Diet plan for liver cirrhosis patients pdf is specially designed for liver cirrhosis patients . We provide sample diet plan for liver cirrhosis patients pdf which gives idea about healthy food items to eat and avoid during illness stage of the disease.
What Is Liver Cirrhosis?
Cirrhosis is the severe scarring of the liver.
It’s a slow developing disease in which scar tissue replaces healthy liver cells.
The most common causes of cirrhosis are:
- Viral infections (hepatitis B and C)
- Fatty liver associated with obesity
- Alcohol abuse
Cirrhosis eventually prevents the liver from working properly, leading to health problems.
What are the Stages of Liver Cirrhosis?
- Stage 1 cirrhosis: It involves some scarring of the liver, but few symptoms. This stage is considered compensated cirrhosis with no complications.
- Stage 2 cirrhosis: It includes worsening portal hypertension (hypertension around the gastrointestinal region) and the development of varices.
- Stage 3 cirrhosis: It involves the development of swelling in the abdomen and advanced liver scarring. This stage marks decompensated cirrhosis, with serious complications, Hence a possibility of liver failure arises.
- Stage 4 cirrhosis: It can be life-threatening and patients may develop end-stage liver disease (ESLD), which is fatal without a transplant.
Complications of cirrhosis include:
- Ascites: Excess fluid in the abdomen, causing swelling and stomach distention.
- Varices: Swollen veins in the lining of the esophagus, the tube the connects your throat with your stomach.
- Hepatic encephalopathy: A buildup of toxins in your blood, which can lead to poor brain function.
- Hepatocellular carcinoma: The most common type of liver cancer.
The purpose of a liver cirrhosis diet is to prevent or reduce complications, and promote liver health.
The diet limits sodium and increases protein.
Low Sodium
Limiting your sodium helps your body eliminate excess fluid.
Fluid buildup — especially in the legs and abdomen — is a common complication of cirrhosis.
It’s recommended to limit your sodium to 2,000 mg per day .
Foods high in sodium that you will want to avoid or limit include:
- Canned soups (unless they are sodium-free or low-sodium).
- Seasoned and packaged rice and pasta mixes.
- Frozen meals that have more than 600 mg of sodium per serving.
- Processed meats such as bacon, sausage and hot dogs.
- Quick breads such as biscuits and cornbread.
- American, Parmesan, Swiss and cottage cheese.
- Condiments such as salt, ketchup, soy sauce, salsa, pickles and salad dressings.
Instead, eat more foods that are naturally low in sodium such as fresh or frozen fruits and vegetables and fresh meats.
You can add flavors to your food without sodium with lemon juice, dry or fresh herbs, and sodium-free seasonings.
High Protein
Increasing your protein intake helps improve nutritional status.
Malnutrition is common in people with cirrhosis and is often associated with poor health outcomes.
It’s recommended to consume 1.2-1.5 grams per kg of body weight per day.
Good protein options include:
- Eggs and egg whites
- Fresh chicken and turkey
- Fresh fish
- Greek yogurt and other low-fat dairy foods
- Nuts and legumes
- Protein powders
Remember to use sodium-free seasonings for adding flavor to meats.
Diet Plan For Liver Cirrhosis Patients Pdf
Breakfast
- 1/2 cup oatmeal with brown sugar
- 1 cup low-fat milk
- 1 whole egg and 3 egg whites
Snack
- 1 cup Greek yogurt
- 1/2 cup blueberries
Lunch
- 1 cup low-sodium chicken noodle soup
- 6 whole wheat, no-salt added crackers
- 5 baby carrots
Snack
- 1 Protein shake
- 1 oz unsalted almonds
Supper
- 4 oz baked chicken breast
- 1 medium-sized baked potato
- 1 tbsp margarine
- 1/2 cup mixed vegetables
What to Eat When You Have Cirrhosis
If you have cirrhosis, what you eat and drink each day is especially important
A cirrhosis diet is designed to help people with cirrhosis who may become malnourished due to changes in their metabolism and digestion that occur as the liver becomes more damaged.
As such, if you have this condition, what you eat and drink each day is especially important. Many foods to avoid with cirrhosis contain protein, sodium, and sugar that require your liver to work harder—a demand it may no longer be able to meet.
This article explains how a cirrhosis diet plan may be crafted with the help of your healthcare team members, such as a registered dietitian. This will ensure that you’re adequately nourished and avoiding choices that can worsen your condition and otherwise impact your health.
