How To Cure Fatty Liver Disease

A proven 6-step process to jump start your fatty liver recovery

Greg Daniels – December 16th 2017

So, you have been diagnosed with Fatty Liver Disease, and now you’re full of questions and wondering where to go from here.

Perhaps the very first thing you should do, before anything else, is to gain a clear understanding of exactly what this disease is.

In a nutshell, Fatty Liver Disease refers to a chronic, ongoing condition in which your liver simply has too much fat (lipids) in or between your liver cells. A build up of excess fat in your liver compromises its ability to do the jobs it was designed for in keeping you healthy.

Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease and the Nonalcoholic version are practically the same – as the names imply, one is caused by drinking too much alcohol and the other is due to alternative reasons.

You are considered to have this disease if the lipid content in your liver is more than 5% by weight. Complications can start to occur if it’s higher than 10%.

The liver has many very important tasks that are absolutely essential to good health and wellness. When it is unable to do these things efficiently, your health suffers.

Knowing what the disease is and its repercussions on your health and well being will be helpful in taking the first step toward reversing it.

Yes, it can be reversed.

The liver is the only organ in the human body that has the capabilities of regenerating and repairing itself. But, you should realize that it cannot do this by itself. It needs help to restore itself back to an optimal state of health.

In short, it needs YOUR help.

There are things you can do that will assist your liver in becoming healthy again after a diagnosis of Fatty Liver Disease. Here are some of the ways you can start to improve your prognosis:

Basically, there are two types of this condition:  

There are three stages of Fatty Liver Disease:

Beyond cirrhosis, additional concerns such as liver cancer, liver failure, transplant surgery and liver-related death are more likely.

Regardless of which stage your Fatty Liver Disease may be in, it is still possible to improve or reverse it. The lifestyle and diet changes needed to deal with this health condition are the same for each stage. Even if you are in the third stage of the disease, you can make the changes that will improve the health of your liver, or at the very least halt progression of further damage.

Before embarking on any of the steps required to reverse the disease, you must work on your mindset and prepare yourself mentally and emotionally to cure it.

Get in the Groove to Improve

Getting in the groove to reverse Fatty Liver Disease will be an enormous help to you, psychologically speaking, in making the necessary changes to your habits and lifestyle. You might say that where your mind goes, your body will follow.

Rest assured, there is a lot you can do – many simple changes – to reverse it. Diabetics will need to adjust their diets according to the recommended ADA requirements.

A diagnosis of Fatty Liver Disease can be a real downer, but it may hearten you to know that there are steps you can take to reverse this condition.

The second step in reversing Fatty Liver Disease is to change your diet.

Ouch! Very few of us want to hear that we need to change our diet. With some exceptions, the average modern citizen of Western Civilization does not eat healthy or follow the nutritional and dietary guidelines needed for good health.

Your fatty liver may well be a direct result of poor diet and nutrition, coupled with lack of exercise.

If this sounds depressingly familiar as a description of your lifestyle, not to worry – you won’t have to live on celery sticks and water for the rest for your life to reverse Fatty Liver Disease … but you will need to begin taking care of your health.

At this point, you might be wondering how you can go about putting your liver on a diet. After all, it’s your liver that’s fat, right?  Right...however, in order to reduce the fat in your liver, you must reduce the fat in and on the rest of your body (at least 10%).

A healthy, nutritious diet instead of one made up primarily of fat, sugar and cholesterol laden empty calories can bring about a dramatic reversal of Fatty Liver Disease.

Here are some suggestions for what to eat if you want to lose weight and get rid of Fatty Liver Disease:

Eating a daily diet that is well balanced and includes all of the recommended food groups will be amazingly effective in reversing your disease.

Just as important as knowing what to eat is knowing what NOT to eat.

Here are some suggestions on foods and beverages to avoid if you have a fatty liver:

As a rule of thumb, you should avoid any highly processed foods, too, if you have Fatty Liver Disease.

If you have been eating a nutrient poor diet, you may be panicking and almost breaking out in a cold sweat at the thought of giving up those unhealthy foods you love and crave.

This is normal.

Almost everyone that has had to drastically alter their eating habits and learn to make healthy choices, such as eating a fresh carrot instead of reaching for a glazed donut, has experienced the same feelings you are and been where you’re at right now.

You Must Stick to Your New Way of Life – Reverse the Food Psychologists!

One of the marvelous things about the human body – not to mention the human psyche – is its ability to adapt. Over time, as you bypass those unhealthy foods that may have contributed to your disease in favor of healthy foods that help to reverse the condition, you will find yourself actually preferring the foods high in nutritional value.

Practice this the next time you go shopping: only stick to the walls of your grocery store. This is where all the fruits, vegetables and fresh meats and whole-grain breads are. AVOID the center aisles, as this is where the processed foods are.

