Words of Wellness with Shelly

The Silent Epidemic of Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease: A Personal Journey

• Shelly Jefferis • Season 2 • Episode 77

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Fatty liver disease is silently reaching epidemic proportions, now affecting roughly 25% of adults and alarmingly appearing in children. Shelly shares how her father's battle with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease opened her eyes to this often-overlooked condition that can be reversed if caught early but potentially fatal when ignored.

Unlike its alcohol-related counterpart, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease stems from lifestyle choices we make daily. The connection between this condition and other metabolic disorders like diabetes and obesity creates a perfect storm, putting millions at risk without their knowledge. When the Surgeon General reported that a sedentary lifestyle is more harmful than smoking, it highlighted just how much power we have to change our health trajectory through simple daily choices.

Shelly dad's sweet tooth and struggle with diabetes contributed to his condition, but his story doesn't have to be yours. Through this episode, she shares practical, science-backed approaches to supporting liver health: reducing sugar intake, embracing cruciferous vegetables like Brussels sprouts, maintaining healthy weight, and incorporating regular movement into your routine. Shelly also explains the cellular cleansing practice that she has maintained for over a decade that helps support not just liver health, but total body wellness. Your liver performs over 500 functions essential to life - it deserves your attention and care.

Having lost both parents to serious illness, Shelly is passionate about helping others avoid preventable suffering. While we can't control everything about our health, we can make informed choices that stack the odds in our favor. Connect with Shelly through the show notes if you'd like to learn more about cellular cleansing or have questions about protecting your liver health. Together, let's build lives filled not just with longevity, but with true vitality.

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Thank you for listening to the Words of Wellness podcast with Shelly Jefferis. I am honored and so grateful to have you here and it would mean the world to me if you could take a minute to follow, leave a 5-star review and share the podcast with anyone you love and anyone you feel could benefit from the message.

Thank you and God Bless!
And remember to do something for yourself, for your wellness on this day!

In Health,
Shelly Jefferis

Speaker 1:

Hello everyone and welcome back to Words of Wellness. My name is Shelly Jeffries and I will be your host, and I want to talk about a very important topic. It's a little bit close to my heart and it's something that I have researched through the years and realizing. It's a topic that I want to share with all of you and give you some information that might be of help to you in your life, or perhaps maybe you are dealing with a friend or a loved one who might be going through this same experience that I experienced. And the topic is fatty liver disease and I'm talking about it and I want to share about it because it is something that I experienced with my own dad that I believe ultimately took his life, and it is something that is being talked about more and more, and there are a couple different types of fatty liver disease. There is the fatty liver disease that is associated with alcohol, and then there is the non-alcoholic fatty liver disease and that is what my dad was experiencing. And when we talk about the non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, it is directly connected to lifestyle and diet. You know it's so challenging because it is something that can be reversed. If caught early enough, it can be reversed, but if it's gone on too long then it's extremely challenging and it really can't be reversed once it's gotten to a certain level. And you know, I talk about this for a couple of reasons One, to spread the awareness, to educate others, and then also to share my experience my experience because it was heartbreaking to see my dad go through this and to see him in and out of the probably are familiar with metabolic disorder and metabolic diseases and a lot of times there's this connection they go hand in hand. So, for example, if someone has diabetes, they might be more prone to having fatty liver disease. And I talk about this and I am not a doctor by any means, but these different diseases are on the rise heart disease, diabetes, obesity and these are metabolic conditions that people are experiencing, and now the fatty liver disease is becoming one of those threats to our health as well. And another very alarming statistic is that I don't have the exact numbers in front of me, but they are seeing this occur within children, which is very, very alarming, very alarming, and we need to educate ourselves and take steps to prevent this from affecting children and also, later on in life, affecting adults, affecting those who are loved ones. So, again, I know, when I first heard about this with my dad specifically, I didn't, I didn't know about it, I didn't know that it was a thing. When I first heard he had been diagnosed with cirrhosis of the liver, but but not related to alcohol, I didn't even realize that non-alcoholic fatty liver disease was a was a thing. I didn't know back then. Now obviously I certainly know and again, as it progresses it can cause scarring of the liver tissue and can just cause so many health issues and can ultimately lead to death. So the rise in this disease is alarming. It looks to be about approximately 25% of adults are experiencing this, and that is again, of course, 25% too much. We want to spread the word so that it's something that people are not experiencing at all.

Speaker 1:

And a couple of things that can lead to fatty liver disease a diet high in sugar. And I will tell you, god bless him. My dad had a sweet tooth. He loved his sweets and it didn't matter what was going on. He his sweets and it didn't matter what was going on. He loved his sweets, he loved his desserts. And that is one really big link to fatty liver disease is someone who consumes a diet high in sugar. Also someone who is insulin resistant. Again, my dad had diabetes. He had been diagnosed with diabetes, and so that can cause this and be associated with this non-alcoholic fatty liver disease.

Speaker 1:

Another thing that can be attributed to this and connected to this disease is living a sedentary lifestyle, and you know, years ago the Surgeon General came out with a report. A report was issued that said leading a sedentary lifestyle was more detrimental to our overall health and our longevity than smoking, which, to me, I couldn't believe that, because for so many years, this study and the report before that had smoking as the number one most detrimental thing we could do for our health. Now, obviously, it's still up there for sure, but when the report came out a few years later that had sedentary lifestyle as the number one thing, I went wow, this is huge because also, it's something that we can do. It's something we have control over and we can make a difference when it comes to our lifestyle and whether or not we are getting exercise on a regular basis. So sedentary lifestyle plays a huge, huge role in making this disease happen, but also progress and become worse.

