What to do about fatty liver

Thanks for the advice, this is going to be tough!  but i must do it.  I have also recently bought a juicer and last night i had some kale, ginger and half a granny smith apple which was nice.  I think i will be OK giving up sugar but the pasta, rice will be a challenge.  I have heard of Dreamfields pasta which is supposed to be better for diabetics.  How long can it take to reduce fatty liver?  thanks about the ferritin test, i have heard of this.   When you say 9 or more, is that in grams?  and is it per 100gms?  thanks

Yes, it is grams and usually per 100gms, or a serving.  I am glad meblond mentioned corn - I had forgotten.  Corn, and corn syrup in packaged foods is a disaster.

I found it hard at first.  I was brought up eating potatoes or equivalent and bread with every meal.  So I was looking for a replacement for these starchy foods.  However, it is best to just ignore trying to find a replacement and fill up with the rest of allowed veges.  Protein reduces your need for them anyway.

Having said that, there are some amazing recipes using cauliflower that taste like a potato replacement, e.g. mash, baked, as a pizza base.  Recently saw slices of cauli being used for lasagne.  You will be so surprised.  It was never my favourite vege but now I have a whole new respect for it.  Google for recipes.

Instead of sandwiches for lunch, prepare a salad (not pasta, potato or lentils, beans - green ok) with some protein, like boiled egg, cheese, small can tuna etc.).  Takeaways are all about bread of some kind, it can be difficult to buy out.  Maybe a wrap, and toss the wrap.  If you must have bread, look for the seediest bread - not the grain bread.

I also started off eliminating all starches from dinner first, then moved to arvo tea, then lunch, then morning tea, then breakfast - finally giving up my much loved porridge.  A protein breakfast made a huge difference.

Half a granny smith in juice is good - don't give in to using lots of fruit = lots of sugar.  Add some almonds or other nuts (not peanuts) to your juice (smash them up first before adding the rest of the ingredients) for protein.

As Bollyarchive said, diabetes, fatty liver AND too much weight, all go hand in hand.  Removing sugar/starch which is the cause of all these problems (your body stops being able to metabolise the sugar) will help all problems (unless you have diabetes 1 which is a whole different story).  Eliminating sugar/starch can only help your diabetes not be a problem for it.  But the sugar companies, like the tobacco companies, pay a lot of money to squash this knowledge.

Be as strict as you can (don't let the stuff cross your door step), because there are always occasions when you do have to eat some to be polite - like when someone puts some homemade cake in front of you!  By the way, dark chocolate (70% or more cocoa is ok).  Also, I sometimes add some pure cocoa powder to my plain greek yoghurt).  No sugar in pure cocoa powder.

I have not heard of Dreamfields pasta so can't comment on it.  I know the slendier slim pasta is good.  One just rinses it and heat it up in very hot water and leave it sit in the water for a minute before serving.  However, I keep it in fridge (in the water) and mix some in with my veges (I steam up a big range of veges and heat up a serve each day), or meat sauce.

Of course, too much alcohol is also a cause of fatty liver as well as having haemochromatosis.

Low GI is not the same as low starchy carb.  Carbs are still carbs whether they are absorbed slowly or not, and if you are not into running a few miles a day, or going out to chop the wood for the fire each night, then they will store as fat.

Also consume good oils - e.g. xv olive oil, avocado, grape seed oil and coconut oil (contentious).  I cook with coconut oil, stick some in my yoghurt, and drizzle lemon infused xv olive oil on my veges.

 

Thanks, your advice has helped a lot and I have started today to put the changes into practice.  I had a tomato and cucumber salad with some feta cheese (weighed at 40g), I had 2 small fresh figs in the PM and for my evening meal I had a homemade red Thai chicken curry with cauli rice, a handful of peas and some fresh spinach mixed in, no naan bread.  I then later had a couple of Brazil nuts with 9g walnuts.  Is this a good start do you think? 

Way to go Carina!  You have really got it.  Cauli rice and all.  Except I never weigh my food or worry about quantity when I know the food has low carbs.  A 200g tomatoe has 5 grams of carbs.  50 g of cucumber has 2 grams.  Feta = 0.  So you can pile up the plate if you want.  Add some green leaves for more fibre.

Figs are very high though = 28 gs.  Have them in the morning so that you work them off during the day.

Olives are a good low carb pre dinner snack too.

 

I'm quite cross of the fact that my GP does not seem concerned about the fatty liver ( I am though) and has not referred me to a dietician or anything, don't doctors take fatty liver seriously? It is so common I believe.  I could have had this for years without knowing about it, only picked up incidentally during an ultrasound scan for what I thought was gallstones which turned out I hadn't got but liver cysts were picked up, 3 of them which they are now monitoring.  I think it's disgusting that the NHS only act when it seems to be too late ie we should all be scanned but of course that would be too expensive. 

Is porridge not good then? What about carrots? 

carrots are not real bad,, but they are considered high in carbs.. I don't eat many carrots. I eat a lot of veggies.. but not a lot of carrots or corn or potaotes.. sweet or white. I get a bread that is sprouted.. it only has 4 carbs in it...unlike most breads that have 12 or more per slice.. 

Carrots have 10g carbs per 100 gs. Best avoid them for time being.  Growing underground they are high in sugar.  Now that I have my waist back, I break my rule of <9 and have 1/16th of a large beetroot for its wonderful qualities at dinnertime or with a lunch salad.

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Dietician's diabetic diets are probably good for a slim diabetic 1 - not good for a diabetic who needs to lose weight.  In fact, I do not know of anyone who has lost weight on a dietician's diet yet, except if all they ate was junk food previously, then any alternative is going to make a difference.

Moderation in everything does not work when your body is not metabolising sugars and starches properly.

 

All I know is when my sister got off what the diabetic assc. suggeseted to eat as far as carb,, and she went lower. she lost weight and got off all meds.. 

I was disgusted when I was first diagnosed with diabetes of the poor advice I was given on what to eat, they seemed to think everything in moderation is ok but that's wrong if you're a diabetic, the medics seem too scared to say low carb is the way. 

My mission is to lose enough weight to be able to come off most of my meds, that would be such an achievement for me.