Eating to Prevent or Reverse Fatty Liver: The Ultimate Fatty Liver Diet
Fatty Liver is a reversible condition, but only with the right fatty liver diet. This fact alone is the first step in fixing this potentially life threatening disease. In a minute I’ll talk about a healthy fatty liver diet that you can start on immediately to see quick results and a reduction in your fatty liver.
The problem is that most people overlook the health risks of having fatty liver disease. This is because the condition itself, an accumulation of fat in the liver cells, is not directly threatening to your health. It is a marker for near-future health problems, such as high blood pressure, diabetes, liver cirrhosis, and even liver failure. While high blood pressure and diabetes are treatable, liver cirrhosis and liver failure can be life threatening!
The first thing to note before getting on a new fatty liver diet is to always check with your doctor. Fatty liver can be caused by either lifestyle choices or serious diseases, such as hepatitis. Only your doctor can rule out the possibility of other diseases before you decide to change your lifestyle.
Putting aside treatable diseases for a moment, it’s important to note that most people develop fatty liver disease due to a poor diet and a complete lack of exercise. Because of this, I’ve decided to write this article outlining a complete fatty liver diet that you can start on your Fatty Liver Diet today to become healthier, lose that annoying body fat, and look better naked!
Exercise on this Fatty Liver Diet
I’m all for intense exercise and physical training. I’ve been significantly overweight in the past, and specifically remember being frightened of exercise. Since then, I’ve found that it’s important to simple get out and do some form of exercise. Most people, myself included, will never be able to go from no exercise to running marathons. Instead, I’d like to propose a more realistic approach to exercising.
Studies have shown that reversing insulin resistance and improving our health significantly does NOT require very intense exercise. In fact, about 20 minutes of walking per day can completely change how our body operates!
What I propose is that you add in 30 minutes of walking per day. I started walking every time I picked up the phone and started talking to someone. This one habit has added at least an hour of walking to my day, and I feel great for it.
As far as exercise goes, that’s it! Don’t try to push yourself and run 5 miles. You’ll just overtrain, feel like crap, and give up after a week. Instead, focus on long term change. Walk 30 minutes per day, every day.
The Fatty Liver Diet
Diets are an interesting topic of discussion. Everywhere you go, there is some type of fad diet or “Magic Bullet” to health and youth. Let me tell you, nothing could be farther from the truth. What I’ve found is that, like exercise, dieting is a series of simple changes that, completed faithfully over time, will change your health dramatically.
For that reason, I urge you to not jump into some crazy fatty liver diet where you completely overhaul everything you are eating. I’ve tried it, and it lasts about one week before you binge out on junk food.
Instead, a good friend of mine who deadlifts 450 pounds on a regular basis gave me his one secret for success. Basically, he noted that dieting is just reducing intake of “foods that kill you the fastest”. It’s unfortunate, but most foods sold today are bad for you. The key is to implement minor changes over time that will reduce the severity of these foods negative effects.
So, here are some steps you can take immediately on your brand new fatty liver diet. Remember to implement each one as a habit over time.
Habits on this Fatty Liver Diet
1. Eliminate “Liquid Calories” – This means eliminating anything you drink that is not water. I guarantee you that you are drinking at least 500 calories per day. Eliminating this alone will put you in a calorie deficit and cause you to lose about 2 pounds per week!
2. Cut wheat out of your diet completely – I didn’t believe the science behind this even after hearing it from several biologists and dieticians. But when a friend of mine cut wheat out of his diet and went from 250 lbs to 190 lbs, I began to listen. His mother did the same and dropped 30 pounds in the first month! Since then, I removed all wheat from my diet and have never felt better in my life.
3. Eliminate Sugary Foods – It’s unfortunate, but most foods today have sugar or high fructose corn syrup as the first or second ingredient. I’m sure you already know how bad that is for you, and I don’t even have to get into the science and insulin response your body has to this phenomenon. Bottom line, start cutting out these foods and you’ll feel 100% better immediately.
