Learning about liver friendly diet is first. I made changes slowly because I don't like to feel deprived & don't care to be known as obsessed with diet person.
I always have a bottle of dilute anti oxidant tea with me & drink all day long.
Sounds like you're doing great, Clay. Fruits, veggies, balance, fluids, moderation, eliminate junk, become informed. I have small amounts of meats/fish, not everyday, but thats me.
Everything with gratitude.

Hi Clay.
Sounds like you've made some smart changes. I have eliminated alot of sugar in my diet, lowered salt (I use lower sodium Salt Sense
& not too much), less meat, more fish, lots of fruits & veg. I have salads alot.
Tonight however is cornbeef, cabbage, carrots, and potatoes. mmmmm.
HAPPY ST PATRICK'S DAY

Water at meals is easier than just water during the day. I out lemon in it at meals but can't at most points during my days

Don't eat anything your great-grandmother wouldn't recognize as food.
Michael Pollan

Don't eat anything incapable of rotting.
Michael Pollan, In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto

If you do not own a juicer, you might want to try one. I am going to add juicing to my arsenal. I have had one for many years and it has been stuck in the back of one of my cupboards forever. I pulled it out today and got some good combinations to try from some of the juicing websites. Beets are good to detox your liver but, use extreme caution, and start slow with very small amounts at first. I also purchased a Nutribullet at Christmas and it was on the counter for a couple of weeks and also got relegated to the back of one of my cupboards. I think I will start with the old school juicer though as it separates the pulp from the juice. Go organic if possible.

i use my Nutri-Bullet every day and love it. I put a few kale leaves in it, then a few blueberries, a few fresh pineapple chunks, 1/2 apple, some ground flaxseed and a few nut, either walnuts or almond. It become a fruity drink with no sodium. I have to get enough protein, being post-tranplant, I eat fish twice a week, chicken once a week, then beans and nuts, lots of brown rice with very little salt, peanut butter with whole grain bread, red bell peppers, onions, garlic, cabbage for my kidneys.
I have to keep my sodium low, so I have a list of what I call "free foods" that have no sodium - boiled egg with Mrs. Dash, sweet potato done in microwave, Special K cereal with soymilk, oatmeal. I use only olive oil and sometimes a small amount of unsalted butter.
I do better if I have one meal a day of what I want, then my "free food" for the rest of the 24-hour period. My doctor told me to also drink one Ensure a day, since I have low weight and poor absorption. Lots of water, but if I chew on crushed ice, I handle that better than water.

Please eat only turkey and chicken. NO RED MEAT! EXTREMELY high in iron. This will kill you quicker than most other foods that I know of. Liver has a very hard time processing red meats. If you need a protein boost, try almond butter on whole wheat bread. The crunchy kind from Whole Foods is very good. I buy the non-organic, as the organic is triple the price. This stuff is only 4.99 a jar. I do not do peanut butter as it contains a toxin that hurts the kidneys. Buy a juicer ( cheap from Wal-Mart ) and use it at least twice a week. This is the best cleanser I have found, and live enzymes are essential to the liver to regenerate the cells. I juice one carrot (carotene is hard on the liver ) an apple, half a cucumber, half an orange with the skin left on ( need the white fiber on the inside for a great anti-oxidant ) a small bunch of cilantro ( removes heavy metals ). Some say add a beet to this, as a cleanser. I do not. Add your favorite fruit. This will taste great , believe it or not. Do not eat unfermented soy!!! Has a toxin that kills your thymus gland, which makes the killer t-cells that attack the virus.
Hope this helps!
- weatherman

I do make my own Granola which I add about two heaping tablespoons of peanut butter, along with an almond/walnut mix plus I have started adding flax seed to it. This is just one way I get my protein. I also started about 8 months ago (Pre HCV Diagnosis) eating Pistachio Nuts, unsalted. While I do eat red meat, I eat far more chicken and fish than I do red meat.
As to Organic, sorry and nothing personal, you can talk about it all you want but I do not buy into the ole organic ritual. If I grow a tomato in my garden and I do not add any type of chemical poison or fertilizer to it, then it is organic. Take veggies for example: so many organically grown veggies are greenhouse or hydroponically grown and have a significant lack of taste versus fresh garden grown. I just think Organic is a buzz word used in many instances and to the best of my knowledge, it is unregulated so its' use is widely overused and misused.

Hey weatherman -
what's the toxin in peanut butter that hurts the kidneys?
Thanks for all your info - I feel like I need a notebook when I read your posts...and I mean that in a good way!

Thanks for all the info and advice!