As I’ve posted, I’m having liver issues. Was very concerned about hepatic lipomatosis (due to overnutrition ). As triathletes, I thought “We are screwed as training demands a very high need for calories”.
Another doctor gave me a second opinion of Gilbert’s syndrome which is a milder liver disorder. Nonetheless, the answer to that is also to improve my diet to lessen the symptoms.
Highlights:
Don’t restrict proteins or you’ll easily shift to catabolism. Because it is harder to digest animal proteins eat vegetable proteins. Fish, eggs, dairy and some meats are OK depending on individual tolerances.
Don’t fast. If the liver is sub-optimal, you’re malnourished. Eat frequent small meals.
Don’t drink alcohol. I’ll add don’t drink sodas - my big mistake was to re-hydrate and refuel with Coke and Pepsi after training.
This liver diet seems pretty sound to me (even if you don’t need it).
Take milk thistle and B-150 everyday too. Liver cleans the blood and blood carries oxygen to all over your body. It’s one thing you must take good care of it. Clean diet, good sleep & rest and no alcohol is the key. Take blood test at least two times a year to check your liver.
Hepatic lipomatosis is not a disease, and nearly all of this post is misinformation based on you misinterpretation of what you’ve read. Lipomatosis IS a disease but isn’t exclusive to the liver and would never be confused with Gilbert’s syndrome.
If you have legit liver problems, avoid alcohol. I’ll give you that one.
Don’t fast. If the liver is sub-optimal, you’re malnourished. Eat frequent small meals. //
I’m sure there are many different problems with livers that are addressed in different ways. I have had high liver enzymes for over 20+ years, actually had the ultrasound to diagnose that I had fatty liver. I didn’t have a horrible diet, but it was not great either, drinking not a problem. When I began Intermittent fasting, all my enzymes came down, to the point now that I’m in the middle of normal ranges. No change in what I eat, just when. I believe(and others who study this stuff have postured) that giving the liver a break is the reason for it to get healthier. And that makes sense to me, if you keep it working 18 to 20 hours out of every single day, that seems like a stress to me. If you give it a 16 hour break each day, or some days a week, it has a chance to rest so to speak. I mean, we rest our muscles and other organs, why would the liver be any different??
Anyway just my N=1, and pretty sure actual blood work is not subject to a placebo affect. I think at some point I will do the ultrasound again and I will have a nice comparison there too. Although the reason in the first place was just to see if it was enlarged, or had some sign of disease…
Take milk thistle and B-150 everyday too. Liver cleans the blood and blood carries oxygen to all over your body. It’s one thing you must take good care of it. Clean diet, good sleep & rest and no alcohol is the key. Take blood test at least two times a year to check your liver.
Thanks and doing this. Will try B-150 after I use up my current B vitamin combo.
Have you heard of “pulsing” the milk thistle, dandelion, zinc, etc. by doing 5 days on and 2 days off? Read where if I do the supplements everyday the body gets used to them and “baselines”. Makes some sense. What do you think?
Exactly. Used to go to Taco Bell or Wendy’s after a workout and eat for less than $3.00 with free senior drinks (64yrs) as one of my many meals a day.
Happy to report that I was able to go “cold turkey” and stop this immediately. Now it’s less than four cups of coffee a day, water and eating at home without processed foods.
Don’t fast. If the liver is sub-optimal, you’re malnourished. Eat frequent small meals. //
I’m sure there are many different problems with livers that are addressed in different ways. I have had high liver enzymes for over 20+ years, actually had the ultrasound to diagnose that I had fatty liver. I didn’t have a horrible diet, but it was not great either, drinking not a problem. When I began Intermittent fasting, all my enzymes came down, to the point now that I’m in the middle of normal ranges. No change in what I eat, just when. I believe(and others who study this stuff have postured) that giving the liver a break is the reason for it to get healthier. And that makes sense to me, if you keep it working 18 to 20 hours out of every single day, that seems like a stress to me. If you give it a 16 hour break each day, or some days a week, it has a chance to rest so to speak. I mean, we rest our muscles and other organs, why would the liver be any different??
Anyway just my N=1, and pretty sure actual blood work is not subject to a placebo affect. I think at some point I will do the ultrasound again and I will have a nice comparison there too. Although the reason in the first place was just to see if it was enlarged, or had some sign of disease…
Good for you. The article said that a 16 hour fast for us would be like a 36 hour fast for the normal person. I think their concern and my concern is catabolism where the muscle is more likely to be used before the fat in the liver. I was thinking/hoping that I could train off that fatty liver, wrong. Fasting was hard for me at 6’ and 140-145lbs. I could make it about 12 hours max.
What did you mean or do under “No change in what I eat, just when”?
What did you mean or do under “No change in what I eat, just when”?
Just that really, no change in the food I eat, and just about the same amount too. You really are in a different circumstance, I’m 5’10" and was 185. By doing the IF regime, I got to under 170, but have been stuck there for 1/2 year now. So if I want to get those last few pounds, I will now have to alter how much I eat, or work out more. I would definitely rather work out more to do it, but I seem to be at a wall at about 7 hours a week or so, sucks being old. And I wish it were mimicking. 36 hour fast, but with my one hour a day of fasted exercise, I figure I get another 10+ hours to add to whatever I do, usually 17 to 19…
**What did you mean or do under “No change in what I eat, just when”? **
Just that really, no change in the food I eat, and just about the same amount too. You really are in a different circumstance, I’m 5’10" and was 185. By doing the IF regime, I got to under 170, but have been stuck there for 1/2 year now. So if I want to get those last few pounds, I will now have to alter how much I eat, or work out more. I would definitely rather work out more to do it, but I seem to be at a wall at about 7 hours a week or so, sucks being old. And I wish it were mimicking. 36 hour fast, but with my one hour a day of fasted exercise, I figure I get another 10+ hours to add to whatever I do, usually 17 to 19…
Doing much better with these changes:
Eating small. No more than 300-400 calories at one time.
Eating frequently. Every 2 - 3 hours I eat something healthy. If I miss and go 4 - 5 hours, I put myself in a deficit. It would be like dehydration but with food.
No red meat. Ate a free, delicious, juicy hamburger the other day and within two hours it put the hurt on me for two days.
No sugar, no soda, avoiding processed foods with any variety of sugar. Honey ok.
Results:
No more crashing with fatigue at any time of the day.
Only need six hours of sleep at night.
Good energy throughout the day.
The itching/purititis has diminished. No more waking up at night like I’m having an allergic reaction.
Before I found out about the situation with my liver, I thought I was thin because of training. Now it seems, I was thin because of my liver which allowed me an easier path for distance training/success. I could have been thin all along, like my son who doesn’t train at all. Love to train though.