liver diet???

I hear people talk about starting the "liver diet".  What is that?  I know that it shrinks your liver, but what exactly are you using to do that.

My surgeon doesn't require a liver shrink diet, but he does require that I lose 13lbs before surgery.  So I was thinking if I could do this liver diet some of you have talked about, maybe that would help me get the 13lbs off.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Thanks!

As far as I know, the "liver diet" is just eating right and starting all the good habits that you will continue after surgery. The whole reason why your Dr. wants you to lose weight before surgery IS to shrink your liver. If you lose weight your body digests the fat that is on your liver which will make it easier for him to get in there to do your surgery. The more you lose the easier the surgery will be on your body. My surgery office plans a diet for you to get you into your liquid pre-op diet. They say to do the meal replacement shake one meal for a week and eat prepackaged meals (like jenny craig) or something with 300 or less calories per meal and eat fruits and veggies for snacks. the next week do 2 meal replace ment shakes and then go to nothing but meal replacement shakes and veggies for snacks. if you want a copy of this just let me know. Good luck

I'm not exactly sure what the liver diet is persay, but I know my physician is having me do two weeks of protein shakes / clear liquids before my surgery date to shrink my liver and kinda cleanse things.  Let me know if you want more details and I can send you what I have.

 - Kendra

My doctor requires we start Optifast (protein shakes) for a month prior to surgery. This helps to reduce the size of the liver and helps us to lose the 8 -10% of our excess body weight which is also required at my dr's. It not only helps with those things, but gets you ready for eating small meals frequently through the day.

I won't lie though, it is tough. I am on day 5 of the liquid diet and it is hard!

Thanks for all your replies.  I think I understand what the liver shrink diet is now.   What I was looking for was the name of one of the protein shakes used as part of the liver shrink diet.  I'll check on getting some Optifast.

Thanks again!

Jen -

My doc gives us a choice of Optifast or Slimfast 3 times a day for 2 weeks pre-op in addition to clear liquids.  Slimfast is MUCH CHEAPER - and often major retailers have their own brand. 

Well I ended up getting some Nutrimed from a friend who had lapband last year.  What she gave me is a little more than a 2 weeks supply so that's what I'm using now.  So far it's not too bad other than I felt a little shaky this morning.  After I ate though I was fine.

Thanks again for all the help!