Hanouneh Ibrahim - Skinny liver: a proven program to prevent and reverse the new silent epidemic--fatty liver disease

Michael F. Roizen,MD,

Professor and Chief Wellness Officer, Cleveland Clinic

This book has changed how I think. Its made me realize how important and how easy it is to keep my liver younger so it can keep me younger.

And it has changed how I advise patients. Before 1990, most docs not specializing in liver diseases assumed that the liver was pretty resilient: if stressed by a one-night alcohol excess, it will recover, assuming its no longer abused with alcohol or hasnt been attacked by a virus. The popular view was that liver diseases only affected people who abused their liver with alcohol or that the diseases were largely preventable. And after all, your liver would regenerate. If you allow me a quick diversion from medicine before 1990 to mythology, I want to quickly tell the story of Prometheus.

Prometheus gave fire to the humans. His punishment from the gods for committing such a crime: the poor fellow was chained to a rock, where a vulture would peck out his liver. Amazingly, his liver would regenerate overnight. Were not sure how the Greeks knew of the livers power, though it may be because they survived injuries to the organ in battle. While the Greeks were on to something, were pretty certain that they didnt have as much insight into the liver as the scientific world did in 1990and does today. The good news is that this myth was largely right. But doctors have also needed to learn a thing or two in the last thirty years.

Up until about 1990 only 1 percent of us suffered loss of energy and vitality due to what we did to our liver with food and other lifestyle and toxin challenges. But that has changed: now 30 percent of Americans are afflicted with fatty liver diseaseand with that, a lack of energy and a host of other problems. Remember Morgan Spurlock? In his film Super Size Me , he documented a month of eating nothing but fast food. The consequences? His weight and LDL cholesterol zoomed up, he felt lethargic and depressed, and, said one of his doctors, his liver turned into pt. Now, that might not be the standard definition of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), but it sure paints a vividand accuratepicture of a condition that afflicts a third of all Americans.

In Part 1 of this book, Kristin Kirkpatrick and Ibrahim Hanouneh summarize the full picture of liver diseases and especially fatty liver disease. NAFLD is the infusion of liver cells with fat, caused by insulin resistance, obesity, diabetes, elevated triglycerides, and poor nutrition. As they explain, as you put on weight, your body becomes insulin resistant. When that happens, you cant use insulin efficiently to shuttle sugar into your cells for energy. Instead, sugar gets stored in your liver as fatand soon youve got NAFLD. And then you are at risk for some major conditions, such as cirrhosis or liver cancer.

Making the lifestyle changes that appear in the plan in Part 2, such as the suggestions for avoiding fast food (remember Morgan!), and learning how to prepare love your liver foods inexpensively and quickly will help you become less insulin resistant and thin that fatty liver (and yes, you will learn why eating liver may be one of the worst choices you can make for the health of your liver!). You can continue to make your liver healthierand lose waist and weightby following the simple Skinny Liver Plan in Part 3. Youll learn the basics to make and keep your liver skinnyand give you more energy every day.

Kristin Kirkpatrick with Ibrahim Hanouneh have taught me how to treasure my liver, why that is so important, and what to do to keep it young. This is great news for all of us, since what keeps your liver young keeps your brain, heart, eyes, and even sex organs functioning better. This book gives you the plan for a life filled with energy. Im sharing this plan with my own patients. In the endif you understand their principles and follow their plan, tooyou will be well on your way to making your liver skinny and your life longer and filled with much more energy and fun.