Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is on the rise, as obesity continues to be a problem worldwide. But not only overweight and obese individuals develop liver disease – even if you’re lean, you could still be at risk.
Even if you hit the gym regularly and are pretty fit, you can still be harming your liver if you continuously eat fried, fatty foods and drink alcohol in excess.
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Gastroenterologist Dr. Saswata Chatterjee explained, “The disease remains silent for long periods of time. The best recommendation is to do away with unhealthy lifestyle wholly.”
Living a healthy lifestyle that reduces your risk of liver disease means not abusing medications, drinking in moderation, and checking your liver enzymes periodically to ensure your liver is continuing to function properly. It’s also vastly important that you maintain a healthy weight as being overweight or obese puts added stress on the liver, which greatly increases the risk of liver disease.
Furthermore, you will want to control other factors that contribute to the development of diabetes, hypertension, and high cholesterol. Even if you have these conditions, ensure they’re well managed, as if they become out of control, your liver becomes a target for illness.
But most of all, ensure you’re eating well. Food plays a large role not only in the health of your liver, but the entire body. Eating fatty foods bogs down the liver. You may think because you look lean or burn calories working out that it would outweigh a bad diet, but unfortunately not. This is why there is a rise in liver disease among seemingly healthy individuals.
Choosing whole, healthy foods and consuming a healthy diet can go a long way in protecting the health of your liver which, in turn, would help you to maintain overall good health.
Also read:
- NAFLD diet plan: Dietary guidelines for non-alcoholic fatty liver disease
- Elevated liver enzymes: Causes, symptoms, and treatment
- PCOS increases risk of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD): Study
Emily Lunardo studied medical sociology at York University with a strong focus on the social determinants of health and mental illness. She is a registered Zumba instructor, as well as a Canfit Pro trainer, who teaches fitness classes on a weekly basis. Emily practices healthy habits in her own life as well as helps others with their own personal health goals. Emily joined Bel Marra Health as a health writer in 2013.
