Unlock the secrets to a healthier liver with unique insights from me, Leonila Campos, your trusted registered dietitian. Our latest episode delves into the realities of Metabolic Dysfunction Associated Fatty Liver Disease (MAFLD), an illness cloaked in silence that now touches one in four Americans, including an alarming number of children. Together, we'll navigate through the often overlooked connection between MAFLD and metabolic syndrome, equipping you with the knowledge to tackle this stealthy health adversary head-on.
As we traverse the landscape of liver function, from its detoxifying prowess to its nutrient stockpiling capabilities, we'll reveal the subtle indicators of liver distress and discuss why early action is critical to avoid serious consequences. You'll be captivated by a real-life case study shedding light on the intricacies of liver-related discomfort and diagnosis, demonstrating the urgency of recognizing early signs for optimal liver care. It’s a conversation that promises not only to inform but to transform the way you approach your well-being.
The episode culminates with a treasure trove of strategies to manage and potentially reverse MAFLD through informed nutrition and regular physical activity. You'll leave with a thorough understanding of the dietary changes needed to combat this condition and the encouragement to seek support, not solitude, in your health journey. So, join us and empower yourself with the tools to nurture your liver and enhance your overall health, because your body deserves the best care possible.
Liver Foundation
Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease
Thank you for listening. Please subscribe to this podcast and share with a friend. If you would like to know more about my services, please message at fueledbyleo@gmail.com
My YouTube Channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC0SqBP44jMNYSzlcJjOKJdg
Unlock the secrets to a healthier liver with unique insights from me, Leonila Campos, your trusted registered dietitian. Our latest episode delves into the realities of Metabolic Dysfunction Associated Fatty Liver Disease (MAFLD), an illness cloaked in silence that now touches one in four Americans, including an alarming number of children. Together, we'll navigate through the often overlooked connection between MAFLD and metabolic syndrome, equipping you with the knowledge to tackle this stealthy health adversary head-on.
As we traverse the landscape of liver function, from its detoxifying prowess to its nutrient stockpiling capabilities, we'll reveal the subtle indicators of liver distress and discuss why early action is critical to avoid serious consequences. You'll be captivated by a real-life case study shedding light on the intricacies of liver-related discomfort and diagnosis, demonstrating the urgency of recognizing early signs for optimal liver care. It’s a conversation that promises not only to inform but to transform the way you approach your well-being.
The episode culminates with a treasure trove of strategies to manage and potentially reverse MAFLD through informed nutrition and regular physical activity. You'll leave with a thorough understanding of the dietary changes needed to combat this condition and the encouragement to seek support, not solitude, in your health journey. So, join us and empower yourself with the tools to nurture your liver and enhance your overall health, because your body deserves the best care possible.
Liver Foundation
Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease
Thank you for listening. Please subscribe to this podcast and share with a friend. If you would like to know more about my services, please message at fueledbyleo@gmail.com
My YouTube Channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC0SqBP44jMNYSzlcJjOKJdg
Hey, hey, hey, welcome back to another episode in the Simple Nutrition Insights Podcast. I am your host, leonida Campos, registered Dietitian. Today is Monday, and so is the day after Mother's Day, so hopefully you got to enjoy Mother's Day, or, if you're not a mom, you got to celebrate, right? I celebrated at home. Um, we were going to go to my mom's house, but my kids got sick, and so I. We wanted to prevent anybody else getting sick, um, and so we're hoping to celebrate, maybe, uh, over the, you know, next weekend, but anyway, anyway, uh, it's getting warmer here in california and so in the central valley, um, so we're well, at least we get to swim as it starts to warm up. But anyway, I hope you had a really good weekend.
