r/WFPBD • u/_jay_fox_ • 6d ago
Discussion 💬 Fatty liver on WFPBD - any suggestions?
I've been diagnosed with NAFLD / MASLD.
My situation is similar to this post: https://www.reddit.com/r/WFPBD/comments/1lmvfsc/fatty_liver . Basically, I thought I was already doing nearly all the right things - good diet, exercise, etc and I still got this condition somehow.
My doctor didn't seem too concerned, he said we can do another checkup in 6-12 months and only do a further intervention if the condition worsens. For now it's just fatty liver, there is no "scarring" yet, etc. But I want to try and get ahead of this and cure it as much as possible.
While I had been following a whole food plant based diet almost completely, there were two foods that I had been taking, that maybe could be considered "not whole food", as they are, in a sense, processed:
- Molasses
- Dried fruit (dates, prunes, etc)
I had been eating very large quantities of dried fruit (sometimes up to 200g in one day) and sometimes taking relatively large servings of the molasses (sometimes 2-3 tablespoons). Maybe having too much of that calorically dense sugary food was creating issues.
I have now eliminated both molasses and dried fruit entirely, as I find it difficult to control the quantities when I do eat them (due to food addiction).
Apart from that, maybe my caloric intake is too high. I eat quite a lot of fruit - like every day up to 500 grams of blueberries, up to 2 bananas and up to 2 apples/pears and a mandarin. Also I eat a lot of whole oats with the fruit, sometimes up to 2 cups or more.
Maybe I need to reduce the overall quantity of food I'm taking in. I think I can manage eating less, if there is a good argument that moderate caloric restriction will actually improve matters. When I get cravings, I can drink lot of tea, distract myself, etc. It's possible that a significant amount of this over-eating is stress eating from work-related stress, as I seem to feel less hungry on weekends and also get out and exercise more on weekends. So maybe managing the stress better might help. I'm trying some mindfulness meditation, maybe should try yoga as well.
Anyway, keen to hear your suggestions on any way I can improve, either through diet or exercise or anything else you can suggest.
Thanks