Taking raw liver as a superfood supplement is probably the best advice I have ever taken. I swallow about a teaspoon, frozen, cut into pillules, with a glass of raw milk and my energy level soars. This time of year is when I begin to take raw liver pills daily. In traditional chinese medicine Spring is the season the liver energy is at it’s highest, so now is the time to heal thy liver.
Lynn Razaitis, a writer and chapter for the Weston A Price Foundation reveals some interesting research on liver….
“Liver’s as-yet-unidentified anti-fatigue factor makes it a favorite with athletes and bodybuilders. The factor was described by Benjamin K. Ershoff, PhD, in a July 1951 article published in the Proceedings for the Society for Experimental Biology and Medicine.
Ershoff divided laboratory rats into three groups. The first ate a basic diet, fortified with 11 vitamins. The second ate the same diet, along with an additional supply of vitamin B complex. The third ate the original diet, but instead of vitamin B complex received 10 percent of rations as powdered liver.
A 1975 article published in Prevention magazine described the experiment as follows: “After several weeks, the animals were placed one by one into a drum of cold water from which they could not climb out. They literally were forced to sink or swim. Rats in the first group swam for an average 13.3 minutes before giving up. The second group, which had the added fortifications of B vitamins, swam for an average of 13.4 minutes. Of the last group of rats, the ones receiving liver, three swam for 63, 83 and 87 minutes. The other nine rats in this group were still swimming vigorously at the end of two hours when the test was terminated. Something in the liver had prevented them from becoming exhausted. To this day scientists have not been able to pin a label on this anti-fatigue factor.””
From “The Liver Files” on the Weston A Price Website.
The wisdom of ancient chinese practises, where it is common to heal a complaint related to an organ by prescribing the consumption of that particular organ, corresponds to these findings. So if, like me, you are cleansing, increasing your exercise or in any way healing your liver at the moment, try raw liver. Of course, it must be organic! And be sure to freeze it for 14 days to avoid any parasitic infection (unlikely but possible). When frozen, cut it into teaspoon sized pieces and put them into little coin bags. Keep them in your freezer and when you’re after a boost, chop one into little pills to swallow. The primary benefit of swallowing liver pills frozen, is you can’t taste it. I take my liver pills with raw milk for the extra nourishment and so I don’t burp up the taste.
About the Author...
Joanne Hay, Editor of Nourished Magazine, Chief Nourisher and Mother of three is very grateful to live in Byron Bay and be able to share all she has learned about Nourishment. She has trained as an Acupuncturist (unfinished), Kinesiologist (finished) and parent (never finished). She serves the Weston A Price Foundation as a chapter leader. She loves sauerkraut, kangaroo tail stew, home made ice cream, her husband Wes and her kids Isaiah, Brynn and Ronin (in no particular order…well maybe ice cream first).
Sep 29th, 2005 at 4:34 pm
Must it be raw? When my children were quite young (now in their 30’s) I followed the Adele Davis book ‘Let’s Have Healthy Children’ who advocated eating liver. Lightly sauteed as well as frozen as you described. Liver is nice, well prefer it cooked……… great with olives.
I can eat liver regularly but the frozen stuff I gave that up after about a year or two.
Why RAW?
Sep 30th, 2005 at 2:49 pm
IAM GOING ON A DETOX PROGRAM ,7DAYS . IT IS A WHOLE HERB PROGRAM AND IS TO FLUSH THE KIDDNEYS AND OTHER ORGANS .WHICH DO YOU THINK IS BETTER.RAW KIDDNEYS OR THE DETOX PROGRAM ?
CHEERS BILL
Oct 1st, 2005 at 8:23 pm
Sue, Eating liver cooked will get you the protein, fat and Vitamins A and D but the B Vitamins will be destroyed by the heat. So too will the enzymes. I find that I need a much smaller portion of liver if it is raw for the same benefit. Enzyme activity is such an important aspect of digestion, I try to get as much enzyme rich food, either predigested (fermented) or raw (animal foods), as I can to save my body making enzymes.
Bill, Nourished is a website dedicated to achieving wholeness by nourishing the body/mind. We believe, a nourishing lifestyle will allow the body to work at its optimum, including regularly cleansing itself of its own accord. Providing the body with high quality nutrition like raw, organic organs will help it care for itself this way.
