Metabolic Syndrome and Fatty Liver diagnosis

slb260

I posted this on the general message board and was bombarded with lovely advice like "try losing weight"..... I was directed here by a caring person. Here is my original post:
"So, recently I was diagnosed with metabolic syndrome and fatty liver (??? - never having had a drink in my life....). Since weight loss is very difficult for me, I'm going to assume these two things may have something to do with it. If anyone has any experience in dealing with weight loss and these two issues, chime in!"
On top of this I cannot eat dairy, gluten, soy, nuts, eggs, avocado and strawberry. I had no idea I had fatty liver until I had an ultrasound to see if my appendix was acting up.

wabmester

What are your markers for metabolic syndrome?

MetS is basically an awkward way of saying "insulin resistance." Usually, the primary markers are low HDL and high TG. High BG (prediabetes), high waist circumference (visceral fat), and high BP are the other markers.

I was diagnosed with MetS and was able to reverse it with low carb in about 3 months. But it also responds well to weight loss and exercise. It's basically a condition of chronic excess calories, usually excess carbs.

And probably NAFLD is too.

Both should respond well to carb restriction. And you'll probably lose a lot of weight too.

The fewer carbs, the better, but I was able to handle MetS with 100g carbs + daily exercise.

V_Keto_V

Meds that can help include Metformin (partitions hepatic glucose towards periphery, i.e. muscles) & Thiazolidenediones (Pioglitazone & Rosaglitazone: alter gene expression via peroxisome proliferator activating receptor agonism & shift visceral (in your case liver) adipose to subcutaneous adipose (healthier under the skin not occluding bloodflow to vital organs)). These meds are supplemented ontop of lifestyle changes (diet + exercise).

SamandaIndia

Welcome here. There are many "too hard" illness that low carb diets help. I had chronic fatigue and couldn't find a sensible doctor or treatment for years. New doctor and within one week of starting low sugar (low carb but not keto) my symptoms massively improved. Wishing you the same level of success.

BtW head space wise telling yourself you can not lose weight may hinder progress. We like being proven right. We can sabotage our own efforts. Maybe an alternate is you can loose weight and have just had bad experiences due to poor diet advice?

LowCarbInScotland

Hi @slb260 I think there are a lot of us with metabolic syndrome around here, including myself; I've never had a major cholesterol problem, but I do have all the other markers.

I've struggled with weight loss for years, finding it nearly impossible to lose weight no matter what I do, but it's falling off me now faster than I could have ever imagined. All of my health issues are markedly improved and I feel amazing. You'll hear that story from a lot of people here.

This time really will be different and you've found a great group of people who will support you along the way.

Check out the Launch Pad up top for some awesome resources.

Dragonwolf

slb260 wrote: »

I posted this on the general message board and was bombarded with lovely advice like "try losing weight"..... I was directed here by a caring person. Here is my original post:
"So, recently I was diagnosed with metabolic syndrome and fatty liver (??? - never having had a drink in my life....). Since weight loss is very difficult for me, I'm going to assume these two things may have something to do with it. If anyone has any experience in dealing with weight loss and these two issues, chime in!"
On top of this I cannot eat dairy, gluten, soy, nuts, eggs, avocado and strawberry. I had no idea I had fatty liver until I had an ultrasound to see if my appendix was acting up.

Here are a couple of dietary frameworks that might be of use for you, if nothing else for recipes and similar stories:

Autoimmune Protocol (aka - Autoimmune Paleo, AIP)
Carnivory/Zero Carb
Wahl's Protocol

Also, have a look at the recipe entries in the Launch Pad. There's a whole bunch of great recipes that you can use as-is or easily modify.

Like @wabmester hinted at, fatty liver doesn't require alcohol consumption (hence the term "non-alcoholic fatty liver"). NAFL (and arguably, probably alcohol-induced fatty liver) is the accumulation of fat around the liver. One of the big suspected causes of NAFLD is fructose excess, since fructose is sent to the liver to be processed to fat, and then often stored around the liver (AFLD has similar mechanisms, but also with alcohol). This is why low carb and low sugar (without being particularly low carb) can both reverse it.

That said, I've had a great deal of trouble losing weight over the years. It has forced me to focus on the health benefits in the meantime, until I find what works for me for weight loss (which I have actually found; for me, it requires carnivory, but it took a long time to figure that out).