Liver - I'm Convinced!

Good morning! 

Did you know that most of our diets are WAY too deficient in nutrients compared to what our ancestors ate?

According to the Weston A. Price Foundation (WAPF), "the diets of healthy, non-industrialized peoples contain at least FOUR TIMES the minerals and water-soluble vitamins, and TEN TIMES the fat-soluble vitamins as the average American diet"!

We're asking our bodies to build new cells, regulate our hormones, and keep us running at optimal health on less than 25% of the nutrients that our predecessors ate. It's no wonder that the health of our society is crumbling!😬

So how do we get more nutrients into our bodies? 

Let me introduce you to liver - nature's most potent superfood!

Liver - The Ultimate Superfood

Liver is a powerhouse of nutrients! Dr. Chris Kresser says that "In general, organ meats are between 10 and 100 times higher in nutrients than corresponding muscle meats." He has an interesting chart comparing beef liver to red meat and a couple other foods showing how it outshines them in almost every single nutrient!

WAPF notes that liver is outstanding in that it provides:

• Nature's most concentrated source of vitamin A
• All the B vitamins in abundance, particularly vitamin B12
• One of the best sources of folic acid
• A highly usable form of iron
• Trace elements such as copper, zinc and chromium; liver is our best source of copper
• An unidentified anti-fatigue factor

Traditional cultures prized all the organs, but especially the liver! In addition, many of our grandparents remember eating liver when they were growing up. There is actually a 1940's newspaper article encouraging women to serve their families liver at least once per week!

What's really interesting to me is that doctors well into the 1900s told women to eat liver during pregnancy! This aligns with how traditional cultures focused on making sure child-bearing women and young children got ample supply of nutrient-dense organs!

As a personal note, my wife Esther ate a blend of beef, pork, and chicken liver diligently during her last pregnancy and had significantly MORE ENERGY during her pregnancy and postpartum than her previous two pregnancies. She said several different times throughout her postpartum that she felt so good and that she hardly felt like she had just had a baby!😲

Common Misconceptions About Liver

In spite of widespread and bountiful evidence of the benefits of eating liver, conventional nutritionist and government agencies warn against its consumption...

These warnings are based on the misconceptions that the liver stores toxins as well as concerns over the high levels of vitamin A that it provides. 

While it is true that the liver helps the body neutralize and eliminate toxins, it doesn't actually store toxins. What the liver does store is many valuable nutrients (vitamins A, D, E, K, B12 and folic acid, and minerals such as copper and iron) that provide the body with some of the tools it needs to get rid of toxins! 

I do believe, however, that it is important to eat organs from animals that are raised on pasture without hormones, antibiotics, or vaccines; as I personally don't want these chemicals anywhere near my food!

WAPF writes that "As for concerns about vitamin A, these stem from studies in which moderate doses of synthetic vitamin A were found to cause problems and even contribute to birth defects. But natural vitamin A found in liver is an extremely important nutrient for human health and does not cause problems except in extremely large amounts." 

Lilly Nicholes, a leading pregnancy nutritionist in her book Real Food For Pregnancy says, "many of you reading this may have been specifically warned to not consume liver during pregnancy, precisely because it is rich in vitamin A. 

This has sparked controversy over the years, mostly because old studies linked high-dose synthetic supplemental vitamin A to birth defects. However, we now know that naturally occurring vitamin A does not exert this toxicity, particularly when consumed with adequate vitamin D and vitamin K2, nutrients that are also found in abundance in liver. This illustrates perfectly why obtaining nutrients from food is far safer than getting them from supplements"

She also notes that "in a Dutch study of over 1,700 women, those who ate liver almost always consumed adequate vitamin A, while an astonishing 70% of women who avoided liver failed to meet the RDA."

You can check out a more in depth discussion about vitamin A concerns as well as a ton of interesting info in the WAPF article on liver HERE. 

The bottom line is that unless you are consuming pounds of liver a week for an extended period, or eating polar bear liver which does have excessive amounts of vitamin A, there is no need for concern!

Just as a reference, their recommended amount of liver for pregnant women is around 4 ounces (1/4lb) once or twice per week, as liver is so nutrient dense that you don't really need more than this to benefit!

How We Eat Liver

My wife and daughters eat the liver raw in frozen pill form as there are many health benefits to that! (check out the above WAPF article!). 

To do this, Esther takes partially frozen liver, slices it up into pill-sized pieces and then freezes them on a parchment-lined cookie sheet. She likes to do a mix of beef, pork, and chicken liver as there are different benefits to each of them.

Once frozen, she breaks it up into chunks and stores it in a bag in the freezer. Then it's as easy as grabbing a handful, running some water over it to soften it and swallowing it followed by a swig of water! 

The nice thing about this method is that you can just take an ounce or two each day as part of your daily routine to make sure you are getting it into your diet!

The crazy thing is that Juli and Nora actually chew it up and think it's a treat! When Esther tells them that they can have liver they come running. I guess starting them young and telling them that this is really yummy works!😁

I personally really enjoy the traditional dish of liver and onions and you can check out our recipe HERE. I actually prefer it without the breading which makes frying it up a breeze, but it is probably more of an acquired taste that way.

Here are several ways to get liver into your diet:

• Raw Liver Pills
• Puree liver and freeze in a mold or on parchment paper and cut into portions. Throw a chunk into your dish while cooking and you probably won't even know it's there!
• Ancestral Blend Ground Beef - a great way to slip organs into your family's diet without them even knowing it!
• Liver and Onions
• A bunch of tasty organ recipes from WAPF
• Desiccated Liver Capsules -  more convenient, but I personally think that the most natural form is the best way to go, plus you know for sure how it was raised when you get liver from a farmer you know!🤠

Are you ready to give liver a try and give your body the nutrients it needs to keep you going strong and healthy like our ancestors? Or maybe you already have it as part of your diet and can really feel the difference? 

Give me a shout out - I'd love to hear about it!

Have a blessed weekend!

Your Farmer,
Corbin
Prairie Creek Pastures