Having said that, spring is the time the body naturally cleanses itself - we just need to get out of its way. A herbal program sounds good if you have a pathology. And eating the kidney will definitely support you while you purge. Is your practitioner a chinese herbalist? If so, they will probably know to tonify your digestion before purging any organ. Without a proper functioning digestive aparatus, will the herbs be absorbed?
So what about fasting to detoxify the system? I do not see the value in juice fasting - a pretty modern phenomenom. Humans have had the capacity to juice fruit for millenia but never did consume it in quantities until the 20th century except to ferment. Neither do I think it wise to eat large amounts of cold, raw vegetables and fruit, which is recommended by some to detoxify the system. These two practises burden the digestion incredibly and so thwart any attempt to heal. I think people feel better momentarily because they are avoiding poisons like sugar, caffeine and alcohol but in the long run, no health gain is actually made.
For my spring clean, I am choosing simply to eat a little raw fish, chicken (marinated in lemon) and kefired raw milk along with fermented vegetables and sprouts. All grains are out for a couple of weeks, so too is honey, rapadura (I never have sugar anyway) and all caffeine and alcohol. I will probably drink whey (home made) daily, take liver and cod liver oil daily and do a couple of sweats. That’s as close to purging as I get. I know there are many references to fasting by abstaining from food but these practises are spiritual in nature, not necessarily for physical health.
Oct 4th, 2006 at 12:57 pm
Hi Bee
Thank you so much for having such an informative & caring website, I feel very fortunate to have come across it at such a challenging time in my life. Just wondering what type of liver you advise on buying? I know that it must be organic but wondering if you think lamb is better than beef or vice versa??
Thanks
K
Oct 20th, 2006 at 11:57 am
Hi Joanne,
I have started eating raw frozen liver, mainly for the b6 it provides. What are your thoughts on how freezing affects liver? From what I understand, the process of freezing seems to disable enzymes even though it doesnt destroy them (meat doesnt seem to age so well after it has been frozen). Freezing also destroys some b6. Maybe it would be better to marinate fresh liver in lemon juice or vinegar like for fish? I would like to just eat it fresh but the parasites are a concern. Traditional peoples didn’t seem to care about the parasite threat. They seemed to eat the organ meats raw/rare and the muscle meats cooked/dried which is they way I like it too. I too have noticed a nice energy lift after the liver. Great website!
Oct 21st, 2006 at 9:54 am
Tim
Sally Fallon recommends freezing of liver to avoid possible contamination of parasites. If it does negatively affect the enzymes perhaps a couple of tablespoons while preparing for the freezing wouldn’t go astray. I have done this with no problem. It is true native people never had freezers. It is also true that wild animals are less likely to have disease. B6 is also available in raw milk and raw/dried meat. Marinating sounds like a good idea. Let us know how that goes. We’d love a recipe. Thanks for your feed back.
Blessings
Joanne
Oct 21st, 2006 at 4:25 pm
I think I will keep on freezing the liver. I don’t want any uninvited guests! Yeah, I like raw dairy, it seems much safer and is tastier too.
Thanks
Tim
Nov 1st, 2006 at 12:08 am
is raw liver good for puppies ( 4-5 months old0
Nov 1st, 2006 at 10:58 am
Dogs have high acid content in their stomachs, which should kill any parasite or bacteria in raw liver.
Dec 20th, 2006 at 5:02 pm
Hello, Joanne,
Kelly was asking which liver is better, lamb’s or cow’s? Is Australian lamb generally grass-fed? How about our cattles? What I mean, are our cattles feed with hormones and manure? Because if they are, liver is not good to eat raw. Raw Liver is good to eat when the animal is pasture-fed. I know you have said that above, should be organic.
Dec 20th, 2006 at 6:59 pm
Lamb liver is best for taste. In Australia, lamb is mostly grass fed and not factory farmed. However, They are dipped for flies, so eating a non-organic lamb liver is probably not the best. If you can’t get organic, ordinary is better than nothing for healing. If you can get organic beef, go for it, it’s just a little more strong tasting. Cattle is factory farmed in Australia and fed citris peel, out of date confectionary etc, along with antibiotics of course. Pigs aren’t much better off. http://www.pastureperfect.com.au/ is a good source of pasture fed meat.
