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Journalism of Courage
Priya walked into my clinic with her lab reports, her hands trembling. At 38, working long hours in marketing, these words scared her — fatty liver disease, Grade 2, indicated by elevated liver enzymes. But what really got to her was what the doctor said after: “Your liver has been storing fat and your stress for years now, and it’s finally taking a toll.”
Fatty liver sneaks up on you. No pain, no warning, nothing. You could be walking around with a liver that’s storing way too much fat and feel totally normal. That’s what happened to Priya. She did not drink. Turns out, alcohol’s not the only problem. Too much sugar, eating late at night, stress, all those quick refined carbs, all of them are triggers. And now, almost one in three people are dealing with these.
Four months later, her liver enzymes dropped by 40%. She felt like herself again. And she did it with a diet.
Before anything else, warm water with half a lemon and a pinch of turmeric and black pepper, which helps your body actually absorb the turmeric way better. Otherwise, most of it just goes straight through.
Breakfast: 8:00 AM
Two moong dal/ besan/oats chillas with:
● Some grated lauki (bottle gourd) mixed right into the batter
● A small bowl of curd with roasted cumin on top
● Five almonds that had been soaking overnight and two walnuts.
This is full of fibre and feeds the good bacteria in your gut. Those bacteria then make stuff that actually helps your liver stop storing so much fat. So Priya wasn’t just eating breakfast, she was helping her whole system work better.
Green tea with a few tulsi leaves. No milk, no sugar.
Lunch: 1:30 PM
The main meal:
● Two small rotis made from mixed grains: jowar, bajra, ragi instead of just wheat
● A bowl of vegetables, very little oil
● Big salad: cucumber, tomato, carrot, squeeze of lime
● A small piece of raw onion on the side
or
● One-and-a-half bowl of brown rice with masoor dal/ paneer and vegetables/soya with vegetables
● Big salad: cucumber, tomato, carrot, squeeze of lime
● A small piece of raw onion on the side. Onions have compounds that help your liver do its cleanup job better.
A glass of buttermilk with curry leaves crushed in and some rock salt.
Evening Snack: 4:30 PM
● Tea made by boiling fennel and coriander seeds together
● Sauteed vegetables/boiled sweet potato chaat/ khaman (100 gms of steamed gram flour cake)/sauteed idli (100 gm)
Dinner: 7-7:30 PM (Early and Light)
The trick here, eat early and keep it light:
● A bowl of daliya cooked like khichdi with spinach, carrots and peas
● Salad with beet and radish (the betaine in beet helps liver function).
● A bowl of vegetable soup
Or
● Small bowl of palak paneer made with low-fat paneer
● Salad with beet and radish
● A bowl of vegetable soup
Before bed, around 9:30 PM: Priya had warm milk with saffron stands. Throughout the day, she kept sipping fenugreek seeds soaked overnight, cumin water in the afternoon, regular plain water. All of this amounted to 3 to 4 litres.
At the end of four months, she had lost eight kilos and hadn’t starved herself even once. Priya’s liver wasn’t special. It just needed someone to stop dumping junk on it and start giving it what it needed. Four months. That’s how long it took for everything to turn around. And if her liver could do it, yours can too.
(Khamesra is a clinical dietitian)