Speaker 1:I wanted to talk about, um, fatty liver disease, right, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, specifically. Now the name has changed. Now they changed it to I think it was I don't know if it was this year or last year that the name was changed and so now it's called metabolic dysfunction associated steatotic liver disease. Oh, my goodness, such a long name M-A-S-L-D for short, but it's essentially still going to. It's the same thing as non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, and so why talk about that today class in Spanish about this topic in specific, because the community organization and leader of that specific community noticed that a lot of people in the community were talking about this condition specifically and asking for resources in terms of nutrition and how to help them manage or improve their liver function, and so I spoke to the community about this topic in specific. But it's not something that we're seeing that is decreasing, right, so it is actually increasing. The numbers are continuing to increase and so, surprisingly, as the numbers in weight, numbers in obesity, right, are increasing. It's almost the same with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, or MASLD, and so I found some statistics and I'll link all the resources that I'm going to use for today's podcast. I'm going to link them in the show notes so you can go back and take a look at them, and so.
Speaker 1:But non-alcoholic fatty liver disease affects about 100 million people, and that's about 25% in the US, right, estimated. Of course, we have the population that maybe have no idea that they have this condition, and so you know we have to account for that too. But it's also surprising, right, that non-alcoholic fatty liver disease is also the most ordinary form of liver disease in children, right, and it has doubled, or actually more than doubled, over the past 20 years. Now, I'm going to let you think about that for a moment. Right, because if children are already having this condition, right, it's affecting the liver already and it doesn't mean that it's going to go away as we get older, right, we don't change our nutrition, and so that means that children are going to be suffering right with this condition for a longer period of time, right, pretty much for the rest of their lives, if nothing is changed. And so we're going to go into, like, what can we do, right To one, prevent it. And then also, if we already have the condition, right, how can we manage it? How can we help our liver to heal? Because that is actually one of the amazing things is that our liver is able to heal right and repair, but we have to allow it to do that.
Speaker 1:And so, going into now, there's also, like we think about okay, why is it called non-alcoholic? Because there's actually something called alcoholic fatty liver disease, right, because of excess alcohol intake or just, you know, drinking alcohol consistently, and that damages the liver, right, our liver is one of the detoxifying organs and so, obviously, when we drink something pretty much anything like, anything that we eat, anything that we drink, is going to go through the liver and then it's going to go to our kidneys, right, our main detoxifying organs. And so it makes sense, right, that when we drink alcohol, our liver sees that as a toxin and it has to get rid of it, right? And so if we do that on a consistent basis, or we, you know, on the weekend, we're like, oh, let's party, right, it's the weekend and then we drink so much. Imagine how much work your liver has to do. But anyway, we're not going to talk about alcoholic fatty liver disease today. Today is a non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, or MASLD, the new name.
Speaker 1:Now you might wonder, okay, why did they change? Why did they add metabolic right? Because it is seen more in people that have weight issues, right, but there's also that component of insulin resistance, high cholesterol, high triglycerides, and so these are the criteria, right, that organizations came up with to describe metabolic syndrome, right, which is the high amount of weight. Right, bmi over 25, the high amount of triglycerides, low HDL, which is your good cholesterol. If there are blood pressure issues, high fasting blood glucose, insulin resistance, right, those are considered part of the metabolic syndrome. Insulin resistance, right, those are considered part of the metabolic syndrome and so liver disease right, or non-alcoholic liver disease or fatty liver disease, has some of those components too.
Speaker 1:Right, it is healthy to have a little bit of fat on our liver, right. But sometimes when there's too much fat in the liver, right on the liver right. But sometimes when there's too much fat in the liver, right on the liver, that, according to the non-alcoholic the American Liver Foundation, if it accounts to more than 5 to 10% of the actual liver weight of that fat, then that's when it's considered fatty liver, right. And it could be again, because of different reasons, right. The high amount of weight, the high triglycerides, the high cholesterol, the low good cholesterol right. Hdl, the insulin resistance right, that affects the liver.
Speaker 1:Now, of course, there are other conditions or other factors that can affect the liver too. Medications are some of those. Right. Obviously, if there is a liver issue, always consulting with your doctor, right. Looking at your medications, all your medications and supplements, right that you're taking, even the ones that are not on the list, right. Supplements like herbals or whatever that you're taking. You have to tell all that to your doctor, right? Or your liver specialist or your GI specialist, because they have to know everything right To help you, to properly assist you.
