Liver Disease and Nutrition

Six and a half years ago, I was diagnosed with Liver Disease, and referred to the University of Virginia to see some liver specialists. The first thing they did was to refer me to the Transplant Program, where I underwent a battery of tests over several months to determine if the rest of my body was healthy enough to withstand the rigors of a liver transplant.

At the time, I was also having the same intermittent low thyroid symptoms I'd had for most of my life. I show all the symptoms of hypothyroidism, yet the thyroid tests always come back in the normal range. This time, the endocrinologist talked to me about foods that adversely affect the thyroid, most notably cruciferous vegetables and soy products. They are goitrogens, meaning they suppresses thyroid function and the uptake of iodine needed by the thyroid.

Cruciferous vegetables lose a lot of the goitrogens when cooked, but soy does not. I thought I had pretty much eliminated soy from my diet years ago... that is, until I discovered soy masquerades under 40 or more names as food additives. The first thing to eliminate from my diet was any food that came in a package with a long list of chemical ingredients on the label, many of which are soy-based (and from GMO soy).

The next thing to eliminate was sugars, high fructose corn syrup in particular. Fructose damages the liver and causes mitochondrial and metabolic dysfunction in the same way as any other toxin.

Sucrose (table sugar) is 50 percent glucose and 50 percent fructose. High fructose corn syrup (HFCS) is anywhere from 42 to 55 percent fructose depending on which type is used. Glucose is the form of energy our bodies are designed to run on. Every cell in our body uses glucose for energy, and it's metabolized in every organ of our body; only about 20 percent of glucose is actually metabolized in our liver. Fructose, on the other hand, can only be metabolized by the liver, because the liver is the only organ that has the transporter for it. 

Since all fructose gets shuttled to the liver, when we eat a typical Western-style diet, we consume high amounts of it, so fructose ends up taxing and damaging the liver in the same way other toxins (including alcohol) do. In fact, fructose is virtually identical to alcohol with regards to the metabolic havoc it wreaks. 

According to Dr. Lustig (an endocrinologist at the Univ. of California), fructose is a "chronic, dose-dependent liver toxin." And just like alcohol, fructose is metabolized directly into fat—not cellular energy, like glucose. So when eating fructose, it just gets stored in our fat cells, which leads to mitochondrial malfunction. 

The liver is the major site for converting excess carbohydrates and proteins into fatty acids and triglycerides, which are then exported and stored in adipose (fat) tissue.  I was advised to cut my carb intake to 50 grams a day until my system got clean, and then keep the intake to under 100 grams a day. 

The last thing to eliminate was any meat and eggs from animals that may have been fed the same soy and grain I was to avoid, as well as avoiding all fresh produce grown in a chemical cloud. That meant local free-range eggs, grass-fed beef, lamb, pastured pork, free-range chickens, and the Farmer's Market for veggies I don't grow.

Well, let me tell you, for 2-3 weeks I thought I would starve to death! Giving up the obvious addictive sugars was hard enough, but giving up bread and pasta was even worse. That's when I really started to delve into Real Foods, and things started to turn around.

Within a month, my energy levels and mental outlook began to increase, and my liver enzymes improved enough in 3-4 months that my liver docs took me off all meds.

I also began to lose a little weight. I learned to always carry a wholesome snack when I was away from home, usually a hard-boiled farm egg, or a piece of raw milk cheese (for the enzymes not found in pasteurized cheese). (Do not believe raw milk cheese might harbor pathogens. By Law, they must be aged at least 60 days before they can be sold, and if there were pathogens, the cheese would be rotten before the 60 days were up.)

Unfortunately, I have fallen partially off the "good diet" wagon over the last 12 months, mostly due to the increased cost of food and utilities versus my income (just a monthly social security check) and partly due to laziness. Eating right requires planning ahead and making time to prepare nutritious foods. In the last 3 weeks, I've had 3 sodas because I was experiencing low blood sugar while away from the house. That's 3 more than I've had in 5-6 years.

It's time to climb fully back up on that healthy food wagon no matter what else I have to give up. (Or continue a downward spiral in my health.)

There are many, many good things I can make from cheap cuts of meat and bones. Slow cooking a crockpot full of bones produces an incredibly nutritious broth/stock that's like jello when cooled.  Stock contains minerals in a form the body can absorb easily—not just calcium but also magnesium, phosphorus, silicon, sulphur and trace minerals.  Bone broth also supports joints, hair, skin and nails due to its high collagen content. In fact, some even suggest that it helps eliminate cellulite as it supports smooth connective tissue.

Cooked long and slow, bone broth also contains the broken down material from cartilage and tendons, stuff like chondroitin sulphates and glucosamine, now sold as expensive supplements for arthritis and joint pain.

