I haven't written about diet in some time and things have improved a bit for some people, but we have the next crop of victims of these crummy liver diseases on board, so a little information from the real world might be of value.
First, there is no cleanse, superfood, magic pill, talisman, or faith healer that will fix your liver. Beware of Dr Google as he might kill you after he takes your money. There are a few things that help some people marginally, but generally they just service hope.
My story might be of interest as an example of one approach. I was diagnosed with F4 cirrhosis in January 2015 with a Fibroscan stiffness score of 21.5. At the time they said over 12 was cirrhosis. I hadn't decompensated but the dust of that demon coming for me was visible. The advice from my hepatologist was unconventional, he was educated in Europe, and it was 3 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil and 1 tablespoon of fish oil daily with a mostly plant based diet. lots of salads. No saturated fat and limited simple carbs like sugar. Adequate protein from white meats and plant sources. Sodium below 1,500 mg per day.
I had been a meat and potatoes guy with a passion for bread, which I had used with great pleasure to add 70 pounds of first class fat to my body. I was a typical American fat boy which caused my liver problem. My wife and I made the switch in our diet that day in the docs office. We went home, cleaned out our fridge and pantry and never looked back.
The result was I lost 70 pounds and my Fibroscan stiffness was 9.6, an F2, two years later. My hepatologist wanted to bottle me as I was one of very few of his patients who succeeded. He said if I persisted, something other than my liver would kill me one day. An odd thing to rejoice over, but my wife and I were really happy with that prognosis.
If you have ever tasted "good" olive oil, you know it tastes terrible when taken straight. It has a lot of polyphenols which are bitter. When they test oil, they suck it into their mouth from a special little dish. A great oil makes you cough at least 3 times. That much oil is too much for cooking, so I simply took it like the old days of bad tasting cough medicine, by the tablespoon. That's not enjoyable, but it was over with quickly and I was determined to manage my liver disease.
I think it helps to understand the chemistry just a bit. With the formation of scar tissue, inflammation is your enemy. If you can stop the inflammation, you will halt the fibrosis. Once you do that, you give your body's cleanup systems time to work on the fibrosis. If you can maintain an inflammation free organ, the body can reduce the amount of fibrosis in it over time. It is a slow process, so consider your dietary changes to be a lifetime commitment. The switch from saturated fats to unsaturated fats is a big part of that as the unsaturated are not inflammatory. The elimination of salt and alcohol are the other pillars of recovery. You want to do everything you can to reduce the workload of the liver. Let it rest and it will work hard to recover.
If you would like to read a more extensive discussion of our approach to food, here is a link to that material on our website.
fattyliverfoundation.org/li...
Day to day living can be challenging when dealing with a disease. Many people don't know what services are available to them in their local area. Finding those local resources in their local zip code is often a challenge for patients. We are developing a tool to help with that. Would you take a few minutes and examine our tool for locating local services? Just click on the link below: enter your local zip-code in the form: explore how the services available to you in your area are shown: and take the short survey. The elements above the zip code function are under development, so don't comment on those just yet.
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