Speaker 1:Now, masld, I still have to get used to that new name Metabolic Associated Esthetic Liver Disease. How is it diagnosed? Right, usually there are tests that they do for your liver, right, like the liver enzymes are elevated. Obviously they look more into why they're elevated, right, there's some tests that you can do, like a fibroid test or a scan to see the stage of the disease. Now, there are different stages.
Speaker 1:Right, there is the steatosis, which is the fatty liver, and then as it progresses, meaning that maybe we're not addressing it. Right, we're not changing anything, everything stays the same. Now, it gets worse, right, it creates inflammation on the liver, it makes it bigger, it makes it swell, right, and that is called non-alcoholic steatohepatitis. Right, hepatitis is just the inflammation of the liver, which stands for MASH, m-a-s-h. Right. Now, if again nothing is done, right, we went from steatosis to now steatohepatitis. Now, the inflammation, right, and the swelling, and we don't do. Now, the inflammation, right and the swelling, and we don't do anything about it.
Speaker 1:Right, then it goes into cirrhosis, right, that's the scarring of the liver and at that point, right, the liver has been damaged a lot. There's scar tissue, right, and so it makes it really hard. Our organs should not be hard, right. They have to have, like, like, some flexibility. They have, you know, they're I don't know how to explain it in simpler forms right, but they shouldn't be hard like a rock, right. And so, in this case, the scarring of the liver it's hard for the liver to do the functions that the liver has to do, and the liver has so many functions.
Speaker 1:I told you about the detoxification of things, right, but it also helps with cholesterol management, right, with glucose or glycogen or hormone production, right. Vitamins, vitamin D, your fat soluble vitamins. It has a lot of functions, right. And so if we start to have liver issues right at the beginning, we might not have any symptoms, right, and that is the problem usually. So this condition, just like any other chronic condition, right, it doesn't happen right away, right, it's not like acute, unless if something happens, right, where the liver gets damaged quickly, right, acute. And then it might, just, you know, with some time it'll heal up and then it'll get back to, you know, being a normal liver.
Speaker 1:But a lot of the times these conditions, right, happen over time, so they become chronic, and so you don't get symptoms right away, right, you start to get symptoms when the condition starts to progress. And so now your body's like, well, okay, I tried really hard to get back to normal, I tried really hard to heal up and heal the liver, but you're not helping me here, right, we continue to do these things and we're not helping our bodies. And so now, like, I can only help you so much, and now you're going to get symptoms, right, so at the beginning you are not going to have symptoms per se, but if you do have some of the symptoms, right, that could be fatigue or extreme tiredness. Now it's really difficult, like, if you're're really tired, to say, oh, I have liver issues, because maybe you could be tired because you're not sleeping well, right, or you have sleep apnea, or you're not resting well, you don't have good quality sleep. So there's obviously we have to look in deeper, right as to like, why is it that I have fatigue? But that's one of the symptoms essentially, um, weakness, discomfort or pain in the abdomen.
Speaker 1:Right, I have a new patient right that came to me because of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, stage one. So it's the osteotosis, right, just the fatty liver. But he's now having or he was at that time when he didn't know what was happening, but he was having, like this really stomach pain, right, that it was hurting so much and so he would have to go to the ER, right, because it was so painful. Now he's thinking is it because of the liver or is it because I also have gastritis? Right, inflammation in the stomach, or could it be know, related? I don't know that answer. Um, obviously he has his health care team that is helping. I'm helping with the nutrition, right, and so it's great because now we're a team, right, we're trying to figure out how to um, help deliver here.
Speaker 1:Um, okay, so then it goes from maasLD right to MASH, the inflammation and the swelling, and we still don't do anything. Right, so now it's doing more damage to the liver, and so we're having some of those symptoms now, right, the discomfort or the pain in the abdomen, the tiredness, the weakness, okay, but we continue to not do anything. Right, so now the liver is getting more damaged, right, it's getting to that, scarring, and so now we're seeing jaundice, right, yellowish of the skin, yellowish of the eyes, severe itching right, and fluid buildup, which is called ascites, fluid buildup in the belly right, that's called ascites, and then there is buildup of fluid in the ankles right, edema, essentially sometimes mental confusion, right, because the liver is not doing that job of detoxifying, so toxins are building up. Your kidneys are taking up that part, right, they're trying to pick up what the liver is not able to do anymore. Then what's going to happen? Right, your kidneys are going to get also overworked, right, so now we're going to have those two issues liver failure, kidney failure. Right, because we're overworking those organs.
