Fatty liver fix (do this for 6 days)

What if I told you that over the next six days, you could actually start reversing the process that's causing fatty liver, not with a detox, not with a juice cleanse, and not with some expensive supplement that's being pushed all over social media, because here's the truth, your liver has an incredible ability to heal itself, but only if you remove what's damaging it and give it the right environment to recover. Now, I'm not going to say that you're going to cure fatty liver in six days. That's just not how the body works. But what you can do is begin changing the metabolic environment that's driving the disease. And for many people, that's where the real healing begins. Now in this video, I'm going to show you exactly how I approached fatty liver by combining modern medical research with traditional Chinese medicine. We'll talk about what's actually causing fat to build up in the liver, why Chinese medicine has been describing this process for thousands of years, using a completely different language, what herbs have the strongest scientific evidence behind them. And finally, I'll walk you through a simple six day liver reset that you can start immediately. Because here's the biggest misconception of all. Fatty liver isn't really a liver problem. It's a metabolic problem that just happens to show up in your liver. And once you understand that, everything begins to change. Hey guys, I'm Dr. Alex Hein, a board licensed doctor of acupuncture and traditional Chinese medicine and author of the health book, Fast for the Day. Let's jump in. A couple of years ago, I noticed something fairly disturbing in my clinic in Los Angeles. I noticed that parents were coming in, telling me that their young children under the age of 15, sometimes even under the age of 13, were being diagnosed with fatty liver. Now this is something that is highly unusual, at least through human history. That was not something normal. But recently we're increasingly seeing very young kids being diagnosed with fatty liver. And I was thinking, man, these people are obviously they don't drink alcohol. They're not shoving cakes down their mouth. How is it possible that these children are getting fatty liver? And as I dug deeper and I had conversations with some of the parents, what I learned was that all of these children were heavy soda consumers. So these children, because of the actual sugar they're pumping into their system, were developing non-alcoholic fatty liver before they were even teenagers. So what actually causes this fatty liver though? You know, most people think fatty liver happens when you eat too much fat, which sounds pretty logical, right? You eat fat and it goes into your liver and your liver gets fat, but that's usually not how it happens. One of the biggest drivers of fatty liver isn't fat. It's insulin resistance. So you can think of insulin as the hormone that helps move sugar out of your bloodstream and into your muscles where it can be used for energy. When you're generally healthy, that system works beautifully well. But after years of too much processed food, sugary drinks, poor sleep, chronic stress, and not moving enough, those cells gradually stop listening. The pancreas responds by making more and more insulin just to keep your blood sugar under control. And there's where the liver gets into trouble because even if your muscles stop responding to insulin, your liver keeps getting one very clear message, which is store more energy. So one of the ways it does that is by turning extra sugar into fat. But here's the surprising part. The fatty liver isn't often caused by eating too much fat. It's caused by making too much fat. So normally your liver is incredibly good at dealing with that. You know, it burns fat for energy and it ships some of it out into the bloodstream. But eventually there's simply more fat coming in than the liver can handle. So it just starts piling up like garbage. And at first that's just fat that piles up. But over time, the liver becomes irritated and inflammation develops. Those energy factories called the mitochondria don't work as well. And what started as a storage problem slowly becomes an injury problem. And it doesn't stop there. The liver constantly ends up talking to the rest of the body. It's connected to your gut, your gallbladder, your immune system, even your body fat. And if your gut becomes unhealthy, the inflammatory compounds can travel straight to the liver, putting even more stress on it. So when you zoom out all the way, fatty liver usually isn't the result of one bad meal. It's what happens when an entire metabolic system slowly begins falling out of balance. Now, the craziest part is that traditional Chinese medicine diagnosed this and described this thousands of years ago. Not with words like insulin resistance or mitochondria or inflammatory cytokines, because no one in the world knew those things, but with a completely different medical language. And once you learn this more integrative and more systems biology language, you