What Is Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease?

NAFLD is characterized by excessive fat deposits in the liver that can lead to scarring or inflammation. Consuming large amounts of alcohol can lead to a similar liver dysfunction, which is why nonalcoholic fatty liver disease is distinguished as the branch of the condition that progresses without alcohol as the underlying cause.

The Heart Disease Link

NAFLD is closely linked to heart disease, the leading cause of death in the United States. Common risk factors for NAFLD include metabolic syndrome, Type 2 diabetes, and obesity—all of which are tied to the development of heart disease. However, a person who has all the risk factors is more likely to experience cardiovascular issues if they also have NAFLD. Apart from heart disease, medical experts warn of other severe effects this insidious disorder can have on your health.

“NAFLD can progress to serious liver damage, including cirrhosis and liver cancer,” explains Josh Cullimore, MD, MPH, the director of preventive medicine for the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine.

The statement authors found that NAFLD is also twice as prevalent among men as it is among women, even though accurate rates are difficult to approximate given the current challenges in diagnosing the disorder. Because NAFLD doesn’t cause symptoms for most people at first, it’s typically not diagnosed until the advanced stages where irreversible liver damage may have already occurred. Routine blood tests typically aren’t sensitive enough to pick up NAFLD in the early stages, which is why the AHA is now calling on physicians to use noninvasive liver ultrasounds more often. 

Lifestyle Changes Can Reverse NAFLD

The good news? Healthy lifestyle practices can not only prevent NAFLD but also significantly reduce fatty deposits in the liver. The AHA recommends getting regular exercise, maintaining a healthy body weight, and eating a low-fat plant-based diet. They also note that losing 5% to 10% of total body weight can effectively reverse NAFLD in many patients. 

“Animal products and ultra-processed foods are high in fat, which causes damage to the liver,” says Cullimore. “NAFLD is reversible by eating a healthy diet rich in vegetables, fruits, legumes and whole grains and cutting out foods high in fat, such as animal products and oils.” 

Whole-food, plant-based eating patterns have also been shown to significantly reduce the risk of related conditions, such as diabetes and heart disease. 

To learn more about a whole-food, plant-based diet, visit our Plant-Based Primer. For meal-planning support, check out Forks Meal Planner, FOK’s easy weekly meal-planning tool to keep you on a healthy plant-based path.

The post 1 in 4 Adults Has Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease. Most Go Undiagnosed, Posing Heart Risks appeared first on Forks Over Knives.

On the morning of August 12, 2012, I woke up feeling physically sick. I’d woken up feeling ill every day for over a year. But that morning when I threw up, there was blood. I remember my heart sinking. I knew then that something was seriously wrong. I fell back asleep. A couple hours later, I woke up and felt fine at first—then suddenly was violently sick again, and there was more blood than before. 

A Life-Threatening Rock Bottom

My partner took me to hospital. I was rushed into a room with lots of medical staff around me. The last thing I remember was someone saying that I’d lost a liter of blood just while in the waiting room. 

When I woke hours later, I was told my liver was so badly damaged that seven varices (veins) in my esophagus had burst open due to the pressure of my liver trying to filter the blood unsuccessfully. The doctors had stopped the bleeding, but the outlook wasn’t good. I was in critical condition: My liver was shutting down and more varices could rupture. I had a blood transfusion and another one the following day. 

Over the next few days, my liver showed no signs of improvement. My doctors told me that my kidneys, spleen, and gallbladder were damaged, too. They also told me that I had gout, hepatitis, mild pneumonia, and pancreatitis; that I was malnourished and dehydrated; and that a huge amount of fluid had built up (ascites) between my liver and stomach, and it had to be drained. I was so weak that I couldn’t walk.

After the fifth day there was hope. My liver function had improved. I was so happy at this news, though it was still too early to be optimistic. Over the next week, the doctors continued to deal with all the damage that I’d caused to my body. Finally, after two weeks in the hospital, I was sent home. Still very unwell, I had several follow-up tests. A biopsy confirmed that I had cirrhosis. I was told if I ever drank again I would die. 

Turning the Corner Toward Better Health

I had to not only get my health back but also rebuild my life entirely. I attended addiction counseling and a rehab group over the next three years. Each follow-up test showed some improvements in my health. Still, I was overweight and fatigued, with bad skin and low moods. 