Remember, these steps sound harsh but if you’re just getting on a diet for fatty liver these tips should be taken slowly and over time. Don’t attempt this all at once. Instead, go for the long term win. And most importantly, start today. If you don’t at least start on this fatty liver diet, you won’t have a chance at reversing your fatty liver and looking better with your clothes off!
Of course, there is so much more to a fatty liver diet than what I mentioned above. If you’re serious about curing your fatty liver and losing weight like I did, I highly recommend reading “The Fatty Liver Solution”.
I read it cover to cover in one sitting. It helped me so much on my journey, and the author Duncan Capicchiano N.D. even answered a bunch of my questions via email! Getting to talk to the author himself was pretty cool, and the advice was priceless…
Anyways, a bunch of people asked me for my favorite fatty liver diet resource, so here it is:
By itself, fatty liver is not necessarily damaging to the body.
However, if it is left untreated it can progress into liver cirrhosis. Cirrhosis is a serious condition where the liver becomes permanently scarred and may eventually fail.
So after you’ve undergone tests with your doctor and ruled out any disease-based causes of fatty liver, you should start to change your diet.
The main goal for this diet should be to reduce the amount of high-glycemic carbohydrates you eat. You can do this by eating less of these foods, or replacing them entirely.
Reducing high-glycemic carbohydrates is an important step in producing a healthy liver as well as a healthy body. This is due to the relationship between the types of carbohydrate ingested and the body’s insulin reaction to these foods.
If the carbohydrates break down quickly (high-glycemic), your blood glucose (“blood sugar”) levels spike and your pancreas secretes lots of insulin to control it. Over time, high levels of unnecessary insulin produce serious side effects, including liver disease.
Here is a typical healthy, low-glycemic eating plan for a day:
Dinner – 1 bowl of Hearty Chili (plenty of meat), 4 crackers, shredded mozzarella cheese, 1 bar dark chocolate
As you can see, you don’t have to start eating like a rabbit or starve yourself to eat healthy.
In fact, most of the foods “the establishment” has told you to avoid (meat, dairy, etc.) are actually some of the best foods in the world.
What to Avoid
First, stop eating the foods you know are junk. That means putting down the donuts and twinkies.
However, there are plenty of other foods that are probably killing you. These include fruit juices, bread, most cereals, bagels, and frozen tofu. All these have sky-high glycemic loads, despite being labeled “healthy” by Uncle Sam and everyone else who doesn’t know how the body’s natural chemistry works.
Just look up “Glycemic Load Table”, and stay away from anything with a high glycemic load.
If this sounds horrible to you, too darn bad. Meat, eggs, whole fruits and vegetables, milk, and cheese are freakin’ delicious! If you want to go diabetic, gain body fat, and have long term liver problems, stick with the bread and rice cakes.
Me, I’ll choose the foods that are beneficial to my body and taste amazing!
In fact, using this diet and some other simple tips, I got rid of my ugly gut, gained a ton of energy, and reversed my “fatty liver” 100%.
My liver healed so well that my doctor actually had to run the tests twice to make sure they were correct. After the second test came back, he noted enthusiastically that I have the liver of an 18 year old!
As far as losing the gut, I noticed almost immediately that my wife wants to have more “quality time” now!
Since many of my friends asked how I made this huge transformation with very easy (and enjoyable) lifestyle changes, I decided to put together a quick website and newsletter.
On the newsletter, I explain exactly how I pulled off this transformation.
(Remember: I won’t share your email or information, the newsletter is 100% free, and you can unsubscribe at any time using the link in each email. No scams or monkey business. I hate that crap…)
There are two things to realize about Fatty Liver Disease:
First, it is reversible.
Second, if not treated it could lead to more serious liver problems like inflammation and cirrhosis, a potentially life threatening condition where liver failure is imminent.
I’m very glad you’ve decided to research diet changes to help control your fatty liver. Not only will your body thank you with an increased quality of life, your fatty liver will probably correct course and give you clean bill of health.
The Fatty Liver Diet
Fixing your diet has more to do with changes in your habits and daily activity patterns than any large act you can do. Because of this, we will be focusing on the simple habits you can pick up to change your life. Increased health will follow these habits naturally. Then, before you know it, your liver will be running 100% again.