Benefits
The liver has more than 500 functions, making it one of the most vital organs.1 If your liver is damaged from cirrhosis, it is not able to efficiently perform one of its most important tasks: helping your body get nutrition from the food you eat.
A cirrhosis diet can help provide adequate nutrition, reduce the amount of work your liver needs to do, thwart related complications, and prevent further liver damage. Research has shown that people with liver disease who aren’t adequately nourished are more likely to experience complications from cirrhosis, including death.2
Authors of a 2018 article in the Journal of Clinical Gastroenterology say that “dietary management of cirrhosis is not a one-size-fits-all approach.” A cirrhosis diet should be started early in treatment to improve the prognosis and outcomes.3
Unfortunately, existing scarring from cirrhosis cannot be reversed. Diet, then, is a key way to take charge of your future if you have liver cirrhosis.
Liver Cirrhosis and Alcohol
How It Works
Your cirrhosis diet will need to be tailored based on your overall health and individual needs, but there are some general dietary guidelines that often shape this eating plan:
- Avoiding alcohol: Any amount is considered unsafe for anyone with cirrhosis, as it’s a potential cause of more liver damage—even liver failure. Drinking can also contribute to malnutrition and other health concerns.
- Limiting fats: The body digests fats using bile, a yellow-green fluid made in the liver. When the liver is damaged, the production and supply of bile may be affected, leading to digestive symptoms. A liver that isn’t working well has a hard time processing a high-fat meal. (Healthy fats can be included in moderation.)
- Avoiding raw or undercooked meat/seafood: People with liver damage from cirrhosis have impaired immune function, meaning bacteria and viruses that these foods can harbor can lead to a potentially serious infection.
In addition to changing the content of your diet, you may need to change the quantity of the food you eat. Having liver disease can increase your risk for malnourishment, so you may need to eat more calories in a day to meet the increased energy demands on your body due to your condition.
If you have liver disease, know that the recommendations for protein intake vary. The influence of protein on liver disease is somewhat controversial and still being studied.
You’ll need to consult with your healthcare provider or a dietitian to determine the exact amount of protein recommended for you. The calories from protein will be an essential component of a varied and nutritious diet, and protein is key to preventing muscle atrophy (thinning).
Your healthcare provider may want you to make additional, specific changes to your diet to help manage or prevent other conditions people with liver cirrhosis may be more likely to get.
Duration
If you are at risk for liver disease, your healthcare provider may want you to follow a cirrhosis diet even if you don’t feel sick. Someone in the early stages of liver disease (compensated phase) usually doesn’t have any symptoms.
Signs of liver disease may take years to show up, and they do so only once damage to the liver has become severe (decompensated phase). Since changing how you eat can only help to prevent additional liver damage, but can’t heal what’s already occurred, you will likely need to be on a cirrhosis diet plan for a long time.
What to Eat
If you’re following a cirrhosis diet, there are some foods and beverages you’ll need to strictly avoid. However, you’ll have your choice of many nutritious and tasty foods, including fresh produce, whole grains, and plant-based protein.
Compliant
- Fruits and vegetables (raw or cooked without butter, oil, or salt)
- Eggs, egg whites
- Cooked fish (salmon, tuna)
- Lean chicken or turkey (without the skin)
- Low-fat Greek yogurt
- Cream cheese, ricotta
- Hard cheeses (cheddar, mozzarella)
- Nuts and seeds (unsalted)
- Dried beans and legumes
- Nut butters (unsalted)
- Tofu
- Fortified milk alternatives (almond, soy, rice)
- Margarine
- Oats
- Whole grain bread, crackers, and cereals
- Brown rice
- Olive oil
- Fresh herbs
- Low-fat milk
- Garlic
- Ginger
- Quinoa, couscous
- Granola and cereal bars
- Coconut water
- Meal/nutritional supplements, as approved
Non-Compliant
- Raw or partially raw fish and shellfish (e.g., oysters, clams)
- Fast food, fried food
- Red meat
- Canned food (meat, soup, vegetables)
- Packaged, processed snacks and meals (incl. frozen)
- Hot dogs, sausage, lunchmeat
- Sauerkraut, pickles
- Buttermilk
- Tomato sauce or paste
- Instant hot cereal or oatmeal
- Potato chips, pretzels, rice cakes, crackers, popcorn
- Refined white flour pasta, bread, and white rice
- Oils high in trans fat or partially hydrogenated oils (palm oil, coconut oil)
- Breading, coating, and stuffing mixes
- Full-fat dairy products
- Bread, biscuit, pancake, and baked good mixes
- Pastries, cake, cookies, muffins, doughnuts
- American, Parmesan, Swiss, blue, feta, cottage cheese, cheese slices or spreads
- Pudding, custard, or frosting mixes
- Table salt, sea salt, mixed seasonings
- Ketchup, soy sauce, salsa, salad dressing, steak sauce
- Bouillon cubes, broth, gravy, and stock
- Caffeinated tea, coffee, and soft drinks
- Alcohol
Fruits and vegetables: Choose fresh produce when possible, as canned varieties usually have sodium and sugar. Add fruit to cereal or oats for extra nutrition, fiber, and a little natural sweetness. Fiber-rich fruits like apples make a healthy and satisfying snack on their own.
