Was diagnosed with fatty liver disease (non alcoholic) an was suggested to try the Mediterranean diet. I’m not a fan of dressing and most green vegetables. So those of you that are picky what are you go to meals for this diet, It’s been about 2 years since my diagnosis and I think one major reason I’m still alive is my diet. I take it very seriously. Become a student of nutrition. Learn what foods tax your liver, learn what foods make it thrive. Everybody’s body has different needs, so all I can tell you is what’s worked for me.
FOODS TO AVOID
- No fried foods.
- No refined sugar.
- No enriched white flour.
If you want bread, get whole grain not white. If you want something sweet, make a mango smoothie not a snickers. As a general rule, reach for things you have to rinse off (fruits & veggies) before things you have to unwrap (candy, chips).
Cooking and Food Choices
Almost everything I eat I make at home. Learn how to cook. Learn how to use seasoning. Learn how to make things taste good without salt, butter, sugar, etc.
Meats and Dairy
Meats–I don’t eat beef or pork. I eat a lot of fish and sometimes chicken to take a break from fish. I’ve never been a big fish-eater, but it makes me feel so damn good when I eat it. I eat eggs twice a week. I cut out all dairy.
Vegetables
Veggies–All cruciferous veggies. Look it up and start studying this stuff. That family of veggies includes broccoli and brussel sprouts. I dislike both but they’re in my rotation of food and I eat each about every 1-2 weeks. I love asparagus and so does the liver. You know the way your piss smells after eating asparagus? Breathe deep and soak it in–it means your liver is working. Beets are amazing for your liver. Eat as much beets as you can.
Reading Nutrition Labels
Learn to read nutrition facts and ingredient lists. For months, I ate a brand of pickled beets that contain high fructose corn syrup. Stay away from that bullshit. I buy as much organic and natural stuff as I can afford. I’ve become the nerdy health nut I used to make fun of. Speaking of nuts, throw away the Skippy and get the organic almond butter that you have to stir. In general, I try to eat unprocessed, whole foods.
Supplements
Be wary of supplements. In fact, I recommend avoiding them altogether. Instead, learn about various vitamins’ and nutrients’ effects on the body. Incorporate them into your diet instead of taking supplement pills. For example, learn to cook with ginger, turmeric, etc. instead of taking a “Healthy Liver” pill that claims to “cleans” the liver with natural remedies. I just had a mango, blueberry, beetroot, and ginger smoothie. It was awesome.
Remember what I said at the start of this spiel: this is what’s been working for ME. You have to figure out what works for YOU. Become a student of your body and learn what nutrients make it thrive.
EXERCISE
Last thing I want to mention is exercise. Do it every day. Lift weights. Ride a bike or swim or jog. Whatever. Exercise until you sweat at least 4 times a week. It sounds crazy, but I am in the best shape of my life despite carrying around a bum liver.
FOR FATTY LIVER
There’s a lot of information out there and I can understand being overwhelmed by it all.
I’m not diagnosed with pancreatitis or fatty liver, but I’ve been trying to eat a less fatty and more liver healthy diet. I will go ahead and say, it’s a challenging diet. Especially if you have to be strict about it.
A recommendation that I have is to try making some of your old recipes, but replacing ingredients. For instance: Spaghetti with whole wheat pasta and ground turkey or chicken instead of beef. Meatloaf with lentils instead of beef. Black bean burgers. Tuna salad with non-fat Greek yogurt instead of mayo.
Keep in mind that things will taste different, but you will adjust.
Lastly, I suggest using ChatGPT. Let it do some of the work for you. Type in exactly what you want. “Make a diet plan for someone with pancreatitis and fatty liver.” If it suggests any foods you don’t like, tell it to exclude and replace them.
I hope some of this is helpful. Hang in there!
LIVER INFLAMMATION
Garlic powder (powder not grits) and ginger powder in a glass mixed with water and straight shot that with a water chaser.
Approximately 1 to 2 tsp of garlic powder and just a half tsp for ginger powder to prevent nausea.
Its like an off switch for massive bloating.
What you’re generally talking about is antioxidants. The more of those you consume the better. Limit garlic intake when taking straight but add it to all your foods. Any Asian dishes add ginger. Add lemon juice to things. Take white willow bark, full spectrum herb..not extracts. Generally all herbs should be taken as full spectrum and highly powdered forms. Chocolate powder is extremely high in antioxidants, mix it up in a warm milk or hot water tea with cinnamon and nutmeg with some sugar enough to sweeten it. Always less nutmeg to cinnamon.
I cannot believe how effective garlic is. Just can’t take too much if it.
KETO DIET
One Criticisms reading the data I have:
The carbs on med is 254g (50% carbs), keto 20g, low fat 352 (72%!!! Carbs, above AMDR!).
This to me is a no shit study if you’re looking specifically at metabolic outcomes. The researchers must be biased toward keto to provide so many carbs on the other diet and ta da! This one reduced it the most. There’s liver shrinking diets that are done pre surgery and it’s very low carb, so this is already a known benefit.
However why not do a more reasonable carb intake on the other diets? Why not test lower carb Med as an outcome? That diet shows excellent adherence on meta analysis as it is not as restrictive and still has so many benefits. It is more likely to be followed long term too.
I eat a med diet and there’s no way I eat that many carbs, maybe 100-125g per day. More if I’m doing endurance or HITT training. This is really not a fairly matched trial looking a metabolic outcomes