Speaker 1:

So what can we do? I mean, I've talked a little bit about some of the risks eating a diet high in sugar, being insulin resistant and leading a sedentary lifestyle. So if we think about what can we do to support our liver, well, we can do some things that oppose what I just talked about. That are risks. So, reducing our sugar intake and I'm always a proponent of enjoying your life and if you like your sweets and you have a sweet tooth, I would not say stop, unless you're at that point in your life and if you have this disease, then you definitely have to be very strict by all means.

Speaker 1:

But for the general population, the average person, it comes back to what I always say being aware, having awareness about what you're doing in your life with your health, with your nutrition, with your exercise. That's what's really going to help you. The awareness is key, and then researching, becoming educated and then taking proper action that's going to help us be our healthiest. So one thing that can be helpful is okay, what are we eating? What kind of foods are we eating? We want to have those foods consume a diet that's anti-inflammatory, taking in those vegetables that can really help us, cutting out sugar, focusing on nutrients that can support our liver, and some of those might be those cruciferous vegetables that we consume broccoli, cauliflower. One thing that I have discovered is that one very highly nutritional food that's very beneficial for our liver are Brussels sprouts, broccoli sprouts who would have known broccoli sprouts? But that's one thing that can be very, very beneficial.

Speaker 1:

Another thing that we can do is lose excess weight. If we are overweight, and you know, again, that is something that that my dad struggled with and you know, along with being insulin resistant, having some degree of obesity is another big, big factor that's associated with this non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. So making sure that we take steps, or we help our loved ones take steps to to lose weight, to release body fat, is really, really critical. And then, like I mentioned earlier, the opposite of leading a sedentary lifestyle is getting active, engaging in physical exercise, and it doesn't have to be strenuous, but just getting movement. And again, for someone who might be leading a sedentary lifestyle, getting some degree of exercise, you know, for some people it might just be just going for a short walk around the block. Anything is important. We just want to get started and then create those habits where we're regularly getting exercise and, most days of the week, doing something for ourselves physically, getting some kind of movement is so, so important. You know, the exercise helps to increase our fatty acid oxidation and so that helps to burn off some of that excess fat that's stored there and that's just going to help the health of our liver.

Speaker 1:

And then another thing, one last thing I want to share is perhaps doing some kind of a, a liver cleanse, and this is where I'm going to share with everyone that something that I have done for many, many years has been a complete body cellular cleanse. And you know, instead of focusing on just one organ, what I have done for many years helps target the entire body and it does so at the cellular level, which to me, is really, really huge. And it's the point of it is it's helping to rid the body of different toxins and impurities and at the same time, it's helping to clear out those organs right, release some of those that buildup that's maybe in our liver or other organs of our body. And you want to find what works for you, but I know personally, for me this has been a really big game changer in my life and with my overall health, and it's something that I do every month and I have for over 10 years, and it's a either 24 or 48 hour cellular cleanse. I actually have a drink that I drink throughout those two days and it again just helps to release some of those impurities and it helps to clear out my organs, helps just to clear out my body at the cellular level, and there's so many many health benefits associated with that. So if that's something you would like to know more about, I'm happy to share.

Speaker 1:

My contact information is always in the show notes. Feel free to reach out, I will always respond. So if you want to know more, please let me know. But just know you know our liver. It has such an important function and it has over 500 functions in our bodies and every time we eat or we drink or whatever we, whatever we put in our body, it goes through our liver and so really we want to take care of of what we are doing and and what we're consuming on a regular base basis and just know that this is a huge call for action.

Speaker 1:

I want to say to for all of us and again, like I say, it's, it's been on my mind for many years and on my heart, just because I saw my dad suffer through this disease, and if I can help one person take steps not to go through this, then it's all worth it, and so I really, really hope that you take this to heart and again, if this is you, or maybe there's someone you know, a loved one, that you can share this information with, I hope that you will. And just know, if it's something that we've caught early enough on, we can make changes and we can do some reverse to some damage that has been done. And also, if it's early, early on, we can take preventative measures. And that's always been my goal and my hope for all of you that you take steps now to prevent you from being sick later. And that's always been my mission and my hope, and especially for myself, in sharing with all of you.

Speaker 1:

I know that I experienced both my parents being sick.

Speaker 1:

My mom lost her battle with cancer many years ago and then, like I say, my dad lost his battle with fatty liver disease.

Speaker 1:

And it's always my goal to do whatever I can in my power to be as healthy as I can so that my children don't have to see me go through what I saw my parents go through.

Speaker 1:

And again, I will always say there are no guarantees. You know you do the best that you can. You make the best choices with what you know and and whatever is in your control. You make the best choices with those areas and and then you know, you just again leave it up to God. He has the final, final say. And I just share all of this because it's my goal to again not just help myself, but to help all of you be your healthiest, feel your best and live a life of vitality. Not just to live, but to live a life with energy, joy and vitality. So I hope you have found value with this episode today. Again, please feel free to share it with a friend or a loved one and, as always, do something for yourself and your overall wellness on this day and until next time, have a beautiful, blessed rest of your week and hope you will join us next time on Words of Wellness.