So, let’s get to it:
Habit 1 – Cut soda and fruit juice from your diet.
Both of these drinks are filled with blood-sugar-spiking corn syrup. In fact, they are basically sugar water.
And yes, I did lump fruit juice in with soda. An orange by itself is healthy. There is plenty of fiber, a small amount of fructose, and a ton of water. Orange juice is a perversion of this fruit. A factory removes all fiber, breaks the fruit’s natural food bonds, and packs 8-10 oranges in a single glass.
The end result is a “sugar bomb” that short circuits your small intestine and gets into your blood stream within minutes.
This blood glucose (or blood sugar) spike causes your body to secrete insulin, driving these calories directly to your fat cells. Don’t believe me, drop the juice and see how you feel after the meal. I guarantee you will feel lighter on your feet and much more awake.
If you get thirsty, drink water, tea, or 1% milk. No-Calorie diet sodas are alright as well, though I have always doubted the health factor of putting that much non-food through your digestive tract…
Habit 2 – Put protein back in your diet.
Protein is the building block of every cell in your body; make sure you get enough of it.
A good rule is to aim for 0.5 to 1 gram of protein for each pound of body weight. Any more than this and you will just excrete the rest and put on extra fat. Any less and your body can’t repair its own organs. (This includes the liver!)
The first step to adding protein is to forget everything you’ve been told about “cutting out red meat”. Meat is great for you if you keep the fat content low and don’t overdo the portion sizes. Eggs are also a favorite. Chickens (Mammals with similar body functions to humans) live on only the nutrients in an egg for several days/weeks before hatching. This just goes to show you that eggs contain everything necessary to sustain life!
Habit 3 – Eat plenty of (good) fat
Fat is not evil! Get that into your head. Fat provides satiety and taste to a meal, making you feel full and eat fewer calories.
Plus, fat causes your stomach to empty slower; decreasing the speed food enters your bloodstream.
This “Controlled release” of nutrients into the bloodstream will help you keep off the pounds and feel great without huge swings in energy throughout the day. You need both saturated and unsaturated fats.
However, most people get far too much saturated fat. Stick to unsaturated fats (nuts, olive oil, fish, etc.) and you should be fine.
Habit 4 – Start Cutting out High-Glycemic Carbohydrates
If you’ve reached this point, you should be eating great and feeling pretty good to boot. In fact, the food you’re eating now is heartier and tastier than the garbage you had before. However, there is one thing that we can tweak now to help us really change our diets. It’s called the glycemic index.
The Glycemic Index tells us how our blood glucose (aka “blood sugar”) will react to certain foods. High glycemic foods get into our bloodstream quickly and force our body to store the extra energy as fat (along with a whole host of other problems).
Worse yet, high glycemic foods cause us to crash and lose energy within 30-60 minutes. Conversely, low glycemic foods slowly seep into our bloodstream, causing us to have sustained energy over a long period of time.
We don’t put on weight, don’t get an insulin spike, and won’t develop diabetes later in life!
The best way to put this habit into good use is to find a Glycemic Load Index online. Find the highest numbered foods and begin eliminating them.
Personally I found that I could substitute the bread in my lunch sandwiches with a tortilla shell. I taste more of the actual sandwich and take in less high glycemic carbohydrate at the same time. Eliminating High-Glycemic carbs can be win-win.
These are just a few of the steps you can take on a Diet for Liver Disease. Of course, there isn’t enough room to put a whole diet menu and lifestyle plan into one article.
If you’re serious about losing that ugly gut, gaining significant energy, and finally having a healthy liver once again, I highly recommend signing up for my free liver health newsletter (below).
(As always, the information is 100% free, you can unsubscribe at any time, and I won’t rent or sell your information. I hate scams and gimmicks, so none of that crap here. Just honest information on how I lost my gut and cured my liver disease.)
Fatty Liver and Cirrhosis are very closely related, and it’s extremely important to know the difference.
