On the Incivek triple therapy, you really can't avoid fatty foods. What my wife and I did was prepare normal meals, with reduced portion size for me, since I was never hungry. So I ate a reasonably good dinner each day, had lunch at work (usually a cheese sandwich, or a bowl of chowder or chili, or a hot dog, all of which are near 20g of fat). For breakfast I ate a bagel and cream cheese, or maybe a couple of donuts. And I used whole milk a lot to fill in the fat gaps. At 10PM, my last Incivek dose of the day, I would have a bowl of ice cream, or some other tasty treat (having eaten a nourishing dinner a few hours earlier).Basically, it was a sloppy diet, one that would make you sad if not in treatment. But I considered it to be OK under the circumstances. And by me taking care of my fatty stuff on the side, she was not exposed to my crummy diet, and we got to enjoy dinner together each day. I would pick around on the plate, nibbling and complaining, but in the end I survived, and actually lost 5 pounds during treatment (so far..... I am at week 22 now, headed for 36).
It is cool that you are trying so hard to support him and do it correctly. Those of us who have a partner in this journey are so fortunate. Many was the evening I would come in from work and collapse on Cathy's shoulder sobbing. She would send me off to bed and fix us something wholesome for dinner, my one good meal of the day. Then at 10PM I would indulge in some fat, take two nasty tablets and fall asleep.
Best part is it worked, or at least it seems to be working. Just hang in there and the first twelve weeks will be gone before you know it.
Alan
greenqueen said
Apr 18, 2012
Wouldn't it be great if we could get all these spammers together and stick them in a room with peeps having a "riba rage" day! ..... include me with just "rage"
Love Steff xx
K2 said
Apr 18, 2012
Agree kiwi. Yangtang moron yes. True that!
elizabeth said
Apr 18, 2012
As a newbie, I'm trying to read as much as possible while working and tending to sick husband. This diet is all well and good but how is a person supposed to avoid fatty foods on this tx?
Also, has anyone found anything to increase appetitie? My husband has never been a big eater and now has zero appetite. It's all I can do to get him to eat the fatty snacks before meds, much less eat "real" food for nutrition. HELP!
He's only in week 3 of tx, so I fear our "food battle" is going to be a long and unpleasant addition to an already unpleasant situation.
Maybe this is the wrong place to post/ask questions. If so, apologies!
Hi Elizabeth, have moved this post to the "On Treatment" section.
-- Edited by elizabeth on Wednesday 18th of April 2012 04:29:37 PM
-- Edited by greenqueen on Friday 20th of April 2012 10:09:05 AM
kiwi said
Apr 18, 2012
yantang you dickhead.... piss off
yantang said
Apr 17, 2012
SPAM DELETED!
-- Edited by greenqueen on Wednesday 18th of April 2012 10:29:19 AM
-- Edited by greenqueen on Wednesday 18th of April 2012 10:30:44 AM
Minerva said
Mar 21, 2012
Diet
A healthy and well-balanced diet is essential for general good health. The food we consume is responsible for providing us with energy, as well as maintaining and repairing our bodies. It also influences our immune system and our body's response to disease or illness.
A bad or unhealthy diet can hinder good health and our bodys immune function. The role diet plays in conditions such as coronary heart disease and stroke is well documented. Less well documented is the role diet plays in liver disease. As all foods and fluids must pass through the liver to be metabolised, diet must play an important role.
The most appropriate diet is going to depend on a number of factors. These include age, weight, extent of liver damage, and your symptoms. It is well worth discussing these factors with a dietician (you can ask your GP or consultant for a referral to a dietician). There are some basic changes you can make yourself to your diet that could also help protect your liver.
The most important change that you could probably make at this stage would be the exclusion of any substances that may be harmful to the liver. In particular this refers to alcohol and foods high in fat content, especially saturated fats. Your doctor will be able to advise you about hepatotoxic drugs.
Food to include in your diet
Fresh fruit and vegetables.
Complex carbohydrates.
Adequate amounts of protein.
Foods rich in fibre.
Foods low in fat.
Foods to avoid
Fried foods.
Fatty foods especially saturated and hydrogenated fats.
Processed food and junk food.
Foods containing additives and pesticides.