realize the two systems really described many of the same things, but from different points of view. Now, when we look at fatty liver through the lens of traditional Chinese medicine, this is where things get interesting because you would think it's a modern diagnosis, so it must not have existed in ancient times. Well, Chinese doctors described this 2000 years ago. Of course, they didn't have ultrasounds. They didn't have liver biopsies to prove it. They didn't know what insulin resistance was, but they were incredibly careful observers of the body. And instead of looking at one organ and asking what's wrong with the liver, they asked the bigger question. What happened in the whole system that allowed this problem to develop? And interestingly, they probably wouldn't have started with the liver at all. They would have started with what we call the spleen. Now, when I say the spleen, I don't necessarily mean the physical organ underneath your ribs that when you have mononucleosis, your doctor says not to do sports because it might rupture. In Chinese medicine, the spleen describes a much broader functional system, and I usually tell my patients to think of it like your metabolic engine. You know, its job is to take the food you eat, extract from it what's useful, and then turn that into energy and nourishment the body can use. Now, when that system is all hunky-dory and working well, you digest well, you have good energy, fluids move properly, you eat and you process, the waste is discarded, the good stuff is kept. But imagine what happens after years of processed food, too much sugar, alcohol, eating late at night, chronic stress, and not enough sleep. Eventually, that metabolic engine begins to struggle. And this stage of functional disruption, we call spleen-chi deficiency. And there's an interesting parallel here with what we just talked about regarding insulin resistance. They're not the same diagnosis, but they overlap with many, many, many similar features of metabolism that isn't handling nutrients and energy as it should be. This pathological loading and gas and high cholesterol and fatty liver developing, we call dampness. Now, when that pre-existing dampness we talked about, the metabolic issues, the sludge, the gallbladder, the lipids, combines with heat, you get a weird pattern called damp heat. So now you have the accumulation, the dampness, usually showing up as like poor digestion, high glucose, cholesterol, and now you have irritation, dysfunction, inflammation, called heat. And at this point, the biomedical equivalent is excess liver fat, metabolic dysfunction, oxidative stress, and all of this inflammatory signaling that's happening. And if that process continues for years, another layer can develop even further beyond that. Modern medicine would eventually call this fibrosis and scar formation. And in Chinese medicine, we call this blood stasis. Now there can be many factors driving this fatty liver, but it's important to understand that the gut and the metabolism are primarily driving this. If you're curious, like what is actually causing this, I actually have a step-by-step video fixing the root cause of gut problems and metabolism issues that can point you in the right direction. If you just follow me on Instagram and DM me gut, I'll send you the link to watch that video. Now, I also put together a downloadable guide right below this video too, for the root cause quiz that'll help you figure that out too as well. So that's right in the description there below. Now let's talk about if that's how fatty liver develops, what do we actually do to fix it? And this is where Chinese medicine becomes really interesting. One of the biggest misconceptions is that herbs are chosen because they're good for the liver. But that's not really how it works. At least not with a good doctor in my field. So what herb we use for fatty liver depends exactly on the presentation. One is called Yin Chen Hao. Now, if there's one herb that's become almost famous for liver disease, it's Yin Chen Hao. For centuries, it's been used whenever Chinese medicine saw what we call damp heat in the liver and gallbladder. And what's fascinating is that modern research has found compounds in Yin Chen Hao that appear to reduce oxidative stress, calm inflammation, improve bile secretion, and actually help protect your liver cells. So Chinese medicine may call this clearing damp heat in the liver. Modern medicine calls this reducing inflammation and improving your bile flow. Another herb is called Yu Jin or curcuma. This is one of my personal favorites because we use Yu Jin to keep what we call the liver moving. Because when things stop moving, problems begin to start accumulating. Now, modern research has become very interested in plants from the overall curcuma family because they appear to improve insulin sensitivity, reduce inflammation, decrease fat production specifically inside your liver, and also support healthy metabolism. So Chinese medicine described that process by saying this moves liver qi. Another