The Liver And Dietary Fats
Fats are another important consideration when following the liver shrinking diet. Because fats are higher in calories, theyre generally limited on the eating plan to ensure the low calories goals are able to be achieved. Some forms of dietary fats, particularly saturated fats, also contribute to the fatty deposits in the liver, which is why the plan is low in carbs and low in fat.
It is, of course, essential to keep your body functioning optimally throughout the process of promoting liver shrinkage, which is where protein comes in.
Special Note For Patients With Diabetes
If you have diabetes and are treated with medication, you will need to adjust your insulin or medication whilst following this diet. Please contact your Diabetes Specialist Nurse/Practice Nurse/GP before starting the diet. If you have questions or concerns, please ask at clinic appointments.
Should you require further advice on the issues contained in this leaflet, please do not hesitate to contact the Department of Nutrition and Dietetics on telephone number: 623168
What Should I Eat 2 Weeks Before Gastric Sleeve
To prepare for the procedure, youll be given a specific diet to follow, beginning two weeks before your scheduled surgery date. Its a strict diet that reduces calories as well as carbohydrates, such as sweets, potatoes, and pasta. You will eat primarily lean protein, vegetables, and low- or no-calorie fluids.
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What Happens If I Cheat On My Liver Shrinking Diet
If you cheat on your liver shrinking diet and your liver does not reduce an adequate amount, you may be risking your own safety or the surgeon may reschedule the surgery. The surgeon will know right away at the start of surgery if you have followed your liver shrinking diet or not.
If they feel the liver is going to hinder the procedure or the patients safety, they will not perform the surgery. It would be a shame to get that far, be put under anesthesia just to wake up and find out you have to reschedule and do this all over again at a later time.
Does Keto Shrink Your Liver
Fatty liver disease occurs due to a combination of lifestyle and genetic factors. If allowed to progress from simple fatty liver, it can sometimes lead to more serious liver disease. The good news is that a low-carb or keto diet can lead to a dramatic loss of liver fat and may potentially reverse the disease.
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Fatty Liver Shopping List
Drinks
- Sparkling water
- Organic coffee coffee may protect against fatty liver NAFLD
- Organic green tea
- AVOID sugary drinks at all cost this is directly damaging to your liver and will slow down a fatty liver reversal.
Protein
- Lean chicken breast
Oils
Staple meals
- Oatmeal healthy and lowers cholesterol
Dessert ideas
- Make a moderate healthy fruit salad with some low fat yoghurt
- Purchase specific low-sugar / carbohydrate chocolates like these Atkins ones off Amazon below try to avoid snacking on full-sugar chocolate as this will undo all your hard work.
Make sure you AVOID:
- Sugary drinks always check the label for ADDED SUGARS!
- Sweet pastries, cakes, cookies, sugary desserts and white bread
- Alcohol cut back on alcohol, this is directly poisonous for your liver
- Sugar added fruit juices: although fruit juices may appear to be healthy, many have huge amounts of added sugars which is just as bad for your liver as soda.
Be careful with artificial sweeteners
Be careful with artificial sweeteners such as aspartame.
Artificial sweeteners can cause hunger cravings in humans, leading them to overeat!
Overeating is not exactly what you want if you are trying to lose weight!
See this post here for information on artificial sweeteners in soda and fatty liver.
Liver Cleansing Diet Food List
Eat always | Eat during the program | Eat for lifetime diet | Avoid always | Avoid during the program | Avoid for lifetime diet
The diet includes an 8-week menu plan. If your weight loss is too slow or comes to a plateau, you should eat smaller meals and less carbohydrate and do regular exercise. After youve finished the 8-week plan, you should follow the twelve general principles for a healthy liver.
The first two weeks of the 8-week plan are a gentle introduction, followed by 4 more demanding weeks with more vegetarian meals . The final 2 weeks are less demanding than the middle four but more than the first two.
This diet was not designed with pregnant women in mind.
The book isnt entirely prescriptive in terms of foods to eat and avoid, instead it includes menu plans and recipes to follow at each stage of the diet. Portion sizes are included, so although this says its not a calorie counting book theres portion control, mainly for carbohydrates. Heres a summary based on these suggested menus as well as the rest of the book.
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Lunch Menu Pre Gastric Bypass
Liver Shrinking diet sample menu
Lets talk about lunch for a minute. When it comes to lunch, you will need something nutritious in you. You will be consuming another high protein replacement drink. However, you will also be consuming other types of food. For this meal, you get to choose a piece of fruit. This small piece of fruit will taste like a tiny slice of heaven for you.
Again, if youre not on replacement drinks, youll be given a list of items to choose from that will make up a small low calorie meal, for example half a boiled potato, cottage cheese and a piece of fruit.
What Causes The Liver To Shrink
In some cases, liver shrinkage is a bad thing and can be associated with diseases like Liver cirrhosis, Drug-induced liver diseases and hepatitis.
Fortunately, this isnt the type of liver shrinkage that is intended before bariatric surgery, obviously. But there are a couple of primary drivers that cause the liver to shrink before bariatric surgery.