Jul 21st, 2007 at 12:43 am
If you want to eat delicious pates but are too busy to make it yourself, try this brand.
http://www.freshchefsfoods.com.au/index.html
I was recently in Brisbane and found their stall at the New Farm markets. They use only butter and lard (no marge), organic duck and chicken livers and (I think) it is preservative free. Was as good as or better than I can make myself!
Jul 21st, 2007 at 2:19 pm
With regard to obtaining great, well cared for, lamb I highly recommend contacting George and Anna Hetherington of Mitchell Grass Meats (MGM) at http://www.mitchellgrassmeats.com.au. or email muyong@bigpond.com. They include to liver, heart and kidney with the order, very fresh best lamb ever.
Jul 23rd, 2007 at 10:02 am
May I also recommend Mitchell Grass Meats (MGM) for all Lamb and Beef products. The flavour is absolutely sensational, they’re prices are extremely competitive with any other organic meat sold on the Sunshine Coast alone. For all the Pork lovers out there check out Bottle Tree Hill Organics in Murgon Qld, great wesite, pork delivered to your door, lovely people catering to your needs.
May 15th, 2008 at 3:52 pm
Hello Joanne,
I eat a lot of raw fish liver from the fish i catch cut straight out of the fish and consumed during the gutting process would this be benificial to me or do more harm then good? The fish are caught from a healthy river sytem.
May 20th, 2008 at 5:14 pm
Sounds fabulous Mark. If you’re concerned about parasites/pathogenic bacteria, how about gut the fish and leave the livers in a bowl of lemon or vinegar for 1/2 hour then eat?
Feb 16th, 2009 at 4:20 pm
You people are incredible idiots. The “wisdom of chinese medicine”??? It’s so wise, it can’t be replicated in laboratory conditions, and it doesn’t bare out under double blind studies. There’s another word for this kind of wisdom: Bullshit.
Apr 17th, 2009 at 11:40 pm
Well, “You are All Idiots,” I recommend thinking healthier thoughts, breathing through the nose, drinking mineral-rich water, eating according to the Weston A. Price principles, doing some exercise and be in bed by 10:30pm. If your mood doesn’t improve, go see a Chinese herbalist who has been getting results for years now, without a lab.
Laboratory conditions are not living conditions, and even double-blind tests are flawed, mostly in length of time and not considering the true lifestyle factors of the patients when they’re not in the lab, ie. thoughts, breathing, drinking, eating, exercising and sleeping well. Show me a study that addresses all those things, and not the isolated testing of nutrients under conditions that never occur in life.
Apr 19th, 2009 at 5:57 pm
What is mineral rich water? Is that the same as sparkling water from say a soda stream machine? Sorry for the dumb question, I’m new to this.
May 4th, 2009 at 8:22 am
I just wanted to say what a great resource this site is. I’ve started feeding my dog dehydrated liver treats (put them in the oven for a couple of hours) - he LOVES them. I think I’m going to start feeding it to him raw though. I make his food fresh every 2-3 days (brown rice, flaxseed, dehydrated chicken strips and mixed in traditional dry/wet dog food), and will just throw in some raw liver in his bowl in the morning.
It’s also worth nothing that my dog is an english bulldog, and about 12 years old. Bulldogs typically only live to 10 years old or so, and my dog (Tyler) is super healthy and active. It’s all about the diet/exercise!
I’m also interested in eating raw liver. I talked to the meat guy at my local Whole Foods, which is also their “flagship” store in Austin, TX, and he said freezing should do the trick, but that he is planning on feeding fresh pureed, raw calf liver from one of our local organic, grass-fed cow farms for his newborn. I think I’m going to freeze it and see how that works, then contact the local farm about getting some fresh liver from them directly, and eating it raw.