Speaker 1:So now this is into the more extreme, right, we get into cirrhosis and then at that time usually there is no going back. Right, we have damage to the liver so much that now we have to pretty much manage the symptoms, right, manage the ascites, which you have to get the fluid out. Right, stoically, you have to get the fluid out If your kidneys are failing. Right now you have to have dialysis, um, to help again, to detoxify the blood, get some of the excess fluid out, but not the fluid from the belly, right, unfortunately, the dialysis won't help so much. Uh, getting the ascites, right, that has to be done surgically, uh and so, and then, unfortunately too, right once that. Once that happens, right, you're gonna have to have it's called paracentesis, right. Once you have to have paracentesis, getting that fluid out of that um ascites.
Speaker 1:It's usually recurring, right, unless if you get a liver transplant. Right, because again, at that moment either it's you know, a cirrhosis or carcinoma, right, cancer of the liver. You have to have a liver transplant at that moment. Right, because the liver has been damaged so much. So that's in the more extreme cases, right.
Speaker 1:But the amazing thing is that we can do something about it. Right, if we have the osteotosis right, we have just that excess fat around the liver. We can do something about it, right. So what can we do? Usually, one of the recommendations in terms of nutrition right, is weight loss, because weight loss has been shown and there is research about it which I'm going to link in the show notes that if you have the um, the osteotosis, right, that losing um about three to five percent um of the weight can help right, can help reduce that fat on the liver. Just, obviously it's around our body. But if there is that inflammation, right, the mesh, then losing 7 to 10% of your current weight will be more beneficial, right. So 3 to 5% if there is that fat around the liver, osteotosis, 7 to 10% if there is that inflammation right Now, we also have to look at, okay, what else is happening with this fatty liver, right, the non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, maasld.
Speaker 1:Now, if we have elevated triglycerides, right Now, this is to the discretion of your doctor. If your doctor wants to give you medication or combination of medication and changing your eating habits or let's start with the eating habits first and then we'll see if we need the medication you know you have to follow what your doctor is advising you, and so if triglycerides are elevated, right then we'll focus on the triglycerides. Now, what is going to help here to the triglycerides? Now, what is going to help here to lower triglycerides is limiting, right, our refined sugars? Right, our added sugars, our refined flours? Right, high fructose corn syrup.
Speaker 1:Now, everything, oh my gosh, everything that is out there is going to have some kind of high fructose corn syrup, and that's because it's a cheap ingredient. It's used to flavor food, it's used to add sweetness to things. Even tomato marinara sauce can have high fructose corn syrup. You're like, what in the world, why? But what is going to help here is label greeting. Now I did an episode oh, my goodness, I don't remember what a few of the first few episodes that I did when I started my podcast, so you can go back to the episodes and find the label reading one where I talk about step-by-step on how to read a food label. But the first thing that you have to do always, right, is look at the serving size and that serving size is going to give you all the other numbers are going to be to that serving size. If there are multiple serving sizes and you eat more than one serving size, just multiply everything times, however many servings you ate right.
Speaker 1:But when it comes to high fructose corn syrup right, you're not going to see it on the nutrition facts label. You're only going to see added sugar. Right. Now you have to see, okay, where is this added sugar coming from? Is it coming from just sugar? Is it coming from I don't know, these other forms of sugar, or is it coming from high fructose corn syrup? Right? The way that you're going to be able to see that is under the ingredients list, right? So you not only have to look at the nutrition facts label, you also have to look at an ingredients list, right? That's where you're going to find what is essentially in that specific product.
Speaker 1:So if you see high fructose corn syrup? Right, that's a man-made or chemically made form of sugar which is pretty cheap, right, it's found everywhere, and so we want to try to limit that as much as we can. If we are able to avoid it, even better, right, but I know that sometimes we're not able to avoid it. Limit it to a very minimal amount that you can, as possible. Now, added sugars right, this is not coming from fruit. I want you to understand that Added sugars are not coming from fruit, right, those are natural sugars. Now, added sugars are like table sugar, high fructose corn syrup and any other sugars that are added to that specific product.