Diet and liver damage
Although it may be over a very long period of time, in due course your hepatitis C infection will most likely begin to damage your liver. As a result of this your dietary needs may change.
There is no single diet for everyone to follow, as the course of liver disease and the effect on the liver will be different in different people. However, there are some common developments and conditions that are affected by diet:
Iron
The liver plays an important role in the metabolism of iron. Approximately 10% of the iron we consume is naturally excreted from our body. People with chronic hepatitis C sometimes have difficulty in releasing iron, which can result in an overload of iron in the liver, blood, and other organs. This excess iron can be very damaging to the liver and is seen as a factor which can reduce response rates to interferon therapy. Pre-menopausal women are far less likely to experience iron overload because of the loss of blood each month.
For this reason, people with chronic hepatitis C should reduce the amounts of iron rich foods in their diet. These include red meats, liver, oysters, tuna, sesame seeds, apricots, prunes and iron-fortified cereals.
It is important to avoid taking iron supplements, unless advised by your doctor. Multivitamin tablets often include iron, so check the label. It is also important to be aware that vitamin C increases the absorption of iron from food.
Fat
Abnormalities of the liver are more common in those who are overweight. These abnormalities may include fatty deposits found in the liver and fatty inflammation or fatty cirrhosis. This tends to be more common in diabetics. The presence of fat in the liver can result in the organ becoming enlarged and result in raised liver enzymes.
Overweight patients with a fatty liver who reduce their weight are likely to experience an improvement in fat-related liver abnormalities. Consequently people with chronic hepatitis C should try to maintain a normal weight in order to avoid additional stress of their liver.
Protein
The ideal amount and type of protein in the diet of people with liver disease is a much-debated topic and some conflict in opinion is apparent.
The building and maintenance of muscle, and the repair and healing of the body is highly dependent on protein intake. Adequate protein intake for an adult is approximately 60-120 grams per day. Large amounts of protein in the diet can lead to a build-up of protein breakdown products in the blood. This is because they are normally eliminated through the liver.
If the levels of these products are elevated then a complication known as encephalopathy can occur (see end stage liver disease). This condition affects mental function and is often the cause of brain fog. Several studies have illustrated that a vegetarian diet that restricts or eliminates animal protein improves the symptoms of encephalopathy.
Recent studies into encephalopathy suggest that a very low protein diet is not always necessary, except for severely ill people or when specifically advised by your doctor. Low protein intake can contribute to malnutrition and weakness. Therefore the advice is to continue eating adequate amounts of protein (as opposed to large), but to only eat one type of protein at a time. It is also best to eat 3-4 smaller meals, rather than one large one.
The difficulty still remains of striking a balance between having enough protein to meet the body's needs without causing a build-up of protein breakdown products in the blood. Most guidelines for daily protein intake for those with liver disease recommend 1 to 1.5 grams of protein per kilogram of body-weight. However, advice about protein consumption should be gained from your doctor or a dietician, as they might take other medical factors into consideration.
Salt
Cirrhosis may lead to an abnormal accumulation of fluid in the abdomen referred to as ascites. This is one of the symptoms of end stage liver disease. Those who experience ascites must follow a diet that restricts sodium intake to nothing more than 1000mg per day. This restriction can be very difficult as many foods and food products have a surprisingly high salt content. For example, just one teaspoon of table salt contains 2,325mg of sodium.
Sugar
There appears to be a connection between hepatitis C and problems with the regulation of sugar. In some instances this can lead to the development of diabetes.
The liver is responsible for regulating blood sugar levels. It does this by converting the food we eat into substances that the body can use. Carbohydrates and sugars are stored as glycogen in the liver and are released as energy when the bodys energy demands are high. People with end stage liver disease often have difficulty in regulating blood sugar. One remedy is to consume small, frequent meals that will keep blood sugar levels more constant.
Coffee/Caffeine
Drinks that contain caffeine including coffee, tea and some soft drinks dehydrate the body. Caffeine is processed through the liver and then eliminated from the body via the kidneys. This process is drastically impaired if cirrhosis is present in the liver. This can lead to a higher caffeine concentration in the blood. This increased concentration can increase the likelihood of headaches, nervousness, diarrhoea, fatigue, vertigo, insomnia and anxiety. People with hepatitis C should, where possible, avoid drinks that contain caffeine or try to reduce their intake.
