Feb 2022 my 6 month labs were up with mildly elevated alt and ast had ultrasound and had just a spot of focal fat.Fast forward to now I have fatty liver.During this time I have been on the Mediterranean diet go months without alcohol and only have a glass of wine for a holiday and eat low carb and lost 30 pounds.I exercise and eat no junk food or red meat.In 6 months of strict low carb no sugar no alcohol and exercise daily my fatty liver got worse and I’m devastated.I am doing everything I can to make the changes and nothing is working ands it has progressed quickly to a spot of fat to mild fatty liver in 2 years.Anyone have this happen I am so upset.My bmi is 25 and Im 5 9 and 44 years old.I do eat fruit every day but its blueberries kiwi or an apple and handful of plain nuts.My labs are perfect and have been for awhile now.Fibroscan was 246 and 4 kpa in October .Last couple ultrasounds even with these changes my liver had increased with fatty liver.
Fatty liver got worse with healthy ch... - Living with Fatty...
Fatty liver got worse with healthy changes.
I also have fatty liver I’m 73 and perhaps carrying a few extra pounds but not considered overweight. My fatty liver was slightly worse at my last scan even though l have always eaten healthy home cooked food and very rarely processed food. Over the last 5 months l have eaten 90% Mediterranean diet with chicken now and again, no butter no bread lots of break yogurt and kefir. I use olive oil for cooking. I’m due to have another scan in a few weeks and I’m interested to find out without it has helped. I suspect my fatty liver is genetic. I hope your healthy eating improves your score
Good luck with your scan I really hope it’s better!
thank you l will keep you posted
Hope your scan showed improvements!
I haven't had it done yet!!! I will chase it up on Monday morning. Thank you for asking x
I had to give up my fruit addiction. It wasn’t helping. Like sugar it’s hard to quit.
Fruit has sugar but it's supposed to be healthy natural sugars not like table sugar.
Incorrect. Fructose is not needed or healthy for livers. Your knowledge of biology is limited.
Fruit damages the liver? First I've heard that. My knowledge of biology is certainly limited to basic. I'm sure overeating of fruit is unhealthy since it contains small amounts of fructose.
Modern “fruit” is hybrid engineered for sensation and addiction of sweetness. For profit and not for health. Knowing what I know of fructose I can’t touch it with my liver cirrhosis. It was fructose that damaged my liver over time, it’s processed only in liver exactly like alcohol. Our bodies convert glucose to fructose, adding more is a disaster especially with liver damage.
It was only a half cup of blueberries a day or one apple and they are organic.Would that make a difference if it was organic or not?
Search Dr Richard Johnson online, he has many studies related to fructose causing disease. Our bodies can unfortunately make fructose, adding more isn’t something I would ever do. But my liver is fatty, NASH, cirrhosis. It would be like having “only one glass of wine” in my situation not acceptable. The risk and decision is yours, unique to your situation and mine. I am not a six year old child with a perfect liver. I take zero risks. Good luck.
Only eat fruit that ends in "berry"
Blueberries is mostly what I have had every day about a half cup.Apple and kiwi were maybe 2 times out of the week.Was a very small apple as well.
Why? No fructose?
That’s the only thing I can think of that I have every day even though it’s a small amount that could have made it worse in the last 6 months.I also fast for 12 to 13 hours a day so not sure if that could be a reason that I started to doing the last 6 months as well.
You still drink/drank alcohol....that's not a good thing...There must be something else wrong that they haven't diagnosed as the majority of people get better on a healthy diet, or there's something you're doing, i.e. taking a drink once in a while; or dessert....don't understand when you say your labs are perfect, seems a contradiction or i'm not understanding.....best of luck to you, hope things improve.
Salt is the biggest culprit... do not eat it or use it if possible. There is a wonderful no salt organic mix at costco and you can get it off amazon. Yellow label, Kirkland brand.
I do eat edamame often and add tajin and popcorn with avacado oil occasionally.Could this make fatty liver worse?
I was also told to eat 1/4 cup of real olive oil a day... no other oil. I get mine shipped to me from a market in MA. Made in Italy.