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Your Liver Prior To Surgery
Your stomach is located just to your left of your liver. To access your stomach for most bariatric procedures, your surgeon will use a liver retractor. This is a device that lifts the liver up and out of the way so your surgeon can safely operate on the stomach without the liver getting in the way.
You have Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease
You probably dont know it, but you have fatty liver disease. If you dont and youre morbidly obese, youre lucky. Fatty liver disease is when fat cells accumulate in and around your liver cells. This causes the liver to function poorly.
It also increases the size of your liver. A larger liver makes gastric sleeve surgery much more difficult and increases the risk of complications.
Ive witnessed a handful of cases where the surgeon decides that the liver is so large that they cannot perform surgery safely. The surgery either then becomes an open procedure or they close and cancel until the patient decides to follow their 2 week pre-op diet.
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Olive oil can help lower the risk of inflammation-related diseases. These include cardiovascular and heart disease, cancer and diabetes .
One study found that people who consumed 1.7 ounces of olive oil per day and ate a Mediterranean-style diet had significantly reduced inflammatory markers. .
Its worth noting that extra virgin olive oil has better anti-inflammatory benefits than refined olive oils . This is because refined olive oils are diluted with cheaper oils that arent as healthy.
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What Can I Eat During The Liver Shrinking Diet
The diet patients have to follow to shrink their liver before bariatric surgery is a low fat, low carbohydrate, high protein diet that is normally restricted to between 800-1,200 calories. Your bariatric surgeon will provide you with a specific format to follow and a list of approved foods.
There are usually two different plans offered to patients, the first consisting mainly of protein shakes with one solid meal each day. This plan is harder but yields more weight loss. This plan may work for you if you are super busy and do not wish to cook or prepare food.
The other plan is more diverse but requires preparation. Some patients prefer to alter days between plans. If you are diabetic there will be added instructions, and it is important that you carefully follow them. Here is a sample of what your diet might look like:
Liver Shrinking Diet Bundles
Bari Life provides every essential you need for the duration of your pre-op diet.
For each day, the plan is specifically tailored to help you to reach the 800 calorie goal, which includes 6 portions of protein and 1 serving of a complete vitamin formula for each day. Each item on the plan is low in carbs and low in fat, but provides you with that essential protein you need to promote your liver to shrink.
If you follow the program as set out for you, the average person can expect to lose between 6-10lbs per week.
Included in the bundles are great-tasting, low calorie foods that have been provided in the exact portion sizes as required for the number of weeks youll follow the plan.
For the 1-week plan, for those with a BMI of 38 39.9, youll receive:
1x Maple Brown Sugar Protein Oatmeal1x Peanut Butter Protein Bar1x Chicken Alfredo Protein Pasta1x Cream of Chicken Protein Soup1x Crispy Caramel Sea Salt Protein Bar
For the 2-week plan, for those with a BMI of 40-44.9, youll receive:
2x Maple Brown Sugar Protein Oatmeal2x Peanut Butter Protein Bar2x Chicken Alfredo Protein Pasta2x Cream of Chicken Protein Soup2x Chocolate Pudding / Shake2x Crispy Caramel Sea Salt Protein Bar
For the 3-week plan, for those with a BMI of 45-49.9, youll receive:
For the 4-week plan, for those with a BMI of 50 and over, youll receive:
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What Is A Liver Shrinking Diet
Before a patient can have bariatric surgery, they are required to go on a special diet for a few weeks. They call it pre-operative diet, the liver shrinking diet, and it is probably not like any other diet you have ever been on.
Normally, the bariatric weight loss center will provide the details of the diet and possibly, even menus with a detailed diet plan. The diet will vary by patient but the goal is the same: to lose weight and shrink the liver size before the surgery by significantly reducing caloric and carbohydrate intake.
How Can You Tell If Your Liver Is Shrinking
Unfortunately, you cant tell if your liver has decreased in size by feeling your stomach or anything like that.
The only way to see is if you have a diagnostic test like a CT scan, which isnt very practical for pre bariatric surgery planning and consultations.
Most surgeons will tell you that if youre following the prescribed pre bariatric surgery diet AND youre losing weight, your liver is shrinking as it should be.
You must trust the pre surgery diet, follow it without little-to-no deviation for the short time that youre required to do so and youll be prepped and ready for surgery. At most your pre bariatric surgery diet will last 4 weeks. You can do ANYTHING for 4 weeks, right?
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Foods That Are Good For Your Liver
We include products we think are useful for our readers. If you buy through links on this page, we may earn a small commission. Heres our process.
The liver is a powerhouse of an organ.
It performs a variety of essential tasks, ranging from producing proteins, cholesterol, and bile to storing vitamins, minerals, and even carbohydrates.
It also breaks down toxins like alcohol, medications, and natural byproducts of metabolism. Keeping your liver in good shape is important for maintaining health.
This article lists the 11 best foods to eat to keep your liver healthy.
The Bottom Line On How To Tell If Your Liver Is Shrinking
Theres no easy physical exam that you can have that will tell you if your liver is shrinking or not while youre on your pre bariatric surgery diet. The good news is that there are two primary indicators that will tell you if your liver is shrinking.
