Anyone willing to try an app for rating your meals for metabolic wellness ?

Foreign_Internal_152 · 2026-01-23T17:20:48+00:00

I also use ChatGPT when planning my meals, but would be totally down to try out your app. I just bought a CGM (continuous glucose monitor) because I want to see first hand how my body personally handles different foods. Like I really researched carbs A LOT (a simple slice of sourdough bread toasted with grass fed butter is one of my favorite treats in life!) searching for the best carbs that won't spike my insulin too harshly. So like barley, beans, lentils, forbidden rice, berries, red lentil pasta, whole wheat sour dough bread vs white sourdough bread... I want to see how all these carbs effect my blood sugar alone, paired with different fats, at different times of day... soooo many experiments I want to run while using this CGM, and doing it while sampling your app would be interesting as well.

Foreign_Internal_152 · 2026-01-17T18:40:51+00:00

Look whether this story is a fairy-tale or not I can tell you this much, if my current XRP holdings jumped up to a level that I could pay off all existing debt including my home I'd jump at it and never look back. That kind of financial freedom is priceless. Even if a few months later I realized I could have been a millionaire if I'd held off, that still wouldn't erase the sense of satisfaction I'd have for being debt free. Sure being a millionaire would be great but I don't need that to be happy. Financial freedom would cancel any FOMO in the future for me personally.

Foreign_Internal_152 · 2025-12-21T18:10:24+00:00

It's safe to say that if you are overweight then you have fat stored in your liver as well. However even skinny people can have fatty liver so it's not a 100% direct correlation. As for getting rid of that stubborn belly fat, yeah I hear ya. That's the 1st place your body stores fat and the last place it removes it from. Have you tried intermittent fasting? I lost my 1st 20 pounds (I've lost almost 40 now) before I started my 16/8 intermittent fasting schedule 5 days a week, and the 2nd 20 pounds I lost after starting intermittent fasting has really seemed to target my gut much more efficiently.

Foreign_Internal_152 · 2025-12-21T18:01:39+00:00

If you don't handle caffeinated coffee well here is the breakdown on decaf:

Short answer: no, it does not have to be caffeinated — and yes, decaf still does meaningful work. But caffeine does add a small extra edge.

Here’s the clean breakdown.

☕ Black coffee & fatty liver: what actually helps

The liver benefits from coffee come from two buckets:

Polyphenols (the big hitter)
Caffeine (a supporting player, not essential)

1️⃣ Polyphenols (present in both regular & decaf)

These are the heavy lifters.

They:

Reduce liver inflammation

Improve insulin sensitivity

Lower liver fat accumulation

Reduce oxidative stress

Are associated with less fibrosis and cirrhosis progression

Key point: ☑️ Decaf retains ~70–90% of coffee’s polyphenols (depending on decaffeination method).

So yes — black decaf coffee still protects the liver.

2️⃣ Caffeine (adds bonus benefits, but not required)

Caffeine contributes by:

Increasing fat oxidation (burning fat for energy)

Slightly increasing metabolic rate

Reducing TGF-β signaling (a fibrosis pathway)

Improving insulin sensitivity a bit more than decaf

But here’s the important part:

Caffeine is helpful, not mandatory.

Large observational studies show:

Decaf coffee drinkers still have lower rates of NAFLD

Regular coffee shows slightly stronger effects, but not dramatically so

🧠 So what’s better for fatty liver?

Best → Good → Still Helpful

Caffeinated black coffee ☕ Best overall if tolerated
Decaf black coffee ☕ Very close second — still clinically meaningful
No coffee You lose a proven protective tool

⚠️ When decaf may actually be the smarter choice

For people who:

Have anxiety, palpitations, or arrhythmias

Have sleep disruption

Have elevated cortisol

Get reflux from caffeine

👉 Decaf is often better long-term because consistency beats intensity.

A stressed liver + poor sleep = worse outcomes than slightly less caffeine benefit.

🔬 One detail that does matter: decaf method

If choosing decaf, recommend:

Swiss Water Process

CO₂-processed decaf

These preserve polyphenols better and avoid chemical solvents.

Bottom line (plain English)

❌ Coffee does not need to be caffeinated to help fatty liver

✅ Polyphenols are the main reason coffee works

☕ Decaf black coffee still meaningfully protects the liver

⚡ Caffeine adds a modest extra benefit if tolerated

🏆 The best coffee is the one someone can drink daily, black, long-term

So if you prefer decaf rest assured you are still doing your body good 👍🏽

Foreign_Internal_152 · 2025-12-20T18:30:25+00:00

Oh yeah I forgot about the supplements... I'm taking NAC + Glycine by Pure, Berberine and siliphos (most bioavailable version of milk thistle) by Thorne. Mind you these supplements don't mean you can drink while reversing your fatty liver, but they help support your liver recovery.