I only use olive oil and avocado oil when roasting veggies.
I put a tbsp in my egg whites in the a.m. I put a couple tbsp in my veggie stir fry... no rice. I put it in anything else I'm eating too get it all in. I can't remember why no avacado oil, but I'm also not a fan of avacados...lol. Basically, I walk through the store and ask Google " is ______good for my liver?"
I use Himalayan sea salt in my foods I cook but not to access.Im hoping they give me another fibroscan to see how much my fatty liver has increased.My doctor was not overly concerned with my results last time but now that it has increased slightly on ultraound with weight loss and continuing low carb and healthy diet and no alcohol all will change.I thought that would be enough to have reverse it but it didn’t.
Hi Peachy
For starters, Fibroscan isn't terribly accurate with regard to fat content so you can see fairly wide variation between readings. If you need that information an MRI PDFF is the state of the current art. More expensive but quite accurate. The good news, your fibrosis score is low so you aren't looking at a life threatening situation right now and your lifestyle choices are good insurance in that respect. There is still a lot we don't know about why some people have more difficulty than others with fat deposition but the evidence is in favor of mostly plant based, limited salt, sugar, and saturated fats. Increased unsaturated fats, olive oil preferred, is kindest for the liver. You do need some fat in order to be able to absorb fat soluble vitamins.
A factor may be lean muscle mass. Many of us have limited real muscle and skeletal muscle is an important part of the energy balance equation. If you have that issue it means that your calories have to go somewhere else and that leads through the liver.
I see a lot of comments about fructose. It is an enemy of the liver as that is where most of it is processed and that leads directly to the formation of fat. The gut has a limited ability to process fructose which is why we say that raw fruits are OK in moderate amounts. The liver can make fructose but doesn't usually in the absence of excess glucose so one more reason to limit sugar.
Your individual genetics may be playing a part in your difficulty but for now we don't know enough to really point you there unless you are hispanic with PNPL3 genes. Even that is no real answer as we don't have different advice for diet but exercise is critical.
Good luck
Stop eating fruit. The body can't differentiate between "healthy" sugar and "unhealthy sugar". Sugar is sugar. Try to go as Mediterranean/keto as you can.
I will give up my blueberrris and occasional other fruit.Hard to have none since I eat no other sugar this was what I looked forward to every day was my half cup of blueberries.
My Nash went from F4 to F0 in 7 months and my liver went back to normal size. I go to exercise class 3 times a week. I lost 43 lbs. I eat mostly a plant based whole food diet with some chicken and fish. I don’t drink but I do eat fruit every day-lemons; grapefruit, apples, bananas . It didn’t seem to hinder my progress. Best of luck to you.
That’s great that it all worked out for you!Great job! I really had high expectations and I really thought I reversed it because of everything I’ve been doing and when I saw that it got worse I was so devastated and still am.Not sure what it could be that is making it worse since I basically cut out everything that could be a potential concern to make it worse.I am the same mostly plant-based and only salmon and lean chicken as well.I ate a ton of arugula and kale and broccoli and brussels sprouts.I do have hummus a couple times a week with raw vegetables not sure if maybe that could be a contributor. I’m overthinking everything..
I hear you . I'm in a similar boat, Peachy, and very confused. Sorry you are too. I have no risk factors - not overweight, not diabetic, don't drink etc & ate healthy. Since diagnosis NAFLD ate "healthier" but still developed an NASH" so ate ultra healthy & ate my olive oil every day, but still progressed. Now they say I have an aggressive form of NAFLD/NASH. They have no idea why, they think "possibly" genetic but what? Possibly related to secondary Hemochromatosis (only 1 parent had it) but they're not really sure. I asked if running a genetic panel - nope. Just basic stuff. My enzymes where very high until I progressed to F3/F4 - now they're normal or close to normal . Nothing makes sense. I'm cutting back on fruit too , ate more than you but not overly - like not meeting daily requirements or occasionally meeting it. I can't regularly exercise. Could these 2 things be the ONLY things giving me NASH Cirrhosis???? I think there has to be something else, IDK what though. Wish I did for both our sakes.
