Liver quantities?

(Cristian Lopez) #1

Hey guys. So I eat liver once a week. I need to know, what is a safe portion size for liver once week in ounces raw. If you don’t know, let me know how much you eat every time you occasionally do eat liver. Thanks!
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(April Harkness) #2

I eat liver at least once or twice a week. 8 ozs of beef liver and , no lie, 1 lb of chicken liver done filipino adobo style. Yum!!! Have not yet overdosed on Vitamin A. Lol!

(Bob M) #3

I listened to a podcast where the person ate raw liver every day, and didn’t even chew it, just cut it into chunks and swallowed it raw. Personally, I think that’s a bit over the top (do you really need to eat liver every day?), but he apparently thought it was good.

(You've tried everything else; why not try bacon?) #4

Some people have a problem with iron excess, and should probably not eat too much liver, but I suspect that most people will run into a natural limit when eating it. I usually can’t eat more than a pound of liver at a time, if that much, because it’s so rich. And I find I just don’t want it all that often.

I don’t want to promote this as Gospel, but I am beginning to suspect that human beings have instincts for eating what we need, and that those instincts become free to talk to us when we stop clogging all the channels with carbohydrate. One of the unanticipated benefits of keto for me has been the experience of learning how to listen to my body. :bacon::bacon:

#5

It sounds like he’s asking what the raw weight is (of the liver he’s going to cook). In case not @KidKeto just a note that there’s at least one parasite that can live in raw liver that doesn’t sound like much fun. Idk much about it except that there was a commenter over on Mark’s Daily Apple who took raw liver, thought he was following all the safety precautions but ended up with a really nasty parasitic infection that took years to clear up :grimacing:

(Bob M) #6

Interesting. I really like liver, but have not had it raw, though when I cook it, I cut into as thin of pieces as I can, sear it over higher heat (usually using beef tallow), and turn fairly quickly. The middle is still not that well cooked, though it’s not raw. I also usually don’t eat it then, but cool it and reheat it at work.

(Cristian Lopez) #7

Exactly Guys! I’m asking for how much! Not how often, since I already eat liver on a weekly basis.

(Todd Allen) #8

Chris Masterjohn recommends eating small amounts of liver often, such as one to two ounces daily I think. It is high in several vitamins for which we have rate limited absorption. If you eat a larger amount infrequently you will excrete most of the vitamins or if you are less lucky you might have overdose toxicity issues.

(Doug) #9

Paul, I think your post expresses things perfectly. As a disclaimer, I agree about possible excesses of iron (and copper and Vitamin A), but there’s almost always a difference between getting such nutrients in natural form versus pills/supplements, i.e. natural sources are much less to be worried about.

Totally agree - liver is self-limiting; we don’t want it everyday, and if we have it multiple times per week then pretty soon we’re taking weeks off.

:slightly_smiling_face: Heck, Cristian, chow down! Once a week - no worries. :sunglasses:

Liver is a seriously nutrient-dense superfood.

#10

I think I heard that recently, too. Dr. Paul Saladino, perhaps? In any event, what I remember is the speaker justified eating it every day so as to spread out the benefits. I inferred that he thought it was somehow better to do it that way versus in large quantities every week or every two weeks. I don’t recall what he said about eating it raw, nor did he say how much he consumed each day.

(Bob M) #11

It may have been. Did he also only have egg yolks (no whites), raw? And he basically said you HAD to eat grass fed beef? If so, that was him.

(KetoQ) #12

This post came at an interesting time as, believe it or not, I had a hankering for liverwurst a few months back. I finally bought a pound of braunschweiger. A pound is $2.50.

I spread it on a large collard green leaf, add stone ground mustard and red onions and roll it up. Then roll that into a red cabbage leaf. Its my keto way of making a sandwich, plus it helps mask some of the lingering liver taste.

I only eat it 1-2x like that per week.

#13

I think so. His concern with grassfed beef when you eat nose-to-tail is that he felt toxins were stored in fat, so grain-fed CAFO options nose-to-tail were less than optimal.

(Full Metal KETO AF) #14

Fortunately my body is smart and tells me to avoid nasty liver and eat brains instead. :joy::joy::grin::cowboy_hat_face:

#15

That’s my choice for liver too. I crave it, eat a bunch, then don’t want any again for a while. Fav combo: braunschweiger thickly sliced with a heavy schmeer of avo mayo. Great flavor neutralizer.