A friend asked me.
He said he eats clean—he doesn’t even touch beef or pork, just shoves down chicken breast and sweet potato—so why are his liver levels fucked and why does he feel like fat is building up on his body?
The moment I heard that question, I knew.
This guy doesn’t even understand the most basic system of his own body..
It’s like charging into the middle of a battlefield naked, with no bullets.
What we’re talking about today is Choline. If you don’t know this, your entire season can go straight down the drain.
This isn’t just about a simple nutrient.
It’s about the body’s logistics system, the very foundation of it.
You know why it took until 1998 for those fuckers at the American Medical Institute or whatever the hell it is to recognize choline as an essential nutrient?
It’s because our bodies can produce it on their own.
It’s on a whole different level from something like Vitamin C, which you absolutely must shove in from the outside.
The liver factory takes a material called phosphatidylethanolamine and attaches a methyl group taken from methionine to manufacture choline.
An enzyme called PEMT, the factory worker, is in charge of this operation.
So in theory, it should be fine.
Because 15% to 40% of the choline our bodies need is supplied by this internal production line.
But reality is a battlefield.
Nothing works according to theory.
The first variable is genetics.
What if the factory worker (PEMT enzyme) is genetically lazy or stupid?
The production line is shaky from the start.
The rate of choline production can’t keep up with demand.
The second variable is the raw materials.
This factory can’t run without the amino acid methionine.
And where is this methionine most abundant?
Exactly, in red meat like beef and pork.
Vegetarians or guys who claim to eat clean and only chew chicken breast have cut off the supply of this raw material from the get-go.
No matter how robust the factory worker is, without raw materials, what can he produce?
He’s just shoveling air.
But it doesn’t end here.
Choline isn’t some lazy bastard that just makes cell membranes.
It has a second, very important mission.
It acts as a methyl group donor.
Simply put, it’s the supply truck that carries the parts (methyl groups) needed for other important chemical reactions in the body.
Especially for guys with issues in their MTHFR gene, the methylation process itself is inefficient, so they need more supply trucks.
So what happens?
All the choline, painstakingly produced, gets drafted for this supply mission.
In the end, fat just builds up in the liver, and holes are punched in the synthesis of acetylcholine, a neurotransmitter.
Your body feels heavy and your head gets foggy, but you don’t even know why.
That’s why recommended daily intakes exist.
Adult men: 550mg per day, women: 425mg.
But these numbers are just a reference.
True masters look at the system, not the numbers.
If you eat enough red meat and have no issues with your PEMT gene, you don’t need to give a single fuck about this recommended intake.
But if you’re genetically vulnerable, stubbornly stick to a diet that avoids meat, or are on medications that have high methylation demands (e.g., high-dose steroids)?
The story changes completely.
Even twice or three times the recommended amount might not be enough.
The practical protocol is simple.
First, shut up and eat egg yolks.
One yolk contains nearly 150mg of choline.
Eating only the whites is like pouring poison on your liver.
Second, include red meat in your diet.
Without a methionine supply, your body’s choline factory can never run properly.
Third, if you’re a vegetarian or in a situation where you absolutely can’t eat meat, you must take supplements like Sunflower Lecithin or Citicoline (CDP-Choline).
This isn’t a choice, it’s survival.
Most bodybuilders are obsessed with macronutrients like protein, carbs, and fats.
But the real game is won or lost in the management of these fine-tuned systems.
If just one thing, choline, is deficient, your liver function drops, your fat metabolism gets blocked,
and your nervous system becomes sluggish; then no matter how much you lift or what drugs you pin, your body will never grow.
It will only break down.
A system fails at its weakest link.
You probably never dreamed it would be choline in your body.
References
1. “PEMT rs7946 polymorphism changes the dietary requirement for choline in healthy men”
This paper outright proves that if your gene (PEMT) is shit, you have to eat more choline than others just to prevent your liver from being covered in fat.
Your liver levels getting fucked from only eating chicken breast isn’t fate; it’s an inevitability created by your genes and an ignorant diet.
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC1574369/?utm_source=chatgpt.com
2. “The role of choline metabolism in non-alcoholic fatty liver disease”
This study very kindly explains the mechanism: if choline is deficient, the synthesis of VLDL (Very Low-Density Lipoprotein), which transports fat out of the liver, stops, and as a result, fat accumulates in the liver, leading to fatty liver disease.
The moment you ditch egg yolks and red meat under the pretense of eating clean, you’re making your liver burn its own trucks for transporting fat out.
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3601486/
