Has anyone utilized or recommends milk-thistle as part of the 3 to 6 month diet per-op?

Unnecessary. A simple low carb, low cal, high protein diet is more than sufficient to shrink the liver.

Example foods that I used:

- Lean ground beef, lean chicken, etc.

- Almonds, peanuts, low carb peanut butter

- Eggs

- String cheese

Plenty of others, but those were my bread and butter.

The best way to know during a diet like this that your liver is shrinking is you'll lose weight.. maybe not right away, but after a few days or a week or so and beyond. Not only did I lose 79 pounds on a 3 month pre-op diet consisting of this, but I had pictures of my liver taken, and from stage 3 fibrosis before pre-op, it was in great shape on surgery day.

Interesting . My doc not saying anything about taking liver pictures .

I've been drinking milk thistle every night...it not only helps to shrink but it more so detoxify the liver

1 hour ago, Jewels501 said:

Interesting . My doc not saying anything about taking liver pictures .

I had talked to my surgeon about taking pictures of my liver far in advance of the surgery.

I reiterated it when I was at the hospital.

Given the prior advanced state of liver disease, I wanted to see my liver for myself.

He didn't have to but he did. I'm gonna hang this picture of my liver next to the picture of my mother in law.

Friendly Reminder: Make sure you let your Surgeon & PCP know of any herbs you take (such as milk thistle) pre or post surgery.

Lol love it

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The 3-6 month month diet has nothing to do with shrinking your liver.

You can shrink your liver in just a few days by not eating carbs.

You don't need special tricks for WLS to work, and the sooner you detach yourself from that mentality the better.

Your liver is what detoxes your body, it doesn't need to be detoxed.

well i feel better about doing it.

Some herbs may be contraindicated prior to surgery, particularly ones that have blood thinning properties. Like Marinagirl said, please discuss this with your surgeon.

19 hours ago, OutsideMatchInside said:

The 3-6 month month diet has nothing to do with shrinking your liver.

You can shrink your liver in just a few days by not eating carbs.

You don't need special tricks for WLS to work, and the sooner you detach yourself from that mentality the better.

Your liver is what detoxes your body, it doesn't need to be detoxed.

Yeah, the whole concept of detoxifying the detoxifying organ seems pretty funny.

Taking care of the liver really doesn't require anything special, just as you said, don't load it up with carbs. Loading it up with carbs causes the liver to convert excess carbs into glucose and then fatty acids which then infiltrate the liver itself, destroying useful liver cells like hepatocytes. The liver is quite forgiving, as I've found out first hand, so doesn't need any gimmicks.

Edited May 9, 20179 yr by PatientEleventyBillion