How I survived Fatty Liver (NAFLD) Disease

Fatty liver is a mild disease but it’s a lethal one if it is not treated well. And now in this world of food pyramids, fatty liver is becoming more common than ever before. Since my childhood, I was very proactive toward foods but Hey, don’t consider me as a food minister who loves to eat all day long. I was somebody who was more than an average consumer and doesn’t have complaints regarding any food except balsam apple. I could consume almost everything and didn’t have any single issue in my stomach.

How I developed Fatty Liver

When I get into the University, in most of the Indian sub-continental university canteen junk food like (singara, samocha, piaji, daul porota….)  you name it are very common foods to have during break time and for some students, they even escape their breakfast and lunch by having those junk foods. I use to do it a lot. Almost from day to night I use to have a lot of these singara, samocha and so on. In 2016 I started to notice that I am having so much acidity for those junk foods. So gradually I broke up with those foods.

Keep in mind that I am pointing out the key points of how I develop Fatty Liver inside me. And bad food habit is one of the main contributing factors of it. Bad food habit is not alone there are some others crucial factors I will touch on that too.

Okay, Let’s get back to the story, after 2016 I could understand although I love those junk foods, those are harming my body in a serious manner. So I stop eating those foods (oops I am not gonna lie) I actually haven’t stopped those foods but I moderate it in a significant portion. Like I eat those junk foods once a month or once in a while. But from then on I started to develop my interest in something else. I started to enjoy all the restaurant’s meal (As I wasn’t staying with my family, mostly I was staying in a single rented room where a maid use to cook for me) So it was obvious that nobody did like that food. For me, I didn’t see it as bad to liking a meal out of my house especially in a good restaurant. And two of the other foods which also hook me with the restaurant are grilled chicken with nan bread and Kacchi biriyani. After 2017 I got so much addicted to those foods, I didn’t miss a single chance of having those foods. It seems like I was having those foods every day. As a student who is living with his own money wouldn’t bother much to spend it on what he loves. So I was in that state. Sometimes along with my friends, I tend to visit Jahangirnagar University’s Bot-tola just to have a whole lot of spicy foods and smashed dishes(vorta). Here is a glimpse of those foods.  Till then life was going well, consuming food without thinking about well being of the health.

One of the other contributing factors for my Fatty Liver disease was bad sleeping habits. As I was fond of the computer from my childhood and since 2012 I was working as a Freelance Web Developer, I had to stay awake at night to accomplish projects. To be specifically very honest I am not gonna blame my job for keeping me awake most of the night. Actually, the job was the reason sometimes to keeps us Freelancer people awake at night but not all the times it keeps a freelancer awake at night. Actually, I got used to this habit of waking late at night. It worked as an addiction. I could not go to sleep before 3 AM most of the day. Even sometimes the whole night passes and I went to bed in the very morning. Back then I really didn’t know how bad this habit is and how harmful it is for my health.

Every night I was working and when I wasn’t working I tried to watch some tutorials, scrolling on Facebook, watching some videos on YouTube. This is how time flies and looking at the clock most of the night I could discover that it is late at night still in my mind I felt like let’s watch some more tutorials or some more videos on YouTube.

Connecting the dots, now I can distinguish that those times I have spends thinking that I am learning something new didn’t work properly. Because when your brain is drowsy or foggy you can’t stack new information properly in it. Good sleep is essential when it comes to learning new things. Okay, so staying awake late at night for so many years completely destroyed my metabolism and it started the metabolic syndrome in my body I didn’t notice. I got overweight, a bulky face, puffy eyes, dark lines under my eyes, huge belly, fat everywhere. Literally from a good body shape, I transformed into something nobody likes. People started to call me fat guy. I myself started to hate my body shape. Looking at the mirror I always thought to myself “Why and how I have transformed into this shape? I use to look good.”