Dairy: Full-fat dairy products will likely be too hard for your body to digest. Stick to low-fat Greek yogurt, small portions of low-sodium hard cheese, and fortified dairy-free milk alternatives like almond or soy.
Rich, milk-based desserts like pudding, custard, and ice cream should be limited. You may need to avoid them completely on a cirrhosis diet if you have significant trouble processing fat and sugar.
Grains: Choose whole-grain bread, pasta, brown rice, and cereal instead of those made with refined white flour. Granola and granola bars may be approved for quick snacks as long as they’re low in sugar and sodium.
Protein: Red meat isn’t approved for a cirrhosis diet, nor is any kind of processed lunch meat or sausage. Small servings of lean poultry without the skin, some types of fresh-caught fish (such as salmon), and eggs or egg whites may be suitable.
Most of your protein should come from plant-based sources such as dried beans and legumes, small portions of unsalted nuts or nut butter, and tofu.
Desserts: Packaged cake, cookie, brownie, biscuit, pancake, and waffle mixes can be high in sugar and salt, so it’s best to avoid them. In general, you’ll want to avoid pastries, doughnuts, and muffins, unless you can make your own low-fat, low-sugar, and low-salt versions.
Beverages: You cannot drink alcohol if you have liver cirrhosis, but you’ll have plenty of other options. Water is the most hydrating choice, but if you are on a low-sodium diet, you’ll want to check the labels on bottled water as some contain sodium. Milk and juice should only be consumed if pasteurized.
While some research has suggested coffee (but not other caffeine-containing beverages) could have benefits for people with liver disease due to alcohol use, most medical professionals advise that patients with cirrhosis avoid caffeinated beverages, including coffee, tea, and soft drinks.
Recommended Timing
Liver disease can lead to malnourishment, in which case your healthcare provider might want you to eat more calories.9 If you don’t feel up to eating larger meals to increase your caloric intake, try eating small, frequent meals and snacks throughout the day.
Some people with liver disease find they wake up in the night. They may stay awake for long stretches and end up taking naps during the day. If you are awake in the middle of the night, research has shown that having a late-night snack (especially those that have been specially formulated for this purpose) can be helpful for people with cirrhosis.
If your sleep schedule is interrupted, be sure that you are planning your meals around when you are awake, whether it’s during the day or at night. Try not to go longer than a couple of hours without a meal or snack.
Cooking Tips
Try grilling or boiling veggies and preparing them without oil or butter.
If you’re reducing your sodium intake as part of a cirrhosis diet, try using fresh herbs and spices instead of table salt. If you’re used to adding salt to your food and find it difficult to break the habit, your healthcare provider may allow you to use a salt substitute.
When cooking meat, start by choosing lean cuts. Skinless poultry is a healthier option than red meat.
You may be allowed to have small portions of beef on occasion depending on how it’s prepared. For example, grilling meat instead of frying with oil or butter reduces the fat content and prevents it from becoming too greasy for a cirrhosis diet.
In addition to avoiding raw or partially cooked meat and seafood, practice proper food handling and safety practices to further reduce your risk of foodborne infections.
Modifications
You may need to adapt your diet if you develop complications from cirrhosis, such as ascites, hypoglycemia, and encephalopathy. If you develop one or more of these conditions, your healthcare provider may recommend additional changes to your diet, including limiting salt, sugar, and protein.
Ascites
Ascites is the accumulation of large amounts of fluid in the abdomen. Healthcare providers usually require a strict no-salt diet for people who have cirrhosis with ascites, as sodium can make the condition worse.
The daily recommended sodium intake for people with ascites is 88 millimoles per liter (mmol) per day. The typical American diet contains 200 to 300 mmol of sodium per day.