Learn some food psychology, as grocery chains have spent millions of dollars on the best ways to get you to buy junk food – at eye level, using welcoming colors (and even scents), and at the checkout and the front of the store. Even the music is tested to see which is best to have you buy the most food.

When you do have to go to the middle aisles, look on the higher and lower shelves … this is where the less desirable (and thus likely the healthier and less marketed) food options are.

True, there will be times when you may find yourself Jonesing for a candy bar or a banana split. It’s okay to take a “break” once a week. But, for the most part, you will discover that both physically and mentally, your body will prefer to eat a healthy diet.

Your Body and Tastes Will Adjust, and You Won’t Want to Go Back

As for myself, I also had a history of high blood pressure. My doctor said to cut down the salt. Impossible, I thought!

For the first few weeks, I stuck with it, skipping the salt shaker, cutting down on salty foods, and beginning to look at how much sodium was in the processed food I bought (and trying to find low-sodium options). Luckily, I never really craved salt, but food was definitely more bland. I stuck to it, and sometimes substituted with hot sauce, being careful to choose sauces low in sodium.

After a month, I decided to have a pepperoni stick … and it burned my tongue! It tasted horrible. That’s because my body had actually adjusted itself and I lost the taste for salt. I can no longer enjoy a lot of menu items at restaurants, knowing the massive amounts of sodium they add. I ask to “hold the salt” and most cooks are accommodating.

Now, when I make soups and meals for family and friends, I tell them that they will have to add their own salt. I find that my soup tastes just right – others find that they need to add salt. To each their own. My blood pressure is down to normal, and I feel a lot better.

Same with the rest of my diet when I was first diagnosed with fatty liver disease. Two months after I began my diet of fresh fruits, vegetables and lean meat, I went to a restaurant and had a greasy burger (everybody slips.)

I got a stomach ache afterwards (not to mention I drank a lot of water due to the salt content), and I found that I was actually craving vegetables.

That evening, I ended up going to my local grocer for some fresh asparagus. I grilled it up, adding some olive oil and pepper, and ate them all. My body is literally addicted to vegetables!

Your body will adjust, and you will feel a lot better. When you begin eating the right foods, you are taking a giant step toward your health. Your liver (and by extension, the rest of your body) will love you for it.

Being diagnosed with Fatty Liver Disease isn’t a good thing, but if you take the necessary steps, you can reverse this condition with some simple lifestyle changes.

In this, Step 3, we talk about a few well chosen natural herbs and supplements, such as vitamins and minerals known to be liver friendly.

People have been turning to homeopathic healing aids such as herbs and natural supplements for centuries. Nowadays, we are seeing an increasing number of folks who are disenchanted with conventional modern medicine and its long list of prescription drugs for every imaginable condition.

While it can’t be argued that there are some health problems and diseases that require the use of prescription drugs, there are many that don’t – they can be successfully treated with safe, natural remedies and the occasional liver cleanse.

Science is finally starting to catch up, with tests and controlled studies validating the effectiveness of several herbs used for centuries.

Vitamins and minerals play an important part in your overall health and wellness, and can be exceedingly helpful in liver health.  Here are some that promote liver health:

If you have Fatty Liver Disease and want to reverse it, or simply want to practice preventive care to keep your liver healthy, you should consider adding these vitamins and minerals to your daily diet.

Along with vitamins and minerals, there are several herbs that have long been believed to aid in liver health and function. These include:

• White Byrony
• Dandelion
• Milk Thistle
• Chelidonium Majus

Each of these herbal remedies can help you achieve and maintain healthy liver function and assist in reversing Fatty Liver Disease. You can also try a detox spray that you conveniently spray under your tongue a few times a day to deliver the liquid extracts of these herbs.

Be aware that all herbs are not liver friendly. In fact, some are unfriendly and downright hostile to liver health. When your liver is compromised, a lot of previously safe and ordinary ingredients are suddenly suspicious.  Here’s a list of some popular herbs to avoid if your liver is already damaged:

If you are diabetic, you should definitely check with your doctor before adding any herbs, extra vitamins, minerals, or supplements to your diet.

Using the appropriate herbs, vitamins and minerals can be therapeutic for those suffering from liver problems. Along with proper diet and exercise, they can be part of a healthy prevention regime for anyone who wants to keep their liver operating at its full capacity.

If you have been told you have Fatty Liver Disease by a doctor, one thing is a certainty: You will have to lose weight if you are overweight now.

Having to go on a diet and lose weight is no walk in the park for anybody. Living in today’s society has predisposed many of us to gain weight and make it harder to lose it if we do pack on some pounds.

One reason why obesity is of epidemic proportions in the Western world is that so many people lead sedentary lives, especially as compared to our forefathers back a couple of generations ago. They didn’t have television, computers and movies.