herb commonly used is Shan Jia or Hawthorne. Hawthorne was traditionally used for digestive problems, specifically people who had trouble digesting rich foods or those who felt heavy and sluggish after eating. And that's why, you know, today we'd probably describe many of those symptoms as people who have metabolic syndrome, high triglycerides, high cholesterol, insulin resistance. Now, the modern research shows that Kratigas, Hawthorne, may improve lipid metabolism and also reduce fat accumulation in your liver. Another herb is called Dan Shen or salvia. So as fatty liver progresses, the concern changes because we're no longer talking just about fat. Now we're talking about inflammation, circulation, and eventually scar tissue that develops. So if you have that level of fibrosis and scar tissue, that's where Dan Shen comes in. For centuries, Chinese medicine has used it to improve circulation in what we call blood stasis. And the research on the herb actually confirms that the compounds reduce inflammation, oxidative stress, and even some of the pathways involved in liver fibrosis. Next up is zhexia. Zhexia is an herb traditionally used for bloating and urinary issues. Now that sounds weird when we talk about fatty liver, but when you think of fatty liver as a disease of metabolic congestion, it makes a bit more sense. Early modern research shows that zhexia regulates cholesterol and fat metabolism. Now zhexia is commonly paired with another herb called baiju, and this is a good functional lesson of medicine. Remember where we said this process started? Not in the liver, but in the spleen, the metabolic and digestive engine. If that system is weak, you can keep clearing inflammation forever, but it'll just keep coming back. And that's exactly what baiju tries to do. It strengthens the system that created the problem in the first place. And to me, that's one of the most elegant ideas in all of Chinese medicine. Now let's talk about the six day fatty liver reset. And before we jump in, I want to set the expectation that you're not going to cure fatty liver at six days. If you've had fat accumulating in your liver for 10 years, it's not going to disappear in less than a week, but what you can do is begin changing the environment that's allowing it to develop. And you can think of these six days as hitting the reset button. We're going to reduce the metabolic stress in the liver, improve insulin sensitivity, support bile flow, calm inflammation, and create the conditions where your liver can start doing what it was designed to do, which is heal. Now day number one is to stop filling the bucket. The first day is actually the easiest because we're not trying to repair the liver yet, we're simply trying to stop making its job harder. So for today, or for as long as you want this phase to last, I want you to eliminate alcohol completely. Cut out sugary drinks, fruit juice, candy, desserts, anything with high fructose corn syrup. Replace refined carbohydrates with meals built around protein, vegetables, healthy fats, and fiber. And I also want you drinking plenty of water throughout the day. Your liver depends on adequate hydration for everything from metabolism to producing healthy bile. And then finally, after dinner, I want you to go for a 20 or 30 minute walk. It doesn't need to be fast. It doesn't need to be a workout. Just getting your body moving after a meal is one of the simplest ways to improve blood sugar regulation and insulin sensitivity. Now, this is also a great day to include bitter greens like arugula, dandelion, mustard greens, or radicchio. Traditionally, we say bitter foods are used to help clear heat and support the liver. And interestingly, many of those actually stimulate digestion and healthy bile flow. Now, if we think about herbs, this is often where formulas containing yin qian hao come into the conversation. But I would only do that if you're seeing a licensed practitioner here. Now, finally, I'd also spend 10 minutes doing some gentle qigong or simply working through slow twisting or yoga to open up the chest and the rib cage. And then tonight, be in bed by about 1030. Now, day two is about restoring healthy bile flow. Yesterday, it was all about taking the pressure off the liver. Today, we're going to help it start functioning more efficiently. Now, one thing I think most people don't realize is that bile does far more than help digest fat. It's actually one of the body's major metabolic signaling systems. It helps regulate cholesterol, blood sugar, fat metabolism, and even influences the health of your gut microbiome. So when the bile doesn't flow well, it's not just digestion that suffers. The whole metabolic system becomes less efficient. Now, today I'd focus on foods that naturally support healthy bile flow, beets, artichokes, radishes, leafy greens. They're simple. But what they really do is they help with the gallbladder in particular. From a Chinese medicine point of view, this is where herbs like yujin and yinchenhao come in. We say they keep liver qi moving, clear damp