Speaker 1:So the amount of added sugars, right, that you want to try to stick to, if possible, is no more than 10% of your total calories. Now, that's going to be very individualized, you know, each person has different amount of calories, but in a day, right, let's for example, you know, to keep it super simple if you are consuming 1800 calories, right, 10% of that is going to be 180 calories, right? 180 calories coming from added sugar To me that's still a lot, but we can start there, right. 180 calories coming from added sugar To me that's still a lot, but we can start there, right? To put it in perspective, right? 180 calories, right, coming from sugar or added sugars.
Speaker 1:Let's, for example, take soda right, soda has lots of high-fructose corn syrup I'm just doing a quick search here. So Christian facts label. So 12 ounces. 12 ounce can of sugar, right, has 39 grams of sugar, right, 39 grams. And 39 grams times four, right, because that's usually what it is. That's 156 calories, right? So that's pretty much what you need. That's pretty much the recommendation, right for keeping it 10% or less.
Speaker 1:Now, keep in mind that you're not only going to have soda, right, you're going to have other things that are going to have added sugar to it. And so having that mindfulness, right, having that awareness okay, where is my added sugar coming from? Is going to help you to essentially create change, right? If we have no idea, we don't know where things are coming from, how are you going to make a change? Right, it's hard because you don't know where to start. So that's one of the recommendations there. Now, that's in terms of triglycerides, right, same thing. If we have insulin resistance, most definitely. We have diabetes, right, which I haven't made a created a podcast episode on that, but that is coming. If we have diabetes, right? The same thing. We want to make sure that we are mindful as to where our sugar is coming from, where our refined carbohydrates are coming from, and simple carbohydrates as well.
Speaker 1:Right Now, I want to really emphasize here, because I do hear this a lot. Oh, I shouldn to really emphasize here, right, because I do hear this a lot. Oh, I shouldn't eat fruit because it has fructose. Again, this is different, right? High fructose corn syrup is a chemically created sugar. Right, fructose coming from fruit, that's natural sugar.
Speaker 1:Right Now, we're not going to just have fructose to buy from the fruit. We're getting other nutrients, we're getting fiber, we're getting minerals, we're getting vitamins. So I don't want you to avoid fruit, right, because you're trying to limit your sugar. What I'm trying to say here is I want you to work and limit your added sugar, right, your sugar that hasn't added to your food, but your added sugar, right, your sugar that hasn't added to food. But know your fruits. Right Now, if you're telling me oh, I eat 15 fruits a day, okay, maybe we should balance things out, because if we're adding that much fruit, then we're probably not eating enough vegetables, right? Or enough protein. Again, we have to be mindful of how we are creating our meals, but keep that in mind for for sure.
Speaker 1:So that's in terms of the triglycerides, right now, um and uh, consuming high amounts of sugars, obviously consuming high amounts of um flours or pastries or um baked products. Again, they're going to have the high fructose corn syrup, but they're also, most likely, are going to have trans fats, right, and I talk about trans fats too in that nutrition facts label episode that I did. So definitely go back to it so you can learn more about that. But trans fats, right, there's some foods that have a small amount of trans fats mostly your animal products. There are some foods that have a small amount of trans fats mostly your animal products but there's also trans fat that has been modified by the food industry to make food last longer, to give that extra flavor.
Speaker 1:So if you combine high fructose corn syrup and trans fat, holy moly, now you have this product that really excites our taste buds. And so now it's really difficult to say no, right, because we're like, wow, this combination is great. But what is that doing to our health, right? What is that doing to our organs If we consume it consistently and that's all? We consume, nothing else. So trans fat.