More importantly, you should know how to stop or even reverse liver damage before it gets worse. Knowing the stages of liver disease is critical in ending this downward spiral towards liver failure.
First and foremost, what does the liver do?
As the body’s largest internal organ, the liver performs a number of vital functions that cannot be replaced by any other organ. It filters the blood of toxins. In addition, it breaks down fat in the bloodstream and turns it into glucose for energy.
The liver also synthesizes a number of important proteins and stores certain vitamins and minerals. Liver Damage
When there is a problem in the liver, it typically goes through a number of phases.
First, the liver may carry extra fat. When the liver is made up of 5-10% fat by weight, it is considered a “fatty liver”.
This condition is not harmful by itself, but it does indicate a potential for future problems. This fat can also lead to liver swelling. The liver may eventually begin to scar. This scarring, called cirrhosis is generally thought to be irreversible. Enough cirrhosis and the liver will fail.
However, it is important to note that fatty liver does not always precede these more serious conditions, such as swelling and cirrhosis. These conditions can occur independently from excess liver fat.
What’s important is that you reverse fatty liver before it can lead to excessive swelling and cirrhosis. There are a number of ways to stop liver damage, and most are actually quite simple. It’s critical to know that you really can stop liver damage before it becomes worse and turns into cirrhosis.
There are many stages of liver disease. Among them are fatty liver and cirrhosis. It’s very important to know the difference, as each condition has its own risks and treatments.
Fatty Liver is a benign condition, meaning that it is not necessarily harmful to the body. Any time a liver consists of 5-10% fat by weight, it is considered “fatty”.
This condition does not cause pain or bodily function problems, so it must be found by a doctor during routine checkups and blood tests. Fatty liver is more of a litmus test for your overall health. Think of it as a warning sign for more serious conditions that lie ahead.
Cirrhosis, on the other hand, is irreversible scarring of the liver. Usually it is caused by long-term liver disease, like fatty liver.
This scarring causes the liver to function improperly, and eventually fail. There are several ways to treat liver cirrhosis.
The first is to solve the underlying condition that caused liver damage, if there is an underlying condition. This could include influenza, hepatitis A or B, or autoimmune diseases (HIV). After treating these medical conditions, certain lifestyle changes should be made:
Stop Drinking Alcohol
Modify your Diet (Eat nutritious foods and avoid high-glycemic carbohydrates)
Limit Salt Intake
Talk to your doctor about the liver effects of medications you are taking
Apart from that, there are several other simple steps you can take to restore liver health. Fortunately, if you catch liver disease early, you can avoid cirrhosis entirely.
Just a few years ago, I was on a crash course toward extreme obesity and complete liver failure. When my doctor told me how serious my liver had degraded, I started doing some serious research. What I found out shocked and amazed me.
Long story short, I made a few simple (and easy) changes that put me back on track. Most people don’t know that a few of their habits are putting them on a course to eventual liver failure…
So, I created a free newsletter on reversing fatty liver. Along the way, I’ll show you how curing your fatty liver will also improve your overall health and destroy that ugly gut.
If you’re serious about making a change, sign up below.
(As always, the information is 100% free, I won’t share your email with anyone, and you can unsubscribe at any time using the link in each and every email. No gimmicks or scams. I hate that crap…)
So, your doctor has just told you that you have fatty liver disease. Sounds like a pretty bad diagnosis, right? Well, there is good news and bad news when it comes to fatty liver.
First the bad news.
If you do not take action to reverse your fatty liver condition immediately, it could lead to inflamed liver, which may begin to do permanent damage. On top of that, liver function will begin to degrade, affecting all areas of your body, from digestion to mood and body fat control.
If you keep along the same path, this inflammation may lead to scarring of the liver and eventually irreversible cirrhosis. Liver Cirrhosis could lead to total liver failure, a death sentence if a transplant cannot be found!
Now, the good news.
Fatty liver itself is a benign condition. This means that the disease itself does not directly cause you any harm. In fact, all it means is that your liver is made up of an abnormal amount of fat; 5-10% by weight to be exact.
