Introduction
If you read my previous blog, you already know what fatty liver disease is and how people get affected by it. You’d also know that fatty liver disease is reversible and all you need to do is, change your lifestyle.
When you think about a healthy lifestyle, what are the things that come into your mind?
Nutritious diet and exercise. It’s that simple to keep fatty liver disease at bay. They can also keep your mind healthy and body fit. So that is an added advantage.
No matter the reason behind your fatty liver disease, you have to maintain a healthy weight. And the best way to know how much weight you need to gain or lose is to check your BMI (Body Mass Index).
How to calculate your BMI?
BMI is your weight in kilograms divided by the square of your height in meters.
A healthy person should have a BMI that falls between 18.5 to 24.9. So try to work towards that.
Best diet to reverse fatty liver disease
You don’t have to go all fancy and spend lots of money to improve your fatty liver disease. Everything you need to include in your diet might already be in your kitchen.
Ensure that you incorporate these into your diet.
- Fruits, vegetables and greens
Fruits and vegetables are rich in vitamins and other healthy nutrients that can improve your liver health. You get vitamins like B6, C and A from bananas. Lemons and limes have citric acid, potassium and Vitamin C that help detoxify and reduce inflammation in your liver. Greens are not necessarily something that all of you like, but the nitrates present in leafy greens, like spinach, have a significant impact on helping reverse fatty liver disease.
- Food with Omega-3 fatty acids like fish (salmon, sardines, anchovies), walnuts, flaxseed etc
These foods can help reduce fat in the liver and the chances of inflammation.
- Legumes like beans, soybeans, chickpeas, peanuts, lentils etc.
These are packed with fibre and nutrients and help lower blood sugar and also improve your gut health.
- Whole grains like barley, millet, quinoa, brown rice, red rice etc. are also great for your liver.
- Nuts can help reduce inflammation in your liver.
- Turmeric and Garlic also help in maintaining your overall health.
Here is one item you would not expect to see in this section.
Coffee!
Coffee doesn’t just keep you awake on your journey to work on a mundane Monday morning. Regular but regulated consumption of coffee can help prevent fatty liver disease.
Pro tip: You can get in touch with a dietitian to get a personalized diet plan based on your existing health conditions and allergies.
What foods to avoid for fatty liver
- Red meat, like Beef and pork, and cold-cut meats (sausages, salami etc.) have high quantities of saturated fats that are unhealthy for your liver.
- Fried food that is rich in calories and fat
- Food made out of Maida might be delicious, but it’s unhealthy. It’s heavily processed and can shoot up your blood sugar.
- Canned and processed food can be quite convenient, especially if you have a busy schedule. But ensure that you don’t make it an everyday thing.
- Sugar and salt. They can’t be avoided, but you can limit their intake.
And Alcohol is a definite no!
Staying active
Along with a healthy diet, you also have to keep yourself active by exercising regularly. Click here to find out which exercise works best to help reverse
fatty liver disease.
Liver diseases are mostly silent in the early stages. That is, you might not experience any symptoms at first. So, we’ll never know if we have a liver disease like fatty liver until we get a check-up.
But It doesn’t matter if you have fatty liver disease or not. This lifestyle change will ensure that you don’t even get it.
As the old saying goes, “Prevention is better than cure”.
