Liver Disease Diet – Expert Tips to Maintain Your Health

• Part 1: What Are Some Important Liver Health Facts?

The liver disease diet you should be sticking to largely depends on how well your liver is working. You should always be under a physician’s care when dealing with liver problems. Here are some general recommendations for liver disease diets:

1 – Calories. You should make sure to maintain your healthy intake of calories on a daily basis, because in order for your liver to work properly, you must keep to a healthy weight. You should be eating several small meals daily, as opposed to few large meals. The amount of calories each person needs daily varies, so ask your nutritionist how many you need.
2 – Carbohydrates. The liver disease diet must contain a lot of foods rich in carbohydrates. These can be found in cereals, breads, grains (e.g. oats, rice), crackers, and starchy vegetables (e.g. corn, potatoes, peas).
3 – Protein. Most liver disease diets are rich in protein as well. Good amounts of protein can be found in three ounces of poultry, red meat, or fish, one large egg, a cup of yogurt or milk, seven grams of tofu, seven grams of peanut butter, seven grams of cheese or cottage cheese, or a cup of dried, cooked, kidney, navy, or pinto beans.
4 – You may need vitamin supplements as part of your liver disease diet, especially those of the B-complex.

There are also foods that most liver disease diets recommend avoiding. Among those are the following:

1 – Fats. Some liver disease patients have trouble breaking down (digesting) and absorbing the fats they consume. If your body does not absorb the fat you consume, then it ends up being lost in the bowel movements. If this is one of the problems you experience as part of liver disease, you should certainly consume less fat.
2 – Sodium. What sodium does is it makes your body retain fluids, and when this happens, it may lead to swelling. Some of the foods you should avoid because of their high sodium content are deli meats, sausage, bacon, vegetable juice and canned vegetables, packaged snacks like pretzels and chips, frozen dinners, barbecue, teriyaki, and soy sauces, and, of course table salt.
3 – Liquids. If you suffer from swelling, apart from sodium, you may also have to reduce your intake of liquids. Some of these liquids include juices, milk, soda, and of course, water, as well as other beverages. This category also includes food groups that contain any liquids, like soup.
4 – Alcohol. And, of course, last but not least is alcohol, because it will only exacerbate your liver disease problems. All alcoholic drinks should be avoided, including wine, beer and hard spirits. This also includes mixed drinks that are made with hard liquor.

For more information, go to:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liver_disease
http://www.liverfoundation.org/

The information supplied in this article is not to be considered as medical advice and is for educational purposes only.