This article first appeared in Kannada in ಕ್ಷ ಕಿರಣ, Dr Shashikiran Umakanth’s column in the Vishwavani daily. The Inside Story is its English edition. ಈ ಲೇಖನವನ್ನು ಕನ್ನಡದಲ್ಲಿ ಓದಿ
These days, it is very common for people to walk into the clinic clutching their annual health check-up reports. Often, their biggest worry is a single line on the ultrasound scan: “Grade 1 fatty liver” or “Grade 2 fatty liver”.
Their very first question is almost always: “Doctor, I have never touched a drop of alcohol in my life. Why do I have a liver problem?”
The most important thing to understand here is that alcohol is not the only culprit behind liver damage. The excess food we eat every single day, especially sweets and highly processed carbohydrates, plays an equally large role.
The Body’s Storehouse
Think of the liver as the most tireless, hardworking organ in the entire body. It takes in the food we eat, processes it and converts it into the energy we need. Then, like a meticulous storekeeper, it packs away any excess as fat in its own storeroom, set aside for future emergencies.
Just imagine this for a moment:
- You bring home 10 kg of rice every single day, but your family cooks and eats only 1 kg.
- You hoard the leftover 9 kg in kitchen containers, then up in the loft, and eventually in every spare corner of the house. Still, you keep bringing more rice home.
- One fine day, the whole house will be buried under stacks of rice bags, won’t it?
That is exactly what happens inside our bodies. We spend our days sitting at chairs and desks, yet keep eating high-calorie snacks and meals that we simply do not need. Meanwhile, the body does nowhere near enough physical work to burn off what we have eaten. Faced with this relentless surplus, the liver has no choice but to stuff more and more fat into its storage space. This hoarding is what we call “fatty liver”.
The More Polished, the Bigger the Problem!
The moment they read their scan reports, the first mistake many people make is to cut staples like rice, ragi and wheat out of their diet completely.
Let me be clear: grains are not our enemies. They are the essential fuel our bodies run on. The real problem is not the grain, but our modern habit of stripping away its natural fibre and over-polishing it.
Consider this simple example.
- What happens if you place a thick, solid log of wood in a traditional cooking stove? It burns slowly and steadily, giving a comforting, even heat for hours on end.
- Now, what happens if you pour kerosene on the same fire? It flares up into a ball of flame, and burns out in a fraction of a second.
Our digestion works exactly like this. Unpolished grains such as brown or red rice, millets, ragi and jowar are like that thick log of wood. Because they are rich in fibre, they are digested slowly, releasing the energy the body needs over several hours.
Instead, what do we do? We run rice through machines, scrubbing it until it is as snow-white as a jasmine flower, and eat that polished rice. That is like pouring kerosene on the fire. The moment we eat it, our blood sugar shoots up. And since we are not doing the physical work to burn it off, this sudden excess of energy is converted into fat and shipped straight to the liver for storage.
One of the liver’s most remarkable, and most worrying, qualities is that it does not complain early. Until about 70 to 80 percent of it is damaged, it may not give you a single symptom or any pain. In a way, that is what makes it dangerous.
But there is a comforting silver lining: fatty liver caught in its early stages is completely reversible.
Healthy Habits
You do not need expensive medicines or surgery to correct it. A few small but consistent changes in your daily habits are enough:
- Rebalance your plate: Cut down the mound of rice or the stack of chapatis. Fill half your plate with vegetables, greens and sprouts, and let rice or other grains take up only the rest. If you can switch to unpolished rice, even better.
- Move every day: Instead of sitting glued to your sofa or chair, set aside at least 45 minutes a day for a brisk walk or a workout. Once your body starts working hard and sweating, the fat stored in your liver begins to melt away.
The truth is, the problem is not that we do not know. It is that we struggle to control the cravings of our tongue.
If we cultivate a little discipline and give the body the physical work it needs, our liver, that silent, uncomplaining servant within us, will faithfully look after our health for a lifetime.
