- Diet has a major impact upon your liver health.
- Eating unhealthy foods, or keeping a diet high in fats, salts and sugars can lead to liver damage or disease.
- Being overweight or obese can put strain on the liver, making it difficult to process the nutrients, vitamins and energy from your food.
The connection between food and the liver isn’t always clear, if you feel your diet may be affecting your liver, please read on to learn more about diet and liver health.
How can your diet cause fatty liver disease?
Fatty liver disease can be caused by a few different things. Obesity, or being overweight, is one of the reasons you could develop fatty liver disease. If you have fatty liver disease, changes to your lifestyle and diet can help you reach a healthier weight. You should talk to your doctor, clinic or nutritionist about the best diet and lifestyle changes for you.
What food should I eat for healthy liver function?
Eating a healthy diet and being a healthy weight can often help avoid damage to your liver.
Eating the right types of food helps you and your liver stay healthy. So, try to eat a mix of:
- Milk, yoghurt and cheese
- Meat and fish (fresh or tinned low salt) and/or eggs, tofu, nuts and seeds
- Fruits (fresh or tinned low sugar)
- Vegetables, beans and legumes (fresh or tinned low salt)
- Grains (like breads, cereals, rice and pasta)
- And drinking lots of water.
You can read about healthy liver choices for Fatty liver disease, here.
Monitoring body weight and mass index
If you have problems with your liver, it’s a good idea to keep your body weight healthy by eating a balanced diet and exercising regularly. This is because too many Australians are overweight and being overweight is a risk factor for fatty liver disease.
When your body builds up excess fat in your liver, you have fatty liver disease. There are no particular symptoms but it can lead to long term health problems. It can eventually lead to cirrhosis and possible liver cancer.
Have a set of scales and a calendar on your fridge. Once or twice a month, weigh yourself and write it on the calendar. If your weight increases, speak to your doctor. They will be able to explain Body Mass Index and suggest diet and exercise options to help improve your liver health.
Also, click here to see ourDetailed hep C informationpage >>
Want to learn more about lifestyle changes for a healthy liver?
Tofind out more about lifestyle changes for a healthy liver,call the Hepatitis Infoline.