Makes no sense was really hoping mine would improve not sure what they will have me do next.Meet with specialist this week to discuss.Its so hard to eat so healthy and exercise with worse results.Hard to live this way.Sorry you are going through the same thing.Thanks for sharing makes me overthink everything I’m doing.Maybe to much olive oil or the fruit was the issue.No choice but to keep trying summer is going to be hard to not have fruit or a treat like ice team.
Mine is genetic ...on my mother's side ...her mother a sister my mom my younger brother and myself ...was put off by several Drs trying to tell me I didnt ...finally got appointment with doc my mom had ...she passed in 2010 ...and was diagnosed by MRI with nafld with varices 2 weeks later ....crazy what you have to go through but as a nurse of 30 years I knew ...
I have often wondered if a medication or supplement or lawn chemicals contributed to my condition. More studies needed! I certainly hope your practitioners can help you figure out how to stop it from progressing!
Well I have to say this is the first time I've ever read that we shouldn't be eating fruit. I'm having some trouble taking 10 lbs off. I always thought I had a pretty darn good diet but hey, I have a 1/2 apple and some raisins with my oatmeal for breakfast and always have an orange or grapefruit after dinner. There goes some of my only pleasures, I guess!
I talked with my liver specialist today and she said fruit is fine especially blueberries which was my fruit that I would mostly eat.So confusing how everyone has something different to say.Now I’m more confused then ever.She said sometimes even with the strict diet and exercise the liver stays the same and won’t change so they will retest me in 6 months with another FibroScan since she said the ultrasound is not as reliable.She said to enjoy my summer with some indulgences but not many.
Yes, it really is confusing! Just last night I watched a Netflex documentary about the microbiome and how we should be eating a great diversity of fruits and vegetables...like 20 different ones a week! Anyway, your liver specialist definitely should know what she's talking about and I would go with what she says. I'm thinking I might try to do without my citrus after dinner and see if that changes anything. I have a hard time believing that a little fruit would actually be bad for us. I've read over and over again that blueberries are the best choice. I would make sure they're organic though...I have a friend who lived next to blueberry fields and she said they sprayed the crap out of them with chemicals!
I will have to watch that!Yes only organic fruits and veggies and only avacado and olive oil.Seed oils are also terrible.Grapefruit I thought was also very good for the liver.So maybe have that instead of the orange.I have lemon every day as well with ginger in my tea.I would think that would have helped me as well and will still continue that in my tea.I always think whatever isn’t processed has to be good for us.Nuts, fruit and vegetables can’t be terrible when you think of all the other processed food out there.
I agree with you! I don't think it's a great idea to cut out an entire food group somehow. But maybe the timing of the fruit eating also has an effect. Like now I'm thinking, an orange right after dinner may not be the best idea. I might try to quit that habit but it'll be difficult for sure. Best of luck to you!
My wife developed fatty liver, from rapid weight loss from COVID 19. Your Fat content in your liver can go up with sudden drops in fat. Typically this is a short period of time this happens.
If your sugars are under control meaning your not type 2. I would not worry about sugars. I was a type 2, I took maxdose of Metformin, and Glipizide as well as Ozempic. And Still could not control my Sugar levels. I dropped 110lbs 280lbs down to 170, spend 1-2 hours a day at the Gym. I have been off all Diabetic meds for 2 years and my last A1C came in at 5.2. During all of this I never had fatty liver.
My wife who like you ate well did develop if from the COVID weight loss, and deranged TSH levels 78.6 once they got her Thyroid under control. Her fatty liver started to return to normal.
Thank you for replying.I lost the weight though in 7 months through exercise and eating healthy so I would think it wasn’t that rapid over that period of time.Maybe that could be it though gives me some hope.My bloodwork had slightly high alt and ast 2 years ago but only for a little while and for the past year it’s been perfect range on both blood tests.Thats why it’s so confusing on how my ultrasound showed it increased in fatty liver in the last 7 months.They did check my thyroid and that was fine as well.Good job on your journey!You should be so proud of yourself to put in the work and see how far you have came.Getting of the meds is a huge success!
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