Prepackaged and convenience food items are often high in sodium or contain added salt. If you’re not routinely checking the nutrition labels, you may not be aware of how much sodium you’re consuming.
When you’re doing your grocery shopping, a good rule of thumb is to focus on what you can buy along the perimeter of the store—fresh produce, lean meats, and low-fat dairy—which are low-sodium choices. Avoid the packaged snacks, cereals, and sodas found in the middle aisles.
Encephalopathy
As the body digests protein, it creates a byproduct called ammonia. When the liver is functioning properly, this is cleared without issue. But a damaged liver can’t handle a normal amount of protein, let alone any extra.
The more protein it tries to digest, the more ammonia can build up. At high levels, it becomes toxic to the brain and can cause memory problems, dementia-like symptoms, and a serious complication called encephalopathy.9
If you have cirrhosis, focus on including plant-based protein sources in your diet instead of meat. Your healthcare provider may give you a specific limit of how much protein you can have per meal or per day.
Diet Chart For Liver Cirrhosis Patient
Cirrhosis diet plan can be enormously helpful for individuals suffering from liver cirrhosis. Cirrhosis develops when the healthy tissue in the liver gets replaced with scar tissue over the duration of many years leading to organ failure and causing severe complications. Cirrhosis can be treated with a liver transplant but it can also be slow down by treating the factors causing it and by following a cirrhosis diet chart. The essential point of a cirrhosis diet plan is to give up alcohol even if alcohol isn’t the cause of the ailment. This is because alcohol intake is known to worsen liver damages.
Other key points of the liver cirrhosis diet plan are as follows:
- Individuals with liver damage, tend to retain body fluid (sodium) which makes it necessary for them to lower their salt intake in their diet lest fluid builds-up in their bellies. Reducing salt in the diet by using alternatives such as lemon juice or herbs is advised. Consumption of fresh foods over processed and fast foods is recommended as the former has lower sodium content than the latter.
- Lower fat foods are highly recommended as a high-fat diet is known to worsen cirrhosis by causing fatty liver diseases which is another determinant of cirrhosis.
- High Protein Diet for Liver Cirrhosis: Protein is required for a well-balanced and nutritious diet however for individuals suffering from cirrhosis, protein needs to be obtained from vegetable or plant sources (pulses and lentils, soy, nuts) instead of animal sources.
- It is strongly advised to avoid caffeinated beverages as they tend to worsen liver damage.
Here we create cirrhosis diet plan menu for patients suffereing from it, follow this diet chart which inlcudes food items with timing details of consuming it. We also list some foods items need to avoid with cirrhosis problem. Follow this liver cirrhosis diet chart to get quickly recoverd from this liver problem.
Liver Cirrhosis Diet Chart
| Sunday | |
| Breakfast (8:00-8:30AM) | 1 vegetable omelette + 1 cup skim milk |
| Mid-Meal (11:00-11:30AM) | 1 cup coconut water/ 1 bowl fruit salad |
| Lunch (2:00-2:30PM) | 1 cup dal + 1 cup soybean curry + 2 chapatti + salad |
| Evening (4:00-4:30PM) | 1 cup skim milk/ tea + 2 whole grain biscuits |
| Dinner (8:00-8:30PM) | 1 cup cauliflower and potato vegetable + 2 chapatti + salad |
| Monday | |
| Breakfast (8:00-8:30AM) | 1 cup vegetable poha + 1 cup skim milk |
| Mid-Meal (11:00-11:30AM) | 1 cup coconut water/ 1 bowl fruit salad |
| Lunch (2:00-2:30PM) | 1 cup bottle gourd vegetable + 2 chapatti + 1 cup spinach raita + salad |
| Evening (4:00-4:30PM) | 1 cup skim milk/ tea + 2 whole grain biscuits |
| Dinner (8:00-8:30PM) | 1 cup peas and carrot vegetable + 2 chapatti + salad |