The second piece of good news is that you’ve caught a potentially harmful condition early. You see, a liver containing this much fat could be a sign of another harmful medical condition. Inflamed liver could be caused by HIV, Hepatitis C, or one of many other serious health problems.
On a side note, it is critical to always have a doctor diagnose your symptoms before trying to reverse fatty liver on your own. There are some problems that you cannot solve with diet and exercise. Only doctor intervention can help you with these more serious medical conditions.
But let’s assume for a second that you’re doctor has diagnosed you with fatty liver disease or it’s later stage, Non-Alcoholic Steatohepatitis (NASH). They’ve done all the necessary tests to rule out a more serious condition. What next?
At this point, the rest is up to you. The following are some steps you can take to reverse fatty liver disease:
1. Lose Weight (slowly) – Statistics show that up to 75% of obese people are candidates for liver problems. Losing weight and returning to a healthy body fat level can go a long way to solving this problem. One caveat though. The weight must be lost at a rate of less than one or two pounds per week. Losing weight at a faster rate is actually more taxing on your body and could lead to other liver problems.
2. Control Your Blood Sugar – Uncontrolled Diabetes and Blood Sugar problems can destroy your liver. If you have not yet been diagnosed with Type II (“Adult Onset”) diabetes, you’re lucky. Get your butt in gear and start reversing your insulin resistance with exercise.
3. Begin Taking Supplements – Despite a healthy diet and varied food intake, your body could still be craving a certain vitamin or mineral. While the jury is still out on Liver Support Supplements, a multi-vitamin once a day is the generally accepted practice for getting any missing vitamins and minerals. B-Vitamins and certain amino acids have also been noted in reversing fatty liver.
4. Stop Drinking Alcohol – Alcohol is a toxin. Technically, you are putting ethanol into your bloodstream to be filtered out by, you guessed it, your liver! Alcohol in moderation is normally alright for your health, but in this case you need to put down the booze immediately.
There is so much more to reversing fatty liver than I could expect to discuss in one article. If you are serious about stopping fatty liver, you have to take very specific steps to change your habits.
These steps are not difficult or complex, but they certainly make a difference in your quality of life.
More Importantly, improving your liver health will simultaneously help remove that ugly gut and drastically improve your mood! Trust me, I’ve been through the changes and I got rid of a lot of problems that I forgot I was carrying around…
Now, I feel like I’m 20 again. I’ve dropped 10 lbs and me and my wife have more “quality time” again.
I put together the newsletter below to share my story and help educate others on reversing fatty liver, improving their health, and losing weight at the same time (all 3 are interconnected)…
(Remember: I won’t share your information, you can unsubscribe at any time using the links in every email, and as always the newsletter is 100% free. No gimmicks or scams. I hate that crap…)
Despite popular belief, the liver itself does not produce pain.
However, the membrane around the liver can be stretched quite painfully. This is critical because patients will not know if the liver itself is damaged until it begins to inflame and swell.
It is important to catch fatty liver and liver inflammation as early as possible to avoid the pain and damage associated with later stages of liver damage.
Recognizing Symptoms
The only way to catch liver inflammation without pain is to see a doctor and have them run several tests, possibly including a liver biopsy. A liver biopsy involves using a long, thin needle to directly extract liver tissue for microscope and lab examination. Other tests include blood tests and ultrasound examinations. Patients typically only encounter pain and side effects during later stages of liver dysfunction.
Function of the Liver
The first and foremost function of the liver is to detoxify the body, so reducing pain may involve reducing the filtering strain you place on your liver. This involves balancing your body’s intake of certain foods and medications. More importantly, it involves removing the toxins that are causing your liver too much stress.
Reducing “Filtering Load”
Reducing liver pain starts with reducing the strain on this vital organ. You can reduce this strain with the following tips:
Drink a Ton of Water
Water is the #1 component of your body, and keeps everything running properly. Your liver cannot filter toxins properly without the water to carry away these toxins. In fact, some people with acute liver pain note that the pain goes away when they drink more water. Reduce or Eliminate any Non-Essential Medications
Anything not prescribed by your doctor should be seriously questioned, and possibly eliminated. This includes Tylenol, Ibuprophen, and anything with Acetaminophen. The latter can be especially taxing on the liver.