Obesity And Lifestyle, Then and Now

For instance, in 2009-2010, an estimated 37.5% of adults in the United States were obese, and a startling 16.9% of children and adolescents were obese, as well.

Back before WWII, a majority of families lived in the country, growing and raising almost everything they ate. Adults and children of the household all worked outside raising food crops, along with the farm animals that furnished meat, eggs and milk.

With so many chores to do, a lot of calories were burned up on a daily basis. You ate fresh, home-baked foods and meat without growth hormones and antibiotics. Your chances of becoming obese back then were slim – no pun intended.

Contrast that to the ordinary lifestyle now, where a majority of us earn our living sitting all day at a desk. We then come home to the couch or kick back in the recliner and watch television. The only chores are putting the dirty dishes in the dishwasher, throwing laundry in the washer, and pressing the remote for the Roomba to clean the house.

Add to this scenario the temptation we’re faced with in the form of fast food, pizza delivery, grocery shelves loaded with every kind of sugary, high calorie treat and goodie imaginable, plus long rows of two liter soft drinks beckoning us to buy.

No wonder it’s so easy to pile on all that extra weight!

So, how are you supposed to avoid all that, especially if overeating has caused your Fatty Liver Disease?

If you have Fatty Liver Disease and you want to reverse it and restore your liver to its normal state of optimal efficiency, the way ahead is clear and unambiguous: You must lose weight. Period.

There are no qualifiers to this statement. If you are overweight or obese and have Fatty Liver Disease, you absolutely, positively HAVE to shed that excess fat. There is no other, easier way. It might not be fun, but you can do it and if you want to be healthy; you will do it.

One thing to stress, however, is that you have to take the extra weight off slowly. Chances are that you didn’t gain those extra pounds overnight, so don’t try to lose them too quickly, either.

With Fatty Liver Disease, too rapid weight loss can actually harm your liver instead of helping it.

This is because a sudden loss of body weight puts your liver on the defense, thinking you are in the midst of a famine (which until recently was often the norm, and which our bodies are designed for.) The liver will actually produce extra fatty acids, making it’s own condition much worse.

There are lifestyle changes that, over a period of time, can bring about a gradual weight loss that will prove beneficial to a healthy liver.

Easy Lifestyle Changes to Lose Weight

Before you go on some crash diet, sit down and realistically evaluate how much weight you need to lose. A minimum of 10% is recommended, though your doctor will know how much you need to lose.

Then, make a plan that will advance you toward that weight loss goal, safely and slowly.

You might be surprised at how little changes can bring about big results! For example, here are a few tips to lose weight:

• Instead of using the elevator at work or home, take the stairs.
• Park the farthest away in a parking lot to go shopping.
• Go grocery shopping on a full stomach.
• Leave off dessert as a rule, saving it for a special occasion treat.
• Substitute fresh fruit or veggies instead of candy and chips. Leave it handy in the refrigerator, already washed and prepared.
• Drink sugar-free flavored water instead of sugary soft drinks.
• Make it a habit to take a brisk walk every evening, at least 30 minutes.
• Cut out excessive saturated fats and replace with healthier sources of protein – lean skinless chicken and turkey instead of red meat.
• Lower your carb consumption – swap out high glycemic foods with healthy alternatives
• Stay hydrated! It’s easy to mistake thirst for hunger, so drink plenty of liquids.

If you stick to a healthy diet of good, nutritious foods, get at least half an hour of aerobic exercise every day and avoid the foods and drinks that are prone to pile on pounds, you might be pleasantly surprised to discover that losing weight doesn’t have to be an endurance test.

When you have shed that extra weight and lightened up your liver in the process, you will be rewarded with feeling healthier and more energetic as your Fatty Liver Disease becomes a thing of the past.

You have been diagnosed with Fatty Liver Disease. You’ve talked to your doctor, set up a diet and exercise plan, and set goals to follow.

So what happens next, as far as medical care?

Should you go home and shed the pounds, then not worry about seeing your doctor again until your next annual physical is due? Or should you realize that a fatty liver can be a serious health problem and one that your doctor will need to monitor as time goes on, for the sake of your health?

If you guessed the second option – see your doctor regularly – go to the head of the class!

Seeing your doctor on a regular basis for ongoing care and monitoring of your liver is of paramount importance to your overall health and well being.

Regular Doctor Visits

Having a fatty liver is seen as a “silent” disease – it normally shows no symptoms. To clarify, it does have symptoms, but these are often attributed to simple aging – a few more aches and pains, feeling more tired and having less energy.

A majority of patients discover they have the disease through a routine medical checkup.

After your follow-up, you should plan on seeing your doctor as often as he or she deems advisable. Your doctor will want to track your health, as well as do the appropriate blood tests and lab work, to determine if your liver damage is progressing.

