Fatty Liver Diet: Meal Plan

The liver is one of the largest and most important organs in the body.

In addition to removing toxins from the bloodstream, your liver also helps maintain your blood sugar, assists in digestion, and plays a major role in developing the proteins that support our muscles and immune systems. That’s why maintaining your liver health as you age is so important.

What many don’t realize is that eating the wrong foods can damage your liver as much as drinking alcohol. When your body stores too much liver fat the result is inflammation, scarring, and permanent damage. Metabolic Dysfunction-Associated Steatotic Liver Disease (MASLD) also known as “Fatty Liver Disease” is one of the most common chronic liver diseases — affecting about 30% of Americans.

Fortunately, you can prevent or control the progression of Fatty Liver Disease by adopting a healthier diet. In this post, we’ll break down the ins and outs of MASLD and help you develop a meal plan for fatty liver disease.

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What is Fatty Liver Disease (MASLD)?

Metabolic Dysfunction-Associated Steatotic Liver Disease (MASLD), formerly known as “Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease (NAFLD)”, is a chronic kidney disease that affects as many as 100 million Americans annually.

MASLD occurs when liver cells become filled with fat, usually because of ongoing health conditions like obesity, type 2 diabetes, high cholesterol, or high blood pressure. This build up of fat cells causes injury to the liver which can lead to a condition called Cirrhosis, where the liver is permanently scarred and damaged.

Over time, Cirrhosis can lead to more serious health issues like cancer or liver failure. Fatty liver disease also places you at a much higher risk for other serious chronic conditions like cardiovascular disease, the leading cause of death for people with MASLD.

Developing a Meal Plan for Fatty Liver Disease

The Mediterranean Diet is often recommended for people dealing with MASLD due to its focus on eating fruits, vegetables, lean proteins, and healthy fats. The diet is primarily made up of foods that are high in fiber, vitamins, minerals, and polyphenols, which contain antioxidants and anti-inflammatories.

When planning meals for fatty liver disease management, include the following foods:

• Beverages – drink primarily water, black coffee, and unsweetened tea. Avoid sugary drinks like soda, juice, or sports drinks. Though the traditional Mediterranean diet is said to include red wine, people with liver issues should not drink alcohol.
• Vegetables – eat at least three servings of vegetables daily, limiting starchy vegetables such as potatoes.
• Fruits – eat at least two servings of fresh fruit daily.
• Fish and seafood – eat three or more servings of fish and seafood a week. Prioritize fatty fish such as salmon, tuna, trout, sardines, mackerel, and herring which are known for being high in anti-inflammatory omega-3 fatty acids.
• Legumes and beans – eat three or more servings of legumes and beans a week. Prioritize peas and lentils, as well as red, black, lima, kidney, soy, or navy beans.
• Nuts and seeds – eat four servings of raw, unsalted nuts and seeds a week.
• Poultry and eggs – prioritize eating white meat chicken without the skin and eggs as alternative sources of protein.
• Whole grains – Choose 100% whole grains when adding bread, rice, pasta, oatmeal, or tortillas to your diet.
• Healthy fats – extra virgin olive oil is usually the main source of fat in the Mediterranean diet. Other healthy, unsaturated fats such grapeseed oil or avocado oil are also acceptable. These oils are plant-based and can be used as alternatives to animal fats like butter or margarine when cooking.
• Polyphenols – eat foods that contain polyphenols like black coffee, green tea, and walnuts. Polyphenols contain antioxidants and anti-inflamatories, which can help to reduce liver fat.

Conversely, eating certain foods on a regular basis can cause or worsen symptoms of MASLD. When creating a meal plan for fatty liver disease you should remove these from your diet entirely or only eat them in small amounts on special occasions:

• Alcohol – as we mentioned above, people with MASLD should not drink alcohol.
• Foods that are high in saturated fat – avoid fatty meats, fried foods, butter, and whole milk.
• Highly processed foods – avoid frozen or pre-packaged meals, cheeses, canned vegetables with added salt, and canned fruit with added sugar.
• Sugary foods and drinks – avoid baked goods, candy, sugary cereals, sodas, sports drinks, and fruit juices.
• Refined carbohydrates – avoid potato chips, baked goods, white bread, and white rice.
• Red and processed meats – avoid beef, lunch meats, hot dogs, and chicken nuggets.

How to Enact Your Healthy Liver Diet Meal Plan

Permanently changing your eating habits can be difficult for anyone, and backslides are bound to happen. The easiest way to ensure that you keep your new diet on track is to plan ahead. When creating your fatty liver-friendly diet plan for the week, you can use something called the “plate method” to make sure you are meeting your nutritional goals day-to-day.

The plate method looks like this:

• Fill half your plate with nonstarchy vegetables or fruits
• Fill one-quarter of your plate with whole grains or starchy vegetables
• Fill one-quarter of your plate with protein-rich foods such as beans, nuts, fish, or poultry

Sample Diet for Fatty Liver Disease

Proper meal planning requires a lot of time and mental energy. That said, taking advantage of both the Mediterranean diet and the plate method can make it much easier to develop a sample diet for fatty liver disease.

For example, a day’s worth of meals could look like this:

• Breakfast:
  • Coffee or tea
  • One-egg omelet with spinach, tomatoes, red peppers,mushrooms, and feta cheese
  • A piece of multigrain toast topped with avocado
• Lunch:
  • A bowl of lentil soup
  • A kale salad with cranberries and fresh lemon dressing
  • Unsweetened Ice Tea
• Snacks:
  • Vegetable plate with carrots, celery, cucumber, cherry tomato, and bell pepper with a side of hummus for dipping
• Dinner
  • Baked salmon with brown rice and broccoli
  • Decaffeinated green tea or coffee
• Dessert:
  • Fruit Salad

Planning For Fatty Liver Disease

People diagnosed with MASLD will usually be told by their doctor to aim for a 5-10% reduction in weight to manage or reverse the effects of Fatty Liver Disease. If you’re adopting a fatty liver friendly meal plan due to health concerns, a regular exercise routine should also be part of the equation.

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