Medical expert of the article
New publications
Diet with liver disease
Last reviewed: 23.04.2024
All iLive content is medically reviewed or fact checked to ensure as much factual accuracy as possible.
We have strict sourcing guidelines and only link to reputable media sites, academic research institutions and, whenever possible, medically peer reviewed studies. Note that the numbers in parentheses ([1], [2], etc.) are clickable links to these studies.
If you feel that any of our content is inaccurate, out-of-date, or otherwise questionable, please select it and press Ctrl + Enter.
The diet for liver disease is based on the "3-F" rule, which excludes fatty, fried and yellow foods.
The main function of the liver is to cleanse the body of poisonous and toxic substances that penetrate with food. Long-term antibiotic treatment, alcohol abuse, gluttony, the predominance of fatty and smoked dishes - all this weakens the "protective barrier".
Often, liver disease occurs in a latent form, disguised for many years, showing itself only pigmentation on the skin of the face or heaviness in the right hypochondrium. Overcooling, stress, penetration of infections are factors that provoke liver failure.
Therapy of liver diseases (hepatitis, cirrhosis, cholecystitis, etc.) is a laborious process with the use of analgesic, anti-inflammatory, choleretic preparations. The success of treatment largely depends on compliance with the diet, restoring liver function, and also normalizing metabolism. With liver pathologies, appetite often suffers, so food should be easily assimilated and at the same time tasty. The daily diet is based on the principles:
- the main place is taken by easily digestible protein - up to 150 g (animal and vegetable in equal proportions);
- carbohydrate food - no more than 450 g, if the patient suffers from excess weight, the quantitative content of carbohydrates is reduced;
- the percentage of fatty foods is determined on an individual basis, in order to improve the outflow of bile, they increase the consumption of vegetable fats;
- to reduce the load on the liver, the products should be wiped, boiled, well chopped;
- fractional nutrition, rich in fiber;
- allowed maximum 7-10 g of salt;
- should drink 1.5-2 liters of water per day;
- cook recommended for a couple, cook or bake.
What is the diet for liver disease?
Diet is made depending on the type of liver pathology, individual characteristics of the body. For example, such a diet is prescribed: in the morning on an empty stomach a tablespoon of vodka with two spoons of olive oil of cold pressing, and after half an hour an oatmeal with a flax seed (boiled on water without salt) is eaten. Before dinner (for 10 minutes) a glass of water with half a lemon is drunk. This kind of cleansing helps to improve the outflow of bile, improve the functioning of the liver. However, this diet for liver disease can be contraindicated if there is an increased acidity of gastric juice. That's why you should not self-medicate, relying on the advice of alternative medicine.
The diet is selected for each specific pathology in conjunction with the main treatment regimen, but there are general rules of nutrition:
- meat / fish - without fat, preferably cooked in a double boiler;
- milk and dairy products - curds with a small percentage of fat is allowed without restrictions, cream and sour cream is taken out of the diet. Ryazhenka - undesirable, as well as sharp, melted cheeses;
- bakery products - from coarse varieties of flour, it is better to gnaw crackers or stale crusts. For baking, baking, cakes, cakes should be forgotten for a while;
- The first dishes are vegetable soups with cereals. You can have vegetarian borsch (without fat, roast, etc.). Meat and mushroom broths should not be cooked;
- vegetables / greens - are allowed, except tomato, radish and radish. You can not have onions, sorrel, spinach and garlic;
- eggs - only squirrels boiled or omelet from them. The egg is wholly permitted, but not more than two per week.
The list of products must be adjusted with the attending physician and remember that the diet is an integral part of effective therapy.
Diet 5 with liver disease
Dietotherapy is recommended for the purpose of activating the choleretic output, reducing the load on the liver, establishing the functioning of the bile ducts, if there are no gastrointestinal pathologies.
Diet No. 5 is prescribed:
- when recovering after acute stages of cholecystitis and hepatitis;
- in the rehabilitation period after cirrhosis without hepatic insufficiency;
- for the normalization of the functioning of the liver, with the exception of the acute form of cholelithiasis, acute conditions as a result of chronic hepatitis and cholecystitis.
Diet 5 for liver disease is also recommended for pancreatic and gallbladder dysfunctions:
Dishes / products |
Allowed |
Prohibited |
Meat / poultry |
Boiled (can be baked) and lean meat beef, veal, rabbit, lamb, chicken and turkey without skin; when cooking cutlets use up to 2 egg whites |
Meat with a fatty layer, including goose, duck; exclude semi-finished products and by-products |
A fish |
Preference is given to low-fat sea, river, boiled / steamed, with the permission of the treating doctor, you can stew or bake in foil |
Smoked meat, salted and fatty fish, canned meat, caviar |
Eggs |
Maximum one egg yolk per day; preferably a protein-based scrambled egg or soft boiled egg |
Scrambled eggs, hard boiled |
First meal |
Vegetable or soup with cereal, most of the vegetarian, soups-mashed potatoes and dairy, as well as cold fruit |
The first dishes on broths from meat, fish, mushrooms; okroshka, green borsch |
Salads |
From fresh, boiled vegetables, seasoned with vegetable oil; |
With spicy, spicy, fatty dressing |
Bread |
Stale baked goods, crackers; |
Buns, puffs, fried pies |
Cereals / pasta |
Oatmeal, buckwheat, brown rice; macaroni |
Porridge on smaltse, with roast |
Milk products |
Skimmed / low-fat - milk, kefir, yogurt, sour cream, cottage cheese (casseroles, cheese cakes, puddings, etc.); low-fat, mild cheeses |
Fatty foods (more than 6%) |
Vegetables / fruits / berries |
In raw, baked, boiled form; snacks with dill, parsley; dried fruits, excluding sour |
Should avoid the use of sorrel, radish, radish, green onions, garlic, spinach, beans, mushrooms, pickled vegetables / fruits |
Sweet |
Limit the consumption of honey, sugar (it is better to use sugar substitutes), curd and berry desserts degreased, jelly, mousse, compote |
Chocolate products, fatty desserts, ice cream, pancakes, pies, cakes, cakes |
Sauces / condiments |
On the basis of low-fat sour cream, milk, vegetable; |
Horseradish, mustard, pepper |
Fat |
Olive, linseed and other vegetable origin, butter in limited quantities |
Lard, oil, melted butter |
Beverages |
Green, white, herbal, weak black tea, coffee, you can add milk to taste; juices from vegetables and fruits, broth of wild rose |
Soda, cocoa, natural coffee |
In the acute stage of problems with the liver, gall bladder, especially against pancreatitis / gastritis, the food should be wiped, cooked in a double boiler or cooked. For the period of the diet, raw vegetables / fruits and black breads are prohibited.
