Fatty Liver and weight problems

I have several patients with a severe degree of fatty liver. They are all similar in that their liver inflammation fluctuates up and down depending upon their diet and their weight.

One of these patients is a 68 year old woman who has battled with her weight all her life and endured pain and suffering from a failed gastric banding. She is a lovely kind woman who is always helping others and is highly intelligent and creative. Her life has been rather tragic and she uses food as her solace – but of course she chooses comfort foods which upset her liver.

If she eats gluten and/or sugar, her liver enzymes go very high and she experiences liver pain and liver swelling. She also has to take a large amount of pain killing drugs for fibromyalgia. Thus her liver needs a lot more support for this increased workload. We have helped her a lot with Livatone Plus and tyrosine powder for depression and magnesium powder for pain. I see her regularly to monitor her liver, keep her focused on her diet, and to inspire her.

Another woman I see has a similar case of fatty liver and she is very addicted to sugar – indeed she eats cakes and candy all day and is pre-diabetic. She lets stress and the pursuit of perfectionism get in her way and she loses her focus on her health.

This is a common story and for many stressed people, high carbohydrate foods, gluten and sugar are highly addictive.

These women do not drink alcohol and they have sustained liver damage simply by eating too much carbohydrate. They are yo-yo dieters and their weight fluctuates enormously – when they are very overweight their liver enzymes are way too high and they feel unwell. This motivates them to lose weight. But what we want is to avoid this yo yo dieting as it does not work and is bad for the liver

Another woman I see has fatty liver and very high levels of fasting insulin in her blood. Her fasting insulin level is around 75 when it should be less than 10. The high levels of insulin are very destructive and cause the liver to store fat, which makes weight loss impossible. She is extremely carbohydrate intolerant and even a tiny amount of bread or sugar send her insulin levels soaring through the roof. She is an android body shape (apple shape) and all of the excess fat is stored in her abdominal wall and inside her abdominal cavity. Android shaped people are far more prone to have high insulin levels and a fatty liver.

All these patients have a type of fatty liver which is associated with excess inflammation in their liver which could lead to cirrhosis and liver failure.

For my patients with fatty liver caused by food addiction I have worked out several strategies –

• Exercise is vital even if it is only done in small amounts
• Avoid having high carbohydrate foods in your home and stock your pantry with fresh fruits and vegetables, seafood, nuts, Greek yogurt and lean meats and poultry
• Go on a vegetable juice fast for 2 days a week to allow your liver to detoxify – this helps weight loss enormously. Drink 8 glasses of water or herbal tea daily
• Eat a vegetable salad everyday and use a dressing of cold pressed olive oil and lemon or lime. Put some protein in the salad such as hard boiled eggs, avocado or good quality cheese
• Take a supplement containing chromium, bitter melon, gymnema, carnitine and lipoic acid, which can help insulin to work better thus supporting lower insulin levels. Glicemic Balance capsules contain all these ingredients.
• If the excess fat in your liver is causing high liver enzymes you need to reduce liver inflammation by increasing the production of glutathione in your liver. Glutathione protects and repairs the liver and its production can be increased by taking supplements of N-Acetyl-Cysteine (NAC) and selenium.
• Keep a food diary of everything you eat and evaluate it at the end of the day
• See someone such as a naturopath or nutritionist regularly to get guidance with your diet and also to get support to keep you focused. This is worth the expense as your health is number one. You can also use a very good friend to help you, especially if they are trying to lose weight as well, or a close family member can be a good support. If you feel yourself going off the rails and losing control see your practitioner more often as you cannot do this alone. Have a plan and stick to it.

The above statements have not been evaluated by the FDA and are not intended to diagnose, treat or cure any disease.

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