The "odd bits" like heart, liver, kidneys, sweetbreads, etc. contain so much more nutrition than the muscle meats, and they are much cheaper to purchase. I just received a Christmas gift of the book Terrine, plus I found a used copy of Terrines, Påtes and Galantines on ebay for under $4 earlier this year. (If you are not familiar with terrines, think meatloaf... and a galantine is just a meaty loaf encased in a pastry shell.)

What else did I eat when I felt so great?? Bacon, eggs, sausage, homemade yogurt, salads dressed with fresh lemon juice and a drizzle of EVOO, cheese, real butter, real cream in my coffee (not UP), fresh veggies, olive oil and coconut oil, sardines, not much fruit because of the sugar content, no legumes, no grains, and grass-fed meats daily. My one daily treat was a half-inch square of an 85% cacao bar at bedtime, and it was enough.

Eating those foods also brought the ratio of my Omega-6 to Omega-3 back into a better balance (about 4:1) than the SAD (Standard American Diet) which is as much as 40:1. 

All the meat and dairy provided the essential amino acids necessary to build proteins (essential because our bodies cannot produce them internally). The failure to obtain enough of even 1 of the 10 essential amino acids has serious health implications and can result in degradation of the body's proteins. Muscle and other protein structures may be dismantled to obtain the one amino acid that is needed. "Unlike fat and starch, the human body does not store excess amino acids for later use; the amino acids must be in the food every day.

I bought some wonton wrappers yesterday and intend to make and freeze some wontons (they contain just 4 grams of carbs per wrapper). A lunch of a wonton or two added to some home canned stock is quick, easy, and nutritious. 

It's a start. Salads will be scarce over the winter because I'm leery of bagged greens, even organic ones. Thankfully I froze lots of green veggies from my summer garden.

"Specialty Crops" and the Farm Bill

In trying to understand how and why our government has allowed so much adulteration of my food supply, I finally had to start following the money. A lot of the money comes from Farm Bill subsidies...and the Farm Bill must be the recipient of the most expensive lobbying in our history, outside of maybe the presidential campaigns!

I bet you have never read any portion of the Farm Bill. It's not an easy task, reading through the Farm Bill. The last one, passed in 2008 (good for 5 years) weighed in at 1,770 pages. I wonder if even those that write it have a clear, full picture of all of it... too many fingers in the pie. I certainly don't understand much of it, yet it affects us all, daily. 

There are, however, some glaring facts and omissions, plus at least one or two really good programs. 

First, the good: 

Programs like SNAP (formerly called food stamps) are fully funded by the Farm Bill, and the National School Lunch Program and other school-based child nutrition programs get some funding from it,as I understand the inter-agency convolutions. Another small Farm Bill program gives farmer's market vouchers to low-income senior citizens like me. Although the vouchers are cumbersome to use (each voucher is for $5 and no vendor is allowed to give change), I made some use of the $40 I got in vouchers in 2011, probably getting around $20 total in produce for my vouchers. But it wasn't really very fair economically, because our tax dollars paid $40 for my $20 of produce. The vendors should be able to give change, even if if it's just another smaller-amount voucher to use later.

Did you know that the fruit and vegetable products that hit our grocery stores are only considered as "specialty crops" by the USDA, and that is how they are handled by the Farm Bill? Handled only as "bit players" on the sidelines in the Farm Bill.  Only 1% of the Farm Bill goes towards specialty crops.

I don't know about you, but I'd choose to use some of our tax dollars to support local, ethical family farmers who grow my apples, carrots, beans and broccoli. And more specifically, the organic farmers who do not infuse my fruits and vegetables with pesticides and herbicides.

The not-so-good

The products the Farm Bill mainly subsidizes are the five big commodity crops: corn, wheat, rice, soybeans and cotton. The dollar value of the commodity crops the US exported in 2010 was $108,662,000,000, and we subsidized them to grow it. The payments go out regardless of need. In fact, since 1995, a mere 10 percent of all subsidized farms – only the largest and wealthiest operations – have raked in 74 percent of all subsidy payments. The money kept on coming right through the five highest earnings years ever for farm income. (Source)

Commercial corn farmers made a killing in 2011, mainly because they were subsidized to provide corn for the failing ethanol program, feed corn for CAFO's, and of course, for the high fructose corn syrup used in far too many packaged items on the grocery shelves. 

Then there's soy...

Soy is a known obesogen (which leads to weight gain) as well as a known goitrogen (substances that suppress the function of the thyroid gland which also leads to weight gain; think: goiter) and in spite of the rising obesity levels and consequential health care costs in the US, the 2007-2012 Farm Bill allocated $42 billion of our tax money for industrial farmed GMO soy beans. Data from the USDA indicates 94% of all soybean crops in the US are GMO, and the FDA even pushes soy... “Diets that include 25 grams of soy protein a day may reduce the risk of heart disease.” 

