Healthy indulgence – how the liver gets its grease!If you think of liver damage, the first thing you associate with it is probably alcohol problems. And yes: You can "naturally" take care of your most important detoxification organ drink broken". What few people think about, however, is that we can also damage our liver with too much food and too little exercise.
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liver damage? Alcohol problem! This short equation is probably in the minds of many people. What hardly anyone knows, however, is that we can do enormous damage to our liver without alcohol, but with plenty of unhealthy food and lack of exercise. The treacherous thing about it: the liver does not hurt and often suffers undetected. Doc Esser gives advice on which symptoms should be taken seriously and shows how we can heal our detoxification organ ourselves.
How does a fatty liver develop?
Carbohydrates, fat, sugar – the abundant supply of unhealthy foods in our supermarkets is tempting. It is therefore hardly surprising that the proportion of overweight and obese people is constantly increasing, especially in industrialized countries.
Obesity promotes many diseases. One of them is fatty liver. It is now considered the most common chronic liver disease in this country. According to the German Liver Foundation, one in three adults today already has. Every third overweight child is affected by fatty liver – tendency increasing.
If the body is supplied with too many calories, fat is deposited in the liver tie. In addition to poor nutrition, lack of exercise, heavy alcohol consumption and regular medication can also be the causes. Even if there are hardly any complaints at first, the effects are sometimes serious.
Non-alcoholic fatty liver: the most progressive liver disease
Those who like to feast and do little exercise are making life difficult for their liver. Non-alcoholic fatty liver often occurs as a consequence of the so-called metabolic syndrome. In medicine this is understood to be a collective term for various risk factors. These include:
– severe obesity (especially abdominal fat) – permanently elevated blood sugar levels – high blood prere – elevated blood lipid levels
An unhealthy lifestyle is usually the cause of metabolic syndrome. If the body is continuously supplied with more calories than it can burn, the excess energy is stored in the form of fat. This occurs not only in the fatty tie, but also in the liver. If the organ gradually becomes fatty, this favors a variety of other diseases – from type 2 diabetes to cardiovascular problems.
Even though weight is a risk factor for liver damage, the livers of thin people can also become abnormally fatty. Because it's not just wrong actions such as poor diet and lack of exercise that damage the organ; problems in the intestines, for example, can also cause the liver to become fatty. However, at just five to ten percent, normal-weight people represent only a fraction of affected fatty liver patients.
This is how fatty liver can be helped
It is not yet possible to cure non-alcoholic fatty liver with medication. But there is good news: the liver is a true miracle organ that can repair itself and reduce fat deposits if left to its own devices. Depending on the cause of the fatty liver, this can be achieved by a change in diet, drinking habits, more exercise and controlled weight loss.
Overweight people should aim for a slow and cautious weight reduction of up to one kilogram per week and keep an eye on long-term success. Starvation diets and short-term diets to lose weight quickly are not advisable.
What patients with fatty liver should eat
To help the liver in the long term, doctors advise a permanent change in diet. A fiber-rich diet with lots of fresh vegetables and salad is sensible here. Foods made from short-chain carbohydrates, such as those found in white flour products, are unsuitable, however. Food is equally inadvisable. Drinks with a high proportion of industrially obtained fructose. Better than juices are water or unsweetened tea. In addition, fish should be preferred over meat.
And what about fat? The obvious amption would be that the harmful liver fat disappears only by abstaining from fatty foods – but this is not quite true. It all depends on the choice of the right fats. If food contains too much saturated fat, the liver can't fully process it and stores it. Unsaturated omega-3 fatty acids from vegetable oils such as olive oil or walnut oil are better.
Small meals are better than lavish large portions. In order to give the liver a break, it is also advisable to avoid constant snacks in between meals.