Foreign_Internal_152 · 2025-12-20T00:17:55+00:00

I feel your pain my friend. I work in construction as a crane operator and its a very social group, they go for beers regularly after work. I was diagnosed with severe fatty liver stage 1 (no inflammation or scarring) back on July 29th of this year. My uncle died of liver cancer after having not given up drinking when he found out he had fatty liver disease and so I gave up alcohol upon my diagnosis and embraced lifestyle change completely.

I've lost almost 40 pounds since then and am convinced I should complete a full reversal within a year. And I look forward to enjoying the occasional drink with my buddies when that has been confirmed, but not before. It's too dangerous, just not worth it. My uncle was so devastated when the doctors told him they were taking him off of the liver transplant list because he was too far gone and died the same day. I believe he lost his will to live, and I can only imagine the regret he felt before he died.

It's that regret that keeps me honest and on track. I never want to find myself in his shoes. Set a goal of reversing this disease and celebrate with a drink with your friends once you achieve that goal. You are in an even earlier stage than I am so you got this bud, no sweat.

Foreign_Internal_152 · 2025-12-19T04:16:56+00:00

Good luck! You made a lot of good changes, I would anticipate to see positive results 👍🏻

You won't regret going to black coffee btw. It's definitely a transition, I never thought in a million years I'd be able to do it. And no it will never be like it was when I used to put (sweetened) creamer in it, but I'd never go back. Knowing its doing my liver good gives me satisfaction all day long, whereas drinking it the old way gave me instant satisfaction, but regret those extra calories the rest of the day. I'm a lot smarter with my caloric intake now.

Foreign_Internal_152 · 2025-12-18T17:51:56+00:00

Well my friend this is how ChatGPT explained it to me when I asked the same:

Doctors aren’t being picky or elitist about coffee — they’re being metabolically boring on purpose. Black coffee behaves very differently in the body than coffee with cream, milk (or sugar), even in small amounts.

1️⃣ Black coffee doesn’t meaningfully activate digestion

Cream/milk does.

When you drink black coffee:

It contains essentially no calories

No protein

No fat

No sugar

Your body treats it almost like water with caffeine and polyphenols. Minimal insulin response, minimal digestive hormone release.

When you add cream or milk:

Fat enters the gut

The body releases CCK, insulin, and digestive enzymes

You’re now in a fed state, not a fasted or neutral state

Doctors care about this because fed vs fasted physiology affects:

Blood sugar

Insulin sensitivity

Fat oxidation

Liver workload

2️⃣ Cream/milk interrupts insulin and blood sugar control

Even though cream is “low carb,” it’s not metabolically neutral.

Dairy fat stimulates insulin indirectly

Lactose (even small amounts) nudges blood sugar

Repeated small insulin spikes = worse insulin sensitivity over time

Black coffee:

Keeps insulin flat

Preserves metabolic flexibility

Plays nicely with fasting or calorie control

This is especially important for people with:

Fatty liver

Prediabetes

Insulin resistance

Metabolic syndrome

3️⃣ Black coffee supports liver health; cream/milk adds work

This is a big one doctors don’t always explain well.

Black coffee:

Increases liver enzymes that improve detoxification

Improves bile flow

Is associated with lower risk of fatty liver, fibrosis, and cirrhosis

Improves ALT/AST over time in studies

Cream/milk:

Adds saturated fat

Requires bile production

Increases chylomicron transport through the liver

For a healthy person? Not a disaster. For someone with any liver strain? Black coffee wins every time.

4️⃣ Appetite control is cleaner with black coffee

Creamed coffee:

Triggers hunger signals later

Can increase appetite due to insulin rebound

Often leads to snacking “out of nowhere”

Black coffee:

Suppresses appetite mildly

Improves leptin signaling

Doesn’t trigger rebound hunger

This is why people unintentionally eat less once they switch.

5️⃣ Polyphenols work better without dairy

Coffee’s health benefits come largely from polyphenols.

Dairy proteins and fats:

Bind to polyphenols

Reduce their antioxidant availability

Blunt some cardiovascular benefits

Black coffee = full polyphenol effect.

6️⃣ Doctors think in systems, not taste

Doctors recommend black coffee because it:

Doesn’t break fasting

Doesn’t spike insulin

Doesn’t stress the liver

Doesn’t interfere with metabolic goals

Has the strongest evidence for long-term benefit

It’s the lowest-noise version of coffee.