Stop Alcohol Consumption Immediately
Drinking places a huge strain on your entire body, and each drink must be filtered out by your liver. Alcoholic beverages are made up of ethanol, a toxin to the human body. Alter Protein Intake
A healthy amount of protein is very good for the body, but too much can cause ammonia buildup and subsequent health concerns. Also, the liver directly filters excess protein. Whether this is filtering good stress (like a workout) or bad stress (like being kicked in the face) is still up for debate. So try altering (reducing or increasing) the amount of protein you intake and see if this affects how you feel.
Promote Overall Health
Promoting your overall body health may sound like a vague thing to do, but it really is not. Your body is a system, and each organ (including the liver) works with every other body part to function properly. When one system becomes damaged or works incorrectly, the entire body is affected.
There are really two ways to improve overall body health:
1. Eat Right
Your diet should include plenty of high quality fats (unsaturated fats) and protein.
The first thing you should do is cut out processed garbage, like fries and cola drinks. This step alone will shed pounds and make you feel like a million bucks.
After that, kill the liquid calories. Eating an apple is not the same as drinking a glass or apple juice. The apple is great for you, but the juice will spike your blood sugar and pack on body fat. Stick with 1% milk or, get this, water for beverages.
Finally, limit your intake of high glycemic carbohydrates such as starches, breads, and rice. These foods send your blood glucose and insulin levels sky high, packing in body fat like clowns in a ford fiesta.
2. Exercise
Just 20 minutes of getting off your butt each day can completely reverse insulin resistance, metabolic syndrome, weight gain, and a whole host of other problems.
Every time you pick up your cell phone, just start walking.
You’ll rack up the minutes before you know it.
Also, it wouldn’t hurt to shut off the television and go to the gym now and then. The average American watches 23+ hours of TV every week! Cut out 3 hours of that, go hit the weights, and you’ll have your dream body in no time. Plus, the liver pain will probably go away with those love handles.
Of course, there is so much more to curing liver pain than I could mention here. If you’re looking for more information on how to cure your liver pain and reverse liver damage, I highly recommend signing up for my newsletter.
The free information I provide will help you avoid potentially fatal liver health mistakes over 30% of the population are already making!
(Remember: I’ll never share your information, you can unsubscribe at any time using the links in each email, and the information is 100% free. No crazy gimmicks or tricks. I hate that crap…)
Many people overlook the importance of treating fatty liver immediately.
Because fatty liver is not immediately life threatening, they procrastinate making the changes in their lives that will correct the problem that cause liver damage in the first place. This is the wrong decision for one very important reason; it could mean death.
Not to be too extreme, but somebody has to tell you. Untreated fatty liver could lead to inflamed liver (steatohepatitis). Inflamed liver could lead to scarred liver and liver cirrhosis. Cirrhosis is irreversible, and requires a liver transplant. If a liver transplant cannot be found, the patient (you) will die.
Of course, as your doctor will tell you, not everyone with fatty liver eventually develops cirrhosis and dies. In fact, a very small percentage of people will let their body degrade to this level.
At some point, they realize that the habits they have today are leading to a very grim future. But what I’m getting at is that you should not wait until you have a doctor telling you about the beginnings of liver scarring before making changes in your life.
These changes aren’t as bad as you think either. I’m not going to ask you to run 5 miles per day and eat nothing but vegetables and non-fat yogurt like most “healthy experts”. Besides, even if you could sustain those crazy diet and exercise programs, their complete lack of proteins and healthy fats wouldn’t lead to your ideal body anyways.
So in a minute, I’ll list the major changes you can make to reverse fatty liver disease. This is just a roadmap, so don’t be frightened when it seems like a daunting task. Like Confucius said “A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step”. I’m just giving you the roadmap for now. We’ll get into the exact steps later on.
Before we start though, there is one very, very important thing to note.
Liver Disease has two main causes
Other Diseases (viral hepatitis, etc.)
