Metabolic Health
Here’s How David Reversed Fatty Liver Disease After 65 with Lifestyle Changes.
As fatty liver disease is preventable and reversible, timely addressing can contribute to healthspan, longevity, and overall well-being.
Here’s why I wrote this story.
Lowering risks and preventing metabolic diseases is of particular interest to me. I also admire people taking personal responsibility and getting timely support from qualified professionals to reverse their condition by choosing healthy lifestyle habits.
Fatty liver disease is another condition that can be prevented and reversed with healthy lifestyle modifications. I met numerous people who successfully reversed this disorder.
I also observed people who never experienced this condition due to adhering to holistic health principles and following healthy lifestyles.
In this story, I briefly introduce the inspiring experience of a mature adult who successfully reversed his fatty liver disease with healthy lifestyle changes and support from his family doctor and specialists.
My goal is to create awareness of this undesirable condition and provide practical tips to lower risks, prevent its occurrence, or reverse it with lifestyle changes and timely support from qualified healthcare professionals.
What is fatty liver disease, and why does it matter?
The liver is the busiest organ with critical functions. The health of other organs depends on the functioning of the liver, as it serves as a cleansing and energy-generating organ.
Fatty liver disease occurs when it stores more than the fat required in this organ. When the fat accumulation passes the threshold and is not treated timely, it might cause liver damage and even lead to liver cancer. Thus, we need to obtain its diagnosis as early as possible and take corrective actions.
Fatty liver disease might not show symptoms initially. However, at later stages, it causes discomfort and pain in the abdominal area. Fatigue is another symptom when the disease progresses and the liver gets damaged.
According to Mayo Clinic, the primary causes of fatty liver disease are being overweight or obese, insulin resistance, high blood sugar, metabolic syndrome, being diabetic, and high levels of fats, particularly triglycerides, in the bloodstream.
Other risk factors are sleep apnea, hypothyroidism (sluggish thyroid), hypopituitarism (slow pituitary gland), and polycystic ovary syndrome.
Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease (NAFLD) is a widespread condition globally. According to UCLA Health, the prevalence of fatty liver disease ranges from 10 to 46% in the United States.
As documented in this paper, “NAFLD is a pandemic disease worldwide, which has been paralleling the ongoing epidemics of obesity, type 2 diabetes, and metabolic syndrome. The prevalence of NAFLD approaches 25%-30% in the Europe and United States general populations, but this figure surges to 80%-90% in selected cohorts of the dysmetabolic individual.”
NAFLD is a critical condition. As this paper highlights, “patients with NAFLD have an increased risk of premature cardiovascular and liver-related mortality.”
In addition, the literature indicates that if not treated timely, fatty liver disease can cause liver damage and might lead to liver cancer.
Highlights of David’s Metabolic Health Conditions
Until his 60s, David had no weight problems, and he felt healthy. After retiring from his work, he started gaining weight. He had no symptoms for several years.
In hindsight, his slowed metabolism due to factors such as aging, sedentary life, and increased anxiety with his broken relationship with his partner looked like the primary culprit.
However, after a while, he noticed significant discomfort in his upper right abdomen. His skin got itchy, and he felt a lack of energy.
His caring and the affectionate family doctor ordered blood tests and noticed abnormalities in his liver function. His blood tests showed severe inflammation of the liver.
Therefore the physician referred David to a hepatologist who reviewed his medical history and ordered an ultrasound and CT scan, which showed the fat deposits in the liver.
To David’s surprise, the specialist did not prescribe medication. He advised him to work with his family doctor to lose weight sustainably and see him in six months.
His family doctor created a plan for David to see a weight loss specialist, as David’s private insurance covered this extra service.
The specialist focussed on two aspects of his life: his diet and regular exercise, which I will cover in the next sections.
In addition, his family doctor continued to check his progress and also referred him to an endocrinologist who helped him to balance his hormones.
His body was insulin resistant, and his cortisol was slightly elevated due to sleep deprivation and anxiety caused by relationship issues and aging.
The lifestyle choices introduced by the weight loss specialist helped him to lose substantial fat sustainably and balance his hormones solving his fatty liver after a year.
