Did you know that about 70% of clinically obese people have non-alcoholic fatty liver? That’s pretty wild, and also a bit of a bummer.

Today we’re going to go over some simple ways to improve liver function to optimize fat loss.

Most people don’t even consider liver function as a potential hurdle for fat loss (it’s always about calories in vs calories out to about 95% of the population). To me, it’s one of the biggest factors that can help with effective fat loss.

Optimal liver function is critical for fat loss. If your liver’s in bad shape, weight loss will be a struggle

 Today you’re going to learn

• Why the Liver is Important for Fat Loss
• What are Common Indicators of Poor Liver Function?
• 5 Tips to Improve Liver Function

Why the Liver is Important for Fat Loss

A healthy liver means a healthy body, and a healthy body typically won’t carry excess weight. Now, we need to get our livers in good shape and to do this, we'll need to start by addressing certain foods and environmental toxins.

Before we do that, let's quickly go over why the liver is important for fat loss.

The thyroid gland, which is your primary metabolic regulator, releases thyroid hormone initially in an inactive state known as T4. Approximately 70-80% of T4 undergoes a crucial conversion into the active form, T3, primarily in the liver. This conversion is critical for sustaining an optimal metabolic rate.

The liver is also one of the largest detoxifiers in the body which uses a three phase detoxification process which is vital for clearing hormones like estrogen and cortisol from your body.

Now the problem with all of this is that if your liver is impaired, which is extremely common today, this detoxification process can be blunted which can negatively effect many of the hormones which play significant role in weight gain or weight loss. This means you could potentially have issues with cortisol levels, estrogen dominance, and lower levels of testosterone, which all contribute to fat accumulation.

And backtracking to thyroid, an overburdened liver could cause you to experience conversion problems of T4 to T3 which is not good for your Metabolic rate and particularly bad for weight gain.

Common Indicators of Impaired Liver Function

There are a lot of ways to tell if your liver’s been through hell and back. Here are some of the more commons signs that it’s not functioning optimally:

• Weight gain
• Hormonal imbalances like estrogen dominance and low thyroid
• Itchy skin
• Chronic Fatigue and weakness
• Digestive issues
• Glucose intolerance and insulin resistance
• Cognitive issues
• Poor skin quality
• Fluid retention
• Jaundice
• Difficulty digesting fats

5 Tips to Improve Liver Function

Now if you want to really lose weight, you have to start thinking about your liver and what you can do to help it out, and protect it. Let’s go over some simple and very actionable tips you can do to give your liver a break so you can improve your metabolic rate and get rid of some unnecessary weight.

Alcohol

No brainer here but you have to stop drinking alcohol. Sorry - This is one of the biggest challenges for people, but on a personal level, I vividly remember the first time I took a month off from drinking alcohol. I lost 10 pounds and actually, on the third week, I literally felt like my vision had changed - everything was brighter and more vibrant. It was weird, but pretty interesting.

Since alcohol is metabolized primarily in the liver, its consumption can disrupt the normal breakdown of fats, leading to fat buildup in liver cells, which can further lead to detoxification issues and even poor glucose metabolism.

And to reiterate, the damage done by alcohol can down-regulate thyroid function which has a pretty harsh impact on your metabolism and metabolic rate.

Alcohol can increase estrogen in more than one way. Grains, hops, and vineyards can be sprayed with pesticides, which are endocrine disrupting chemicals. Alcohol can also increase the production of aromatase which is an enzyme that converts testosterone to estrogen - This can actually increase estrogen levels in both men and women.

Obviously, none of this is good and can actually compound since a dysfunctional liver can already be dealing with excess estrogen.

Inferior Fats (PUFA)

Inferior fats like refined oils, which include soybean oil, canola oil, vegetable oil, safflower oil, sunflower oil, corn oil, peanut oil, and margarine, should be completely eliminated from your nutrition.

Due to their molecular structure, polyunsaturated fats and their breakdown products oxidize extremely easily, leading to oxidative stress and inflammation in our bodies, which are particularly hazardous to our cells and mitochondria (mitochondria produce the majority of energy in our cells/bodies). And since the liver helps regulate inflammatory responses, this can be highly disruptive.