Speaker 1:You're going to see the name on the nutrition facts label. It most likely is going to always say zero Because, right, usda said we need to lower the amount of trans fat as much as we can because we know that that is not beneficial to heart health, also to our liver health, and so you're always going to see that for the most part, as zero. But you have to look that for the most part as zero. But you have to look again at the ingredients list. You have to see, okay, is it really true that this product has zero trans fat? Right On the ingredients list you're going to see something that is called partially hydrogenated oils or fully hydrogenated oils, and, my friend, that is trans fat. So if a product has freshly or fully hydrogenated oils, it doesn't have to be on the nutrition facts label if it has 0.5 grams or less. But what if it has 0.4 and you eat two servings of that? Now it's 0.8, and you eat two servings of that now it's 0.8, right? So, yeah, that is up to you, right? But on the Nutrition Facts label it's going to say 0, but that doesn't mean that you're having zero, right? Or that doesn't mean that the product doesn't have any. So do your due diligence and look at those products right To make sure that it truly doesn't have any hydrogenated oils.
Speaker 1:That can also affect your liver, right, and your heart health as well. So we have to limit that right Now. If we have high cholesterol right, we have cholesterol issues and we also have the non-alcoholic fatty liver disease right, we have to manage those cholesterol levels right. If the HDL, which is your good cholesterol, is low, okay, let's try to work on increasing that, and I think I did an episode on cholesterol too, so definitely go back to that episode. If our LDL, which is our bad cholesterol, is high, right, let's figure out where our saturated fat is coming from, right, essentially, that's what affects our LDL and our total cholesterol, and that way, again, it's the awareness, right. That way we can make some changes nutritionally to help our liver, but not only our liver, our heart too, right? Because if we have high cholesterol issues and we have fatty liver disease, um, not only our liver has been affected, but also our heart, right. So you know, essentially, making those changes, we can help implement these changes right.
Speaker 1:What can we do to maybe manage the condition, prevent going from MASLD to MASH? Right, the mesh, the inflammation, and then you know, of course, the cirrhosis, right. So number one right? I already talked about creating a plan to help lower our weight. If we have weight issues, right, if we have that increased body fat mostly in our in around our gut, um, that three to 5%, right, if we have, uh, steatosis or the fatty liver, and then seven to 10%, we have that inflammation right Of the liver already, and so one of those, how can we prevent it?
Speaker 1:Maintaining a healthy weight? Right, our healthy weight right, but not only our weight per se, but also, you know that, balance of muscle and body fat. Right. Now we also want to nutritionally right. We want to make sure that the meals that we're consuming are balanced. Right, if, right now, our meals are mostly processed, lots of fast food, lots of sugary treats or baked products perfect way to start there, right? You're going to make a huge difference by just changing a few of those things, because that can help your weight, but also you're allowing your liver to take a break from processing all that sugar, from processing all those simple carbohydrates, by adding right more lean pieces of protein, more whole grains, more fruits, more vegetables, low-fat products right If, specifically low-fat dairy products if you consume dairy. But really focusing on okay, how is my nutrition right now? Right? Okay, now I have this condition? Right, my liver has excess fat. How can I help my liver? Right, let's look at my nutrition. Let's look at see where can I start right.
Speaker 1:Sometimes, when and I see this often with my clients, right, that they feel so overwhelmed and they're like I have no idea what to eat, right, I don't know where to start. I feel confused, there's no guidance, and so they start to make these insane changes that are not sustainable, for example, not eating anything at all or just eating salads, right, or just eating I don't know things like that, right, and they're unsustainable, and they're also hungry. You know, I would be hungry too if we're like just eating salads, right, yeah, great, we're adding vegetables, but now let's add some protein to the salad. Let's add some healthy fats avocados, nuts, seeds so we can stay satiated longer and we're not having to be hungry all the time, right, if we're hungry, right, we usually are not going to be able to continue with that plan, because who can function being hungry all the time?
Speaker 1:So, number one look at your eating, look at your nutrition at the moment, right, and start with the simplest thing that you can think of. Right, like, what can I change right now? Right, what can I do in the next day that is going to help me build momentum, right? So, for example, wow, I'm not even eating any vegetables at all, right, but I really enjoy having cauliflower. Great, start there. Add cauliflower every single day for one of your meals until you know next week where you're like okay, now that I added cauliflower, what other veggies I like to eat?
