Have you been diagnosed with liver cirrhosis? This involves scar tissue replacing healthy liver cells and can result from liver disease. It’s estimated up to 50 million people worldwide have chronic liver disease. As with other liver conditions, it’s important to know the symptoms, causes, and treatments. This includes cirrhosis of the liver diets. It helps you to know what to consume and avoid. For example, coffee/tea are healthy choices while it’s good to avoid all sugars, refined grains, and fried foods. The old saying “You are what you eat” applies so it’s critical to watch your diet to help control your health condition.
The liver is actually the human body’s largest internal organ. It’s critical for the digestive system. However, over time it’s possible for people to have health conditions related to the vital organ. Liver disease is one of the most common conditions, which can lead to liver cirrhosis. Several treatments are available including prescription medicines and surgical procedures. However, if you’re looking for a natural/holistic (whole-body) approach then you should consider watching your diet including food and beverages. It’s critical to know which foods you should eat more of and which ones you should avoid as much as possible.
What Exactly Is Liver Cirrhosis?
Let’s start with the nitty-gritty of this condition. This condition results in scar tissue slowly replacing healthy cells in the liver. Typically, this condition happens long-term due to factors like alcoholism or infection. The bad news is that the liver damage can’t be repaired in most cases.
However, there’s also some good news. If you detect the condition early enough you can receive various treatments for controlling the condition.
The liver is a vital organ since it helps to get rid of blood toxins, stores sugar, produces food-digesting enzymes, and also helps the body battle infections. These are all important functions so it’s critical to keep your liver as healthy as possible.
When the liver gets injured/sick it tries to repair itself. This is done by making strong scar tissue. However, sometimes the liver can’t repair all the damage. When that happens the levels of scar tissues are dangerously high and the football-sized organ is unable to work correctly.
If you have liver cirrhosis you might not notice any symptoms at the beginning. However, as time continues and the liver damage worsens you might experience various symptoms. They include:
- Appetite loss
- Weakness
- Nausea
- Swelling (stomach/legs)
- Weight loss
- Bruising/Bleeding
- Fatigue
There also might be various changes to the skin. You might experience serious itching, which can be very uncomfortable. Jaundice is a condition that can cause skin/eyeballs to become yellowish. Another skin change is red palms or white nails. Yet another skin-related cirrhosis condition is spider web-resembling blood vessels.
Liver cirrhosis can also cause mental changes. They include issues related to focus/memory. Men and women might also have specific symptoms. For example, women might have longer menstrual periods and men might have lower sex drive or shrinking testicles.
One issue to consider about liver cirrhosis is that it happens over a long time period. The condition can be caused by heavy alcohol drinking, hepatitis B/C, and obesity.
Cirrhosis of the Liver Diets: What To Eat And Avoid
What To Eat
Here are some foods to add to your diet in order to treat/prevent liver cirrhosis:
Beet Juice
This drink has been trending in recent years and there’s a reason. It’s loaded with antioxidants and nitrates, which can help boost heart health. Beets provide the same liver-friendly benefits.
Grapefruit
This fruit is a hybrid citrus fruit (sweet orange and pomelo) that originated in the island country Barbados. Grapefruit has powerful antioxidants that can help to protect livers naturally. Various studies show that the antioxidants in this fruit can help to prevent liver injury.
Grapes
Red/purple grapes are especially healthy for liver health. That’s because they contain powerful plant-based chemical compounds. The most well-known one “resveratrol” has been trending in recent years as an antioxidant in red wine. Several studies show that grapes’ fruit and juice can boost liver health.
Coffee/Tea
This is the real deal including brewed black coffee and steeped green tea. Avoid options like fancy coffee shop beverages or pre-packaged iced tea. They tend to be loaded with white sugar and other ingredients that are actually liver-unfriendly.
Studies show that coffee can help safeguard livers from the disease. This is even the case when people already have liver conditions. For example, some studies show that drinking coffee decreases the risk of liver cirrhosis among patients with chronic disease.
Some of the best options are green tea and herbal tea. Studies show that healthy beverages might provide health benefits for the liver. For example, one Japanese study showed that consuming green tea up to 10x daily was linked to blood test results linked to liver health.
Blueberries/Cranberries
Both of these berries contain antioxidants that give the round fruits their famous colors. The berries also are loaded with health benefits that make them liver-friendly. For example, many animal studies show that blueberries/cranberries including their fruits and juices can help to maintain healthy livers
Top Worst Foods for Fatty Liver
Fried Foods
These are a bad idea for various reasons. They’re loaded with calories and unhealthy fats. If you want to maintain a healthier liver and battle liver cirrhosis then make sure to minimize or ditch fried foods. Another issue is the type of oil that’s used. Unhealthy trans-fats are often used for fried foods at fast-food restaurants.
Salt
Make sure to minimize table salt and added salt, for example, you can find added salt in many snack foods like potato chips and fast foods like French fries. Try to limit your daily sodium to under 1500 milligrams (mg) daily. Besides being liver-unhealthy high sodium content can also cause other health issues like high blood pressure.
Sugar
Make sure to avoid all table sugar. All types of sugar are highly processed and provide no nutritional value. This includes white, brown, and raw sugar. In fact, sugar has been linked to various health conditions including liver-related ones.
Besides sugar itself, you should also watch out for foods/drinks that contain them. They include sodas, cookies, candy, and even fruit juices. it’s also good to avoid other sources of sugars including corn syrup, maple syrup, molasses, and raw honey.
Refined Grains
that includes bread, pasta, rice, and other foods made from refined grains. The problem is white flour is highly processed. This can cause various health issues like blood sugar spikes. These are bad choices and not recommended to be included in cirrhosis of the liver diets.
Alcohol
This is probably the best-known cause of liver cirrhosis even though other causes include infections like Hepatitis. That said, alcohol is one of the main causes of various liver conditions like liver disease. Alcohol can provide several health benefits. However, it’s important to avoid heavy drinking since it can cause various health conditions since it’s not included in cirrhosis of the liver diets.