Poor Lifestyle Habits
It is absolutely essential that you see a doctor and rule out the first cause before starting to change your lifestyle habits. I’ll repeat that part: You MUST go see a doctor.
Changing your diet and exercise won’t help one bit if you have another disease that is killing you. So, this list of Fatty Liver Treatments is only to be used after you have seen a doctor and been properly diagnosed:
Metabolic syndrome is marked by extremely unstable blood glucose levels (also known as “blood sugar”).
In fact, it is often the first sign of Type II Adult Onset Diabetes, a generally avoidable condition.
Metabolic Syndrome has the following symptoms:
Cravings for sugary, high carbohydrate foods
Light-headedness
Lack of energy
Moodiness
Obesity
With the advent of cars and packaged foods, many people today are working their way from healthy to Metabolic Syndrome to Type II diabetes.
There are a few simple changes that you can make in your diet to reverse this problem. These changes are nothing like the “traditional” low-fat, no-meat, no-taste diets the industry has been pushing for years.
These diets don’t work.
I don’t have enough room to get into detail here, but I talk much more about diet changes for a healthy liver (and body) in my fatty liver newsletter (see below).
Treatment 2: Exercise
When you exercise, you deplete the muscles glycogen stores.
During your next meal, these glycogen stores are refilled using glucose released by the liver and insulin released by the pancreas. Think of it like emptying a bucket of water and refilling it.
In sedentary people, this process can’t take place, as the muscles are never depleted. More insulin is produced, more fat is created, and the cycle leading up to Type II Diabetes begins!
The minimum exercise I recommend is walking.
20 minutes per day of walking can reduce insulin resistance and stop the degrading cycle I just mentioned. You don’t have to power walk or flail your arms like a deranged housewife.
Just get out there and move for a few minutes. Every time I answer a call on my cell phone, I start walking. This alone gives me 30+ minutes of legitimate exercise per day.
Of course, I get into all sorts of other exercise in my fatty liver newsletter. But the most important thing to do is take one step in the right direction, right now. Walking fulfills this need.
There is so much more I can’t cover in this one article, and if you’re serious about renewing your liver health, losing excess weight, and becoming “healthy as an ox” again, I highly recommend signing up for my Liver Health Newsletter (below). More importantly, if you want to avoid serious pain and health problems in the near future, you need to stay aware of what is happening with your liver health.
And as always, the information in the newsletter is completely free, I won’t share your information with anyone, and you can unsubscribe at any time using the link in each and every email.
Unlike most diseases, Fatty Liver does not initially show very many symptoms.
In fact, during early stages fatty liver disease is rarely caught by a doctor.
Only during the later (sometimes irreversible) stages of liver damage does a patient begin to see signs of liver damage.
Even more frightening is the fact that it is estimated that 1 in 3 middle-aged people has some type of fatty liver!
Not all of these cases will advance to the later stages of liver disease, like Steatohepatitis (liver inflammation, sometimes known as Non-Alcoholic Steatohepatitis or NASH), Fibrosis (Scarring of the liver), and Cirrhosis (irreversible and life threatening advanced liver scarring).
But, fatty liver often warns the patient that if they do not fix the problem, their liver will continue to degrade and eventually fail.
The problem with this complete lack of symptoms is that many people don’t even know they have a fatty liver. They go about their life not knowing that their liver may soon inflame, scar over, and eventually fail.
And make no mistake, liver failure is a death sentence if a liver donor cannot be found.
But let’s take a moment to look at the symptoms associated with liver dysfunction. The liver is the second largest organ in the entire body (the skin is the largest), and is required for survival. It’s functions include:
Processing Nutrients picked up by the small intestine
Controlling blood glucose levels (often known as “blood sugar”)
Protein Synthesis (using amino acids to build essential proteins)
Detoxify Blood (removal of alcohol, drugs, and harmful foreign substances)
Secreting Bile (Bile aids in digestion and keeps your gastrointestinal tract running properly)
Basically, the liver is one of the most important organs in the body. It can normally repair itself and is actually quite robust. It can take years of punishment before failing. Unfortunately, many people develop bad habits that cause the liver to be damaged enough over time so that it eventually fails.