Then one day in 2016, I watched Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead, a documentary about a very unhealthy man who turned things around with a juicing diet. Throughout the film there was a recurring theme: the benefits of plant-based nutrition. I was very skeptical that your health could improve eating just plants. I watched Forks Over Knives to learn more. Again, I was amazed to see people who were so sick healed just by cutting out meat, eggs, and dairy and going whole-food, plant-based. I decided to give it a go.

Transitioning to eating plant-based was much easier than I thought. Up until that point, I’d eaten mostly vegetarian meals based around cheese and eggs. Those meals were very fatty and processed and high in salt and sugar. I cut out the cheese and eggs and moved toward less processed, lower fat meals.

And after two weeks I felt better inside and looked better outside. A couple of months into the diet I started getting comments about my weight loss and how well I looked. I’d noticed my eyes and skin were clearer, my moods improved, my nails and hair grew thicker. 

When I returned to the hospital for a checkup, the specialist commented on how much better I looked. I’d lost 30 pounds since my previous checkup. He ran through my test results, which were better than ever. This confirmed how I felt: A whole-food, plant-based diet was making a difference.

Continuing to Heal

Every year since my trip to the emergency room in 2012, I’ve had a fibroscan, which measures the damage to my liver. For the two years before going vegan, I received the worst possible score you could get, 75 kPa. After two years of my new plant-based lifestyle, there was good news: My score dropped to 39 kPa. My last scan showed that it had dropped even further, to 30 kPa. And more good news: My liver showed no signs of fatty liver disease.

Now I stick to mostly homemade meals with loads of vegetables. I avoid processed ingredients like white pasta and white bread and packaged dinners. I eat a low sugar diet and the only fat I eat is avocado and nuts. I make sure to include a variety of fruits and vegetables in each meal, which has worked wonders for my health.

Today I talk about my struggles with alcohol and living with liver disease, after keeping silent for so long, to give others hope. Seven and a half years ago I was at rock bottom, physically and mentally. I was certain that I’d die and had given up all hope. It was one of the hardest things I’ve ever gone through, but slowly, I rebuilt my health, and it just keeps getting better. I have no doubt that this diet helped save my life.

Ready to get started? Check out Forks Meal Planner, FOK’s easy weekly meal-planning tool to keep you on a healthy plant-based path. To learn more about a whole-food, plant-based diet, visit our Plant-Based Primer.

The post Recovering from Liver Disease on a Plant-Based Diet appeared first on Forks Over Knives.

Eight years ago, I had a heart attack and triple-bypass open-heart surgery. Even that wasn’t enough to scare me into changing my lifestyle permanently. Sure, I made some short-term changes, but after a few months I was right back to my old ways—drinking a 12-pack of beer every day and eating loads of junk food. 

I had heart disease, alcoholism, and painful arthritis in my shoulders, in addition to struggling with obesity. I was a sick puppy. I felt like I was standing on the edge of a cliff, about to fall over. 

On the Edge

On Nov. 29, 2017, I woke up with my left arm completely numb. The numbness didn’t go away. Also, there was a big black spot obscuring part of the visual field in my right eye. I thought that I’d had a stroke. I went directly to the emergency room.

I had dangerously high blood pressure (228/137), an enlarged liver, stage 3 kidney disease, and neuropathy. I told myself that I had some serious health issues and I needed to make some major changes. I hoped it wasn’t too late. 

Embracing the Effort

Fear and sickness hadn’t been enough to motivate me in the past. My secret to success this time around was to get myself excited about making these changes. After several false starts, I found these 12 points to be key:

1. Sobriety: I couldn’t follow any health program when I was drinking. I could talk a good story, but I couldn’t put it into action. I had to quit drinking.
2. Healthy eating: I adopted a whole-food, plant-based diet.
3. Mild exercise: For me, it is hiking.
4. A positive expectation: I believed from the beginning (without a doubt) that this program would work and I would achieve my goals. I accepted setbacks as part of the learning process.
5. Educating myself: I learned about nutrition and health by watching documentaries and reading books.
6. Embracing the effort: I had to recognize and embrace the idea that this would take some effort. I learned to view the hard or boring parts as just part of the process.
7. Emotional involvement: Intellect alone doesn’t do it. Emotional involvement drives these lessons deep into your being.
8. Stress management: For me, stress management consists of relaxation, visualization, and prayer.
9. Staying away from the edge. If I think about an unhealthy behavior long enough, I’ll end up doing it. So, I have to plot a course that keeps me far away from the edge.
10. Learning to treat myself as if I matter: This was a tough lesson for me because feelings of inferiority were part of my personality, but people can change.
11. Gratitude: No matter what your religious beliefs, you probably believe in some kind of Higher Power. I wake up each morning grateful to mine for the opportunity to live another day, and that sets the tone for the entire day.
12. Share your journey: Trying to help others (without being obnoxious or overbearing) is very motivating to me. That’s why I wrote this article.