May 18th, 2009 at 9:40 am
Mcoker,
A raw diet for dogs, based on meat, is the best thing in the world for them. For what it’s worth, I really advise you ween them off the “dog food,” flaxseed, and rice entirely. “Dog food,” even the most greenwashed, groovy, “scientific” brands I’ve seen in the States, use filthy, tortured factory farmed meat. Any animal lover (or decent person) should boycott that industry. Also, cans are lined with bisphenol A. Pasture-fed animal foods are very high in omega-3 (the major selling point for flax) and that omega-3 is far more bioavailable than what you find in flax, which may not be bioavailable at all. As for the ecology and politics of eating locally, you’re more likely to have a friendly local cow or goat farmer than flaxseed farmer (and flaxseed is just another soil-killing monocrop, while responsible pastoralism protects and builds topsoil). Plus, wolves definitely don’t eat flaxseed or rice. Granted, they don’t eat everything I feed my dogs either…
For four or five months, I have fed my two dogs (a six year old cocker spaniel and a now eleven month old german shepherd-beagle mutt) a diet of almost entirely raw food. The cocker is leaner, fitter, shinier, softer, more energetic, has better breath, and her chronic eye and ear infections are fewer and far less severe. The puppy immediately started on a major new growth spurt, her previously dandruffy, coarse, dull coat turned unbelievably glossy and soft with no dandruff, and she is frankly the strongest dog I have ever seen, tall and lean and incredibly happy. They even smell good, in a doggy way! The puppy survived, inexplicably, a horrifying hit from a car. She recovered in almost no time, and I do think her diet was a factor in that.
The dogs’ diet is based, in order from most to least, on the following (the specific make-up of each meal varies considerably, except that meat is always by far the main ingredient):
Beef heart, tongue, or other muscle meat (sometimes lamb leg)
Beef liver (occasionally lamb liver or kidneys)
Lacto-fermented rolled oats (just oats soaked in water and left at room temperature for a few days… they’ll start smelling pleasantly sour. Once you feel like you don’t want them to ferment any further, just refrigerate them)
Beef suet
Beef soup bones
Eggs, with mashed up shells (yolk and shell only for my cocker… the albumen is harder to digest, but the puppy does fine with it)
Raw milk, cream, yoghurt, kefir, buttermilk, cheese rinds
Whole fresh sardines (gills removed)
Carrot or apple, shaved
It’s nice that organ meat and animal fat are often very cheap compared to lean muscle meat, in a complete reversal of how these parts were valued by indigenous peoples.
All the animal foods I use are pasture raised on small local farms, and I think this makes all the difference (nutritionally, as well as everything else). The fish is caught wild with small nets by a local fisherman. The plant foods are local and permaculture grown, except the oats which are just “organic.” I’d like to get the dogs off the oats since they cannot be had locally and sustainably, but they do seem to be a healthful part of the diet and are very cheap!
I tried giving them some saurkraut, but it made them farty. They didn’t much like the kidneys, and I had to mash them up with other yummier things for the pups to be willing to eat them. Everything else they love. And the bones have the added bonus of keeping them busy for a long time (including during dinner parties).
The success of the dogs on this diet persuaded me to try raw liver… not the tastiest thing in the world, but the “high” is undeniable. I’ve never eaten anything that made me feel so good. An almost palatable option is to douse thinly sliced raw liver in truffle oil, which complements the flavor, to the extent that it can be complemented. This morning I blended some raw liver with kombucha, fresh turmeric, and a bit of olive oil. Yuck. But, also, wow…
This is the article that convinced me to switch them over, and I’ve been honing the diet ever since: http://www.westonaprice.org/healthissues/feeding_pets.html
And a great article from the same site on raw liver and other favored “dishes” of the indigenous of “North America”:
http://www.westonaprice.org/traditional_diets/native_americans.html
Joanne, thanks for a great blog! You’re doing great work promoting genuinely healthy foods! Also, I’m impressed that you responded to the abusive poster in February and were so calm and collected in your response.
