Hello! I have a great news for everybody! A year ago I was diagnosed with slightly elevated AST and ALT. I think that was the result of my very poor diet for almost 50 years of my life. Whole my life I didn’t take any drugs or much alcohol, I exercised and was slim too which was good. But what I got badly wrong was my intake of sugar and fat. My diet consisted mostly from sweets, chocolate or heavy food. I was a sugar addict. I started my day with chocolate and I ended my day with chocolate. I was able to eat a whole cake for dinner 🙄
Well, I changed that in December 2020. I limited my sugar intake and amout of alcohol. But I wasn’t able to cut it completely. I still had a drink and some junk food ocassionaly. But the enzymes were either the same or slightly worsening. In March 2021, about three months later, I realised this is not working and I cut sugar intake and alcohol completely. COMPLETELY! I ate absolutely no food that might include any processed sugar. I stopped drinking alcohol completely. But I ate more fruits and also wholegrain bread to compensate the dip in calories amout.
And BINGO! This week I had my bloodtests done and both AST and ALT were within brackets (31 and 30). I was so relieved and happy! It took about 9 months!!! But it was worth it!
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Monicka
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Hi. Pleased to hear that you have got your liver readings down to normal level and found what was stopping them to reduce. I am trying to explore what food is best to eat to reduce fatty liver and seem to find so many discrepancies. I started eating a lot of food with low sat fat and yesterday had pasta with a veggie burger, then read that carbs are not good in reducing fat in the liver.
Hi! I think that processed food is not good at all. And it includes pasta and all processed veggie stuff. It’s not natural and it’s artificial. What worked for me is this:1. A lot of vegetables and fruits. Some people say that fruit should be eaten in moderation but I don’t think so. It includes vitamines, enzymes and minerals that are so advantageous for your body.
2.Legumes like peas, lentils, beans and all sort of them. I buy them raw and then cook them. I only add a bit of salt and teaspoon of oil. That’s it! No sauces or anything.
3. Grains like oats, wholegrain rice, millet, quinoa, buckwheat. And I prepare them like legumes.
4.Treats: kefir, eggs, meat, curd, yogurt, fish. I eat those very moderately. I consider them to be treats. And again I only boil or cook it. No roasting, baking…
5. Teaspoon of honey everyday and wholegrain bread (2-4 slices).
And that’s it. I eat nothing else! No pizza, pasta, sweets, pastry, no processed food, no drugs or alcohol. And I feel great. Today I turned 53 and I have never felt better or healthier in my life :-)))
Hi. Really pleased to hear how good you feel and how much hard work you have put in to turn things around😀. When I got discharged all I got told was to reduce alcohol and have next blood test in November. I kind of wondered why they never wanted to talk about food and whether that was also to blame. May be strange to ask but can a blood test an ultrasound show if the cause is alcohol or food that has caused the fatty liver?
Well, I heard that elevated GGT and ALP are more related to alcohol abuse whereas ALT and AST might have different reasons (food, hepatitis,…). But to be honest you don’t need to be told that. Just look at your lifestyle. Anything you do reflects in your body and consequently in your health. And I really did put in a lot of effort. But now I can’t imagine to eat differently and I kept wondering how I could have survived eating so poorly!
My ALT was 169 but other readings ok. Yeah I am working on eating the right things but at times feel it is difficult to know if eating the right things. Thanks for your list of suggestions. I am actually going food shopping in about 10 mins time. I did read that if fatty liver is caused by alcohol with abstaining for 2 weeks if can be reversed. Wonder if that is true or not or just a myth. Anyway, unless you have another US how will you know if that has happened? Gunna continue with healthy eating and no alcohol anyway. Thanks again for your eating tips
True. I don' t believe how I was able to function well with such a poor nutrition that I had. I ate only once a day (more or less big meal) and even this one was not nutritious at all. My poor body managed to survive somehow. NOW it gets compensated for all the years of malnutrition and it is sooo responsive which makes me cry 😢
Hi Monicka - I am so thrilled to read of your improved results - great job. I am curious about one thing- why do you not roast any food? I roast a lot of veggies - cauliflower, beets, etc. - I put a little olive oil and salt/pepper. Why is roasting bad?
