I got carded today.
At the healthfood store.
For buying a bottle of kombucha.
My friend Cindy Y. was there so you can ask her if you think I’m kidding.
I know that getting carded for buying a bottle of kombucha is kinda weird, but the FDA has done much stranger things over the years, wouldn’t you agree?
What’s even weirder is that the sign at the register said “We Card Everyone Under 27”.
Now, I’m not under any grand delusions that I somehow look 27 when I am a full 2 decades older.  Cashiers simply know how to make a busy Mom’s day (or year) by asking for her driver’s license to see if she’s legal.
While this experience was rather amusing to me, it did get me thinking about how I feel today versus how I felt 20 years ago.
In short, I feel like a totally different person.
I have more energy, stamina, strength, and am much more fun to be around (and live with) now than I was back then and Real Food is the reason why.
Not all Real Food though.
While the entire international smorgasbord of Real Food is important in it’s own way, what I’m talking about here are the Sacred Foods.
Sacred Foods are those foods that Traditional Cultures revered as they bestowed extraordinary health and resistance to disease and infection to those that consumed them.
What are the Sacred Foods?
Organ meats, raw butter, fish eggs, egg yolks, cod liver oil.
Pretty much all the foods that most people avoid like the plague.
The Sacred Food I think is primarily responsible for me feeling better in my 40’s than in my 20’s is liver.
Cod liver oil and grassfed liver have made all the difference to my health over the years.
You’re not going to want to hear this, but I actually eat my liver raw on occasion.
Raw liver??
Before you frantically surf to another page, let me explain.
I really don’t enjoy liver that much.
While I totally adore chicken or duck liver pate on toast, eating liver by itself totally gags me (good news: you can stop the gag reflex though if it’s a bit of a nuisance!)
So I completely relate to that grossed out feeling you got when you read the line about raw liver.
How did I get over the gag worthiness of liver to actually incorporate eating it raw with regularity in my diet?
Easy.
I chop it up into very small pieces and swallow them whole without chewing.
That way, I don’t have to taste it, I don’t have to experience the texture or anything.
It just goes straight down the hatch to do its amazing and nutritionally transformational work.
Worried about eating meat raw? Don’t be. If you freeze it for 14 days or longer, then thaw and eat, any risk of parasites is slim to none. USDA research is actually helpful on occasion.
Do you hate liver too?
Don’t miss out on the life changing effects of this incredible Sacred Food just because your taste buds have let you down.
Get a decent piece of liver from your grassbased farmer, freeze it for 14 days, thaw it, chop it up into little pieces and put in a jar, and start swallowing a few tiny bites each day.
I guarantee you will feel better.
Amazing.
Ok, flat out fantastic.
You can thank me later.
Sarah, TheHealthyHomeEconomist.com
i disliked liver until I found a recipe that said I should soak it in milk… This will take care of the chewy texture and make it taste better.
I tried it and now I LOVE it! Cook it up with onions and the liver just crumbles apart. Tastes very much like pate!
I found the recipe on allrecipes.com… I think the title was something like “best liver and onions” or something like that…
I agree that it’s best to eat the liver raw, but I don’t think I could ever get my family to do that. I don’t even let them know that I do it. The gross-out factor is too high. The mention of liver alone sends my children running, unfortunately. This weekend I discovered a way to get hated liver into my children—I boiled chicken livers and pureed them, liquid and all, and added them to my soup! It was not noticeable. Yay!
I have frozen liver from the farm. It always comes that way. Can it be thawed cut and refrozen into pill size bites?
Wondering what to do since the liver comes like this near us.
Thank you Sarah for sharing this wonderful idea of taking raw liver. I have been doing it for about a week and it does give me more energy. It is so easy and inexpensive way to get our
iron etc. Keep up the good work informing us and challenging us to greater health. I appreciate your enthusiasm . Blessings.
Sometimes I have to wonder if we are not smarter and healthier than the flying monkeys who try to dictate what foods we should eat. I am convinced that we small farm producers and consumers can govern ourselves much better than any bureaucracy. Oh well, welcome to Soviet Amerika.
I just cooked up a batch of liver from pastured beef, which I usually marinate in buttermilk or whey. I might just try it raw next time.
Ciao, Pavil
Oh and I tried this with the bison liver today, and it was totally doable! I’m sold 🙂 (although I do want to attempt to make chili with beef and liver; that seems like the best way to eat it cooked!
I am currently 5 months pregnant and I’ve just gotten some buffalo liver to try to eat this way. I know that I need to be eating it, especially since my children aren’t spaced as far apart as I would like. I also might try this method with the placenta from the birth in march. I think I’m too lazy to encapsulate it myself, and too cheap to pay someone else to do it!
You actually get energy from taking liver? I have been taking it like you said, except I keep it frozen and chug about an ounce with raw milk…..I do not get energy afterwards, I feel nothing. Is it a lasting energy feeling? Or momentarily?
I, also take 1T of FCLO a day as well……
Oh! I can hardly believe there are so many out there who swallow raw liver like I do! I usually keep this a secret unless I think another mother is really desperate for some help, since it can be terribly offensive to some people. In my experience, taking a few tablespoons of raw liver daily can rebuild a mother’s blood like nothing else I’ve tried. It’s great for preganant moms or post-partum, or any woman who could use an extra boost. Here’s an encouraging note: it always seems to give a boost right away- this isn’t one of those supplements that takes three months before you notice the effects. It’s right away, and then I feel like “SuperMom!” for the rest of the day. It’s amazing- a true gift from God. Certainly it is cost effective, too, since excellent grass-fed liver from a farmer is usually cheaper than ground beef! What I do is thaw the liver just until it could be sliced tiny, then cut into pill-sized chunks. I put a few tablespoons worth into each baggie, re-freeze all the baggies in a larger ziploc, then each time I wanted some, take just one baggie out. I thaw it just a few minutes, then swallow it half-frozen, since this masked most of the “aroma” :). The technique was important for practicality and palatability: I would put some onto a small spoon, take a big mouthful of delicious, raw milk, lean my head back, and drop the whole spoonful in before swallowing. The liver swims right down without leaving any taste in your mouth. It’s great.
You could ‘hide’ the liver in a kefir smoothy! With some lime and ginger to freshen the taste.