1 — Reduced excess calories and lowered stress.
The weight loss specialist first analyzed David’s diet. She noticed that David consumed more calories than he needed, particularly from refined carbs and unhealthy fats from processed foods.
The low-hanging fruit was to customize David’s diet with support from a qualified dietician. Without changing the food taste and volume, the dietician designed a unique diet matching David’s body type, medical history, lifestyle, and budget.
The specialist’s second action was to encourage David to perform regular exercises. Initially, the exercise part was more challenging as David was used to having a sedentary life and did not have much energy to move. He felt fatigued, exhausted, and sluggish.
However, his new diet increased his energy, and he started walking half an hour after each meal. To his surprise, he enjoyed walking as his mood improved.
David paired with a neighbor his age who loved walking with dogs. His neighbor encouraged him to adopt a dog from the homeless animal shelter.
His neighbor was also going to the gym twice a week. He encouraged David to join him. He has never been in a gym before. The social atmosphere in this community gym inspired David to become a regular attendee.
He gradually learned weightlifting and loved the resistance training machines that motivated him to work out more.
The community gym was also affordable, costing him a dollar a day. He made many friends who motivated him to stay fit. In a year, David lost 30 kg and felt fantastic. His mood was boosted.
In addition, the dietician introduced him to consuming his food through a specific window especially encouraging him to cut snacks. David’s unique diet with nutrient-dense food allowed him to skip a meal. He stopped eating lunch as he spent several hours in the gym and did not feel hungry at all.
He consumed two cups of black coffee during his gym breaks which increased his energy and suppressed his appetite.
His motivation for drinking coffee came from his hepatologist, who mentioned that drinking a few cups of coffee could contribute to healing and preventing fatty liver disease.
David enjoyed his homemade dinner very much after the workout sessions. As a single adult, preparing his own meal after workouts became a ritual and gave him a purpose in life.
2 — Optimized hormones.
David’s diet, workout regimen, and social involvement with his neighbor and gym friends naturally lowered his stress hormone (cortisol), making his body insulin and leptin sensitive, increasing his growth hormone, and optimizing his testosterone.
So, lowering physical and mental stress with healthy lifestyle habits such as a nutritious diet, regular exercise, restorative sleep, and fun with his friends contributed to balancing and optimizing his hormones.
When his body became more insulin-sensitive, losing weight became very easy for David. He did not lose muscles as his diet and exercise regimen were protective.
His blood sugar and lipids normalized, his blood pressure lowered, and his inflammation markers, especially from liver function tests, showed significant improvement.
3 — Detoxified the liver and cells naturally.
David’s liver was under constant pressure when he was consuming refined carbs and unhealthy fats from processed food.
His digestive system had never gotten rest from excessive food consumption, which was caused by his emotional eating after divorcing his partner.
Time-restricted eating, refraining from refined carbs, cutting processed foods, and performing regular exercise were the main contributors to detoxifying his body.
When he skipped lunch and exercised during that time, his body started consuming glycogen stores from the liver and producing ketones as alternative energy. Staying in mild ketosis made his body insulin-sensitive and fat-adapted.
After a while, his appetite reduced, and he felt physical rather than emotional hunger. One of his gym friends who perform long-term fasting encouraged David to try it.
Interestingly, David had never skipped a day without eating until his 60s. He was hesitant about fasting initially. But seeing the attractive body and sharp mind of his friend who was older than him, he wanted to try 24-hour fasting.
He consulted his family doctor, weight loss specialist, and dietician. After reviewing his progress over a year, these professionals encouraged David to try daily fasts safely with their supervision. They monitored his electrolytes and ensured he was kept hydrated during and after the fasting period.
Since his body was fat adapted, he had no problem with 24-hour fasting. He tried it once a week. Since fasting initiated autophagy and mitophagy, clearing the garbage from his cells, his cellular and mitochondrial health improved. He physically and mentally felt more energetic.
Weekly fasting, time-restricted eating, and removing the offending food, toxins, and pathogens detoxified his liver, and all symptoms disappeared. Not only his liver health but also his overall health and well-being significantly improved after starting the natural detoxification process.