Hello! Thanks for your appreciation😃 I think that boiling (cooking in water) is the best way to prepare healthy and harmless food. I hope that roasting, baking and of course frying is not so clean and might have some bad effect. I occasionally roast potatoes for my kids and have a little too but it’s very rare. I also prefer boiled eggs to eg, scrambled eggs. I go to restaurant quite often but I always want either boiled potatoes or boiled rice as a sidedish. Maybe I’m too strict but then I want to be healthy and that’s what matters. Now I’m curious what harm 10 or 15 days of antibiotics might do to my liver. But with Lyme disease you really don’t have a choice. I’m sure the enzymes will go up but I don’t know how much and how quickly if ever they will decrease or return to normal.
Good luck with the antibiotics. I have to take a course of them later this month also after a surgery, so I'll be dealing with that also, but hopefully, with good care, they will leave our system with minimal damage. I appreciate your reply! Take good care!
And you are right. My doctor never told me about diet. She even kept saying that slightly elevated liver enzymes are ok and common in nearly half of adult population.
Mine was telling it as well. Several doctors from 2 different countries said it is fine. There should be some kind of justification for this. I can't imagine that all these doctors are saying this without any reasoning behind.
Yes, I have read that as well, that slightly elevated enzymes are common in something like 50% of people.
I have also read that the diet for a healthy heart is essentially the same one you need to eat for a liver. Check out a "Eating Heart Healthy" book online or at a library. All the same tips as you see for the liver. But the heart book tends to have many more recipes!
Here is just one link to the basics - there are many others out there, this just came up first when I googled -
Congratulations I was told in October 2020 that I had fibrosis of liver f3. I did great for 4 months. I fell off the dieting wagon gained about 15 pounds back and am struggling to get back on. Could you give me a rundown of what you typically eat in a day.
Hi! Just look at my replay one day ago. It’s up this page. I gave there the comprehensive list of all my food. I hope it helps but don’t hesitate to clarify anything
ONE MORE ADVISE TO ALL struggling to get back on dieting wagon:I many times started to cut out sugar from my food. But I always did it only temporarily waiting along the way for the point when I can allow myself some sugary treat again. And after I had some it was always very hard if not impossible to get back on truck. I was on and off all the time. And it was wrong. I realised I’m like any other addict. If an alcohol recovering addict has a drink they are likely to fall for the addiction again. And the situation with sugar and other junk food is comparable. So I told myself this: I will stop eating sugar and drinking alcohol altogether. NEVER IN MY LIFE AGAIN! I just don’t wait for my liver and health to improve to eat it or drink it again. This stuff doesn’t exist in my life any more. And it turns out to be much easier this way. I’m not struggling any more that I don’t have it. Instead I look into different food I can allow myself. Like different types of fruit or nuts or different types of bread. And it’s working. I got rid off my on and offs B and I don’t feel like missing anything anymore!
Thank youYes when I just have a taste of junk that's it I want more and more and then I can't get back on track. Sometimes I think I try to ignore that I have nash but I need to get on this before it turns in cirrhosis
Congratulations!! I sadly agree most doctors give us no guidance on diet for fatty liver and downplay elevations in liver enzymes. If your doctor doesn’t give guidance on elevated tests, abnormal ultrasounds or associated symptoms such as fatigue and pain, it’s time to find a new one.
As far as diet, there are different causes of FL, and it appears there may not be a one fits all approach. For example, someone overweight my need to lose 10% of body weight with a healthy diet. And someone who drinks, will need to abstain and improve their diet. Others who don’t drink, or are not overweight have FL from lipids in their blood, and need a slightly different approach. Or even a combination of reasons.
But what’s known for sure; processed foods, sugar, alcohol, and high carb diets are destructive to our livers, along with certain meds and supplements and toxic chemicals. Thank goodness for this chat, so we can help each other.
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