Just what is meant by liver troubles must be decided by the physician. Overeating of rich or badly-cooked food, and overdrinking, will frequently overtax both the digestive tract and the liver. Persons who indulge excessively in sweets, preserves and cream are apt to have what they call "torpid liver." The portal system of the liver has been overtaxed. Give it rest before it is too late.

Biliousness is another term inaccurately used to express a functional disorder of the liver where there is an excessive secretion of bile. An excess of food, both in quantity and quality, may now and then be disposed of in a "bilious attack"; if, however, this warning is disregarded, more serious troubles may result.

Of all the organs of the body, the liver responds most quickly to a correct diet. Cut off at once fried foods, sweets, entrees, sauces, liquors, pork, veal, sea food, tea, coffee, chocolate, for at least a year, and note the change. Give plenty of water between meals. Substitute whole wheat bread for white. Boiled chestnuts and rice may take the place of potato. Fruits will take the place of desserts. Fruit juices should be taken once or twice a day. Give green vegetables every day, asparagus, spinach, summer squash, cucumbers, lettuce, cress, endive with French dressing made from a little oil and lemon juice. Hard bread is to be recommended, because it requires mastication, which aids digestion, and good digestion aids in the activity of the liver. Do not give water with meals but plenty between meals. If foods disagree, drop them at once. If flatulency occurs, too much starch or fat has been given. Give the heaviest meal in the middle of the day; a light supper, composed of eggs, milk toast, cereals, or cocoa with toast. Buttermilk and leban are to be recommended.

May Eat

Chicken

Beef

Mutton

White-fleshed fish

Clam broth

Oyster bouillon

Nut milks

Stale bread

Whole wheat bread

Boiled rice

Leban

Koumys

Clabber

Buttermilk

Tender green vegetables, carefully cooked without fat, as spinach, string beans, asparagus, summer squash, stewed cucumbers, dandelions cooked and raw

Delicate green salads with French dressing

Tender celery

Fruit juices

Apples

Oranges

Grape fruit

Strawberries

Raspberries

Currant juice and raspberry

Prunes

Figs

Spinach

Kohl-rabi

Stewed cucumbers

Summer squash

Young peas

Water cress

Watermelon

Nut dishes

Broiled or roasted beef, mutton and chicken Sweetbreads and tripe Grapes

Eggs occasionally Junket

Milk and vichy Lemonade Raspberry vinegar Blackberry vinegar Plenty of water

Avoid

Fatty foods

Pies, cakes and puddings

Sweet dishes

Candy

Fruits stewed with sugar

Pears

Cantaloupes

Peaches

Potatoes

All spices

Pepper

Salt in quantities

All fried foods

Tea

Coffee

Chocolate

Cocoa

Veal

Pork

Sausages

Hot breads

Buckwheat cakes

Crustacea

Old peas and beans

Corn breads

Alcoholic and malt liquors

Tomatoes

Turnips

Beets

Carrots

Sweet potatoes

Cabbage

Cauliflower; brussels sprouts

Kale; pickles

Rich sauces and soups

All salt foods

All dried fruits

Internal organs, as liver, kidneys

Cereals

Such oily dishes as sardines, canned salmon - in fact all canned fish should be avoided

Fatty Liver

Salisbury restricted his patients, who had fatty liver, to a diet of from one to three pounds of chopped lean beef per day, with an orange or a half pound of white grapes. The meat must be put twice through a meat grinder, slightly salted, made into small cakes and broiled; a few drops of lemon juice may be added at the last minute.

If the patient is tubercular, serve with the meat cakes a green salad, or carefully-boiled rice with a little melted butter. Between meals each day give a pint of milk and two eggs, and the juice of two oranges early in the morning.

Starch Liver

In this disease the diet is practically the same as for Fatty Liver,