Speaker 1:Right, I hear this often too with my clients I hate broccoli, or I hate asparagus or Brussels sprouts. Hey, there's so many vegetables out there, right, you don't have to have those vegetables if you don't like them. Right? Like, I'm not going to punish you and say, hey, because you need to add vegetables, I want you to eat two cups of broccoli when you hate broccoli? Right, like, that is just not right. So, find the vegetables that you enjoy, find the vegetables that you had in the past and you're like I can tolerate that, I can absolutely add them. And start building up that way the amount of vegetables that you want to add.
Speaker 1:Right, start with at least two cups of vegetables at one of your meals, but you want to add, right, it start with at least two cups of vegetables one of your meals. But you want to have at least one cup every time you have a meal, right? So breakfast, sometimes it's hard to add a vegetable, unless if you have like omelets, or if you have tofu scrambled or something like that, where you can add some vegetables. But even if you have, um, um, oh, my gosh, a smoothie, you can add lots of spinach there, you can add beets, you can add lettuce, you can add celery, you can add vegetables like that. But if you're like, no, I don't want to have vegetables in the morning, that's fine. Have them at lunch and have them at dinner.
Speaker 1:If you add snacks, let's have some vegetables with our snacks, right, carrots, bell peppers with hummus. Maybe you want to make a wrap, right, a lettuce wrap with some deli meat or some sliced tofu Perfect. Add them like that and then work on it like that, right, for a couple weeks. And then let's add some more plant sources. Right Now, let's add some beans and legumes or beans, lentils, right, to add more of that fiber again, to help our liver as well, and then adding some of your lean protein sources, right Again.
Speaker 1:I think I talk about these on pretty much every single episode that I do. You have to have protein with your meals, right, because protein helps us to stay satiated but also balances out our blood sugars and so and we're not going to be as hungry right away, right as to, you know post, if we don't, if we omit it, right? So our leaner pieces of protein are some plant sources of protein tofu, aromame, tempeh, seitan texture, vegetable protein right, maybe one day out of the week, you add, you make it a plant-based meal. Right, where you can have, like this, higher amount of fiber. So, um, those are some tips right now.
Speaker 1:Like I said previously, if you feel like this is so overwhelming and you're like, oh my gosh, I have to make all these changes, start small, right, don't try to change everything at once if you get so overwhelmed, right, you want to make these changes at your own pace and you want to keep them. Right, you have to be consistent, because what good is it going to do if you know, for three months, you work so hard and you restrict so much and, yes, you lower your your liver enzymes or you help your liver? Right, then, there's no more of that steatosis. No, there's no more of that excess fat around the liver, and you're like, yay, I did it. And then, three months after that, you're like, whew, now I can go back to what I was doing. My friend, no, that's not going to help, because your liver is going to go back to what it was when you were eating that same way, right? So think of these as a lifestyle change, right, as a long-term change, and so you have to be able to create this change, slowly and at your own pace.
Speaker 1:Of course, we cannot forget about exercise, right? We have to also be physically active. Our bodies are meant to be mobile, to be physically active. Now, it doesn't have to be oh, I want you to run a marathon, right. Or I want you to go and do a triathlon, or I want you to go to the gym, right.
Speaker 1:Start with walking. Walking is it's so underrated, right. You have to start walking if that's the only thing you can do, right, and sometimes I hear this often too Um, I cannot walk for an hour, like, who said that you have to walk for an hour? Right, you have 15 minutes? Go for a walk, right. You have 10 minutes. Go for a walk, right If you have to take kids to the kids to practice. Take a walk, right. I have a client that she's like I started walking while my kid was, you know, on walk right. I have a client that she's like I started walking while my kid was, you know, on soccer training, right, soccer practice. I walked the field multiple times and I got my 45 minutes of walking and I feel great, there you go, right, start walking.
Speaker 1:Sometimes we create these really restrictive or these huge rules or goals and we're like, yikes, I can't do that, right. Or today is really busy and I only have 10 minutes. Then walk right, like. I can't go to the gym, no problem, use what you have at the moment. Right, don't make it difficult for yourself. Try to figure out. Okay.