Since there are extremely varied levels of liver damage and varied symptoms associated with each level, we won’t get into specifics. However, here is a list of general symptoms associated with an unhealthy liver:
Digestive Troubles
(Reflux, Gall Stones, Nausea, Vomiting, Abdominal Bloating, Inability to handle fatty foods or alcogol, constipation, irritable bowel syndrome, pain in the upper right abdomen)
(Trouble Losing Weight while dieting, Build up of fat in organs, Cellulite, Upper Abdominal Fat, High Blood Pressure, Elevated LDL “Bad” Cholesterol, Decreased HDL “Good” Cholesterol, Elevated Triglycerides, Pot Belly)
If you think you have one of these symptoms, you should do two things immediately:
1. See a Doctor
You must rule out any other diseases or conditions that are causing liver damage. Only your doctor can treat any potentially serious diseases or conditions you may have. You MUST see a doctor immediately if you think you have any type of liver abnormality.
2. Change your Lifestyle
Once doctors rule out other potential causes of liver dysfunction (like viral hepatitis), there is only one remaining culprit of liver disease; poor lifestyle choices.
In fact, the most common cause of Fatty Liver Disease and eventual liver damage is poor lifestyle choices.
Most people do not destroy their liver overnight. They make small changes in the wrong direction that cause poor health over time. This poor health leads to liver disease plus a whole host of other problems.
The good news is that overcoming fatty liver disease does not require you to give up great tasting foods and be on a treadmill 4 hours a day.
In fact, there are several simple, very small lifestyle changes that you can implement today that will greatly reduce your liver problems. You remember the old quote:
“Sow an act, reap a habit
Sow a habit, reap a character
Sow a character, reap a destiny.”
The few simple acts you take today determine the destiny of both you and your liver tomorrow.
Many people think Cirrhosis, or scarring, of the liver happens quickly and is unavoidable.
This is simply not true.
Cirrhosis of the Liver occurs gradually over time, and is often brought on by a person’s own actions or lack of knowledge about the underlying condition that caused it.
To fully understand this progression, we should look at the three basic stages of fatty liver and liver cirrhosis.
The first stage is known as fatty liver. This stage is officially marked by the liver carrying more than 10% fat by weight. It is important to note that this stage is completely reversible, and usually occurs slowly. During the fatty liver stage, the liver itself may swell up and inflame.
While fatty liver is not usually identifiable, the swelling it causes can show marked symptoms in the body. Unfortunately, many people avoid dealing with fatty liver at this stage because they do not see it as a threat. Similar to an obese person not expecting to have a heart attack, they continue on unaware of the next stage; liver cirrhosis.
After the inflamed, fatty liver has continued for some time, the liver itself may harden and scar over. This scarring is known as liver cirrhosis.
Although there are lifestyle cures for fatty liver, there are no cures for cirrhosis of the liver. This condition can be slowed down, but it cannot be stopped or reversed. At this point, the person is fighting to reduce the rate of damage and stay alive as long as possible.
There are several treatments at this point. These include a strict diet, complete abstinence from alcohol, avoidance of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (like ibuprofen), treatment of any underlying hepatitis, removal of iron in the blood, and administration of more advanced medicines. While the person themselves could have prevented this damage in the first stage, doctor intervention and drug administration is virtually required at this point.
The third stage of liver cirrhosis is a terminal sentence that requires a liver transplant for the patient to survive. At this point, doctors can only hope to hold off serious complications long enough to find a transplant donor. Since available donors with matching blood types are fairly rare, this stage is usually fatal. Life expectancy varies depending on the patient.
As you can see, liver damage and eventual cirrhosis is a gradual process. What’s shocking is that up to 24% of the population will get some type of fatty liver disease (FLD) in their lifetime.
In fact, FLD has been found in up to 75% of obese people! Since the first stage typically has no marked symptoms, it is critical that nearly everyone be aware of this potentially fatal disease.
With a few simple changes, you can avoid FLD and dramatically increase your quality of life. It might just help you live longer too!
