14 - How I helped my fatty liver

When my little one was almost a year old, I began feeling just a little off. Slightly nauseous, but no big deal. The symptoms themselves were no big deal, but I didn’t want to ignore them in case anything serious was going on. I had blood tests and a scan and was told I had non alcoholic fatty liver. At this point I’ll comment that my usual GP is fantastic and very thorough, but the GP I happened to see just told me the diagnosis and left it at that. No comment on how to improve it or what could happen next. It was just stated as the final word on the topic. The rebel in me bristled and replied “In a year’s time, I’ll be your healthiest patient”. Here’s what I did next.

I decided.

Without realising it at the time, my instincts in that doctor’s office were spot on. I didn’t make wishy washy comments that I would try to improve my health if it wasn’t too hard. I just decided with total certainty that I was going to do what I could for my health. Was my implementation of that decision perfect and straight forward? Heck, no. Was the decision itself mandatory for the results I achieved? Oh yes. When we decide something as a given, we tend to keep going until we get the results. When we want an outcome but don’t decide it with certainty, there is more likelihood our efforts will fizzle. Ask me how I know!

I was self-compassionate

Are you eye rolling at the fluffy idea that self-compassion could possibly help reverse a fatty liver? I don’t blame you, it does seem a bit woo. In my case, my diagnosis of fatty liver was very clearly linked with  decades of junk food and being very overweight (I found out later that at this point I was in the “obese” body mass index category). It was vital that my response was not one of hating on myself or self flagellation, or I couldn’t possibly have sustained the effort and resolve over an extended period of time. Fortunately, as it turned out for me, before I had received my diagnosis, when I was contemplating doing something about my weight (the diagnosis moved me pretty swiftly from contemplation to action!), I decided that I wouldn’t begin any weight loss efforts without also focusing on my self kindness. A few months of developing this stood me in good stead to then decide to take action – not to become worthy, but because I already was.

Begin with what’s obvious, don’t wait for the perfect plan

Although my weight loss journey began with a review of the scientific research, there were obvious places to begin. I’d encourage anyone needing to lose weight or improve a health outcome to begin with the obvious, the easy and the obstacles to the results they want. In my case, snacking on packets of crisps and bars of chocolate at night after dinner was the obvious obstacle to improving my health, so I began there. In fact, just by cutting out after dinner snacks at this point I lost about 5kg while researching my next move. This shows we don’t need the whole answer, just the next right action to get started.

Understand the cause of the problem

One thing I knew for sure was that there were too many random diets out there, and none of them had worked for me so far. I realised I didn’t have it in me to keep failing at diets any longer, so this time round I needed to understand what was causing weight gain and what actions would reverse it. What I found in my reading was that certain things we do increase our blood sugar, and our body then releases insulin to take the excess sugar out of our blood and store it – as fat. To lose weight I then had to work on avoiding excess surges in blood sugar and the insulin response. I learnt the things that increased blood sugar and insulin, and the things that lowered them. I focused on doing these things that actually work, and avoided all the magazine diets and gimmicks, and especially random plans that don’t fit me or my life.

I broke up with sugar and gave foods the right containment in my life

The most obvious action was to look for sources of sugar, refined carbohydrates and junk food in my life and remove them as much as possible. My after dinner grazing was already gone at this point, the mid afternoon snack bars, dried fruit and crackers were other things that had to go. It’s the cumulative effect of these foods that added up to a fatty liver for me – so it was important when I did have some to immediately return to a lifestyle without them, rather than allowing a lapse to derail me. Because of the all-or-nothing relationship I had with these foods, for me the right move was to remove them all together for a few months, before attempting to have a moderate relationship with them. Now nothing is off limits, but these foods are contained differently than they were before.

I fasted

The other key action for lowering my insulin (excess insulin and insulin resistance was part of the overall picture for me) was to gradually introduce fasting to my routine. It began with not snacking after dinner, and I encourage anyone wanting to try fasting to ease into it. At each step of the way with my fasting I noticed that I felt better for it, befkre increasing my fasting period incrementally. I now typically fast for 16 hours overnight, but for the period of time when I was reversing my fatty liver I went from no snacks after dinner, to a 12 hour fast, to a 14 hour fast and stayed at this point to reverse the diagnosis and lose 24 kg of weight. I would recommend introducing fasting under the guidance of a health professional as sudden or radical fasts can worsen hypothyroidism which will slow weight loss to a halt. Go at the pace that is sustainable for your lifestyle and your body, and only to the point where you feel better for it. I’d also suggest caution in people with a very complicated relationship to food, such as a past experience or unhealed anorexia nervosa.

I ate real food

Mostly in my life I have eaten healthy meals… plus a lot of unhealthy or excess snacks. So mostly the removal of the snacks corrected me to a point of eating mostly real food. But lunch can be trickier as I’m often tempted just to graze on crackers and cheese or whatever is to hand. I didn’t try to change my personality and have proper meals when I was having a busy day – but I did switch to snacking on real foods instead – vegetable sticks and hummus, soup, salad or a piece of fruit and a handful of nuts are my go-tos. I never go hungry – if the only food available is not ideal I’ll eat it, but I’ll learn from the situation and plan better the next time.

I moved a bit more

I still don’t do anywhere near an ideal amount of exercise. Fortunately, my dietary changes were enough to do most of the heavy lifting in improving my health. At the time, I was adjusting to mum life and not great at getting “proper” exercise in, and I still have the need to improve in this area. But I learnt to seize the moments where I got to move – joining my daughter for a dance to “Baby Shark” every chance I got, pushing the swing, and getting into some gardening. We tend to be perfectionist about “workouts” these days, but when humans came into existence there were no gyms, just movement and activity. Take the chances you get without letting perfectionism stand in your way.

I changed incrementally

The biggest difference with losing weight successfully and all the multitude of times I tried without results was this – I designed my habit changes to be sustainable, not radical. Every single other time I thought “I must do this 12 week bootcamp” or “6 week meal plan” that involved changing exercise levels, and every single thing I ate in one hit. This is not how lifestyle changes happen. When we overstretch ourselves, we snap back faster than a rubber band. Habit psychology teaches us to make the smallest change that is effective, and embed it. When I work with my clients I tell them I would rather they improved 1% forever than 100% for a week. The small change will snowball and gain momentum with new small changes.

I allowed for the cha-cha

Mindset is everything when it comes to long term persistence and consistency of any habit. In the case of weight loss and my fatty liver, the biggest mindset issue is getting on the scales and not seeing fast enough results, or worse – seeing weight gain. I reminded myself that progress is rarely linear, and that the number on the scales is not just my body but also bloating or inflammation or hormonal fluctuations causing water retention. I used the lowest number as my benchmark and just kept persevering until another 100g came off that number. And most of all, I remembered the scales were measuring the effects of my habits, not my value.

This is how I live now

Often we tell ourselves we will just be “good’ until those kilos come off, and then go back to our previous habits and hope the weight or health issue stays away. Unfortunately, for most of us, our previous habits got us our current results. If we want a different future, we need to live differently into that future. When I choose a habit, such as not snacking after dinner I remind myself “This is how I live now”.

My fatty liver diagnosis transformed my life. I have a different benchmark of what a balanced diet looks like, a new relationship to food and a new relationship to my body – one with a whole lot more compassion. I invite you to take this path too, regardless of the diagnosis that led you to this point. And I’d love to be part of the journey, by your side. Sign up for your “shop like a naturopath” guide and become part of my tribe, with manageable strategies for partnering with your body to transform your weight and health.