What Foods should I be eating? Reversing a fatty liver involves, for most people, a change in life style. This change is more difficult for some people than others. It really depends upon how resistant you are to making the adjustments necessary, particularly to your diet. Dietary changes will involve cutting out foods which stress your liver and /or cause inflammatory reactions and replacing these with foods which are kind and supportive to your liver, allowing it time to recover. This section of the site is dedicated to the foods which require less work from your liver in order th ..read more

A number of medications and household chemicals are capable of damaging the liver by inflaming or killing liver cells. Some of these in longer term, lower doses can cause liver steatosis or fatty liver. Amiodarone and Methotrexate and Tamoxifen are just a few examples of medications which can cause fatty liver to develop which is why you should always read the manufacturers directives and listed side-effects of any medication you are taking. If in doubt, consult your doctor who may be able to recommend alternatives or explain how to mitigate the risk of liver damage. In addition to med ..read more

Sugar has many forms and when reversing a fatty liver we should take steps to avoid added sugar in our foods. That means, starting to drink tea and coffee without reaching for the sugar bowl, cutting out soda drinks and biscuits. Making these changes goes along way to ensuring that the only sugar we get is from natural sources. Recent evidence suggests that diets, high in sugar, particularly sucrose and high fructose corn syrup (HFCR) not only increase the risk of developing NAFLD but also promote the more serious, inflammatory progression to NASH. Fructose, which forms 50% of sucrose or ..read more

Many kind of nuts are beneficial in our diet and have been identified as nutritionally dense and loaded with unique blends of mono and poly unsaturated fats and fibre. Since the 5th century, nuts have been prescribed to cure assorted ailments while 1000 years ago during the Islamic renaissance they were viewed as valuable as a treatment for liver diseases. Walnuts and pine nuts are particularly high in poly unsaturated fats with walnuts having a omega-3 and omega-6 PUFA content of 47%. They are also a natural source of vitamin E and contain the highest levels of antioxidant polyphenols of ..read more

Monosodium Glutamate or GMG appears in many food preparations such as stock cubes, crisps and cracker flavorings, soups, salad dressings and among other things, instant noodles. Unfortunately, to the uninitiated, MSG is not always easy to determine as an ingredient of shop bought food. Here are some of the names used on packaging. monosodium salt, monosodium glutamate, monohydrate, monosodium L-glutamate monohydrate, MSG monohydrate, sodium glutamate monohydrate, L-Glutamic acid and monohydrate. So why should we avoid this seemingly ubiquitous product? Well the growing scientific e ..read more

There are many foods in the modern Western diet which contribute to the storage of excess fat in the liver and to systemic inflammation. When reversing a fatty liver and maintaining a healthy liver we need to be conscious of what we eat and to largely avoid certain foods. I general terms we need to avoid or severely limit the intake of sugars and alcohols and refined carbohydrates. Additionally, there are other harmful substances which fall into the category of medications, household or industrial chemicals and solvents and also some food additives. This section is intended to highlig ..read more

Alcohol should be avoided whenever possible if you are trying to reverse a fatty liver or want to maintain a healthy liver. If you have NAFLD then this is almost clinically indistinguishable from AFL. Doctors simply label the disease according to whether male patients consume more than 30 grams of pure ethanol per day or not. This equates to around 3 small glasses of wine. Simply drinking too many units of alcohol regularly will cause the liver to store excess fat which results in a fatty liver. In fact, scientists use alcohol in the diet of rats when reliably creating groups of experimenta ..read more

Flax seeds have been part of the human diet in Europe and North Africa for thousands of years. They are packed full of omega-3 oil and are rich in fibre, lignans and trace elements. I prefer to buy whole organic seeds as an alternative to cracked because this way they stay fresh much longer. The protective shell prevents oxidation of the omega-3 oil in the seed until consumed. Flax seeds are a great way to start the day. I usual eat 1-2 tablespoons per day with about half that amount at breakfast. Eating whole flax seeds directly from a spoon can be a bit tricky at first. The seeds are q ..read more

Milk Thistle (Silybum marianum), isn’t a food as such but is used as a herbal supplement in most liver tonics. If you consult with a liver specialist he/she might well prescribe a pharmaceutical grade product such as Legalon which has a measured amount of Silymarin, usually 70mg or 140 mg. This is the active ingredient found in Milk Thistle which has a proven liver cell protective action. Interestingly, studies have found that Milk Thistle can offer liver protection to people who have consumed poisonous mushrooms or other toxic substances which have a destructive action on the liver ..read more

As an unsaturated fat consisting of around 70% omega-9 fatty acid and anti-oxidants, olive oil is very different to most of the oils and fats we consume in our traditional western diet. It has though been used throughout history and forms the core of the Mediterranean diet which is widely regarded as healthy. Omega-9 fatty acids don’t have the same inflammatory effects on the body as saturated fats and omega-6 oils. As such, olive oil is kind to our liver and plays a part in the reduction of systemic inflammation. Olive oil tastes perhaps better cold in salads or taken neat as 2-3 table ..read more