Unclog a fatty liver

Wanna make spare pounds disappear at top speed? Then it's a perfect time to spring-clean your liver. Turns out, an estimated 70% of us have buildup and inflammation clogging the organ—and it can seriously slow our ability to get lean. “The liver is the body’s top fat-burning organ,” explains Cornell- trained nutrition expert Amy Shah, M.D. “When you clear it out, you make it much easier for your body to burn fat.” A Harvard-led study even found folks who improve their liver health lose weight up to eight times faster than other dieters. It certainly gave Georgia grandmother Tracye Craven, 65, a boost. After making changes that were good for her liver, she raves, “I no longer have to work so hard to get the scale to move. I’ve lost 62 pounds!” Keep reading to learn how a liver detox can help you.

- —by ALLISON NEMETZ

How do our livers get clogged in the first place? Well, in addition to helping turn fat to energy, our livers also help us store fat. An average person eats 300 pounds of sugar and flour a year—and any bit of it not used as immediate fuel is converted to fat in the liver. As the liver juggles hundreds of jobs, it sometimes can’t push fat out for storage fast enough. “Fat gets trapped,” says Dr. Shah. It causes the organ to become sluggish and inflamed.

Dr. Shah says most of us don’t realize we have liver buildup, since it’s easy to blame symptoms (like weight gain and fatigue) on unhealthy lifestyle choices or aging. That was true for Tracye. When her weight crept up over the years, she dabbled in diets—but even frozen meals and other “healthy” foods she chose were often made with sugar and flour that drive liver fat. At her annual physical in 2024, already prediabetic, tests showed her liver enzymes were concerning—a sign of a fatty liver. Scans later confirmed it. “I was also diagnosed with obesity, high cholesterol, high blood pressure and pancreatitis,” she recalls. “The doctor tried to give me new medications, but I didn’t want to take handfuls of pills.” She vowed to turn things around on her own. The doctor offered this advice: “Stay away from fast food and processed food.”

An easy place to start