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Anyone with NAFLD and Type 2 ?

F

fendertele

Well-Known Member
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221
Just curious if anyone had both and what approach they took to their diet, did they still just stick to the keto/low carb or was there anything else they did with this?.
 
Yep, I had NAFLD years before I developed diabetes. An old GP was convinced I was a secret drinker because of my liver scores even though I was teetotal at the time and had been for years. He sent me away saying once I admitted to drinking, he’d be there to help. Until then he wouldn’t do anything. Luckily, he took early retirement a little time later.
Since I wasn’t a drinker and I had a “healthy whole grain rich diet”, the doctors used to just tell me to exercise more which didn’t seem to do anything. Since going low carb, I’ve lost weight, brought my blood pressure down, improved my liver scores and controlled my blood sugars. Seems to work for me. :)
 
fendertele said:
Just curious if anyone had both and what approach they took to their diet, did they still just stick to the keto/low carb or was there anything else they did with this?.
Click to expand...
Believe it or not, the bulk of T2's has NAFLD, we're just not always diagnosed with it. Like Antje said, it's part and parcel of Metabolic Syndrome. That comes with some, if not all of these issues: NAFLD, Type 2 diabetes, high cholesterol (the "badness" of which is debatable, as T2's are held up to an impossible standard "healthy" people don't have to adhere to), high blood pressure and obesity. Most of us can check two boxes or more. They're all related to one another, and all rather fixable with a low carb/ketogenic diet. Get your blood sugars back in range, and you're likely to shed weight, and lose fat from your liver as well, get blood pressure down, lower cholesterol in the process, naturally. I was diagnosed with NAFLD first, as I had liver pain and my bloodwork was off... I needed to get checks pronto, as the scans (ultrasound and either CT or MRI, I forget which. The one with a radiation IV for contrast), seemed to indicate my liver was one massive tumor. But, yeah, okay. no tumor, just an abnormal stacking of fat that was going to kill me just a tad slower, but kill me all the same. The specialist said he'd see me again when the liverfat became cirhhosis and he'd give me painkillers, as there was nothing else to do about it. Just get the pain sorted and make funeral arrangements, really... Riiight. I asked Dr. Google what causes NAFLD, and one of the things was T2, which I could very easily rule out: Our cat at the time had T3c after a bout with pancreatitis, so I borrowed his meter. That's how I found out my levels were insanely high. (18 without food, 22 after lunch.) I knew what it meant, so the floor just about opened up beneath me. Got in touch with my GP, started the whole T2 thing, found out about low carb with, again, Dr. Google and.... Quite soon after I started low carbing, my blood sugar levels returned to normal, I lost about 25 kilo's, my liver's bloodwork came back perfectly healthy (And the doc said no-one could ever tell I ever had been so badly off without an ultrasound to check what's still there), my cholesterol is quite okay.... I never had high blood pressure, but since all this it's actually gone a tad low.

So. Get your blood sugar levels back to the normal range with keto or low carb, whichever works for you. The liver'll follow suit. Have faith. ;)
Hugs,
Jo
 
Thanks guys, IS NAFLD damage reversible or just maintainable once it has progressed as i'm hoping in time some of the symptoms that came with it might improve also.

Thanks again.
 
Lobsang Tsultim said:
Yep, I had NAFLD years before I developed diabetes. An old GP was convinced I was a secret drinker because of my liver scores even though I was teetotal at the time and had been for years. He sent me away saying once I admitted to drinking, he’d be there to help. Until then he wouldn’t do anything. Luckily, he took early retirement a little time later.
Since I wasn’t a drinker and I had a “healthy whole grain rich diet”, the doctors used to just tell me to exercise more which didn’t seem to do anything. Since going low carb, I’ve lost weight, brought my blood pressure down, improved my liver scores and controlled my blood sugars. Seems to work for me. :)
Click to expand...

This, almost to a t. Around 15 years ago. Wasn’t particularly overweight at the time either (compared with now) doctor saw liver panel numbers and said this doesn’t make sense, you are either a rank alcoholic or have hepatitis and ordered a liver scan URGENT

(As an aside I think the liver numbers were sky high because I was taking lansoprasol at the time for heartburn, which the doctors didn’t believe can affect the liver enzymes but it has since come out it can rarely cause acute liver damage in some people)

I got a bus to the hospital and had the scan and the radiologist(I think that’s who fo ultrasounds) laughed and said urgent? And joked with the nurse “If I had a pound for every time I saw this then I probably wouldn’t be working here.” You’ve got a fatty liver.

Saw the consultant heptologist (?) afterwards who suggested a low fat diet. Funnily enough I think I was following a low carb diet back then without thinking about it as cut wheat out (and the heartburn went away) and that cuts out a fair bit of carbs doesn’t it, I did used to still have a few in veg and 5 maize crackers a day with my other meals. Consultant discharged me as said keep on/maintains healthy weight and I’ll be fine, and it was never spoken about again.

