Counseling Sheet

Agatha M. Thrash, M.D.
Preventive Medicine

• Fast 1-2 days each week. Take 10 charcoal tablets the night before the fast.
• For several weeks avoid all concentrated foods such as fats, sugar, concentrated sweeteners, protein supplements, meat, milk, eggs, and cheese. Nuts and seeds should be severely limited at first. Care in these matters will reduce the workload on the liver, and change the character of the intestinal bacteria, making the toxic materials that must be handled by the liver much less in quantity. To eat sweets and fats together are especially undesirable, as sweets may be irritating to the liver during the process of fat metabolism.
• Avoid overeating. The liver is always overworked by overeating.
• Take small bites, chew food to a cream, and eat slowly.
• Allow a minimum of 5 hours between the end of one meal and the beginning of the next.
• Never eat between meals; take only cool water and clear herb teas.
• Never lie down after meals. The handling of fats by the liver is facilitated by good circulation. Light activity also helps prevent congestion of the liver which may occur if the limbs are not requiring some portion of the blood volume.
• Use very simple meals, taking only two dishes, with bread and spread.
• Check your intestinal transit time by taking 10 charcoal tablets. Ideally you should not continue to see black in the stools after 30 hours. The average American is still seeing black after 90 hours.
• Keep the transit time low by taking 2-4 tablespoons of wheat bran, 6-10 glasses of water, and at least 1 hour of outdoor exercise daily.
• Full hydrotherapy is very good to heal the liver: Hot spinal pack, hot pack over the lower chest and upper abdomen, hot foot bath, and cold compress to the face and forehead. Give the treatment 1-3 times daily.
• Check every article of clothing to make certain that no band leaves even a faint mark on the skin, or in any way compresses the ribs or abdomen. The liver is very prone to being disturbed by even the slightest degree of compression.
• Keep the extremities well clothed to minimize the possibility of chilling so that you reduce the risk of taking a viral infection such as hepatitis. If the virus is contracted, the liver will be in a stronger position if the extremities are kept warm.
• Take no alcohol and no drugs. These chemicals are generally directly toxic to the liver. In addition, these chemicals must be detoxified by the liver, increasing its work load.
• In caring for hepatitis, be judicious about exercise. Take very little at first, but one can be up for essential functions and to take a sunbath. Later, take walks but never to the point of fatigue.