If you can say yes to both of these questions your liver is shrinking and youre doing well to prepare for your bariatric surgery. If you cannot say yes to both, then you need to get back on track with your pre bariatric surgery diet to avoid your surgery being cancelled, or worse, end up with complications during and after the surgery.
If you follow your diet like your surgeon and dietitian instruct you, youll be fine. Stay calm and take it one day at a time and enjoy the process leading up to your surgery. Youre in this for the long-term so these short few weeks are well worth the sacrifice to ensure a positive bariatric surgery outcome.
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What Is The Purpose Of Shrinking The Liver
A liver shrinking diet is a low-calorie diet intended to shrink the liver and decrease fat stored around it.
The liver is a vital organ that removes toxins from the blood, maintains healthy blood sugars, and makes important proteins, among other functions.
Fat can form in and around the liver due to:
- being overweight or obese
- having high cholesterol or triglycerides
- frequent alcohol use
Fat that accumulates in the liver is known as fatty liver, which can advance to more severe forms of liver disease like liver cirrhosis if left untreated.
Weight loss surgeons commonly prescribe a liver shrinking diet to make it easier and safer for them to perform weight loss surgery .
There are four main types of weight loss surgeries :
- Gastric sleeve. In this surgery, a surgeon removes most of your stomach.
- Gastric bypass. This surgery involves creating a small pouch from the stomach and connecting this pouch directly to the small intestine.
- Adjustable gastric band. In this surgery, a surgeon places a ring with an inner inflatable band around the top of your stomach to create a small pouch.
- Biliopancreatic diversion with duodenal switch. This is a more complex and less common procedure that combines components of the gastric sleeve and bypass.
Surgeons typically prescribe the diet at least two weeks before surgery, but some patients may need to follow it longer if they have a lot of fat in and around their liver.
The Liver And Carbohydrates
One of the main reasons the liver swells in the first place is because of a diet that is too high in carbohydrates. Excess carbohydrates in the diet are processed through the liver, and they are either stored as a variation of carbohydrates in a form of stored energy called glycogen, or they are converted for preparation to be stored more long term, into a compound called a triglyceride.
This is especially true for the type of sugar we often find in our food, called fructose.
Now, the word triglyceride may already seem familiar to you, as it should. Triglycerides form part of your total cholesterol count, and along with the LDL cholesterol often called bad cholesterol triglycerides are one of the numbers your doctor will generally give you feedback on if the number is too high.
Triglycerides can either be released back into the blood or they can be stored as lipid droplets, which may go on to contribute to fat cell accumulation, or they remain in the liver, contributing to the fatty accumulation in and around the organ.
Thats why the very first point to take note of for the effectiveness of the liver shrinking diet, is how low it is in carbohydrates overall. When you restrict your intake of carbohydrates, this fatty acid process is less likely to take place, and so the body is able to use up this excess energy, which allows the liver to shrink.
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Weight Loss Surgery Diet
You will work with a dietician before and after your weight loss surgery, said Meredith C. Sweeney, M.D., bariatric and laparoscopic surgeon with Norton Surgical Specialists who treats patients of Norton Weight Management Services. We have you do a liver-shrinking diet for a minimum of two weeks before the procedure.
Can I Do A 7 Day Liver Shrinking Diet
The short answer is yes, you can do a 7-day liver shrinking diet. This type of diet typically involves eating only certain foods, such as fruits and vegetables, and avoiding others, like processed or high-fat foods. Its important to stick to the recommended diet closely in order to see results, so be sure to consult with your doctor or a qualified nutritionist before starting your liver shrinking diet.
Additionally, its important to stay well hydrated and get plenty of rest during this time in order to promote healing and facilitate weight loss. With a little determination and commitment, you should be able to see great results from your 7-day liver shrinking diet!
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Liver Shrinking Diet Guidelines
Liver shrinking diets can be categorized as low- or very-low-calorie diets .
VLCDs contain 450800 calories while low-calorie diets contain 800-1,200 calories per day .
Due to their severe caloric restrictions, VLCDs are usually only prescribed under direct medical supervision in an inpatient setting.
However, compared with a low-calorie diet, a VLCD can result in a greater loss of lean body mass and is associated with more severe side effects like extreme hunger, nausea, diarrhea or constipation, and dizziness .
As a result, a low-calorie diet that contains 800 to 1,200 calories per day is preferred and recommended for decreasing body fat and shrinking the liver before surgery.
Most of the calories should come from protein with limited amounts of carbs and fats.
Here are the general nutrition guidelines for a liver shrinking diet:
- Calories: 800-1,200
- Fat: 4050 grams
- Fluids: 64 ounces
The diet usually includes at least 3 meals, and if needed, 12 snacks per day.
Portion sizes are important to stay within the 8001,200 calorie limit of the liver shrinking diet.
Here are the portions sizes for meals:
- 24 ounces of lean protein
- 12 cups of non-starchy vegetables
- 1/2 cup of starch
High protein shakes are commonly used to replace one or more meals to meet the nutrition guidelines for a liver-shrinking diet.
These protein shakes may be a powder that you mix or they can come pre-made.
These protein shakes should contain:
