To put an end to fatty liver disease, take care of the "Miss Dutch" in your body first!

Regardless of gender, everyone has a "Miss Hormone" living in their body, who controls the direction of hormones throughout the body. Any slight mismatch in coordination may trigger small health bombs such as obesity, acne, bad temper, and menstrual disorders in women. But in addition to these hidden concerns, Chinese medicine practitioners remind us that "fatty liver" that many people ignore may also be caused by hormonal imbalance. If you don't want your liver to be full of fat, you should take care of "Miss He" first!

Ignore fatty liver! Be careful about entering the "Liver Disease Trilogy"

Fatty liver is the most common liver disease among Taiwanese. The Liver Disease Prevention and Control Academic Foundation once analyzed ultrasound examination cases and found that among 9,000 office workers, the proportion of people suffering from fatty liver was as high as 43%. Another study estimated that the prevalence rate among adults in Taiwan is about 30%, which is much higher than the hepatitis that everyone is familiar with. What’s even more frightening is that recent studies have shown that if fatty liver is left untreated for a long time, the liver will become oilier and oilier, which can easily lead to inflammation of liver cells and slowly progress towards the end of “hepatitis – cirrhosis – liver cancer”.

There are many causes of fatty liver, most of which are related to hormonal imbalance.

Obesity ranks first in the list of causes of fatty liver. Zhou Zonghan, chief physician of the Department of Traditional Chinese Medicine at the Ren'ai Branch of Taipei Lianhe Hospital, said that people with a body mass index (BMI) between 25 and 30 have a 50% chance of suffering from fatty liver; if the BMI value exceeds 30, the probability of fatty liver can be as high as 85%. Other factors, including menopause, high blood lipids (especially those with high triglycerides), alcoholism, and poorly controlled diabetes are also common factors that cause fatty liver.

And these reasons are more or less related to hormonal imbalance! Chinese medicine practitioner Zhou Zonghan explained that after women enter menopause, their ovarian function declines rapidly, estrogen (female hormone) secretion is insufficient, metabolic function decreases, and cholesterol and neutral fat in the blood gradually increase. Over time, fatty liver will slowly form.

In addition to estrogen, "insulin" is a hormone secreted by the pancreas that is responsible for maintaining blood sugar stability. If the body's insulin secretion is insufficient or its effect becomes poor, causing blood sugar to rise, it can easily lead to hyperglycemia or diabetes, leading to metabolic abnormalities and weight gain. Clinically, it is found that patients with poorly controlled diabetes often have symptoms of fatty liver.

In addition, the hormones often heard by people who want to lose weight - "leptin" and "adiponectin", respectively have the functions of suppressing appetite, controlling weight, and promoting the metabolism of sugar and fat. If the secretion is insufficient or the function becomes poor, it may also lead to obesity, metabolic syndrome, and then fatty liver.

Traditional Chinese Medicine defeats fatty liver, and adjusting hormones is the key!

Chinese medicine practitioner Zhou Zonghan said that there are three major principles in Chinese medicine treatment of fatty liver. The first priority is to adjust the body's hormones by dredging the liver and gallbladder qi and blood. When the liver qi is smooth, the qi and blood flow smoothly, and the hormones function normally, phlegm, blood stasis and turbidity will naturally not stay.

The second is to remove dampness and clear away heat: Fatty liver patients will feel tired, dizzy, chest tightness, bloating, and loss of appetite due to "dampness"; due to "heat", they will have dry and bitter mouth, insomnia, irritability, yellow urine, and even constipation and other symptoms of "liver fire". The third is to remove phlegm and resolve blood stasis: When moisture accumulates for a long time, it turns into phlegm, which eventually leads to blood circulation obstruction. Therefore, to treat fatty liver, it is necessary to remove phlegm and blood stasis.

Eat these 2 simple dishes to easily help your liver get rid of greasiness!

How to save out-of-control hormones? In addition to consulting a professional Chinese medicine practitioner to formulate appropriate treatment plans and medications based on personal constitution, Chinese medicine practitioner Zhou Zonghan said that people can also cook "cold black fungus" or "hawthorn porridge" for consumption. Black fungus and hawthorn have the effect of burning fat and removing oil, which helps to reduce the burden on liver metabolism, thereby achieving the effect of preventing or improving fatty liver.

【Black Fungus Salad】

• Ingredients: 500 grams of black fungus, 4 small cloves of garlic, appropriate amount of minced ginger, 2 tablespoons of rice vinegar, 2 tablespoons of sugar, 1 tablespoon of soy sauce, 2 tablespoons of soy sauce paste, appropriate amount of sesame oil.

• practice:

  1. Bring a pot of boiling water and blanch the washed black fungus for 3 minutes. Remove from the water, rinse with cold water and chill in ice to make the black fungus taste crispier.

  2. Take another small pot, first pour in the minced garlic and ginger, then add sugar, soy sauce paste, soy sauce and rice vinegar in sequence, and finally put in the chilled black fungus, stir evenly so that the sauce is evenly coated on the surface of the black fungus and then it is ready to eat.

• Description: Black fungus is known as the "meat among vegetarians". It has the function of protecting the liver. Its rich dietary fiber can promote intestinal peristalsis, and its colloid can absorb oil and help excrete toxins from the body. It is a good helper for weight loss and liver protection.

【Hawthorn porridge】

• Ingredients: 40 grams of hawthorn (or 60 grams of fresh hawthorn), 100 grams of white rice, and appropriate amount of sugar.

• Preparation: First boil the hawthorn, remove the residue and take the thick juice, cook it with washed white rice. When the porridge is almost cooked, add sugar and boil it for a while. Can be served hot as a snack.

• Description: Hawthorn porridge has the effects of lowering blood pressure, promoting bowel movements, lowering blood lipids, clearing the liver and improving eyesight. It should be noted that only one bowl is required per day, and excessive sugar should not be added, so as to avoid excessive sugar content which will offset the fat-burning and health-care effects of hawthorn.