Did I miss somewhere that being overweight (thanks in part to chemicals in soy) reduces the risk of heart disease?

There are three problematic monocultures in industrial agriculture: corn, soy, and sugar. U.S. Farm Bill subsidies for these (as well as for other commodity crops) encourage cheap and unhealthy foods and food fillers, sick GMO-fed animals whose meat enters our food system, extreme pesticide use, and damage to soil and water sources. The Commodity Cropism project seeks to expose veiled information about these crops, and provide the public with data left out or obscured by loosely monitored food production and labeling systems.

Monsanto’s GMO Beet sugar seed is now used by 95% of beet farmers (usually under multi-year binding seed contracts they can't get out of), who supplied around 50% of the nation’s sugar in 2011... 64 pounds per person per year, up 28%.

I have read that US foreign aid policies are very often include a clause that requires the receiving nation to accept and use Monsanto GMO seed as a requisite for getting our aid. What's with that??

When was the first food and farm bill signed into law and why?

The first one was signed into law as a temporary measure in 1933 as a way to aid farmers suffering in the Great Depression. Since then it has come before Congress roughly every five years. Nutrition programs were added to the farm bill in the late 1970s to win the support of lawmakers from urban districts. The 2008 Farm Bill had a price tag of nearly $300 billion. It expires in 2012.

Since a lot of the money does go to nutrition programs like SNAP, it’s time to start calling it a "food and farm bill" and to increase investments in healthy food programs. A top priority is to protect food assistance programs for the neediest, especially in the lingering aftermath of the 2008 recession. ... work to improve and expand programs that increase access to healthy foods, strengthen local and regional food systems and provide new markets for diversified, local, sustainable and organic growers and ranchers. (Source)

I'd like to see subsidies (IF THEY ARE REALLY NECESARY) used properly, and not just be "gimmies" for BigAg... and I agree with the Environmental Working Group... I, too would like to see a chunk of the farm subsidy dollars shifted to conservation programs. This would help fund programs that protect soil, water and air quality, preserve wildlife habitat, and conserve energy and water. In my opinion, if we don't conserve what's left (pitiful as it may be) there won't be many future crops.

Update: I wrote this about mid-January 2012, and on Feb. 1 read an interesting article on this general subject by Sharon Astyk that you may wish to read. She does a great job of explaining the cost of a gallon of milk, although there's much more to the article. Click here.

Struggling with Food Choices

I mentioned in an earlier post that my intention is to get back on the recommended food protocol from my endocrinologist (I'm hypothyroid), and I began that journey on the first day of this year. So far it is a very real struggle between what my mind knows and what my appetite cravings seek. As when I did this the first time (even though I eventually failed to stay faithful) my goal is better health, and weight loss is just a happy by-product.

I was surprised to see a tiny weight loss over the first week, which I didn't expect. It seems that when I announced I was going to eliminate some specific things from my diet (like sugars), my body just increased the desire for those very things!

The biggest challenge so far really is sugar, but it's followed closely by obesogens and goitrogens (both are endocrine disruptors, which cause weight gain regardless of calorie intake). Sugar is a problem because I got re-addicted to it with all the holiday foods from my birthday cake in early November, then Thanksgiving, Christmas and on through New Years' Day. I discovered in just 1 week that cutting back on sugar doesn't work for me... any more than reducing alcohol intake works for an alcoholic who wants to be free of the addiction.

So, eliminating sugar is going to have to be the cold turkey approach. However, one problem with sugar is those foods that don't necessarily appear laden with sugar, but convert to sugars during the digestion process. Those include some grains and legumes, some tubers and even packaged orange juice (although I don't buy OJ).

Whole wheat bread or cereals are high on that list, but not if they are made from whole wheat grains that are first sprouted, then dried before grinding into flour. (Do you think Kellogg's does that for their packaged cereals?) You can buy bags of several kinds of sprouted flours in addition to a few sprouted, dried whole grains and legumes to make your own here. (There may be many other sources, I just happen to know of that one.) Of course, my local stores do not carry any sprouted grains, nor sprouted grain breads like Ezekiel Bread. I can buy frozen Ezekiel Bread in most natural food stores, but the closest stores are a hundred miles away. 

My options then are to eliminate bread altogether, or order some sprouted flours and make my own. Although I am not a very good baker, I did make my own bread for a couple of years, mostly sourdough which I love. I suppose I will start making bread again, like I need one more thing to do! sigh

Obesogens are also a problem because so many are not just in foods. Many of them come from faux fragrance chemicals added to things like laundry soaps, dish detergents, and shampoos. Some come from plasticizers used in plastic meat packaging, clear plastic wrap, food cans (BPA) and even in tap water which is increasingly tainted with drugs that mimic hormones.  We absorb them through our skin (like water in the shower) even if we don't ingest them.