heat, and support both liver and gallbladder function. And I'd also keep up the habit we started yesterday. Walking with meals, doing yoga, or doing qigong, all of those can be really, really helpful for not only your autonomic nervous system, but also improving your stress levels and even decreasing inflammation. In day three, I want you to improve insulin sensitivity. So in day three, we're ready to address what's probably the biggest driver of fatty liver in the first place, insulin resistance. So today I'd build every single meal around one simple idea. Start with protein and fiber. Maybe that's eggs and vegetables for breakfast, a large salad with grilled chicken or salmon for lunch, and a dinner built around lean protein, vegetables, and healthy fats. If you need a snack, go for something like berries or nuts instead of carbs. Now, this day is also a great phase to introduce resistance training, which doesn't have to be an intense workout, but 20 or 30 minutes of bodyweight exercises or lightweights is enough to remind your muscles to start responding to insulin more effectively. For day four, I want you to calm the fire. So by now we've started to improve metabolism, but now it's time to focus on the next stage, inflammation. This is where I want you to fill your plate with as much color as possible, deep green vegetables, blueberries, blackberries, salmon, extra virgin olive oil, green tea, garlic. Foods like these are really packed with compounds that help reduce the oxidative stress and calm inflammation inside the liver. From a Chinese medicine point of view, this stage is what we call clearing heat. Now, this is also where herbs like Dan Shen, salvia are very valuable. Traditionally, we use it to move the blood for cardiovascular issues and to resolve blood stasis. And the modern research shows compounds in it actually do reduce inflammation, oxidative stress, and improve fibrosis. Today, I would also add something that spends like maybe 10 minutes that will help calming your nervous system, meditation, breathing, prayer, or just a quiet walk without your phone. Because chronic stress on its own is inflammatory. Now in day five, we want to rebuild the foundation. So up until now, mostly we've been working on taking pressure off the liver, but today we're going to rebuild health. In Chinese medicine, we say that means supporting both the liver and the spleen so the body can maintain these improvements on its own. And I would keep the simple meals very, very, very basic. Soups, steamed vegetables, fish, beans, smaller portions, and more importantly, trying not to overeat. Because in Chinese medicine, we always emphasize that digestion works sometimes as simply as when it's not overloaded, because healthy foods, supplements, and tonic herbs can also become a burden if you're just throwing junk into the system. And also spend more time moving today, like 15 to 20 minutes doing Qigong, yoga, or a simple stretching. This is purely about deactivating that autonomic stress response and allowing the kinks in the system to settle when your body's not stressed. Now day six, make this whole thing sustainable. You know, now we're at day six and I don't want you to think of this whole thing as a reset or the end of the reset. It's really the beginning. Because if you look at everything we've done, none of it has been extreme. No detoxes, no juice cleanses, no starving, no miracle supplement. One thing's supposed to fix everything. We're just giving your liver more of what it needs. Better food, better sleep, less inflammation, better metabolic support. And when it makes sense, the herbs based on your individual pattern, rather than just treating fatty liver with milk thistle. As you finish these days, ask yourself one question, what made me feel better? What was it? Was it your energy? Was it your sleep? Was it your bloating? So whatever you noticed, start there and keep building on what has been working and build on that because fatty liver is not going to be reversed in a week. It's going to take months to years for many people because it typically took years to build in the first place. So if there's one thing I hope you take away from this, fatty liver doesn't happen overnight. It usually develops slowly as insulin resistance, inflammation, and metabolic dysfunction build over time. It's usually not from eating fat. By the time you're diagnosed, that process has been going on for years. But the good news is that the body can also move in the other direction. The liver has an incredible ability to recover. Now, if you're also having gut problems and you're bloated, you can't eat anything, go to Instagram, DM me gut, and I'll send you a link to a step-by-step video to fixing your gut problems for good. I've also posted a link below to a guide on diagnosing the root cause of your gut issues that you can check out as well. Now, before you go, if you're wondering the specific herbs that work the best that I use in the clinic, I shot a video on the single best herb we use for fatty liver right here.