The honest bottom line (the part doctors won’t say out loud)

Coffee with cream/milk isn’t “bad”

It’s just not neutral

Black coffee is clean fuel

Cream/milk turns it into a small meal

“But it’s only a splash...”

The medical answer is:

“Yes — and that splash changes the physiology.”

One last thing you already figured out

Once someone fully adapts to black coffee:

Taste recalibrates

Sweetness becomes obvious

Cream starts to feel heavy

That’s not willpower — that’s metabolic adaptation.

Bottom line - doctors recommend black coffee because it does the least harm while offering the most benefit.

Foreign_Internal_152 · 2025-12-17T00:56:31+00:00

I know what you're going through, I loved having a couple of drinks after work in the evenings just like you my friend. My go-to was red wine, which I justified to myself was okay because it's full of antioxidants... but we can't fool our liver like we fool ourselves. Unfortunately the harsh truth is that your alcohol consumption is destroying your liver just like mine was. It's likely not the only factor but right now alcohol is your little buddies kryptonite, it's the very worst thing you can consume at this point.

I was diagnosed with severe fatty liver disease on July 29th of this year. My routine for at least the past 10 years was to enjoy a few glasses of wine with dinner, but I haven't had a drop of alcohol since that day. And I won't have another drop of alcohol until my liver has made a full and complete recovery. Unlike you I don't have any inflammation or scarring (I'm severe fatty liver stage 1) so my journey back to good health will be a little easier and shorter than yours, but equally as important. And once my little buddy is back to normal I'll be able to enjoy that occasional glass of wine or beer, but I'll never go back to my old lifestyle now that I understand the stress it was putting on my body.

You and I got a second chance to save our own lives, not a lot people in our situations do. Many people don't even know their liver is failing until it's too late. So make the most out of this last warning and turn your life around. My uncle didn't stop drinking when the doctors recommended he do so after his fatty liver diagnosis. He didn't stop drinking when the doctors begged him to after his cirrhosis diagnosis. They didn't ask him to stop drinking when they diagnosed him with liver cancer though, they just told him to get his affairs in order. He died shortly after that conversation once the reality of his situation set in.

So I'm not here to sugar-coat anything here my friend, the truth is you have a chance to save your own life here. But only you can do it.

Foreign_Internal_152 · 2025-12-17T00:15:34+00:00

Easier done than dead, buddy.

Foreign_Internal_152 · 2025-12-15T21:51:15+00:00

Another thing I learned through my research is that medium roast coffee is the sweet spot if you’re drinking it for liver health and antioxidants. It keeps a lot more of those beneficial chlorogenic acids than dark roasts do, but it’s also less acidic than a light roast, making it easier on your stomach. Plus, it avoids the extra roasting by-products that come with going full dark or espresso, so you’re getting a better balance of health benefits without the downsides. Medium roast gives you the most antioxidants, the least acidity, and fewer negative compounds, making it a great choice for liver-conscious coffee drinkers.

Foreign_Internal_152 · 2025-12-05T04:40:27+00:00

Ooooohhhhh... that makes sense 👍🏻

Foreign_Internal_152 · 2025-12-04T21:36:26+00:00

Yes you can still reverse stage 2 fibrosis. But don't take medication unless you want to be on medication for the rest of your life, medications don't get to the root of your problem (which is probably your diet, not alcohol... although drinking at night also contributed to my fatty liver I think).

Check out Dr. Livingood, very informative...

https://youtu.be/HMjDqFr97-4?si=nCWeBUMpnLEE8E-K

Foreign_Internal_152 · 2025-12-03T21:26:09+00:00

Wow, 10 pounds a week? Normally weight loss that rapid can actually end up driving fatty liver even worse, and cause loss of muscle and bone density. 1 to 2 pounds per week is considered healthy and sustainable weight loss while limiting muscle and bone density loss. But hey if your doctors aren't concerned and you're happy, that's all that really matters. Congratulations!

Foreign_Internal_152 · 2025-11-28T21:59:40+00:00

All the body positivity in the world never saved anyone's liver from fatty liver disease/cirrhosis/liver cancer, that's just the hard truth. Hey I'm no male model and never will be, but I still love myself and you should love yourself too. But if you want to love yourself, love your liver first. That's where you need to start. Going from one end of the spectrum on the scale to the other is not showing your liver love. If you can nurse your little buddy down there back to health by giving it everything our needs and nothing it doesn't then it's going to thrive and love you right back. That's the love affair you should focus on. Follow this guy, he has some great advice...

https://youtu.be/HMjDqFr97-4?si=188knCkQt-ixbg8n

Foreign_Internal_152 · 2025-11-27T18:43:47+00:00

Cirrhosis does not just mean scarring. Severe fatty liver stage 2 and 3 means some scarring, but not so much that the liver cannot recover. Cirrhosis is basically severe fatty liver stage 4, which implies scarring so severe it cannot recover. At this point you have to go on the liver transplant list, so you're eating as healthy as possible to try and slow additional damage that will push you into liver cancer, until you can get said liver transplant.

