About Embrobi
Embrobi is a home for people living with cirrhosis and advanced liver disease.
I am Emily Embrobi. I was diagnosed with end-stage liver disease in 2018, told I would not live past 40 with this liver, and I am writing this to you from my kitchen in Florida, thriving with cirrhosis. My story is here if you want the whole thing.
What I am trying to do
Bring joy to your kitchen, hope to your heart, and JESUS’ love to your soul.
That is the short version and I mean every part of it. The food is where the daily work is, and it is what actually nourishes us. The hope is here because you need it and because it is real. The faith is here because it is the truest thing I know. Knowing GOD is with me is the biggest blessing I have, and it is what turned this whole journey into one.
It was never only about the salt
Most people find me looking for one thing, and I understand why. It’s what the doctor said, so it’s what you type in. Taking the salt out is the hard part, and it was never the point.
What I’m actually doing is this.
Organic where it counts. Not everything and not always. I look for it when I can, and I’ll tell you when I can’t.
Minimally processed, with an ingredient list short enough to read standing up. The front of a box can say all the right words and the back of it can tell you something else entirely.
Low sodium, still. That part hasn’t changed and it isn’t going to. It’s just not the whole of it.
Food my gut microbiome actually wants. I don’t only eat for me. I eat for that little army inside me, because when I feed them what they want, they get to work on my behalf.
These are not four separate projects. They are one way of eating, and together they gave me back more flavor than I had before any of this, not less.
And I keep moving
I barely sit. My back hurts when I do, and I believe my liver does better when I keep going, so I built my days around not staying still. I work in short bursts and then I am up. A great deal of my listening and studying happens on my feet too. The kitchen is about five feet away, so there is always something to stir or start. The garden needs checking. The errands get run.
None of it looks like exercise, and that is exactly why I am telling you about it. It all counts. The housework counts. Walking out to check something counts. It asks nothing of you on a bad day, and it is simply not staying still.
What I promise you
I will not sell you a cure. There is no magic pill, and there is a whole shelf of books that will imply otherwise. And even if one arrives one day, we will still need to eat the food our bodies were designed for. What I will do is tell you what worked in my own body, name the research that got me curious, and be clear about what is still early. I will keep watching the real science too, because there is genuine work being done and I would rather you heard about it from someone who actually checked.
I will have done the work before I tell you anything. I have spent years listening to research while I move around this apartment, chasing down what an off number means, what it does to the next number, and what to eat for it. Even when what I am listening to has nothing to do with cirrhosis, I am working out what it means for us. Then I try it, and I watch what my own body does with it, over a long stretch of time.
And I will tell you when something was not my idea. The broccoli was not mine. GOD gave me that one.
I will be specific. Real brands, real numbers, real moments from my actual week. Vague writing is how you can tell somebody is not really living it.
I will name the hard parts. I am not going to write around the scary things, because you are living them and you will know immediately that I am doing it.
I have probably stood where you are standing. Since 2018 I have been through end-stage liver disease, the ascites, the edema, the ER visits, the scopes, and out the other side to thriving with cirrhosis. Wherever you are on this road, there is a good chance I have been there too.
What Embrobi is not
Not a clinic. Not medical advice. Not a substitute for your hepatologist, your GP, or your dietitian. I am a patient who has paid very close attention, and that is a real kind of knowledge, and it is not the same as theirs. I encourage you to bring what you find here to your team. Show them the food. My guess is that most doctors looking at organic, minimally processed, genuinely low sodium, gut-nourishing meals are going to tell you it looks like a good idea.
Who is behind it
Just me, for now. Embrobi LLC is based in Florida. I write everything, cook everything, test everything, and answer everything.
“Praise be to the GOD and Father of our Lord JESUS CHRIST, the Father of compassion and the GOD of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from GOD.”
— 2 Corinthians 1:3–4 (NIV)
May you find joy in your kitchen and comfort in your heart, and may both of them sparkle out of you, far and wide.
Prayers, blessings and broccoli sprouts, 💛✝️🥦🤗
Emily