By keeping an eye on the progression, or lack of it, your doctor will be better able to advise you regarding such lifestyle changes as diet, exercise and things you can to do to halt or reverse the condition.

If you aren’t comfortable with the doctor’s handling of your condition, you should find another doctor as soon as possible, because it is important that you trust your doctor and feel confident in your care and treatment.

To make the stakes even higher for your health, a fatty liver is often interlinked with Diabetes.

Along with physical checkups, your doctor will order various lab work and tests to show what is going on with your liver.

Note that your doctor will state that you have a “possibility” of fatty liver. The only way to know for sure is through a painful liver biopsy, which is often unnecessary anyway – why show evidence when you can change your diet and lifestyle for the better anyway?

Here are some of the tests and various lab work that might be ordered by your doctor:

• Liver Function Test – These tests shows your liver enzymes and whether they are elevated.
• Imaging -Imaging tests may take a variety of forms, including a CT scan, MRI, and/or ultrasound.
• Biopsy – If your doctor suspects serious liver disease, you might have a liver biopsy to remove a sample of your liver tissue for testing.

Besides these lab tests and blood work, your doctor will probably weigh you and if you are overweight, advise you on a safe diet to help shed the excess pounds as extra fat is also deposited in your liver, interfering with its ability to function.

If you are overweight, expect to be stepping on the scale at each doctor’s visit.

Perhaps one of the main things to focus on is not so much your liver itself, but changing the lifestyle habits that contributed to your liver problems, as these changes will have a beneficial effect on every part of your health – including Diabetes and other interlinked complications.

Fatty Liver Disease can rob you of the glowing good health and abundant energy you were meant to have. So if you have it, work with your doctor to reverse it and start living the Good Life again.

It is said that the journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. If you started at the first step in reversing Fatty Liver Disease and made your way through all of the steps back to a healthy, normally functioning liver … you will definitely feel proud.

You should give yourself a big pat on the back for doing what was necessary to restore your liver to its optimal efficiency.

But, here is a word of caution: Be very careful not to backslide into the same old bad habits that brought you to a diagnosis in the first place. It can be very tempting to tell yourself that you and your liver are both alive and doing well these days, and to indulge in some of the poor lifestyle choices that caused your problems.

Don’t go there.

No matter how wonderful it might sound to stray from your healthy, nutritious diet plan and start loading up on Big Macs, milkshakes and margaritas – don’t do it.

Yes, you have done well and are to be congratulated. Your liver undoubtedly thanks you for making the changes necessary to reverse the disease that gave you hard life choices. Don’t revert back to your old, unhealthy ways and make your poor liver go through all of that hardship all over again.

In the final analysis, a few moments of gratification as you wolf down a Whopper with cheese or slurp down a large mocha frappe with almost a thousand calories is simply not worth being unhealthy and feeling lousy again.

You might appreciate a few tips and tricks to help you stay strong.  Here are a few pointers to help you avoid slipping back into those same old bad habits and to maintain a healthy liver:

• When you feel yourself wavering … on the brink of grabbing a second slab of apple pie with ice cream or some other toothsome but unhealthy culinary delight … remind yourself of how miserable it was to feel bad all the time and how awful it felt to not have the energy you needed to live your life to the fullest.
• Have food alternatives. If you work in an environment where donuts are served every day, bring in a healthy snack that will satisfy your cravings.
• Avoid overindulging in alcohol – if this is what caused your disease in the first place, you have to abstain. Once your liver tests come back normal, it is okay to have a glass of wine occasionally. In fact, there is research to suggest that a moderate sized glass of wine every day could actually improve your liver health. Bear in mind that if you are a recovering alcoholic, this is a no-no.
• Reward yourself for sticking to a healthy diet. For example, you could allow yourself a light dessert or a mini-size portion of a sweet that you particularly love. Some people report great success in satisfying a sweet tooth with eating one of the little, individual candy bars. By giving yourself a reward for healthy eating, you are unlikely to feel deprived enough to binge.
• If it is time to exercise and your inner demon is whispering a slew of reasons why your should skip it … tune out that troublemaker and go ahead with your usual exercise routine, whatever it may be. Most of the time, the hardest thing about exercising is just getting started. The best way to keep exercising is to have a set routine at the same time.
• If you feel that you need help staying motivated, consider resources that offer support, such as Weight Watchers or a local gym. You can also find some great online forums made up of people going through the same thing as you and can get a lot of help and camaraderie there.

Once your doctor gives the all clear, stay healthy! It’s only the rest of your life we are talking about.

Discover the course that jump started my recovery

This extremely helpful guide, called the “Fatty Liver Diet Guide” is an eBook that deals with every aspect and ramification of being diagnosed with fatty liver disease.  It offers a holistic, natural approach to treating and actually reversing fatty liver disease.