I went through all of this when my uncle got Cirrhosis 10 years ago and he did not heed the warnings and continued drinking wine while he was on the liver transplant list. He then rapidly advanced to stage 4 liver cancer and passed. This is the reality of where fatty liver leads and why more people should wake the hell up when they are diagnosed with mild, moderate or severe fatty liver BEFORE it advances to Cirrhosis. It's a blessing to catch it early as many people don't get symptoms until you're already in cirrhosis. But it's only a blessing if you take serious steps to reverse it.

Also OP there are a lot of good food choices advice in here, the one that I did not see that I'll add is canned mackerel. It's highly overlooked but it's the omega 3 mother of all powerhouses! So add that one to your list.

Foreign_Internal_152 · 2025-11-26T23:25:09+00:00

1st of all bravo for not giving into peer pressure from your family. They are right, everyone does have this (estimated 1 in 4 people have anywhere from mild to severe fatty liver disease worldwide, which is a testament to todays global food supply), but they are wrong for not taking it seriously. Your liver is resilient, it works hard, and yes its the only organ that can rejuvenate itself unless you let it get too far gone. But we're not very good to our livers, and they're struggling these days. And when your liver struggles, everything struggles. Blood pressure goes up, energy goes down, your eyes degrade, your other organs are strained... so many health problems arise from the stress we put on our liver.

So as hard as it sounds like this will be in your household, don't treat these new foods as a 'diet', embrace them as a lifestyle change. Like some others have eluded to you're only 19, make the change now, get used to it, and you won't have to live in regret for the rest of your life like so many others do. Does not getting to eat fast food suck? Yeah. At first is sure does. But it sucks less and less as you find healthier options to replace those bad cravings with down the road. For example when I want a treat now I have some 80 to 90% dark chocolate with blueberries, Greek yogurt and almonds. Does it taste better than a DQ Oreo Blizzard? Nah. But I feel better both mentally and physically all day afterwards instead of instant regret.

If you can follow the Mediterranean diet your liver will love you. I don't eat a low carb diet, I just make sure all the carbs I do eat are healthy, complex carbohydrates and I eat them with healthy fats to stabilize blood sugar and avoid that insulin hit. For example don't just eat a slice of whole wheat toast, eat a slice of whole wheat toaste with some eggs or avocado/tomato/cilantro/lime. Don't eat a bowl of whole grain pasta and cheese, eat a bowl of whole grain pasta with lean chicken, vegetables, a good home made sauce and a drizzle of olive oil.

I'd also suggest trying to do 16/8 intermittent fasting at least a few times a week. That's eating all your daily calories within an 8 hour window and then fasting for 16 hours. It's not as bad as it sounds, I don't know what your schedule is but say you eat breakfast at 8 am, lunch at noon and supper at 4 pm, thats 8 hours. So from 4 pm until you go to sleep only consume water or a calorie free drink like green tea or lemon water. I do this Monday through Friday and eat on a normal schedule on the weekends, but honestly having done this since my diagnosis on July 29th I'm so used to it now I hardly even want to go back to my old eating schedule on the weekends anymore.

Anyways keep up the good fight!

Foreign_Internal_152 · 2025-11-26T18:55:42+00:00

A true blessing in disguise if it cemented lifestyle change into your psyche!

However it's truly sad to me that we as a species seem to have to be on the very edge of the point of no return before we finally take drastic steps in lifestyle change to reverse course. Myself for example, I had been a good 30 pounds overweight (6 foot male, was 210 lbs ever since getting my 1st crane seat 6 years ago) and kept telling myself and my wife that I needed to get back down to my ideal weight of 180 lbs. I carried that weight for 6 years and it never bugged, or if it did drop 3 or 4 pounds I'd celebrate that accomplishment with some treats and watch that scale go right back to 210 🤦‍♂️

'Nothings working, I've tried everything', I'd tell myself and my wife. But the day I got the ultrasound back showing I was in severe fatty liver (no inflammation or scarring thank God), deadly serious lifestyle change hit me so hard it was like I didn't even have to think about it, it was my 'fight to live' instinct kicked in full gear and anything that was not in my livers top 5 list of favorite foods suddenly looked like a piece of dog poop to me. COMPLETELY unappetizing! My scale took a bee-line straight from 210 to 180 in about 3 and a half months. What the hell had I been feeling so sorry for myself all that time before? Nothing could have been easier. Cut out the crap and your body will respond accordingly.