| Tuesday | |
| Breakfast (8:00-8:30AM) | 1 cup scambled egg + 2 multigrain toasted bread + 1 cup skim milk |
| Mid-Meal (11:00-11:30AM) | 1 cup coconut water/ 1 bowl fruit salad |
| Lunch (2:00-2:30PM) | 1 cup dal + 1 cup mix veg + 1 cup parboiled rice + 1 chapatti + salad |
| Evening (4:00-4:30PM) | 1 cup skim milk/ tea + 2 whole grain biscuits |
| Dinner (8:00-8:30PM) | 1 cup cabbage and peas vegetable + 2 chapatti + salad |
| Wednesday | |
| Breakfast (8:00-8:30AM) | 2 moong dal cheela with stuffed paneer + 1 cup skim milk |
| Mid-Meal (11:00-11:30AM) | 1 cup coconut water/ 1 bowl fruit salad |
| Lunch (2:00-2:30PM) | 1 cup mattar paneer vegetable + 2 chapatti + 1 cup ghia raita + salad |
| Evening (4:00-4:30PM) | 1 cup skim milk/ tea + 2 whole grain biscuits |
| Dinner (8:00-8:30PM) | 1 cup mushroom curry + 2 chapatti + salad |
| Thursday | |
| Breakfast (8:00-8:30AM) | 1 paneer sandwich with low fat cheese + 1 cup skim milk |
| Mid-Meal (11:00-11:30AM) | 1 cup coconut water/ 1 bowl fruit salad |
| Lunch (2:00-2:30PM) | 1 cup dal + 1 cup stuffed capsicum + 2 chapatti + salad |
| Evening (4:00-4:30PM) | 1 cup skim milk/ tea + 2 whole grain biscuits |
| Dinner (8:00-8:30PM) | 1 cup lotus stem vegetable + 2 chapatti + salad |
| Friday | |
| Breakfast (8:00-8:30AM) | 1 cup soy bean salad + 1 cup skim milk |
| Mid-Meal (11:00-11:30AM) | 1 cup coconut water/ 1 bowl fruit salad |
| Lunch (2:00-2:30PM) | 1 cup soy chaap + 2 chapatti + 1 cup romato raita + salad |
| Evening (4:00-4:30PM) | 1 cup skim milk/ tea + 2 whole grain biscuits |
| Dinner (8:00-8:30PM) | 1 cup brinjal vegetable + 2 chapatti + salad |
| Saturday | |
| Breakfast (8:00-8:30AM) | 1 cup black chana with paneer salad + 1 cup skim milk |
| Mid-Meal (11:00-11:30AM) | 1 cup coconut water/ 1 bowl fruit salad |
| Lunch (2:00-2:30PM) | 1 cup chicken/ fish curry + 1/2 cup rice + 1 chapatti + salad |
| Evening (4:00-4:30PM) | 1 cup skim milk/ tea + 2 whole grain biscuits |
| Dinner (8:00-8:30PM) | 1 cup dum aloo vegetable + 2 chapatti + salad |
List of Foods Items to Avoid with Cirrhosis
In this indian diet plan for liver cirrhosis patient, you get list of food items for liver damage recovery, try to avoid these food items while following this diet plan menu.
- Alcohol and Alcoholic beverages
- Deep fried foods such as samosas, kachori, french fries, fast foods frozen foods
- foods rich in preservatives such as sauces, pickles, jams, jelly, purees, packed juices, canned fruits and vegetables
- Beef, Pork, Mutton, Butter, Lard, Margarine, Cheese. Refined cereals
- Sweets and pastries.
To reduce the excess deposited fat from Liver, it is necessary to restrict above mentioned foods and beverages. Through restricting these foods items you can also reduce the toxin accumilation in the body, and which will reduce the stress.
Do’s And Dont’s While Following Cirrhosis Diet Plan
Do’s
- Eat whole grain cereals
- Include salad with meals.
- Eat fruits inbetween main meals
- Include fresh Garlic and Ginger for gravy.
Dietary Restrictions: What Not To Eat in Cirrhosis
- More oil for the food preparation
- Fast foods
- Sweets, pastries and backed foods
- Meat and meat products
- Alcohol and alcoholic beverages.
Food Items You Can Easily Consume in Liver Cirrhosis
- Cereal: Brown rice, whole wheat, oats, jowar, bajra, ragi
- Pulses: red gram, green gram, black gram, bengal gram
- Vegetables: all gourds-bitter gourd, snake gourd, ridge gourd, bottle gourd, ivy gourd, ladies finger, tinda,green leafy vegetables
- Fruits: citrus fruits-orange, mousambi, grape fruit, lemon; berries-strawberry, blueberry, black berry; cranberry, cherries, papaya, pineapple, guava.
- Milk and milk products: low fat milk, low fat curd.
- Meat,fish & egg: Skin out chicken, egg white, fish like salmon, sardines, trout, mackerel, tuna.
- Oil: 2 tsp (10ml)
- sugar: 2 tsp (10gm)
- Other beverages: green tea.