Speaker 1:I think if we change our mindset in terms of, like, the changes that we have to do for our own health, that's really going to be a life changer, right? So, instead of seeing it as a chore, instead of seeing it as, like, this is another thing that I have to do, but we see it as a priority, right, like today, I'm prioritizing myself, I'm prioritizing my health and I am going to take a walk. Yes, I have a million things that I have to do, but those things can wait. When I come back from my walk they're going to be there, right, and that's okay. Right, you have to prioritize yourself. You have to prioritize your health now that you can, because if you wait until the condition makes you take a break, boy, that's gonna be hard. So change your mindset right to things that you can do now, versus like the condition making you do the things right. So food for thought there, my friend, anyway. Now, yeah, physical activity. Now.
Speaker 1:The other thing too is you have to avoid alcohol. I usually don't say avoid, right, or eliminate, but in this case, if you have issues with your liver, you have to avoid alcohol. Alcohol, again, it's a toxin, is poison, right, essentially for your liver. Your liver has to work really hard to get rid of it, and then your kidneys as well. But if you have already, you know stage two, right, Steatosis. We're going into hepatitis. Right Now is that inflammation of the liver, and you continue to drink alcohol. What do you think is going to happen? Right, you continue to strain your liver. So then we're going to move on to slowly into cirrhosis, right, and so you just have to do it, my friend, right, it's not benefiting you.
Speaker 1:You might think that it is because it relaxes you or whatever, but you have to also rethink. Okay, why is it that I'm? Because it relaxes you or whatever? But you have to also rethink. Okay, why is it that I'm opting to have a drink? Right, is it because I feel relaxed? Okay, then let's figure out other ways to help manage our stress, to help create that decompression, without using it right as that form. So, if that is something that you really need help with, right, speaking to a professional about it, right, if you feel like, oh my gosh, like it's really hard for me to not have this drink every single day, right, definitely reach out to a health professional, right? Or a therapist, a counselor, a psychologist, to help you figure out, maybe, the reasons why that is. But that's one of the things that I will have to say about limit or avoid, for sure.
Speaker 1:And then again, talking to your pharmacist, right, talking to your doctor about the medications that you're consuming. Right, if you're having liver issues already, okay, what are the medications that I should be aware of? What are the medications that I should be aware of? What are the medications that I should not take? If I'm currently on a medication. Is this medication okay to take? Same thing again with supplements. Same thing again with herbals.
Speaker 1:You have to be really careful. I know there's lots of crazy things out there like, hey, take this herbal and it's going to cure you or it's going to heal your liver right, you have to be really careful with that because they're not regulated and they can make even more damage, right, create more damage. So consult with your healthcare provider always. Right, before you start adding other things. That's the management and, as well as well, the prevention, right of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease or masld. If you don't have it now but you have the metabolic syndrome, right again, that high bmi or high visceral fat, high triglycer, high cholesterol right, but there's no liver issues yet, you still have to make changes, right, because you're having these factors that can contribute to fatty liver disease and so that can lead to it, right. So you want to make sure that you do whatever you can to prevent it. Right To get to that point.
Speaker 1:So, anyway, my friend, I know I get so passionate about talking in terms of nutrition and how to help with these chronic conditions, right, how to manage them or how to prevent them. If you have anyone right that has non-alcoholic fatty liver disease that you can say, oh, this person will benefit from this episode. Send it to them. Please share it. Don't forget to subscribe so you don't miss any episodes. I usually do two a week, right? Mondays are always about a solo episode where I talk about different kinds of nutrition topics, and then wednesdays are usually with a guest um, and so definitely be on the lookout for that, um.
Speaker 1:But I think that is it, my friend for today. Um, again, I'm going to link their um the resources in the show notes, more information about non-alcoholic fatty liver disease and some of the recommendations there. If you have any questions, if you're still struggling, right, please don't hesitate to send me a message. Reach out to me if you have any specific questions, right, don't feel that you're alone. Um, if you haven't gotten the help that you need to help you create a sustainable plan to manage non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, reach out to me, right, um, and we'll go from there. But that is it, my friend, um, stay strong, stay safe. Uh, have a wonderful rest of your week and I will see you in another episode. Bye, bye for now.