Hi, can anyone recommend any high carbohydrate bars? Somebody in the health care profession recommends I should have high carbs in the morning and late at night, as its supposed to help my condition of cirrhosis. I'm currently on a low carb low sugar diet but would like to know if this would help? Any suggestions would be much appreciated. Thank you.
Ashley
Yes I was told the same thing - apparently, the liver is unable to store enough glycogen to manage long periods without food such as overnight. I'm not sure I can recommend anything but suggest you talk to the hospital dietician who will be able to recommend the best for your particular state of cirrhosis.
There are lots available but all have different mixes of sugar and carbs so reluctant to suggest any particular one.
Good luck and I hope life is kind to you. Peter
Given the conflicting advice you seem to have been given you may want to seek a review of you low carb low sugar diet.
Carbs before bed was the advice I got too when I was in the later stages of cirrhosis for the reasons Peter has very helpfully already set out. A sandwich or toast before you got to bed is good, belvitta biscuits I also found were good, but so are jaffa cakes or a muffin of the chocolate or blueberry kind 😊😊. Indeed, if I remember rightly you could order the latter 3 for a pre-bed snack at the QE in birmingham. You could also ask for a pack of mini cheddars too 🤣🤣.
Try to get a referral to the specialist liver dietician. When I was diagnosed, I was advised to eat every 2-3 hours and to have carbs for energy and protein for muscle wasting at every meal. Also to have a bedtime snack for the reasons explained by Peter. I felt much healthier when I started to follow this but it has been really difficult to achieve any weight loss so diet is still a work in progress. Last week I was told I had gallstones which can be aggravated by certain foods like cheese that I previously thought were beneficial so its definitely confusing.
My hubby was given the same dietary advice from liver specialist dietician and he's done well on it, rebuilding muscle and gaining weight from his 2013 malnourished state. Sadly just latterly he has now been diagnosed with pre-diabetes so we are again desperate to see liver specialist dietician. The leaflet we've been given for diet controlling the diabetes contradicts a lot of what we were doing for the liver diet.
Katie
I feel for you Katie with your hubby's latest bump in the road especially because you had his diet so well organised and it was working so well. Hopefully once you get dietician input for the diabetes, you will be able to work your usual magic x
Thanks, still haven't heard from Edinburgh so chasing again this week. Leaflet from GP is garbage - just says loose weight, stop smoking, stop drinking and exercise more. Bog standard advice but not taking into account the cirrhosis or the fact he has never smoked or drank and loosing weight would be negative for his liver health.
We'll get there.
Katie
Hi, my consultant has told me I have to lose weight so I've lost 4 stone so I'm doing really well on that front, I'm completely drink free been rehab etc so I'm doing well on that as well, but I still haven't been given any information on what foods I should be having and avoiding, I think it's due to my alcoholism having to be addressed first which I have so hopefully at my next appointment, I shall be given more advice on what would help my cirrhosis.
Like you I also have gallstones and a hiatus hernia but there not concernd with that as not having any pain etc, so think they trying to deal with one thing at a time.
I can only do as much as I'm doing at present, losing weight, abstaining from alcohol and exercise I'm finding it very tough but I'm getting there, it's a slow process as we all know. Take care
Ashley
I am in awe of your 4 stone weight loss. Its amazing ! It sounds like you are doing all the right things so you will hopefully soon be seeing the results in your LFTs. It doesn't happen overnight but I find each time I get tested and see improvement, it gives me the motivation to keep it up.
Thank you and keep going strong like you are you, it really does give you a little kick to keep up the good work when you see improvements, long may it continue.
On the losing weight front, I've been doing this since September and so far have lost just over 10kgs, so about a stone and a quarter in old money.
I haven't followed any particular diet plan, just made sure I eat less calories than I use each day. I therefore eat relatively normally just avoid some of the high calorie low output stuff like too many big bags of crisps and sweets. That was my vice, lol. I has a little app on my phone that came as standard with it so nothing special. But, the handy thing it has on it was a calculator where you could put in your target weight and it would tell you how many calories less you should consume over what you use in order to hit that target. It reckoned 1lb per week was easy to achieve and that has turned out to be the case. I wanted to lose about 1.5lb each week which gave a daily calorie deficit of about 800 calories. Which for me meant I could eat around 1900 calories a day without doing too much extra activity over and above my walk from the car to work and walking round the office. Generally though having a bit of activity in their each day is very helpful to achieve your weight loss aims, but that could be just a quick walk to the shop and back. You'll also find staying off the alchohol will do wonders for your weight loss too. 1 pint is just under 300 calories 😀😀.
It gets a bit harder as you lose weight as you use less calories just breathing and staying alive when you are lighter apparently. But, it is still very achievable.
Good luck.
Scrap that, this morning's weigh in had me down to 94.2 kgs. So, that's a 2 stone reduction in 4 months. 😊😊😊
Well done Kristian that's brilliant keep up the good work. Must be a weigh in day thing Mondays, as I've lost 8lbs this week I'm literally doing a Lionel Ritchie dancing on the ceiling 😁😁 i got so much more to lose though but it's going along nicely. Well done again.
