My Liver Transformation

Most people don’t know how to eat, I know I never did. I was a small but a fast kid when I was young. I was taught in school about the pyramid food cycle with the grains, proteins, vegetables and the like, but never really paid attention to what they meant. I guess I and we as a nation are really not ever taught how and what to eat that is right for our body. I always thought I was eating ok. I never had a problem with weight when I was younger, as a freshman in high school I was only 5’ 6” tall and weighed in at 88 lb but like I said, I was fast. I never paid much attention to what I ate. I came from a family of eight kids, seven boys and a girl. You pretty much ate when it was served or you didn’t eat.

My problem started this same year when I tried out for football. The coaches saw how fast I was, but I didn’t have any mass or weight behind me. So guess what? Yep, they put me on a high protein, high fat, high calorie, high carb everything. Along with weight training, by the time I was a junior, I went from the 88 pounder to a starting running back that weighed 155lb. But still, no one really cared about what I was eating, and I liked everything, mostly everything bad. I can remember living off Indian Brand Corn Chips and Little Debbie Swiss Cakes, and washing this down with a sugared orange drink, for over a year. I started to see my body get fat but I did not understand why.

By the time I had left home and got settled – married, kids, house, dog the whole thing – I had found myself to be carrying around 23lb. Yea, I know! I was on several diets. I would lose 10, 20, 30 and sometimes more and it would always find a way to come back. I would work out, run, walk, as long as I was doing this rigorous exercise I would keep the weight off. But we all know that didn’t work. That brings me to my 50’s, around 230lb,  not really caring about what I look like, I’ve been having back problems most of my adult life, but who in America doesn’t?

Anyway, I was in a bad motorcycle accident that almost killed me, I had 14 fractured ribs, separated shoulder, face and head lacerations, collapsed lung, nerve damage down the side of the arm, hand. The doctors – I think, are overworked, overpaid, not nearly as trained as we might think, are close-minded. At least most that I have seen in the last three years. And I have seen a lot. After my somewhat recovery, I still had problems. Nerve damage still present, the doctor made a very good presentation on how replacing two vertebrae in my neck with cadaver bones and plates would free up the nerve, my arm pain would be eliminated, I would regain feeling. Yea, it didn’t happen. Oh yea, I forgot. This was important, I have now been on pain meds for six months straight. After that surgery didn’t correct problem, the next doc said and make a good case that my elbow needed surgery to redirect the nerve. Yea, that didn’t work either. At that point, I was at the end of most of the pain meds (almost a year).  I now weigh 250lb.

I go to my family doctor for a routine check-up about a year and a half post-accident. He tells me everything looks good, except my bloodwork had high enzymes levels. He took additional blood to run more extensive liver tests, called me four days later and said, you need an ultrasound to rule out possible cancer or whatever.

I know you can’t imagine being in my shoes, but, after everything I had just went through, I now think I may have liver cancer. The call comes in, and the nurse told me that I just had fatty liver disease, it’s very common she says. I ask her if there is any treatment for it, she says no. I ask is there anything special I need to do. She says no. We’ll schedule you in every three months or so to monitor your liver, and that’s about it. So, I ask, what will happen to my liver? She says it could become worse and you may need to have a liver transplant somewhere down the road.  Yea, scared to death with no hope.

So I start looking online and come across the Liver Doctor website. I read about the doctor and her recommended regime and figured I didn’t have anything to lose. I bought the Liver Cleansing Diet book, Raw Juices Can Save Your Life book and Fatty Liver – you can reverse it book. I bet I read the Liver Cleansing book at least three times, wondering if I could do this, how much more will it cost. Food. This is how I tackled the book and the program. Because if figured, I was going to give this the best chance to save my liver and my life.

I purchased first a Ninja blender, thinking that would be my juicer, Oh boy, way wrong! Even though this thing has six blades, that is not enough. I was chewing my gulps. I did get a Sampson Juicer from the book, please get this juicer! The people are very nice, it has a 15-year warranty, and I’ve used it when I broke something myself. I told them I broke it and they didn’t even care. Great company!

Every morning, as soon as I get up before going to the bathroom, I go to the kitchen and cut either a lemon or a lime in half, I fill an 8-ounce glass of purified water, squeeze that lemon half in the water, drink and repeat. Then I get my out 3 carrots, 3 celery, 1 apple, 1 orange, purple cabbage that I’ve cut up into Tupperware, purple onion about a slice. Beets, about a half-inch slice. Then I use and mix and match to taste either or all of parsley, mint, cilantro, as long as it is about one cup or so, and two dandelion leaves. Do this every morning! You will feel good and full. I also follow Dr Cabot’s recommended regime.

My breakfast is simple. I love eggs. I wipe my nonstick with virgin olive oil and put two egg whites and one whole egg. I put this on toast (whole wheat, no sugar). Watch what is in your bread! They will try to trick you by saying enriched or whatever. You want the first ingredient to say whole wheat, then whole wheat flour. Be careful!

The middle four weeks don’t use the yolks at all. Some mornings I’m not very hungry after drinking my veggies. But that’s a good thing, as your body is getting all the nutrients from your veggies. I find myself not wanting to eat because I’m not hungry anymore. So, some morning I drink a protein powder with water. Again, make sure no artificial sweeteners, the products I use have stevia. I must say, that for about two weeks, I had headaches from the artificial sweeteners leaving my body. Now when they are present in my foods, I get that same headache back.

As far as the lunch and dinner menu, I went through all of them and picked out what I thought I liked or wanted to try, and went out and bought the ingredients for all of it. I would suggest to just buy for a couple of meals at first. Because I had a lot of waste in the beginning. My favourite meal so far is spicy shrimp and broccoli. I bet I have made it at least 6 times. Some of the meals were bland, but you may spice them up as you need. There are several recommended spices to use that will suit your taste buds. I also enjoy the asparagus soup. I’ve changed it somewhat to include sweet potatoes, and/or yams instead of white potatoes, I add cayenne pepper to give it a sweet yet spicy kick. If my diet that day did not include enough protein, I will put a can of tuna in this soup. It really is good.  It stores very well, as it makes enough for all week.

Anyway, enough of my story. I know I get long-winded, and it still is hard to type with the nerve damage that still exists from the accident, but I just have to let anyone know, who is overweight, or is told by a doctor that there is no cure for fatty liver disease, they are wrong! You will get so much useful information from these books!

Funny thing, that when the nurse called this week to say the my liver enzymes were normal to slightly lower than, I asked her, how do you think my liver went back to normal if there is no cure for this? She told me “you know the body is a funny thing, you never know what can happen”.  I wanted to reach into the phone and smack her with the Liver Cleansing Diet book, but I’m sure they will get the message when I change doctors. Maybe not, but no longer my concern.

I want to thank Dr Cabot for saving my liver and my life. I will be grateful for as long as I live. I do not wish to receive anything for writing this. I owe her my life. I will be on this program for a long time. I will go out and have a steak on the weekend, as that is a vice of mine but the rest of the week will be for my liver. I still need to lose about forty pounds. But I know after the weather breaks and I can get outside and exercise, the weight will fly off – I have done nothing but lift a fork and make meals for the last eight weeks…

Thanks again!