Paleo Diet and Paleolithic Diet Questions & Answers

Question

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I asked this on the MDA forum but thought I'd ask here as well:

I have been considering taking some liver pills as a supplement in my diet. I do not like eating liver straight up.

I am a woman, small frame and don't want to turn into the hulk. My google searches have brought me to numerous body building websites but nothing along the lines of taking the supplement for the 'average person'.

Have any of you supplemented with liver pills? Why? Has it benefited you in any way? How? What should I be aware of? Would you recommend taking them? Are they more of a supplementation for building muscle mass and gaining weight? or are they for anyone interested in gaining benefits from the nutrient dense organ? Recommendations for brands, capsules, powders, etc ...

(Note: currently don't have means to obtain my own liver and make 'frozen liver pills' thus, looking more from a pill or powder standpoint.)

Any additional informative comments are welcome. Links to credible sources are a plus.

flag	asked Apr 11 2011 at 2:06 Allie 3,191●1●10●29

Bristlebeard · Accepted Answer · 2011-04-25 04:34:57Z UTC

I took liver tabs once upon a time, actually this brand. The main reason to take them was to give your body a good, complete amino acid source, along with iron, B12, riboflavin, and folic acid. If you eat plenty of red meat, and complete proteins, you really don't need them that much. The brand that I linked are from defatted liver, with the cows being Argentinian grass-fed cows. One thing to be aware of, is that they have a tendency to cause some pretty horrific gas, a considerable volume, and also a pretty strong rotten meat smell. I was taking 6 pills, two times a day, and it was pretty bad.

In summary, you probably don't need to take them, and liver tabs are no more anabolic (muscle building) than regular meat, so if you do take them, you won't turn into the hulk.

Anonymous Coward · Answer 2 · 2011-04-11 02:14:18Z UTC

Taking pills and supplements is for compensating. If you're paleo, what's there to compensate for? Eat good food and you'll be fine. As far as I know, there's nothing in a liver that I can't live without. I don't eat them very often. In fact, I ate liver like once in my life and didn't like it. Apparently I don't need it. Stop looking for a magical solution; stick to simple paleo food and you will be fine. Salmon, halibut, broccoli, swiss chard, walnuts, pecans, bison, pork, etc. That's what you need; not a magic liver pill.

On you not wanting to turn into the hunk: Believe me, it's not easy. Women act like they don't want to lift because they might ACCIDENTALLY "get big". Seriously, it doesn't work that way. You won't accidentally get huge. It's an extremely long road to get somewhere like that; you don't need to worry about stepping onto the path and randomly finding yourself at the end. There's more than one reason to lift, and many of them have nothing to do with getting huge. Especially if you're a women.

42 · Answer 3 · 2011-04-11 02:33:22Z UTC

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Orts and gobbets and gizzards are all the rage but they don't do much good if eating them makes you want to vomit. I tried. Supposedly liver is full of magical properties, so I don't see any harm in taking it in pill form as long as it's from a clean (not feedlot) source, though you'd probably have to take half the bottle to equal a serving of liver.

Just reading "serving of liver" makes my gorge rise. Yeuuugh. If organs are so healthy, why are they so revolting to eat?

answered Apr 11 2011 at 2:33

42
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Perhaps you have a lot of pent-up prejudice against the idea of "organ meat"? That's how it is with most people. If you get past your prejudice, you'll have a clear view. Liver tastes weird. Heart is boring. Tongue is great. Etc. That's for ME. Screw all the talk about liver having magical properties; that's a bunch of random bullshit. Stick to eating normal stuff that you like. If you clear out all the prejudice and you still don't like the liver, it's probably NOT magical for YOU. – Anonymous Coward Apr 11 2011 at 2:51

Kim The Nourishing Cook · Answer 4 · 2011-04-11 03:28:35Z UTC

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I did take dessicated liver pills when I was iron deficient (I wasn't paleo at the time). The reason I took them was to help my body maintain my iron levels better after receiving some needed iron infusions. These are the liver pills that I bought.

As far as I could tell, these worked great for me. For the first time I was able to keep my ferritin levels up myself without infusions.

answered Apr 11 2011 at 3:28

Kim The Nourishing Cook
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	Thanks for the link. :) So, you don't take it now that you've gone paleo? – Allie Apr 11 2011 at 10:35
	I don't... I'm actually trying to eat the liver now! :) I haven't had an iron infusion since that one right before the liver pills too, which is cool. If eating liver doesn't pan out I will go back to the pills. I also think the lack of grains (esp gluten) is really helping too (duh). Right now I have a grass fed liver source so I'm trying to like it, or find a way to stomach it at least. I feel a burst of energy the day of & after eating it. I try to eat it during my period when I'm weak & tired, & 1 other time during the month. In my opinion the pills were a more steady source of energy. – Kim The Nourishing Cook Apr 11 2011 at 15:38

ben61820 · Answer 5 · 2011-04-25 14:30:17Z UTC

I eat liver about once per week so currently i am NOT taking the following pills, however I keep them in my cupboard and if I have a month or so coming up where I don't think I'm going to eat any then I take them:

http://www.drrons.com/thyroid-adrenal-liver-pancreas-glandulars.htm

Scroll down the link and you will see the liver.

I read all the replies and can tell you that these give NO gas or anything of the sort. They have no taste. You take them like any other little pill and you're done. It says this on the bottle but I'll tell you here that it takes SIX of these pills to get you approximately ONE OUNCE of liver. Not saying that's bad or good just that you should know if you're trying to do the math of how much they cost, etc.

I took these before i started lifting just cuz i thought it was good since I didn't eat much of the stuff, but yes traditionally powerlifters, and prolly bodybuilders too, took liver tablet of one kind or another.

Liver Pill Supplementation

5 Answers