Conclusions and Takeaways
Fatty liver disease is a metabolic health condition mainly caused by excessive calories which are not burned timely. Since it lowers the energy, when the condition happens, patients don’t feel like exercising.
Eating disorders such as emotional eating due to stress or traumas coupled with a sedentary lifestyle might make the situation worse. Therefore, recognizing the situation as early as possible and obtaining support from qualified healthcare professionals is an excellent start.
Even though some severe conditions for some patients might require medical intervention, such as biopsies, medication, or surgery, some people can reverse their fatty liver diseases with healthy lifestyle choices, as I exemplified in this story.
Lowering risks to prevent the occurrence of fatty liver disease with lifestyle choices is the best approach. However, some people can also reverse the condition by improving their lifestyle and obtaining timely support from qualified professionals.
The critical point to preventing fatty liver disease is lowering blood sugar by not exceeding our daily caloric requirement, preventing excessive insulin spikes, and preventing excess calories from being stored as visceral fat.
People with type II diabetes or metabolic syndrome must be extra careful as the risk of getting a fatty liver disease is high for them.
Even though it was a rare condition for children, after this obesity epidemic, around 10% of obese children are believed to be affected by fatty liver disease, so we also need to monitor our kids who might show symptoms.
I only touched on lifestyle choices, but there might be other underlying causes of fatty liver disease. Therefore, discussing with qualified professionals and obtaining timely support is necessary to lower the risks and effects of this condition.
I’d like to conclude this story by summarizing the key points.
1 — Remove unnecessary calories from the diet.
2 — Perform regular exercises, especially after meals.
3 — Control blood sugar and prevent insulin resistance.
4 — Lower triglycerides and LDL cholesterol.
5 — Improve sleep quality and lower stress.
6 — Give the liver and digestive system a rest.
7 — Consider drinking a few cups of coffee if you can tolerate it.
8 — Seek timely support from qualified professionals.
I hope this story can provide inspiration and valuable insights into preventing or reversing fatty liver disease and having a healthier life.
I shared many more inspiring stories like this, compiled in a collection titled Insightful Life Lessons from Personal Stories. I believe you might find some relevant and interesting ones from this collection.
As a new reader, you might check my holistic health and well-being stories reflecting on my reviews, observations, and decades of sensible experiments. I write about health as it matters. I believe health is all about homeostasis.
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As a new reader, please check my holistic health and well-being stories reflecting my reviews, observations, and decades of experiments optimizing my hormones and neurotransmitters. I write about health as it matters. I believe health is all about homeostasis.
Petechiae, ALS, Metabolic Syndrome, Type II Diabetes, Fatty Liver Disease, Heart Disease, Strokes, Obesity, Liver Cancer, Autoimmune Disorders, Homocysteine, Lungs Health, Pancreas Health, Kidneys Health, NCDs, Infectious Diseases, Brain Health, Dementia, Depression, Brain Atrophy, Neonatal Disorders, Skin Health, Dental Health, Bone Health, Leaky Gut, Leaky Brain, Brain Fog, Chronic Inflammation, Insulin Resistance, Elevated Cortisol, Leptin Resistance, Anabolic Resistance, Cholesterol, High Triglycerides, Metabolic Disorders, Gastrointestinal Disorders, Thyroid Disorders, Anemia, Dysautonomia, cardiac output, and urinary track disorders.
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Lutein/Zeaxanthin, Phosphatidylserine, Boron, Urolithin, taurine, citrulline malate, biotin, lithium orotate, alpha-lipoic acid, n-acetyl-cysteine, acetyl-l-carnitine, CoQ10, PQQ, NADH, TMG, creatine, choline, digestive enzymes, magnesium, zinc, hydrolyzed collagen, nootropics, pure nicotine, activated charcoal, Vitamin B12, Vitamin B1, Vitamin D, Vitamin K2, Omega-3 Fatty Acids, N-Acetyl L-Tyrosine, and other nutrients.
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As part of my creative non-fiction writing goals, I’d like to share a few stories that might warm our hearts with a bit of humor into weighty topics.
Sample Humorous Stories
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