A couple of years passed, in 2020 I have joined a company or to be more specific I have got contracted with a Netherland-based company. A remote job contract as a Developer. And it was a project-based job. So I started working with them. And for one whole month, I could realize, I am not getting a single moment to do something else or to take a rest. Continuously working from day to night and couldn’t take meals at home because of time shortage. Mostly I took my meal outside in a restaurant. And suddenly after almost every meal, I started to notice a weird thing is happening right side of my chest under the breast. I felt something is heavy inside, it felt like it would burst out so I had to keep my right hand on there to keep it calm. It was a complete discomfort feeling which I never had before. And I feel like my Liver got bigger so when I am moving I could sense the heaviness of my Liver inside my body.  Initially, I couldn’t figure out that it was my liver problem. I thought to myself it is occurring from acidity. So I took some pills to heal my acidity. A couple of days passed, my acidity has gone but the heaviness on my right lobe of the chest didn’t go away. It started to raise some serious questions in my mind. So I have decided I would get some test done on my body to figure it out what’s really going on inside.

The very next day I went to the hospital and talking to the doctor, he prescribed me some tests such as Ultrasound, ECG, Lipid Profile. I got those tests done. Looking at those tests report doctor was harshly asking me why don’t I take the meal in my house for last 4 to 5 years. I replied with a smile “Because I don’t stay with my family for almost 7 – 8 years”. He was again harshly asking why didn’t I slept at night for several years? I replied in the same manner with a smile “Because I had to work at night sir”. He replied you have done so much injustice with your body so it’s time for your body to take revenge. With a smiling face, I asked him “Sir, what happened to my body?” Doctor said, nothing serious but you have accumulated so much fat inside your Liver. If you keep your lifestyle going like this things gonna go worse than this. This fatty liver may lead to cirrhosis. That’s really scared me because I know how lethal cirrhosis is. Because I have lost my uncle to cirrhosis. So the doctor suggested me to modify my lifestyle and modify my food habit to get back to the track. But he didn’t specifically mention what I really need to do to reduce my weight and what food habit should I follow. He just suggested lowering my carbohydrate intake.

So what procedures I followed to reverse it?

It’s a long journey!  And the worst part of it that doctor gonna prescribe you some medicine and you may think that those medicine gonna help you reduce fat from your Liver, but unfortunately, “NO”. It’s not gonna help. Even medicine is completely not necessary to reverse it. It is completely a lifestyle disease that can only be reversed by modifying the lifestyle. So, let me explain what procedure I have followed to reverse fatty liver.

So, after my diagnosis, I posted this issue on Facebook and so many people come forwards to help me out. They have provided various suggestions and recommendations to follow. But my uncle and childhood friend Taz Uddin come forward and suggested me a doctor to follow. So I started to follow him through YouTube (Dr Jahangir Kabir). Watching some of his videos I realize he was suggesting a ketogenic diet but in a healthy way. With this ketogenic diet, he has added some of his own research findings and named it JK Lifestyle  I think it’s a good way to stands out from some of the unhealthy ketogenic diets. And later on, I have found Dr. Berg who is also working on the same domain. I would call them knowledge doctors. Their medical practices helped me a lot to keep the confidence strong and go through this rough and tough path to face the fatty liver battle. And finally Insha Allah I have owned. Allah has given me the cure.

So for the last 5 months what I actually did to get it reverse. There is not just one thing that I have done there were series of things that I have to do each and every day to get it reverse. I am trying to explain it for you.

• Here is the Diet Chart which I have followed although it is in Bangla I would try to make one in English
• Every day I wake up early in the morning around 5 – 6 am
• After praying Fazar prayer I went to do some exercise (Mostly cardio exercise, running, walking)
• Coming back from exercise I took a glass of water mixed some lemon juice and a tablespoon of apple cider vinegar and some Himalayan Pink salt. Mixed it well and I drink it.
• In the lunch meal, I have taken 2 – 3 eggs with yoks, 2 pieces of fish, fresh vegetables, peanut, coconut water.
• Just like the lunch, in the same way, I have taken my dinner before 7 PM almost every day.
• And I went to bed as early as possible between 9 PM to 11 PM.
• Following the fat-adaptation process, I have done some Intermittent Fasting like taking the last meal of the day right before 6 PM and breaking the fast the very next day at 12 o’clock.
• I have done 15 –  20 days of fasting and the rest of the days I have followed as usual diet.

It took me 3 to 4 months to follow the diet to reverse the fatty liver issue. But this is not the end. The fat may disappear from the surface of the liver pretty quickly but there are so many functionalities that still needed to reverse. So in total, it may take you 2 – 3 years to reverse from everything. So it would be a good idea to keep following the ketogenic diet even after your Ultrasound result shows that you don’t have any fat in the liver.