The mass production and excessive consumption of these types of fats is fairly new to humans too - approximately 150 years. They’re also found in almost every kind of ultra-processed food now, which is why on average, people in the US are consuming over five gallons of these oils in a year.

The next time you go into your pantry or go to the grocery store check out the labels and see if there are any types of refined oils in the ingredients. It’s pretty shocking to see how they’re in almost everything.

They’re also the primary oils used in restaurant cooking, so you have to be really careful when going out to eat or getting take out - always ask for your food to be cooked in butter.

Decrease Exposure to Environmental Toxins

Environmental toxins can greatly impair liver function. Some of the most potent toxins we come across on a daily basis that can be detrimental to our livers are plastics, pesticides and herbicides, PFAS, xenoestrogrens like parabens, excess iron, heavy metals, and fragrances.

Since your liver is responsible for the majority of detoxification in your body, chronic exposure to these environmental toxins can really overburden your liver and ultimately contribute to fat accumulation.

Some quick tips to reduce exposure to some of these toxins are:

• Use filtered water for drinking and showering. Reverse osmosis is arguably the best. I wrote about this last week.
• Eat organic if you can afford it, to reduce pesticide exposure.
• Reduce grain consumption as much as possible since these are often heavily sprayed with pesticides and herbicides and they’re fortified with inorganic iron.
• Don’t heat food in plastics or drink out of plastic containers. BPA-free isn’t good enough since the plastic could be made of BPF or BPS which are arguably just as bad or worse.
• Don't use non-stick cookware - try to use stainless steel
• Don’t use deodorant or use a natural one without aluminum - I actually haven’t used deodorant since 2014 and was still able to get married in 2017. 

Improve Digestion

Poor gut function, including conditions like leaky gut, can have negative effects on the liver since the gut and liver are closely interconnected through the gut-liver axis.

If your digestive system is compromised, this can allow bacteria, endotoxin and other pro-inflammatory products from the gut into the bloodstream. These substances will reach the liver, triggering an immune response, creating stress and inflammation.

So here are some tips to help improve digestion so you can protect your liver:

• Avoid inferior fats like refined oils and also alcohol again
• Reduce grain consumption (again) and gluten containing products like wheat, which is also heavily sprayed with herbicides and pesticides, and is fortified with inorganic iron, again. I think you can tell I’m deliberately repeating myself here
• Reduce processed food consumption since they contain inferior fats, refined carbs and grains, and a variety of different types of gums which are also pro-inflammatory and can create digestive distress
• Eliminate consumption of beans and legumes since they contain high levels of plant defense chemicals and their protein bioavailability is inferior to animal protein. And as a side note - it’s just best to stay away from food that makes you fart.
• And stop taking random supplements too since most supplements are garbage and contain fillers and additives which can actually create digestive distress and harm your digestive system.

Fat-Soluble Vitamins

Fat-soluble vitamins which are A,D,E, and K will also be crucial for liver optimization since deficiencies with these vitamins are all associated with poor liver function.

In addition to that, not getting enough fat soluble vitamins can impair hormone activity by decreasing thyroid, progesterone, and testosterone, and increasing cortisol and estrogen - which will very likely increase fat accumulation.

So when you eat, it’s ideal do prioritize foods that are high in vitamins A, D, E, & K:

• Foods high in vitamin A are grass fed beef liver. Don’t supplement with synthetic forms of vitamin A since it’s actually toxic to the liver
• Foods high in vitamin E are red palm oil.
• Foods high in vitamin K are aged cheeses - Raw cheeses are ideal and grass-fed butter is great as well.
• And get your vitamin D from the sun. That’s the best and easiest way to get it.
• Pasture-raised eggs are also a great source for all four fat soluble vitamins.
• Supplementing with fat-soluble vitamins should be done as a last resort.

Actionable Tips for the Week:

⭐️ 1. Stop Drinking Alcohol ⭐️

⭐️ 2. Remove Inferior Fats (PUFA) ⭐️

⭐️ 3. Decrease Exposure to Environmental Toxins ⭐️

⭐️ 4. Improve Digestion ⭐️

⭐️ 5. Increase Fat-Soluble Vitamins ⭐️

Cheers,

Tim

PS: I take requests and suggestions. Let me know if there's anything you want me to write about or make a video about. Would love to hear from you!