(Thanks to the Hepatitis C Trust for this Article).
Hi, Elizabeth
On the Incivek triple therapy, you really can't avoid fatty foods. What my wife and I did was prepare normal meals, with reduced portion size for me, since I was never hungry. So I ate a reasonably good dinner each day, had lunch at work (usually a cheese sandwich, or a bowl of chowder or chili, or a hot dog, all of which are near 20g of fat). For breakfast I ate a bagel and cream cheese, or maybe a couple of donuts. And I used whole milk a lot to fill in the fat gaps. At 10PM, my last Incivek dose of the day, I would have a bowl of ice cream, or some other tasty treat (having eaten a nourishing dinner a few hours earlier).Basically, it was a sloppy diet, one that would make you sad if not in treatment. But I considered it to be OK under the circumstances. And by me taking care of my fatty stuff on the side, she was not exposed to my crummy diet, and we got to enjoy dinner together each day. I would pick around on the plate, nibbling and complaining, but in the end I survived, and actually lost 5 pounds during treatment (so far..... I am at week 22 now, headed for 36).
It is cool that you are trying so hard to support him and do it correctly. Those of us who have a partner in this journey are so fortunate. Many was the evening I would come in from work and collapse on Cathy's shoulder sobbing. She would send me off to bed and fix us something wholesome for dinner, my one good meal of the day. Then at 10PM I would indulge in some fat, take two nasty tablets and fall asleep.
Best part is it worked, or at least it seems to be working. Just hang in there and the first twelve weeks will be gone before you know it.
Alan
Wouldn't it be great if we could get all these spammers together and stick them in a room with peeps having a "riba rage" day!
..... include me with just "rage" 
Love Steff xx
As a newbie, I'm trying to read as much as possible while working and tending to sick husband. This diet is all well and good but how is a person supposed to avoid fatty foods on this tx?
Also, has anyone found anything to increase appetitie? My husband has never been a big eater and now has zero appetite. It's all I can do to get him to eat the fatty snacks before meds, much less eat "real" food for nutrition. HELP!
He's only in week 3 of tx, so I fear our "food battle" is going to be a long and unpleasant addition to an already unpleasant situation.
Maybe this is the wrong place to post/ask questions. If so, apologies!
Hi Elizabeth, have moved this post to the "On Treatment" section.
-- Edited by elizabeth on Wednesday 18th of April 2012 04:29:37 PM
-- Edited by greenqueen on Friday 20th of April 2012 10:09:05 AM
yantang you dickhead.... piss off
SPAM DELETED!
-- Edited by greenqueen on Wednesday 18th of April 2012 10:29:19 AM
-- Edited by greenqueen on Wednesday 18th of April 2012 10:30:44 AM
Diet
A healthy and well-balanced diet is essential for general good health. The food we consume is responsible for providing us with energy, as well as maintaining and repairing our bodies. It also influences our immune system and our body's response to disease or illness.
A bad or unhealthy diet can hinder good health and our bodys immune function. The role diet plays in conditions such as coronary heart disease and stroke is well documented. Less well documented is the role diet plays in liver disease. As all foods and fluids must pass through the liver to be metabolised, diet must play an important role.
The most appropriate diet is going to depend on a number of factors. These include age, weight, extent of liver damage, and your symptoms. It is well worth discussing these factors with a dietician (you can ask your GP or consultant for a referral to a dietician). There are some basic changes you can make yourself to your diet that could also help protect your liver.
The most important change that you could probably make at this stage would be the exclusion of any substances that may be harmful to the liver. In particular this refers to alcohol and foods high in fat content, especially saturated fats. Your doctor will be able to advise you about hepatotoxic drugs.
Food to include in your diet
Foods to avoid
Diet and liver damage
Although it may be over a very long period of time, in due course your hepatitis C infection will most likely begin to damage your liver. As a result of this your dietary needs may change.