With zhelchekamennyh problems completely exclude sweets, and the food is cooked in a double boiler, boiled or use an oven and foil (bake the meat should be after boiling). Diet in case of liver disease in this case requires to monitor the temperature of the food intake, which should not exceed 60 o C and be less than 15 o C.
Diet in case of liver disease: recipes for every day
Dietary nutrition of a patient with various liver pathologies is necessary for:
- reducing the burden on the sick body;
- withdrawal of toxic and harmful elements contained in the liver;
- optimization of bile secretion and normalization of bile duct functioning.
Depending on the type of pathology, the method of food processing is chosen, sometimes the only possible method is cooking through the steamer. The basis of the diet is: fresh fruits and vegetables, cereals, vegetarian soups, borsch, as well as soups with milk.
Despite strict prohibitions and restrictions, the diet of a patient with liver pathology is balanced and full. Diet in liver disease recipes:
- cream soup with pumpkin and oat flakes - peeled pumpkin (100 g.) is cut into small cubes and filled with cold water, cook until half cooked. Put the pumpkin into a deep frying pan and simmer under the lid with butter (1/2 tsp), add oat flakes (2 tablespoons) and pour a little pumpkin broth. Cook constantly stirring, after which a mixture of oatmeal and pumpkin to put in a blender and chop. Add pumpkin broth, if allowed - sugar to taste and half a teaspoon of butter. Pumpkin can be replaced by a vegetable marrow;
- steam cutlets from beef - stale white bread (25 gr.) soak with milk or water. Beef (125 gr.) To clear of tendons and fat. Minced meat and bread are made with a meat grinder / blender. Add salt and, if necessary, water. The formed cutlets are steamed for about 20 minutes. Before eating, watered with vegetable or melted butter;
- biscuit based on egg whites - six proteins are beaten with 1/3 cup sugar (the amount of sugar can be reduced). In the egg foam carefully put a glass of crushed white crackers. Half the mixture is put in a baking dish, greased with butter. Top of the test put 1-2 tbsp. Spoon poppy and pour the remaining protein mixture. Bake in the oven for about half an hour at a temperature of 180 ° C. The cooled biscuit is taken out of the mold;
- carrot and beetroot steam lettuce - beetroot and carrots steamed, cut or grated on a large grater. Season the salt to taste and add the vegetable oil.
Most of the usual dishes can be adapted for dietary nutrition, observing medical recommendations and abstaining from prohibited foods.
Diet with liver disease: a menu for everyone
The duration of dietary therapy is discussed individually. Some patients stick to a diet of several years, and in some cases fatty and fried foods must be avoided always.
Diet with liver disease menu:
- recommended breakfast - cottage cheese is low-fat with sour cream, pudding from cottage cheese, oatmeal, tea (it is possible with milk);
- the second meal is meat cooked in water or steam, oatmeal, a slice of bread and juice; sometimes one baked apple is enough;
- dinner - vegetarian soup with vegetable oil, chicken meat or beef with rice, zucchini stewed, compote of dried fruits or apples jelly;
- the second dinner - a dogrose in the form of broth;
- for the evening - mashed potatoes with a steamed / boiled fish, curd casserole, tea with lemon / milk;
- on a dream to come - 200 ml of kefir.
The daily amount of bread (preferably yesterday's from coarse flour, crackers) - no more than 200 grams, sugar - up to 70 grams.
Therapeutic diet for liver disease
Diseases of the liver and gallbladder develop due to excessive consumption of alcohol, as a result of acute infectious conditions, with malnutrition and illiteracy, due to genetic pathologies and metabolic problems.
The therapeutic diet for liver and bile duct disease depends on the stage of the disease and the patient's condition. Diet therapy includes general recommendations:
- ration should be enriched with the necessary number of digestible protein;
- the norm of carbohydrates is selected based on body weight (excess weight is the reason for reducing the amount of carbohydrates);
- the amount of fat consumption is calculated individually. In some states, the choleretic effect is achieved. To avoid constipation, it is recommended to increase the intake of vegetable oils;
- Preference is given to the wiped and chopped products boiled in water or cooked on steam;
- The food is based on dietary fiber;
- it is important to monitor the multivitamin sufficiency of the patient's body;
- frequent meals in small portions favorably affect the absorption and digestion of food.
Diet in case of liver disease implies the exclusion of excessively hot or cold dishes. Ice cream, ice water and the like can provoke spasm, pain and even hepatic colic.