David in NYC
May 18th, 2009 at 9:40 am
Mcoker,
A raw diet for dogs, based on meat, is the best thing in the world for them. For what it’s worth, I really advise you ween them off the “dog food,” flaxseed, and rice entirely. “Dog food,” even the most greenwashed, groovy, “scientific” brands I’ve seen in the States, use filthy, tortured factory farmed meat. Any animal lover (or decent person) should boycott that industry. Also, cans are lined with bisphenol A. Pasture-fed animal foods are very high in omega-3 (the major selling point for flax) and that omega-3 is far more bioavailable than what you find in flax, which may not be bioavailable at all. As for the ecology and politics of eating locally, you’re more likely to have a friendly local cow or goat farmer than flaxseed farmer (and flaxseed is just another soil-killing monocrop, while responsible pastoralism protects and builds topsoil). Plus, wolves definitely don’t eat flaxseed or rice. Granted, they don’t eat everything I feed my dogs either…
For four or five months, I have fed my two dogs (a six year old cocker spaniel and a now eleven month old german shepherd-beagle mutt) a diet of almost entirely raw food. The cocker is leaner, fitter, shinier, softer, more energetic, has better breath, and her chronic eye and ear infections are fewer and far less severe. The puppy immediately started on a major new growth spurt, her previously dandruffy, coarse, dull coat turned unbelievably glossy and soft with no dandruff, and she is frankly the strongest dog I have ever seen, tall and lean and incredibly happy. They even smell good, in a doggy way! The puppy survived, inexplicably, a horrifying hit from a car. She recovered in almost no time, and I do think her diet was a factor in that.
The dogs’ diet is based, in order from most to least, on the following (the specific make-up of each meal varies considerably, except that meat is always by far the main ingredient):
Beef heart, tongue, or other muscle meat (sometimes lamb leg)
Beef liver (occasionally lamb liver or kidneys)
Lacto-fermented rolled oats (just oats soaked in water and left at room temperature for a few days… they’ll start smelling pleasantly sour. Once you feel like you don’t want them to ferment any further, just refrigerate them)
Beef suet
Beef soup bones
Eggs, with mashed up shells (yolk and shell only for my cocker… the albumen is harder to digest, but the puppy does fine with it)
Raw milk, cream, yoghurt, kefir, buttermilk, cheese rinds
Whole fresh sardines (gills removed)
Carrot or apple, shaved
It’s nice that organ meat and animal fat are often very cheap compared to lean muscle meat, in a complete reversal of how these parts were valued by indigenous peoples.
All the animal foods I use are pasture raised on small local farms, and I think this makes all the difference (nutritionally, as well as everything else). The fish is caught wild with small nets by a local fisherman. The plant foods are local and permaculture grown, except the oats which are just “organic.” I’d like to get the dogs off the oats since they cannot be had locally and sustainably, but they do seem to be a healthful part of the diet and are very cheap!
I tried giving them some saurkraut, but it made them farty. They didn’t much like the kidneys, and I had to mash them up with other yummier things for the pups to be willing to eat them. Everything else they love. And the bones have the added bonus of keeping them busy for a long time (including during dinner parties).
The success of the dogs on this diet persuaded me to try raw liver… not the tastiest thing in the world, but the “high” is undeniable. I’ve never eaten anything that made me feel so good. An almost palatable option is to douse thinly sliced raw liver in truffle oil, which complements the flavor, to the extent that it can be complemented. This morning I blended some raw liver with kombucha, fresh turmeric, and a bit of olive oil. Yuck. But, also, wow…
This is the article that convinced me to switch them over, and I’ve been honing the diet ever since: http://www.westonaprice.org/healthissues/feeding_pets.html
And a great article from the same site on raw liver and other favored “dishes” of the indigenous of “North America”:
http://www.westonaprice.org/traditional_diets/native_americans.html
Joanne, thanks for a great blog! You’re doing great work promoting genuinely healthy foods! Also, I’m impressed that you responded to the abusive poster in February and were so calm and collected in your response.
David in NYC
Jun 19th, 2009 at 12:47 am
Nourishing dogs & cats is so important for their health. Our cat loves naturally soured raw milk (it must be for the enzymes), & raw liver, raw chicken necks, & beef heart.
I’ve noticed that our dog also naturally far prefers raw meat over cooked meat scraps. She loves whole raw chicken carcasses as a chewy treat; also has the added benefit of cleaning her teeth. I’ve just read that dogs also love ‘paunch manure’ (slaughterhouse scraps), as it gives them their beneficial bacteria & enzymes; a shiny coat & NO FLEAS naturally!