What should you eat if you have hepatitis?
Cook with olive and flaxseed oil
Using olive oil and flaxseed oil as alternatives for butter and vegetable oil is essential to the hepatitis diet. Olive oil is rich in antioxidants and vitamin E and is scientifically proven to decrease your risk of having a heart attack and help diabetics stabilize their symptoms. Switching from butter to olive or flaxseed oil is not only advantageous to your internal organs but it can greatly improve the health of your skin and give you a healthy glow. Try using olive oil as a replacement to salad dressings which are usually high in salt, sugars, gluten, and harmful additives.
See how to use olive oil in our new appetizer salad recipe >
Eat lean meats
For those who suffer from hepatitis, cutting the fat from your daily diet is essential to improving the state of your liver disease. Skip the pork and try switching to turkey bacon for breakfast. Order a fillet of salmon the next time you are tempted to order the fillet mignon. These small deviations from fatty meats can really make a difference, whether you are trying to improve your hepatitis diagnosis or merely trying to become more liver-healthy.
Switch from dairy
People with advanced liver disease may experience difficulties with digesting dairy foods. This can be explained by a weakened metabolism which makes it harder to process animal-based proteins and amino acids resulting in lactose intolerance. Check with your doctor whether you have to limit your dairy intake, since every liver patient may experience different symptoms depending on the type of liver disease, its stage, and other pre-existing conditions. If you are indeed recommended to cut your dairy consumption, here are a few tips on how to do this:
- Limit the consumption of animal-based dairy products such as milk, eggs, cheese, and yogurt.
- Go for plant-based and lactose-free alternatives such as almond, coconut, soy or rice milk, lactose-free yogurt and lactose-free cheese or those types of cheese that have low dairy content such as mozzarella, Grana Padano, and Parmesan. Try some high-quality tofu in your egg scramble instead of cheese.
- To replace butter, use olive, sunflower, sesame, or avocado oil.
- Try these other liver-friendly diary swaps with your coffee:
- Swap coffee creamer for oat milk
- Swap ice-cream for sugar-free gelato
- Swap sour cream for avocado or cashew cream
Munch on omega-3’s
Eating lots of omega-3’s is an essential part of the hepatitis diet. Omega-3 decreases the fat in the liver. It can also lower your blood pressure and even reduce depression. Luckily, there are many tasty, omega-3 snacks that you can include in your diet to improve your liver function. Eating edamame, homemade kale chips, and blackberries are just a few examples of how you can snack your way to better liver health.
Choose natural sugar
Stopping your sugar cravings as soon as they start, this is important when following a hepatitis diet. Try to eat a serving of fruit the next time you have the urge to grab candy. Also, drink coconut milk the next time you feel the need for soda. Soon these unhealthy cravings will subside, and you will find yourself craving the healthy stuff.
Here is the perfect craving swap to start you off. Enjoy our flavor filled Strawberry Frozen Yogurt recipe instead of sugar filled ice cream right here.
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