Anyway ffwd to now, I’d hazard a guess still have that fatty liver, which may or may not have led to the diabetes, though I managed to get back in the pre-diabetic range in 2016 and stay there even though I’m a lot heavier than I was after a few recent years of carbaholism. (Work in progress)

Though my liver numbers looked okay at last check, cholesterol was high, blood pressure was up. HbA1c has crept up a bit since last year too so probably out of kilter with the whole pancreas/liver/insulin resistance thing, doc said T2 might have also contributed to my easy weight gain, though I think the haribo sandwich I once ate might have helped out a bit with that.

Doc agreed to have another check up in 6 months to see what the effects of low carb are having on blood sugar/pressure/cholesterol as would be too soon to tell as only started to take back control of my eating habits in January this year.
 
ravensmitten said:
This, almost to a t. Around 15 years ago. Wasn’t particularly overweight at the time either (compared with now) doctor saw liver panel numbers and said this doesn’t make sense, you are either a rank alcoholic or have hepatitis and ordered a liver scan URGENT

(As an aside I think the liver numbers were sky high because I was taking lansoprasol at the time for heartburn, which the doctors didn’t believe can affect the liver enzymes but it has since come out it can rarely cause acute liver damage in some people)

I got a bus to the hospital and had the scan and the radiologist(I think that’s who fo ultrasounds) laughed and said urgent? And joked with the nurse “If I had a pound for every time I saw this then I probably wouldn’t be working here.” You’ve got a fatty liver.

Saw the consultant heptologist (?) afterwards who suggested a low fat diet. Funnily enough I think I was following a low carb diet back then without thinking about it as cut wheat out (and the heartburn went away) and that cuts out a fair bit of carbs doesn’t it, I did used to still have a few in veg and 5 maize crackers a day with my other meals. Consultant discharged me as said keep on/maintains healthy weight and I’ll be fine, and it was never spoken about again.

Anyway ffwd to now, I’d hazard a guess still have that fatty liver, which may or may not have led to the diabetes, though I managed to get back in the pre-diabetic range in 2016 and stay there even though I’m a lot heavier than I was after a few recent years of carbaholism. (Work in progress)

Though my liver numbers looked okay at last check, cholesterol was high, blood pressure was up. HbA1c has crept up a bit since last year too so probably out of kilter with the whole pancreas/liver/insulin resistance thing, doc said T2 might have also contributed to my easy weight gain, though I think the haribo sandwich I once ate might have helped out a bit with that.

Doc agreed to have another check up in 6 months to see what the effects of low carb are having on blood sugar/pressure/cholesterol as would be too soon to tell as only started to take back control of my eating habits in January this year.
Click to expand...
Are you just lower carb diet (e.g. around 150g per day) or are you attempting keto diet. The keto diet would be more effective on adipose fat and should shift out the ectopic fat in the liver. An alternative that may also work on the NAFLD is the Newcastle diet which also removes ectopic fat if you have the weight loss. Both diets are good for bringing diabetes back into control, but the low carb diet is probably more sustainable in the long term. Another diet plan that may help is the FAST 800 diet which is like Newcastle, but is also low carb. The ultra low calorie diets like Newcastle are a short sharp shock but then needs to stop, and then the weight goes back on.
 
Oldvatr said:
Are you just lower carb diet (e.g. around 150g per day) or are you attempting keto diet. The keto diet would be more effective on adipose fat and should shift out the ectopic fat in the liver. An alternative that may also work on the NAFLD is the Newcastle diet which also removes ectopic fat if you have the weight loss. Both diets are good for bringing diabetes back into control, but the low carb diet is probably more sustainable in the long term. Another diet plan that may help is the FAST 800 diet which is like Newcastle, but is also low carb. The ultra low calorie diets like Newcastle are a short sharp shock but then needs to stop, and then the weight goes back on.
Click to expand...

I'm having (and can seem to manage, bg wise) around 48 g of carbs a day not counting a free plate of greens I have to keep regular, I've lost 42lbs since January with a long way to go, still seems to be coming off steadily.

Did the ND in 2016 for 8 weeks, lost a bucketful of weight and maintained that for a while then went crackers.

Avoided having a hba1c until last year and it was still lower than at diagnoses in 2016, though now carrying far more weight.

I'm guessing like we previously spoke about before, I had a short sharp "reset" with that diet and over time and many carbs, my levels were slowly creeping back into the zone

in hindsight I reckon i should have shifted to low carb after the ND in 2016 as that gave a good kickstart.

Wonder if it is worth giving it another shot, though low carb seems to be having the desired effect on my waistline, and I'm satiated.
 
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