I think about beauty entirely: radiance is a reflection of cellular energy. When your cells are optimally fueled when your liver is functioning well, your digestion is efficient, and your body isn't fighting inflammation your skin glows differently. Your eyes shine. There's a vitality that comes from genuine health, not from skincare products.

What Optimal Liver Function Actually Supports

When your liver is functioning optimally, several things happen that directly affect your skin:

• Hormone regulation: Better balance means fewer hormonal breakouts

• Nutrient absorption: Your skin gets the vitamins and minerals it actually needs

• Reduced inflammation: Less redness, irritation, and congestion

• Cellular hydration: Skin appears plumper and more youthful

• Natural detoxification: True skin clarity from the inside out

This isn't a marketing language. This is what happens when your body's systems are working the way they're designed to work.

What This Actually Looks Like

I'm 66 years young. I've completed seven marathons on plant-based raw food nutrition. My skin doesn't just look younger it reflects genuine health because it's backed by documented liver function and cellular vitality. People often comment on my energy and appearance, and I trace both back to the same source: the choices I make about what I fuel my body with.

That's the kind of glow no skincare product can replicate. It's the radiance of a human being whose body is actually thriving.

A Different Kind of Valentine's Day Gift

This Valentine's Day, instead of another expensive serum or treatment, I'd invite you to ask yourself a different question: What am I actually fueling my skin with?

True radiance isn't about what you apply to your face. It's about what you put in your body. It's about giving your liver the chance to function optimally. It's about cellular energy and the vitality that comes from genuinely nourishing yourself.

What I've discovered over 21 years is this: when you stop poisoning your system and start fueling it with what Mother Nature actually made, everything changes, including how your skin looks and feels.

Your skin will thank you. And so will everyone who sees you.

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