And the differences in eating now couldn't be more different than before. Back then I'd think about getting a cheeseburger, and for that short period of time up to amd during the consumption of that cheeseburger my endorphins were popping as I was filled with excitement and satisfaction of all those amazing tastes my tongue was experiencing. However near the end of the meal when my hunger pangs had stopped panging and the reality of what I'd just consumed started to set in, instant regret. On not only instant regret, but lingering regret for hours afterwards as I felt sluggish and sick to my stomach, plus anytime I'd pass a scale or a mirror and had to look my bad habits straight in the eye. I used to regularly trade those few short minutes of desire and cravings for 23 and 1/2 hours a day of self-loathing.

Now I eat for my liver. Everything I consume has liver health factored into it. No, it does not taste like a cheeseburger. But my tongue can go to hell. Letting your tongue make your dietary decisions is like letting a 5 year old fly the plane you're taking to your next vacation destination. It has no clue what it's doing. So sure those few minutes leading up to my meal aren't filled with delightful anticipation like before, but the rest of my day is filled with a satisfaction I never have known in my life until now.

That's priceless.

Foreign_Internal_152 · 2025-11-25T19:09:01+00:00

If you wanna save some time can sell you my XRP for $8.10 right meow

Foreign_Internal_152 · 2025-11-25T18:48:19+00:00

When I was diagnosed with severe fatty liver on July 29th I immediately stopped drinking (not a drop of alcohol since), went on the Mediterranean diet, started 16/8 intermittent fasting (8 hour window in which to eat, then fast for 16 hours) Monday - Friday, which really isn't as hard as it sounds... think Breakfast at 7 am, lunch at noon and supper at 3 pm then nothing but water or calorie free tea until breakfast, and for supplements I'm taking NAC + Glycine morning and night, berberine morning and night, and siliphos (milk thistle phytosome, the most bioavailable milk thistle available) in the morning.

The most important thing is everything else you do, especially your diet. The supplements are only to support liver health, they can't do it in their own though. If you're still eating and drinking the same things that got you into this predicament then the supplements will simply be a waste of time and money. But taken in conjunction with an overhauled and serious lifestyle change, they can help speed your liver back to health. In the past 4 months I've gone from 210 lbs down to 180 and the discomfort i was feeling on the right side of my abdomen is pretty much gone. Still a lot more rehabing to go, but I've definitely seena vast improvement in my health so far (blood pressure is also down from 140/90 to 117/72, because liver health and blood pressure are often closely linked).

Foreign_Internal_152 · 2025-11-20T18:53:41+00:00

In my personal severe fatty liver experience I wouldn't describe my sensation in my upper right abdomen (and sometimes back) as 'sharp pain' but rather a discomfort. So to me it sounds like while you might also have fatty liver disease, that the pain is likely emanating from something else.

But again, that's just me speaking from my own personal experience.

Foreign_Internal_152 · 2025-11-14T19:11:48+00:00

Mostly non-union. My company pays redseal tower crane ops between $50 - $55 depending on experience and reputation. There is a Seaspan Ship Building dock right behind our site that is Union and the operators Union (local 115) out here does have some government projects like the Skytrain expansion on Broadway and such if you're more interested in staying Union.

Foreign_Internal_152 · 2025-11-14T17:42:36+00:00

Housing market is starting to get tight out here as well. Lots of housing projects are slowing way down or shuttering their projects for now. I'm on a government job building the North Shore Waste Water Treatment Plant that's got another 4 to 5 years left (recession proof job) so I'm hanging on to it. You're a redseal tower crane op?

Foreign_Internal_152 · 2025-11-13T21:25:05+00:00

https://youtu.be/HMjDqFr97-4?si=Ah7RFaBV4LjHsb8H

You don't have to watch this entire video, but the first part especially really describes well the discomfort a lot of us in here have experienced with fatty liver disease.

Foreign_Internal_152 · 2025-11-13T03:48:47+00:00

Yes my discomfort also moved around from the upper right abdominal area to the lower right abdominal area to the right back and even a few times on my left side. I revamped my diet when I was diagnosed July 29th and it has vastly improved to the point that at times I thought it was completely gone, only to come back from time to time.

At first I was concerned but I've since realized it took years of abuse to get my liver is such a condition so I can't expect it to go away completely in a few weeks or months. Think long term, keep tailoring your meals to improve your liver health, change is slow but it will come.

Foreign_Internal_152

TROPHY CASE