>> This is the first I've heard re. red meat, nuts being hard on the liver.

Sandra Talbot provides a decent overview of the main causes of fatty liver
and suggestions on how to overcome it:
www.sandracabot.com/newsletter6/Templates/breakthrough.htm

According to Talbot, " Your liver may have become a fat storing organ that
could be infiltrated with large amounts of unhealthy fats, which are
compressing the healthy liver cells. A healthy liver is a fat burning organ
and can also pump fat out of the body through the bile. It will be extremely
difficult for you to lose weight, unless we first remove the extra fat that
is inside your liver. Indeed we are putting your liver on a weight loss
program, before you can lose any weight."

Talbot says that syndrome X causes fatty liver because "insulin
preferentially converts excess blood sugar into fat storage deposits, when
muscle and liver glycogen stores are full. This high level of insulin
encourages the deposition of fat in your body. This keeps you locked into a
vicious circle of ever increasing weight...It is vital to reduce high
insulin levels."

To reduce high insulin, Talbot recommends:
* reducing dietary carbohydrates
* eating first class protein with every meal and snack (including red meat,
nuts, and seeds)
* taking natural supplements

But she cautions that "high protein diets" are "too high in fat" that can
make fatty liver worse, even though one may be losing weight.  She
recommends:
* avoiding margarine and hydrogenated oils and deep fried and fatty foods.
* limiting chicken and turkey that is not free range as this may contain
artificial growth hormones, antibiotics and steroids that increase the
liver's workload.
* avoiding preserved meats - e.g.. bacon, ham, corned beef, smoked meats.
* all red meats must be very lean and very fresh.
* consuming raw vegetable juices
* increasing the amount of raw plant food in the diet

Rob