The average person will try 126 diets in a lifetime, according to an article in the Independent.
I may have tried most of those!
If you feel like you can’t lose weight no matter what you do, you’ve tried all the diets, you feel like your body is rebelling against you.
You’re not alone.
This is a common theme with age.
And it could be related to your liver.
Research shows 1 in 3 Americans have a fatty liver and I believe it’s a factor for those struggling to lose weight.
In my opinion, many women have fatty livers due to jumping around on all kinds of diets.
When you change your diet – your gut microbiome shifts.
Being in a health kick mode and then saying f-it and eating whatever is confusing to your liver.
Top that off with slowing of thyroids, lowered estradiol, tendency to insulin resistance and increased oxidative stress from life’s exposures and stress and you have a perfect situation to develop fatty liver.
So many women tell me they tried keto and either felt sick or ended up gaining weight.
Could be a sign of an already developing fatty liver.
Then there’s the folks who lost weight with keto and then it seemed to stop working.
Perhaps all the fat bombs finally caught up with the liver.
Pair trying keto without a gallbladder and there’s potential for side effects.
Aging alone sets you up for a fatty liver… so how do you know if it’s what’s keeping you from losing weight?
Plugging in the numbers for the fatty liver index or the hepatic steatosis index will give you a great idea if you’ve got fatty liver.
If you don’t great – it’s time to ward it off.
In the past I’ve recommended Metabolic Reset diets that have the potential to clear fat out of the liver.
They are the same concept as what I recommend when someone has hit a plateau with weight loss because I believe your metabolism ended up confused.
Dr. Krause’s Protocols
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Traveling soon? Looking to detox or reset your gut? Try one of Dr. Krause’s Fullscript plans.
Straighten it out with the following…
A very low carb diet (20 grams or less of carbs a day) for 2 weeks followed by a 2 week hypo caloric diet (usually 1200 calories) that’s close to Mediterranean and is no sugar/refined carb and low saturated fat.
You could use the Whole 30 diet recipes, cut down the carbs to a cup of berries a day and only use lean meats for 2 weeks then the second 2 weeks add in another cup of fruit or sweet potato, whole food based starch.
One month – that’s it then move to a Mediterranean style of diet.
Add in Seeking Health’s Liver Nutrients during that time + choline at 2 grams a day and carnitine 1 gram twice a day
Retest your labs and check your progress with weight at weeks 2-4.
If you’re still struggling to drop weight then consider the entire fatty liver protocol or have micronutrient testing done to see where you’re missing nutrients to help your metabolism.
Fatty liver protocol:
- Vitamin E 400-1200 IU a day with at least 200 mg twice a day of tocotrientols
- Choline – 2 grams a day
- NAC – 600 mg twice a day
- Omega 3 fatty acids – 1 gram a day
- Carnitine 1 gram twice a day
- Berberine – 500 mg three times a day
- Milk Thistle 500 mg twice a day
- Black seed oil – 1-2 grams a day
- Hesperidin – 1 gram a day
- Probiotic
Because there are a lot of supplements in my fatty liver protocol I prefer to test and not guess.
The Cell Science Systems and Spectra Cell Micronutrient testing are my go to options for testing in this case.
Stick with the Mediterranean style of diet and play with fat and carb amounts to find your sweet spot.
You have to journal and track your food to know what is best.
Sometimes having a continuous glucose monitor (CGM) can be a lifesaver to help you understand what food does to your blood sugar. (Been hearing good stuff about the Stelo monitor).
More often than not it’s the sequence of your meals that matter to keep blood sugar in check – protein 1st, veggies next and carbs last.
If you choose to do the supplements – stick with them for 6 months and then retest again to see if you still need them.
Treating your weight as a protocol to work with versus an affliction goes a long way to get the needle moving.
Metabolisms are never truly broken just bogged down and it seems that life over 40 sets you up to trending toward a fatty liver.
Help the liver clear the fat and see if the rest of you follows suit.
Here’s to happy healthy livers,
Dr. J
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