That's great. Looks like we are both on the right track to being a slenderer self 😊😊.
I can and do to be honest just fancied something different I'm getting bored of my diet but I gotta do it I know, sounds like I'm whinging I'm not honest lol, just bloody hard and making new adjustments takes time of course, got to bear with it I guess, I shall pine for a chinese for sometime yet then haha.
It depends totally on the state of your liver. This is an excerpt from the dietary leaflet we were provided. Hubby at the time was malnourished - a skeletal 8 1/2 stone with muscle wastage.
Carbohydrate
When you eat starchy carbohydrate it is broken down into sugar (glucose). This is your body’s main energy source. Some of this energy is stored in your muscles and liver as a starch called glycogen. This is a back-up energy store to be used later when it is needed, between meals, if you have missed a meal or during a long fast such as overnight.
The liver co-ordinates the release of this energy until you next have something to eat; these energy stores are then replaced at your next meal. If the liver is not working properly and you develop liver disease symptoms, the liver cannot replace this store.
The energy from the food you eat only lasts for 2 hours. If you have liver disease and have no energy stores, your body must find an alternative source of energy after this time. Fat tissue is hard to break down quickly, so instead your body will break down its own muscles for energy. If this continues, your muscles will get weaker and waste away.
It is important that you try and eat regular meals and snacks containing carbohydrate every 2-3 hours.
To prevent muscle being used for energy and to keep you strong, it is important to ‘re-fuel’ your body regularly. Eating meals and snacks containing starchy carbohydrate every 2-3 hours provides enough energy to stop your body breaking down its own muscles.
You will need a large bedtime snack containing carbohydrate for your body to use overnight as it is a long time until breakfast!
Explains a lot, thanks for that Katie.
Thank you for detailed explanation. Can you please mention some examples of healthy carbs?
I don't know if any carbs are particularly healthy but by the stage that someone requires the dietary advice above they are already seriously ill and looking after your liver becomes less important than actually providing fuel and preventing muscle wastage and weight loss. I'll send you a PM - always best to see a liver specialist dietician to assess your individual need at the particular stage of your illness.
Katie
Yes just lol yes I know but it tastes so much nicer than quinoa and kale even though there good for me.
Will have to keep on the good books of my consultant and carry on like I am, I feel good so I'm doing something right.
I love cup a soup asparagus can get hooked on that stuff, and not eating bread pasta rice etc to many carbs for my diet plans so change to cauliflower rice, morocan bulger wheat and loads of vegetables never eaten so many but its working.
Be cautious with your cup a soups - I just looked up the Heinz Asparagus and each serving contains 1.2g of salt - 19% of an adults daily recommended limit. With cirrhosis you need to seriously watch your salt intake as its both bad for the liver and can lead to fluid build up.
Thank you i didnt know that, will have to look out for something else then.
Hi Ashw88
Do you eat chicken ? I find keeping a dish of chicken tikka in my fridge always does the trick. Dipping a few pieces into a none fat chilli or cucumber dip always removes most cravings plus you'll find there very filling and healthy. If I'm craving sweet I dip banana into some honey!
Boiled eggs with English mustard is another quick fix!
Have you tried making a mild chilli salmon pate which you can eat with slice carrots...yummy.
Finally I adore making healthy curries with lots of garlic and chillies as to me food is definately about taste !
On the food bar front ..... I buy the Gluten Free Nut Honey Chocolate bars from Aldi which come in a box of 4!
I think each bar is around 213 calories.
I chop each bar into inch side pieces then place in a box and keep in my fridge! One piece is a nice wee treat full of crunchy healthy nuts. However there is a very small amount of chocolate but some of us do need a small treat now and then.
Good luck with your healthy eating. I've lost 3 stone!
Brilliant to here about your weight loss Shropshire keep it up 👍 and like yourself I love my chilli curries, I've found some lovely healthy recipes, only cooking isn't my forte but I'm getting used it.
I'm sure you'll get there on the cooking front! If you lived near me I'd teach you for free !
Enjoy your healthy life style! I've just cycled 34 kilometers this morning breaking my daily target of 30 Kilometers😊 so I'm feeling really pleased with myself today !
Take care
Love Shropshirelassie x
Fruit cake and a glass of milk gets you through the night safely x
I like your thinking but my hips wont! Lol
Blimey, you make it sound like l dont have a life 🤣🤣 l certainly do have damn good one. I'm probably too private to share though, other than what is relevent to the forum.
L x
Used to love cold eggs-can’t seem to process them PT. They do terrible things to my guts.
One of the many things I’ve lost out of my now very limited diet. Still at least I’m still here and I have to remember this.....
I didn’t know that. I can understand about Chinese take aways etc but I thought seaweed was good for you.
Very high in sodium is all I can think of.
I hate boiled eggs, 🤢🤢🤮
HELP!!!
Cirrhosis dietary help please 
Supplements to help liver
Any advice to help my lovely mum
Mum has liver disease! Help!