I solved the laundry detergent problem when I diverted the laundry water out to the garden recently... and switched to biodegradable, low-sodium detergents without phosphates, brighteners, boron, borax, enzymes or bleach. I switched to good handmade bath and facial soaps last year, but now I need to address shampoos and dish detergents.


I am particularly sensitive to obesegens now. I wasn't always so sensitive, but the body collects them in fat cells in the liver and elsewhere rather than eliminating them, and they build up over time. 

The obesogens in pesticides and herbicides used on growing commercial foods (except organic), along with chemical food washes and plastic packaging "for safety" are harder for me to avoid during winter when I have few (if any) fresh greens or vegetables growing.

I don't knowingly eat soy products because soy contains both obesogens and goitrogens (besides the fact that most soy is GMO) but a double-whammy comes from the hidden soy products. "Mysterious ingredients that frequently (if not always) include soy are: hydrolyzed plant protein, isolated vegetable protein, vegetable gum, vegetable broth, hydrolyzed vegetable protein, isolates, methylcellulose, mono- and diglycerides, vegetable broth, vegetable oil, vegetable protein, vegetable starch, and vegetable fat. 

“Natural Flavors” indicates soy. Because soy can be grown organically [although rarely, ~editor], and it is a naturally occurring plant, it is not seen as dishonest labeling practice to include “natural flavors”, or “flavoring” when manufacturers really mean soy. Unless the ingredient is specified, such as “natural vanilla flavors”, or “natural cocoa flavors”, do not trust this catch-all of ingredient euphemisms." (Source)

I don't have any problems with the natural goitrogens found in sweet potatoes, spinach and the brassica family (cruciferous vegetables) because I cook them, and cooking inactivates those goitrogens in vegetables. (I do eat raw spinach from my garden on salads in season, but it isn't much.)

As for the rest of my food protocol, I'm not having any problems with animal proteins, dairy (like cheese, real cream for my coffee, and butter) and other good fats because I never deviated from buying grass-fed / pastured animal products, or good fats like coconut oil and olive oils (in spite of the food miles). Nor am I having any problems with getting enough daily vegetables. I don't do as well with fruits, being against the food miles that are coupled with outrageous pesticide usage on imported fruits. I do have some local organic apples still in the larder, but I didn't store enough and they go fast!

Remembering to take my vitamins (D and B12) every morning remains a hurdle. Even if I put them right in front of my computer screen so I can't miss them with my morning ritual of coffee and checking email, I tend to push them aside thinking I'll take them in a few minutes when the coffee is ready.

There is a lot of fine-tuning to do with my food protocol, like pH balance... but I'll address those in future posts. Right now I'm busy battling the Dragon named Sugar.

 '

Naysayers

Photo from * Abhi *'s photostream

I'm already hearing from acquaintances who strongly disagree with what I am posting about soy. And that's okay ... the First Amendment guarantees our Right to say what we think (and the Right to have poor nutrition if we so choose!). As my old pastor said, "I may not believe what you have to say... but I would give my life to defend your right to say it."

Nothing I have seen in this life is ever just black and white, and no person I've ever met or read about has all the answers. I merely write what I uncover and how it applies to my heath. If what I write also happens to be of interest or possible benefit to you, that's wonderful. If it offends you, please don't read it.

What disappoints me, though, is that these are intelligent people who have bought lock, stock and barrel* the long-running and expensive advertising myth about soy. There's a current ad running on TV that says soy has been in the diet of Asians and other ethnic groups for thousands of years, and that there is correlation to lower incidence of disease in that population. So it must be safe, right?

Technically, that TV advertising statement is correct. Soy has been consumed for thousands of years, but in it's fermented form (like soy sauce, tamari, tofu and tempeh which break down the antinutrients), and even then, they ate it more as a condiment or only in small quantities. You can be sure it wasn't Roundup Ready soy, either.

As far as disease, native cultures around the world had far better health and much less disease, thanks to the unprocessed foods in their diet. Since they also had no refrigerators, much of their food was fermented to keep over the winter, and historically, their grains were soaked before cooking.

The medical literature is full of case studies showing startling increases in disease with the introduction of 'western (i.e. processed) foods' . That initial observation was the foundation of the research by Dr. Weston Price: the comparison of disease including tooth decay in the western diet of processed foods vs. the health-building diet of unprocessed foods eaten by native cultures.

There is also a lot of controversy about soy milk in infant formula. I'm not going to wage a crusade against that issue (infant formula) because it's all been documented already. It's basically a battle of BigAg profits vs. health, and personally I question any medical research supported by grants from BigAg, right along with pay-offs via campaign contributions and 'gifts' to elected officials who "assure" our food quality.

*although a well-known phrase since the 1800's, I like how Rudyard Kipling used it: "The whole thing, lock, stock and barrel, isn't worth one big yellow sea-poppy." ~ The Light That Failed