There is no single diet for everyone to follow, as the course of liver disease and the effect on the liver will be different in different people. However, there are some common developments and conditions that are affected by diet:
Iron
The liver plays an important role in the metabolism of iron. Approximately 10% of the iron we consume is naturally excreted from our body. People with chronic hepatitis C sometimes have difficulty in releasing iron, which can result in an overload of iron in the liver, blood, and other organs. This excess iron can be very damaging to the liver and is seen as a factor which can reduce response rates to interferon therapy. Pre-menopausal women are far less likely to experience iron overload because of the loss of blood each month.
For this reason, people with chronic hepatitis C should reduce the amounts of iron rich foods in their diet. These include red meats, liver, oysters, tuna, sesame seeds, apricots, prunes and iron-fortified cereals.
It is important to avoid taking iron supplements, unless advised by your doctor. Multivitamin tablets often include iron, so check the label. It is also important to be aware that vitamin C increases the absorption of iron from food.
Fat
Abnormalities of the liver are more common in those who are overweight. These abnormalities may include fatty deposits found in the liver and fatty inflammation or fatty cirrhosis. This tends to be more common in diabetics. The presence of fat in the liver can result in the organ becoming enlarged and result in raised liver enzymes.
Overweight patients with a fatty liver who reduce their weight are likely to experience an improvement in fat-related liver abnormalities. Consequently people with chronic hepatitis C should try to maintain a normal weight in order to avoid additional stress of their liver.
Protein
The ideal amount and type of protein in the diet of people with liver disease is a much-debated topic and some conflict in opinion is apparent.
The building and maintenance of muscle, and the repair and healing of the body is highly dependent on protein intake. Adequate protein intake for an adult is approximately 60-120 grams per day. Large amounts of protein in the diet can lead to a build-up of protein breakdown products in the blood. This is because they are normally eliminated through the liver.
If the levels of these products are elevated then a complication known as encephalopathy can occur (see end stage liver disease). This condition affects mental function and is often the cause of brain fog. Several studies have illustrated that a vegetarian diet that restricts or eliminates animal protein improves the symptoms of encephalopathy.
Recent studies into encephalopathy suggest that a very low protein diet is not always necessary, except for severely ill people or when specifically advised by your doctor. Low protein intake can contribute to malnutrition and weakness. Therefore the advice is to continue eating adequate amounts of protein (as opposed to large), but to only eat one type of protein at a time. It is also best to eat 3-4 smaller meals, rather than one large one.
The difficulty still remains of striking a balance between having enough protein to meet the body's needs without causing a build-up of protein breakdown products in the blood.
Most guidelines for daily protein intake for those with liver disease recommend 1 to 1.5 grams of protein per kilogram of body-weight. However, advice about protein consumption should be gained from your doctor or a dietician, as they might take other medical factors into consideration.
Salt
Cirrhosis may lead to an abnormal accumulation of fluid in the abdomen referred to as ascites. This is one of the symptoms of end stage liver disease. Those who experience ascites must follow a diet that restricts sodium intake to nothing more than 1000mg per day. This restriction can be very difficult as many foods and food products have a surprisingly high salt content. For example, just one teaspoon of table salt contains 2,325mg of sodium.
Sugar
There appears to be a connection between hepatitis C and problems with the regulation of sugar. In some instances this can lead to the development of diabetes.
The liver is responsible for regulating blood sugar levels. It does this by converting the food we eat into substances that the body can use. Carbohydrates and sugars are stored as glycogen in the liver and are released as energy when the bodys energy demands are high. People with end stage liver disease often have difficulty in regulating blood sugar. One remedy is to consume small, frequent meals that will keep blood sugar levels more constant.
Coffee/Caffeine
Drinks that contain caffeine including coffee, tea and some soft drinks dehydrate the body. Caffeine is processed through the liver and then eliminated from the body via the kidneys. This process is drastically impaired if cirrhosis is present in the liver. This can lead to a higher caffeine concentration in the blood. This increased concentration can increase the likelihood of headaches, nervousness, diarrhoea, fatigue, vertigo, insomnia and anxiety. People with hepatitis C should, where possible, avoid drinks that contain caffeine or try to reduce their intake.
(Thanks to the Hepatitis C Trust for this Article).
http://www.hepctrust.org.uk/Living+with+Hep+C/Caring+for+yourself/Diet/Diet