Fatty Liver - Natural And Alternative Treatment

Question:

My 28-year-old daughter has just found out that she has a fatty liver. Her diet is mainly convenience and junk foods, with a huge amount of sugar. She is also a heavy smoker, and on medication for a chemical imbalance. What do you suggest?

Answer:

The liver is the largest and most versatile internal organ in the body. I weighs about 1.5kg and carries out over 20O functions. Everything you eat and drink is absorbed by the gut and then sent to the liver to be detoxified and processed before it is allowed to enter the circulatory system, to be carried to different parts of the body. The digestive system and liver make foods and drinks acceptable and safe for the body.

You don't say if your daughter is a heavy drinker, but alcohol consumption is associated with a fatty liver. Alcohol is burnt off by oxygen provided by cells in the liver. However, even the liver can't cope with a chronic heavy intake of alcohol, which destroys its cells. If the cells are destroyed, they get covered by fatty deposits, possibly to protect the rest from being damaged.

Even If your daughter is not a heavy drinker, her diet and lifestyle seem to be putting excessive stress on this vital organ. For example, foods containing yeast can cause alcohol to brew in the gut sugar feeds the yeast, increasing the fermentation. Chemicals found in foods, such as pesticides, herbicides, additives and preservatives, may damage the liver, or are sometimes stored in it so that they don't enter the bloodstream. HRT and the contraceptive pill also have to be broken down after they have sewed their purpose, and thus add to the chemical burden. However. sometimes the liver cannot cope with the accumulation of different chemicals.

The liver produces bile, which is a main component used in intestinal digestion and fat absorption. Bile provides the alkaline medium which neutralises the highly acidic pulp from the stomach and helps the production of pancreatic juice, which completes digestion of proteins, carbohydrates and fats. If the liver is damaged, it resuIts in poor bile production, which can cause severe digestive problems and lead to malabsorption of nutrients.

If your daughter doesn't change her lifestyle, the fatty liver may lead to hepatitis and even cirrhosis. In my opinion, the best way to deal with the condition is to detoxify the body by fasting on fruit and water for 24 hours in order to give the liver a rest from working not just after each meal, but continuously. It knows how to rectify the damage.

Diet

Clean up your diet in order to avoid all forms of alcohol (remember, it can be brewed in the gut as well as consumed from the bottle) and toxins:

* Avoid sugar and sugary foods.

* Avoid yeast products such as breads, Marmite and pizza.

* Avoid fungal products, including all types of mushrooms, blue cheeses, vinegar and brewer's yeast.

* Avoid fatty foods such as cream, butter, cheese, beef, pork, lamb, stir-fries, curries and offal; also excess olive oil.

* Avoid sour-tasting foods such as pineapple, mangoes and citrus fruit, or processed foods containing citric acid as a preservative. These put pressure on the liver to produce more bile in order to neutralise the acid.

* Eat a mainly vegetarian diet, with egg and fish to supplement vegetarian protein (such as tofu).

* Stop smoking; it can block smaller blood vessels and also affect the liver.

Supplements

* Don't take excess nutritional supplements, and seek an alternative to the contraceptive pill (or HRT).

* Take DrAli's Livguard, one twice daily for six months. This is also beneficial if you are a regular drinker as it limits damage.

* Take Detox Powder soak a half teaspoon in one cup of hot water at night and drink in the morning. This helps to keep yeast and candida flora under check and the bile flow intact.