A Greater Purpose

What I thought I could accomplish in six months actually took more than a year. I made some slip-ups, but instead of getting discouraged I always got back on the program right away. It paid off. 

By adopting a whole-food, plant-based diet, maintaining sobriety, and exercising moderately, I have been able to:

• Bring my blood pressure down to normal without prescription medications.
• Lose 65 pounds, overcoming obesity.
• Eliminate the neuropathy in my feet and arthritis in my shoulders.
• Start walking again and even do strenuous hikes without any pain in my legs.
• Bring my lab numbers back into the normal range, with no indication of kidney failure.

Also, I discovered a greater purpose for living.

Today I live pain-free and enjoy many activities that I hadn’t been able to do for years. My hope is that reading this will inspire you along your own journey. Stories of amazing life-changing recoveries usually come from younger people in their 40s and 50s, but at this writing, I am 75 years old, and I’m telling you: You can do this!

Ready to get started? Check out our Plant-Based Primer to learn more about adopting a whole-food, plant-based diet.

The post At 73, I Went Plant-Based and Said Goodbye to Obesity, Heart Disease, Kidney Disease, and Arthritis appeared first on Forks Over Knives.

The first time I heard the words “morbidly obese” was 14 years ago. My cardiologist had written it in big black letters on the front of my medical folder. When you’re that heavy you step into another world where the insults and jokes get numbed by the addiction of your choice to blunt the pain. I vividly remember a small boy in a Taco Bell saying, “Look, Mommy. That big fat man is going to break that little chair.” Co-workers can be brutal, as well, and you remember every single insult. Your life becomes limited. You don’t fly. You don’t shop for clothes in a regular store. Your face feels like it’s going to explode every time you put on your shoes. You never sit in a booth at a restaurant. You avoid mirrors and your reflection in storefront windows. You try every fad diet and gimmick to lose weight and nothing works, so you give up. 

Hitting Bottom

One year ago (October 2018), I was diagnosed with cirrhosis of the liver, esophageal varices (enlarged veins in the esophagus), and multiple gastric ulcers. I was told that there was no cure for cirrhosis: Best-case scenario, I could slow the progression of the disease until I needed a liver transplant. The doctor said that a normal liver could regenerate itself, but mine had too much scarring. I was told the esophageal varices could burst at any moment and that I had a 50/50 chance of choking to death on my own blood if I didn’t get to a hospital in time. 

Depression set in at first, then anger. I was determined to find a way out of this. I read every relevant article that I could find on the internet. I was determined to not let this be the way my life ended. 

I’d known for some time that a whole-food, plant-based diet was the best possible way to eat for healing. I had dabbled in it a few times but never went all in. I’d watched Forks Over Knives several times over the years and would be inspired to try WFPB again after each viewing, but I didn’t get really serious until this diagnosis. I fully adopted a WFPB diet, and I found a doctor who specialized in helping people reverse cirrhosis more holistically.

Reversing Cirrhosis and More

Since going plant-based a year ago, I’ve lost 66 pounds. After just three months of WFPB lifestyle, my gastric ulcers were gone (with no medication). A few weeks ago, testing showed my cirrhosis was completely reversed. Last week an endoscopy showed the esophageal varices were very faint, no longer a threat. On top of all that, I’d previously been prediabetic and had high cholesterol and high blood pressure: Today I’m no longer prediabetic, and my blood pressure and cholesterol are within the healthy range. 

A year ago I could barely run 30 feet at a time. Now I have completed a 5K, a 10K, and two half marathons. And in September 2019, I entered a 24-hour race and completed 41 miles, which motivated me to enter a 100-mile race next summer. I’ll get there. 

You have to believe in yourself, no matter what anyone says. There’s always a way. There is always hope. Miracles are real. 

Ready to get started? Check out our Plant-Based Primer to learn more about adopting a whole-food, plant-based diet.

The post I Reversed Cirrhosis in 1 Year on a Plant-Based Diet appeared first on Forks Over Knives.