According to an American study in 2022, the Life Expectancy with Fatty Liver Disease is roughly 3 years. Now most doctors will tell you that severe Fatty Liver Disease is basically irreversible, but by understanding Fatty Liver Disease and how it is developed. You'll gain a better understanding for the solutions that could not only increase your Life Expectancy with Fatty Liver Disease, but put you at a higher chance of reversing it.
As always, check with your doctor before taking action from the advice shown below.
Listen to the article (and my poor pronunciation) above. I Also have a FREE Fatty Liver Diet Plan for You
Key Facts:
- Life Expectancy with a Fatty Liver Disease is roughly 3 years.
- Fatty Liver Disease can be reversed and prevented through a healthy diet and lifestyle changes
- There are 3 Major Stages of Fatty Liver Disease: 1-Steatohepatitis, 2-Fibrosis, 3-Cirrhosis
- Fatty Liver Disease can develop over many years (sometimes 10 years), mostly undetected.
- This can be from a sugar/carb heavy diet, stress, or excessive alcohol consumption.
- Symptoms are hard to detect until the later stages, but that doesn't mean it's too late....
The American Liver Foundation shows that roughly 25% of adults in the US have NAFLD (Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease), and 2 billion people worldwide are affected by a Fatty Liver with the chance of it developing into a serious Disease.
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What Does Your Liver Do?
Well, believe it not (You'll have to believe it actually) your Liver is the second most significant organ in your body. Can You guess which organ is the most significant?
Your Liver performs roughly 500 tasks and mainly acts as a filter to remove any alcohol, drugs, or pathogens. In fact, it is the only organ that can filter these out. Your Liver also....
- Produces bile which is used to help digest fats and vitamin absorption.
- Produces proteins for blood plasma.
- Produces cholesterol, in fact your body produces 75% of the cholesterol.
- Controls the amino acids, which is the foundation of proteins.
- Converts poisonous ammonia into urea which turns to urine.
- Regulates blood clotting.
- Serves as a major player in keeping your immune system functioning well.
- Removes any other waste, it is essentially your body's filtration system.
I'll let you take a guess at what it could be, but just to clarify. It is the result of having too much fat in and around the liver. In fact it's so much fat, that the liver begins to spill that out and it gets into other vital organs. This can lead to other complications such as:
- High blood levels of cholesterol and triglycerides
- Obesity
- Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS)
- Type 2 Diabetes (Do you have it?)
- Underactive thyroid
- Underactive pituitary gland
- Sleep apnea
- Kidney disease
If that fat is left untreated inside the liver, it begins to harden which slows down the liver function. This is known as steatosis. Fatty Liver Disease is broken down into 3 stages:
- Steatohepatitis (by the way, anything with the word "itis" means inflammation): This is where the fat is building up only in the liver. However, the swelling from the fat is causing damage to the tissues. Actually, more damage than repair to the liver. This leads to scarring, hardening, and inflammation of the liver.
- Fibrosis: The Liver is still working at this point, but is severely damaged from the continuous buildup in fat and inflammation. Some may get the fat surgically removed for a quick fix (there are non surgical alternatives), but if not addressed then we get into....
- Cirrhosis: Where the scar tissue replaces the functioning liver tissue, and now the symptoms will be quite visible. The chances of Liver cancer at this point are dramatically increased. But it can be reversed.
These can be categorized into 2 main stages: NAFLD (Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease) or MAFLD (Metabolic Associated Fatty Liver Disease) and AFLD (Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease).
- The good fats come from natural, whole, unaltered foods such as: vegetables (avocado, olives, etc...), coconuts, wild fish, grass fed meats, basically what nature intended. Let me know if you can think of any others in the comments.
- The bad fats come from un-natural, processed sources which include: margarine, corn oil, canola oil, trans fats, dry roasted nuts. Basically look at the label and check the ingredients, if it's a long list of items you can't even pronounce.......then well you know.
How Can You Tell if You have Fatty Liver Disease?
The symptoms are very subtle and fly under the radar during the early stages (Steatohepatitis), but if you feel any pain around the upper right side of your abdomen, fatigue, confusion, or swelling of the legs. Then you'll want to go to your doctor for a checkup.
You may not know that you have a Fatty Liver for many years. The signs become more apparent during the later and more severe stages of Fatty Liver Disease (Fibrosis and Cirrhosis), these include:
- Intense Itching
- Excess Belly Fat, or
- Ascites (fluid build up in the abdomen)
- Bruising & Bleeding
- Jaundice (Yellowing on the skin and eyes)
- Spider Veins
- Higher chance of a Cancerous Liver
- Fluid retention in the legs, feet, and ankles
- Overload
- Inflammation
- Lack of Resources
- Eliminate refined carbs (breads, cereal, pasta, pastries, etc...)
- Eliminate high sugar foods (dried fruit, candy, sugary drinks, sweet fruit)
- Wash your vegetables thoroughly or even soak it in a tub of water with a little apple cider vinegar and salt
- Amino Acids, specifically Methionine and Cystein used to make glutathione (primary antioxidant which acts as your body's janitor). These can come from grass fed chicken, eggs, pork, or beef.
- Choline, which helps your Liver dissolve the fat. You can find choline in abundance in eggs, liver (har dee har har), dairy, and greens (especially the cruciferous greens).
- Bile, yes remember how I mentioned that earlier? Bile is produced in the Liver to dissolve the fat, interestingly enough that bile is only produced when fat is introduced (dietary fat acts as a signal for your Liver to produce bile). Let me know in the comments what the best sources of healthy fats are.
- You can include these in your diet: garlic, green tea, turmeric, milk thistle, coffee, onion, and natural herbs. As they are known to increase glutathione on your body.
