Posts Tagged ‘fatty liver’

How to stay motivated when trying to reach your goal weight begins with a strong desire to lose weight. Sustaining the enthusiasm usually dramatically diminishes as the scale doesn’t respond fast enough. The reality is it took some time to gain the weight, and reversing the trend will take time. Concentrating on the numbers isn’t the way to go about losing weight.

Weight Loss Rewards

The reward is in the effort as much as the outcome. This is the reality, the new and improved lifestyle says a lot on how you feel about yourself. When you diet just for the sake of losing weight you usually wind up with a short fix. This way is usually responsible for the yo-yo dieting. That is the one where it is akin to using duct tape and safety pins to take something and make it smaller.

The purpose of dieting has to be more that to get into a pair of jeans. The benefits are so huge that most recently it is considered a solution to type 2 diabetes, the metabolic syndrome, blood pressure problems, cardiovascular conditions, mobility, and even cancer prevention. Weight loss supports cellular energy, physical performance, and graceful aging.

Obesity and Liver Disease

Obesity leads to liver disease. There is a growing relationship between weight and liver disease. With nearly two-thirds of the population being either overweight or obese, we are seeing a rise in liver diseases. A malfunctioning liver is responsible for a host of health related conditions. These range from brain changes that mimic Alzheimer’s, because it results in memory lapses and lack of coordination. The liver detoxifies environmental pollutants, and chemicals that are in the air or food that we eat.

Dr. Naim Alkhouri, a hepatologist at the Cleveland clinic states “Its overwhelming how many patients we’re seeing with this problem. Dr. William Carey, also a hepatologist at the Cleveland Clinic says , “This is huge. We didn’t know this disease existed 30 years ago. Now, it’s the most common liver disease in America.”

Message

The message that isn’t being delivered to the weight loss crowd is this isn’t about the blubber that has hitched a ride and landed as a permanent guest. This isn’t only about beer bellies, thunder thighs, over flowing bosoms, expanded waist size of padded backsides, it’s about the quantity and quality of your life.

Accelerating weight loss by modulating your diet to increase healthy function is a long term goal. Enhancing your ability to enjoy life is one of the beneficial effects of weight management. Being chronically overweight suppresses immunity, causes some forms of hypertension, raises blood sugar, causes insulin resistance, reduces libido, causes erectile dysfunction, and accelerates aging.

One More Reason to Lose Weight

If you need one more reason to lose weight here it is. Soon enough you are going to have to defend yourselves.

Being overweight or obese turns out to be the leading medical reason why applicants fail to qualify for military service. The army had to respond to this by making allowances for recruits who are fat and out of shape. Sit-ups and long runs are out, while yoga like movements are in.

Between 1995 and 2008, the proportion of potential recruits who failed their physicals each year because they were over weight increased to nearly 70 percent of young adults between the ages of 17 to 24 were too fat for military service.

What more motivation is needed to minimize the portion of food on  plates, and change lifestyles in order to support health.

Adults with newly diagnosed diabetes are at higher long-term risk of serious liver disease, including cirrhosis and liver failure, according to a research article published in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal).

Sense and Nonsense

Of course it makes sense that diabetics are at risk for many negative effects from having the condition. The nonsense is thinking that this is a disease. What produced a diabetic state is usually a faulty diet with lots of processed foods, and high fructose corn syrup.

High fructose corn syrup, which some studies have liked to obesity, may also be harmful to the liver, according to Duke University Medical Center research.

“We found that increased consumption of high fructose corn syrup was associated with scarring in the liver, or fibrosis, among patients with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD),” said Manal Abdelmalek, MD, MPH, associate professor of medicine in the Division of Gastroenterology/Hepatology at Duke University Medical Center.

Her team of researchers at Duke, one of eight clinical centers in the Nonalcoholic Steatohepatitis Clinical Research Network, looked at 427 adults enrolled in the network. They analyzed dietary questionnaires collected within three months of the adults’ liver biopsies to determine their high fructose corn syrup intake and its association with liver scarring.

The researchers found only 19 percent of adults with NAFLD reported no intake of fructose-containing beverages, while 52 percent consumed between one and six servings a week and 29 percent consumed fructose-containing beverages on a daily basis.

An increase in consumption of fructose appeared to be correlated to increased liver fibrosis in patients with NAFLD. . Her latest research, published online in Hepatology, goes one step further and links high fructose corn syrup to the progression of liver injury.

“Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease is present in 30 percent of adults in the United States,” Abdelmalek said. “Although only a minority of patients’ progress to cirrhosis, such patients are at increased risk for liver failure, liver cancer, and the need for liver transplant,” she explained.

Bad Eating Choices and Risk of both Diabetes and Liver Disease

If you say your bad eating choices are the cause of your poor health you would solve a lot of problems.

It’s estimated that more than 30 million adults in the US have fatty liver disease, including up to 75 percent of obese people and 50 percent of diabetics. The so-called disease is primary seen in overweight individuals. It is a condition brought on by overeating, and a sedentary lifestyle. Most people are not aware that they have this condition. Imagine foie gras which is a delicacy, it is made by force feeding a goose that is not allowed to move around. That is the best comparison to what happens to a human liver under the same type of conditions.

The condition is known as non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). The condition is tied to low aerobic capacity, and is a step in developing obesity related chronic conditions. Fat accumulates in the liver, and can lead to permanent liver damage. It is a sign of being unfit, and with it comes a whole host of health related problems. This condition is now found in younger people.

Fatty liver syndrome may be caused by pharmaceuticals. Chemical poisons can injure the liver that causes the liver cells to accumulate fat. A few of the drugs that are on the list are tetracycline, cortisone, and prednisone. There are plenty of chemicals that we are exposed to that can injure the liver.

Our lifestyle is probably one of the biggest causes. It is potentially reversible with diet change and an ongoing exercise program. Poor aerobic fitness is associated with non-alcoholic fatty livers. This condition is expected to be the next big metabolic disorder. As many as four out of five diabetics show signs of this condition. With the jump in the number of cases it points to a lifestyle induced condition. 

Fatty liver in itself presents no symptoms, even as it advances. What is frightening is that it is growing more common. While many are unaware that they have a problem, it can progress and lead to liver damage. The condition is believed to be brought about by poor diet. A diet loaded with processed food will cause malnutrition; liver disease in alcoholics comes in part from malnutrition.

One of the liver’s functions is to convert carbohydrates into fat and send it to be stored in adipose (fat) tissue as fuel reserve. When you consume more carbohydrates than you need from high calorie fatty and sugary foods the liver becomes overwhelmed. It slows the delivery of fat to be stored, and the liver becomes clogged. As it converts the carbohydrates into fat it accumulates it, and the liver now becomes a fatty liver. Poor eating habits have become pervasive throughout society. Lack of exercise is the final piece in the development of the fatty liver syndrome.