How to Eat Beef Liver: Quality, Cooking, and Supplementation

In modern times, it’s easy to romanticize ancestral life, eating practices, and healing methods.

Ancient cultures had many incredible rituals that kept them in tune with the earth’s rhythms. These practices were perfected over hundreds of years and passed down through generations.

We dismissed many of these methods for faster and more “modern” options—only to discover years down the road that our ancestors were actually right. Things that seemed “unscientific” a few years ago are now the avenue by which many people are finding lasting healing.

But there is a not-so-glamorous side to ancestral practices.

One of them is beef liver.

Maybe you’re one of those lucky people who inherited the “I love eating liver” gene. But for most of us, we’d rather do anything than hop on the nose-to-tail bandwagon and start cooking (much less consuming) organ meats.

Most Americans stopped eating organ meats around the mid-20th century. It was the lower-class who could typically afford organs, tongues, and the “less desirable” cuts of meat. This is America after all—a land of prosperity—and no one wanted to be seen as impoverished.

So, organ meats and beef liver went out of style. And with it, many Americans lost a huge source of bioavailable nutrients.

What is Nose-to-Tail Eating?

So exactly how did our ancestors eat? Many primal societies ate “nose-to-tail.” This means they used every part of a butchered animal—from its organs to its bones and eyes. Parts of the animal that were difficult to consume were often added to broth and soup, while other parts were used to make tools and jewelry.

This style of eating may seem a bit uncomfortable to us today. But it was perfectly normal to our ancestors, and it actually offers optimal nutrition benefits.

Not only does eating nose-to-tail eliminate waste (imagine if we all ate nose-to-tail today!) but it connects us with the circle of life—allowing us to be more intentional about what we consume.

Beef liver (and other organ meats) are a huge component of nose-to-tail eating.

Is Beef Liver Good for You?

Yes, beef liver is packed with bioavailable nutrients, like minerals and vitamins you need for your health. Many people use beef liver as a substitute for their multivitamin because it’s so incredibly nutrient-dense.

Not only is consuming beef liver fairly inexpensive but it also helps to reduce food waste and can easily nourish the body in a way that synthetically created vitamins can’t.

Here are just a few of the nutrients found in beef liver:

• Protein

• Vitamin A

• Phosphorus

• B vitamins (B6, B12, B9, and more)

• Folate

• Choline

• Hepcidin (which helps the body absorb iron)

• Copper

• Vitamin K2 (which is only found in a handful of foods)

• Zinc

• Amino acids

• Selenium

The Benefits of Eating Beef Liver

Beef liver is a low-calorie food with a powerful impact on the body. In many cases, it contains more bioavailable nutrients than a multivitamin.

In addition to the rich minerals, vitamins, and amino acids, here are some other benefits of eating beef liver.

Beef Liver Fights Nutrient Deficiency

Nutrient deficiency is a widespread issue—and one that greatly impacts hormone health, energy levels, and even mental health. A lot of the recommended adequate intake markers for mineral and vitamin consumption only look at the bare minimum nutrients needed for organ function.

Really, humans need so much more nourishment for optimal brain health, gut health, and the ability to face the stress of the modern world. While chronic illness and stress can both deplete minerals in the body, highly processed foods and nutrient-deficient soil make it difficult for our bodies to keep up with demand.

That’s where eating beef liver comes in. Beef liver is a superfood—and nature’s multivitamin. It can help us naturally balance and revive our mineral stores and fight against nutrient deficiency.

Beef Liver Can Act as a Natural Prenatal Vitamin

I love holistic prenatal vitamins and often recommend them. But they can be expensive—and food is always the preferred nutrient source over vitamin supplements. Consuming beef liver can give you most of the vitamins and minerals needed for a healthy pregnancy. It’s usually more bioavailable than a vitamin—and much cheaper for moms on a budget.

Beef Liver Can Improve Energy Levels

If you’re struggling with sluggishness throughout the day, need coffee to function, or experience your brain regularly “checking out” after just a few hours of work, it might be time to look at the foods that are fueling you.

 Chronic anemia (iron deficiency) is known to cause fatigue. Liver is one of the best foods to combat this—since it provides heme iron, which is an extremely bioavailable source.

How to Eat Beef Liver: 3 Easy Methods

You may have heard some questionable stories about cooking beef liver (it’s not exactly known for its pleasant smell or subtle taste). But don’t let these horror stories keep you from adding this superfood to your diet.

There are so many ways to eat beef liver that don’t involve plugging your nose and scrunching up your face. Here are some of the ways I like to prepare it for my whole family:

1) Cook Beef Liver Pate

Beef liver is known for its strong flavor, which can seem overwhelming and unnatural to the American palate. To help with this, I love to experiment with recipes like beef liver pate for our family. The raw cream, added spices, and butter help dull the extreme liver taste. It’s a well-loved creamy appetizer at our holiday table, and it’s delicious when spread on sourdough toast.

2) Hide Beef Liver in Meatloaf, Ground Beef, and Other Recipes

Did your grandma scare you with horror stories about the beef liver her parents force-fed her? Mine too.Luckily, there are so many ways to eat beef liver without even noticing. I like to bake a beef liver meatloaf for my family (even my kids don’t complain).

There are other ways to sneak beef liver into your diet, too. You can add beef liver to tacos, chili, spaghetti sauce, burgers, meatballs, and more. In fact, you can even buy pre-made ground beef that includes organ blends already mixed in. I like the Force of Nature Ancestral Blend for this.

3) Consume Beef Liver Supplements (Preferably, Desiccated Beef Liver)

If you absolutely cannot get past the taste and smell of beef liver—or if you need to prioritize easy access to nutrients—beef liver supplements could help you meet your daily nutritional needs.

Beef liver supplements aren’t as potent as eating plain liver, but they are a viable substitute. Many of my clients use beef liver supplements to boost their fertility and prepare for pregnancy—especially in cases of morning sickness and nausea.

I recommend desiccated beef liver, which is liver that’s dried and then ground into a fine powder before it’s placed in capsules. I get mine from Perfect Supplements (use code LIVEWILD10 to save).

Does Beef Liver Quality Matter?

 Like any food, it’s important to understand exactly where your beef liver comes from. In one study, 58% of beef liver samples tested positive for antibiotic residue. Contamination like this typically occurs due to questionable farming practices, so having an open relationship with your farmer or butcher is important.

I recommend finding beef liver that’s 100% grass-fed, organic, and antibiotic free.

If you can support your local farmer, even better.

The liver organ is used to process and expel toxins. While it’s extremely uncommon for any toxins to remain in a beef liver sample, the antibiotic study should warn us to take caution with all our food—especially those that could be exposed to toxins before butchering.

Normalize Beef Liver Consumption

 I think that we all collectively understand how difficult it can be to turn away from modern convenience in favor of ancestral living. You might feel crazy the first time you take desiccated liver supplements—or cook liver pate.

Here’s something to remember: we’ve only had a few hundred years to test synthetic supplements and modern health conveniences. Our ancestors might not have had scientific papers to back up their choices, but they did have time. Thousands of years of human tradition, intuition, and wisdom guided them to the best available resources for wellness.

Beef liver is only one of them.

By now, we have a full picture of the benefits of eating beef liver. We have the studies and science to back it up. All we need now is to remove the stigma that comes with eating organ meats.

 

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