Fatty Liver Meal Planner

Practical eating guide

Fatty liver diet: what to eat and how to plan meals

Start with the overall pattern, not a list of miracle foods. Current MASLD guidance supports improving diet quality toward a Mediterranean-style pattern, limiting ultra-processed foods high in sugars and saturated fat, and avoiding sugar-sweetened drinks.

Build a 7-day meal plan Build a balanced plate

General information for adults, not a personalised treatment plan. If you have cirrhosis, diabetes, kidney disease, significant weight loss, pregnancy, an eating disorder, or other dietary needs, ask your healthcare team for individual advice.

A varied spread of meals and plant foods on a dining table.
A varied table of everyday dishes illustrating a flexible eating pattern.

The quick answer

What should you eat if you have fatty liver?

There is no single compulsory “fatty liver diet”. NHS advice is to eat a healthy, balanced diet, while the 2024 European MASLD guideline specifically recommends improving diet quality in a Mediterranean-style direction. That means building most meals around minimally processed plant foods, choosing suitable protein and unsaturated fats, and cutting back on sugar-sweetened drinks and heavily processed foods.

Confused by the names? See MASLD, NAFLD and fatty liver explained for the terminology change without turning this diet page into a diagnosis guide.

You do not need to make every meal perfect. The UK Eatwell Guide is designed around the balance of foods eaten over a day or even a week, not a rigid formula for every plate.

Important: diet is one part of MASLD care. If weight loss has been recommended for you, or you have fibrosis/cirrhosis or other medical conditions, the right approach can be different. Use this site to plan ordinary meals, not to replace clinical advice.

Food pattern

Think “more often” and “less often” — not banned foods

The strongest guidance is about the overall dietary pattern. That is more useful than labelling individual foods as liver-healing or liver-damaging.

Choose more often

Build the base of your meals

  • Vegetables and salad
  • Whole fruit
  • Beans, lentils and other pulses
  • Wholegrain or higher-fibre bread, oats, rice and pasta
  • Nuts and seeds
  • Fish and seafood if you eat them
  • Olive oil and other unsaturated oils
Explore foods to choose more often →
Choose in context

Look at type, portion and preparation

  • Potatoes, rice, pasta and bread
  • Dairy and dairy alternatives
  • Eggs, poultry and lean meats
  • Convenience foods with simpler ingredient lists
  • Higher-fat foods that still provide useful nutrients
Check a food in the Food Lookup →
Limit more often

Make these less routine

  • Sugar-sweetened soft drinks
  • Foods high in added sugars
  • Highly processed snacks and desserts
  • Foods high in saturated fat
  • Processed meats and frequent large portions of red meat
See foods to limit more often →

Make it practical

A simple way to build everyday meals

Bradford Teaching Hospitals’ MASLD guidance uses an easy plate prompt: roughly half vegetables or salad, with the other half divided between a protein food and a starchy carbohydrate. It is a planning aid, not a medical prescription.

  1. 1
    Start with vegetables or salad.

    Fresh, frozen and tinned options can all be useful; choose products without lots of added sugar, salt or creamy sauces.

  2. 2
    Add a protein source.

    Beans, lentils, fish, eggs, poultry, tofu and other suitable alternatives all give you different ways to build a meal.

  3. 3
    Add a starchy carbohydrate.

    Wholegrain or higher-fibre versions are useful choices where they suit the meal and your preferences.

  4. 4
    Use flavour intelligently.

    Herbs, spices, lemon, vinegar, yoghurt-based sauces, nuts, seeds and small amounts of unsaturated oils can make simple food enjoyable.

Interactive

Try it without doing the maths

Pick an eating pattern, vegetables, protein, carbohydrate and optional flavour element. The Plate Builder shows a simple visual meal and keeps vegetarian and pescatarian choices compatible.

Open the Plate Builder

Mediterranean-style eating

It is a pattern, not a requirement to cook Mediterranean recipes

The European MASLD guideline describes a Mediterranean-style pattern as one rich in olive oil, vegetables, fruit, nuts and seeds, legumes, whole grains, fish and seafood, while reducing sugars, refined carbohydrates, saturated fat, ultra-processed foods, and red and processed meat.

You can apply those principles to familiar British, Asian, African, Caribbean, Middle Eastern or other cuisines. A bean chilli with brown rice, vegetable curry with lentils, porridge with berries and nuts, or baked fish with potatoes and vegetables can all move in the same general direction without being “Mediterranean dishes”.

Read the Mediterranean-style eating guide →

Explore meal plans →

Turn guidance into meals

Use the tools for the part that usually gets difficult

Knowing the principles is easier than deciding what to cook on Tuesday night. These tools are designed to bridge that gap.

7-day Meal Planner

Generate a flexible, pescatarian or vegetarian week with optional quick-meal limits.

Plan a week →

Recipe Finder

Filter recipe ideas by meal type, eating pattern, cooking time and ingredient.

Find meal ideas →

Food Lookup

See how 50 common foods and drinks generally fit into the overall eating pattern.

Look up a food →

Shopping List Builder

Create an editable grocery list from a balanced, vegetarian or pescatarian starter basket.

Build a shopping list →

What not to overcomplicate

Five traps to avoid

1. Hunting for one “liver-cleansing” food

Current guidance is built around overall diet quality and lifestyle, not detox products or a single food that cleans the liver.

2. Replacing meals with supplements

This site does not recommend supplements as a substitute for an ordinary balanced diet or medical care. Check supplements with a clinician or pharmacist if you use medicines or have liver disease.

3. Treating carbohydrate as automatically bad

UK healthy-eating guidance still includes starchy carbohydrates and recommends choosing wholegrain versions where possible. Type, portion and the rest of the meal matter.

4. Trying to make every plate perfect

The Eatwell Guide describes balance across a day or week. A realistic pattern you can repeat is more useful than a rigid rule you abandon.

5. Using a generic website as a treatment plan

Individual needs can change with diabetes, kidney disease, cirrhosis, medicines, pregnancy, food allergies and other conditions. Personal medical nutrition advice belongs with your healthcare team.

Start with one useful action

Plan the next seven days, not the next seven months.

Choose meals you would genuinely eat, make the shopping list practical, and adjust from there.

Build my week

Evidence & review

Sources used for this guide

This page was reviewed against current UK public-health guidance and the joint European MASLD clinical practice guideline. Last content review: 17 August 2026.

See our evidence and sources policy, editorial policy and medical disclaimer.