
How to Make Liver Pills: An Essential Part of the GAPS Diet
‘For optimal healing, eat the amount of liver equal to the size of your hand every day,’ says Dr. Natasha. ‘Not your palm, your hand.’
Personally, that sounds like an incredible feat. I think I may have had a few days like that where I’ve plowed through some pâté, but for the most part, when I heard these instructions, they sounded impossible.
More Powerful Than Any B Vitamin You’ll Ever Buy
HOWEVER, getting to the point where I was consuming liver every day changed my life. It got me off all my b12 injections. A couple of years ago, one of my doctors prescribed b12 shots 2x per week. And not the kind you can get from a regular pharmacy, no no no. I wasn’t cool enough for that. I had to get a special methylated form from a compounding pharmacy because I am a special, sensitive snowflake. It would have to be refrigerated and in the dark or else I would risk an infection.
When I would go too long between shots, my face would feel like it was melting.I would get hysterical, and raw, amplified emotions would take over my entire being. I would more or less stop functioning until my partner would be like, ‘do you need a b12 shot?’ About 3 or 4 weeks into consuming liver every day, I got off all of these injections. Still not consuming the amount of liver the size of my hand, but #lifegoals.
Liver’s Essential Role in Detoxification + Energy Production
I have the MTHFR mutation (also fondly referred to as the mother f*****r gene), and what that means is that my body cannot digest, absorb, and utilize B vitamins to save my life. Quite literally.
If you have this mutation, your body has a hell of a time detoxing because B vitamins facilitate your liver’s function every step of the way. B vitamins are also what give you energy, and I know as a chronically ill lady, I need all the help with my energy levels that I can get!
How to Make Liver Pills- The Easiest Way to ‘Eat’ Liver Every Day
I used to always have pâté on hand to support my body in this way (a very specific recipe with wine in it that made the liver not taste like metal), but with all the other GAPS cooking, I felt overextended.
That’s when I learned about this [RAW] liver pill method from GAPS chef, Monica Corrado. They take about 15 minutes to make vs the 2 hours for pâté. Here’s how to make them:
- Freeze a grassfed (preferably organic) for 2 weeks. This step is key because freezing it for 2 weeks kills any remaining parasites that may be left in the liver.
- {I use beef liver because it’s easier to find in my part of the country, and it’s big, so it’s easier to work with to cut into little squares. But really any animal liver will do. }
- Take it out of the freezer, let it thaw for long enough that you can cut into it, but no longer
- Chop it up into little pill-size pieces.
- Spread the pieces over the parchment paper
- Put the spread back in the freezer
And voila! You are done. I take about 10-15 pills per day, just knocking them back with water followed by meat stock. Monica Corrado recommended take 2-3 per day.
To give you a better idea of how it’s done, I leave you this parting gift. A time lapse of me making liver pills! You can watch below. 🙂
***after you put your chopped up liver pills in your freezer, some of them may stick together. It all depends on how far apart you spread them out during the final ‘thawed’ stage. If this happens, break them apart before you swallow them. I personally am not Type A enough to space them out perfectly. Therefore, every morning before I take these pills with my meat stock, I will break them apart. Such fun! (ha) **The biggest mistake I see people make [I made it too] is that they don’t cut the liver into small enough sized pieces. If these happens, just take them out of your freezer and cut them again. Let me know if you have any questions. ~*~
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It took me: 3.5 years on GAPS, a lyme diagnosis, record-breaking amounts of pesticides in my body, an incredible amount of heavy metals, a GAPS practitioner certification, and 8 months working intensely with one of the top GAPS Practitioners in the world before I figured out how to do GAPS right + truly started healing myself. I don’t think it should take that much time, suffering, or study for you.
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Hello Lauren, thanks for the fantastic info, I really want to try it, but I know that where I live, getting organic liver is impossible. Do you still suggest doing it, even with liver from industry animals? And did I get it right? Are the pills made with raw liver? Thank you for your blog and for your good work!
Andreia, I do recommend liver even if you cannot get organic. Just do the best you can. It is a common misconception that the liver stores toxins, but actually, it neutralizes them. Yes, the pills are made with raw liver. Just make sure to freeze it at least 2 weeks before you eat it! 😀
This is a great idea. Thank you. But I neotice there is no soaking of the liver in the various liquids that people suggest such as milk or whey. Is that step purely for taste?
I have been enjoying the Liver Pudding In Dr. Natasha’s book. I can freeze it in small portions, and then add it to soups and stews if I need to hide it from the guy who hates liver, or display it proudly, warmed up with the rest of the meal.
But, as you say, there is often too much cooking to do and not enough time — so long live your pills!
The liver pudding sounds fantastic! Yes soaking it in milk, whey, lemon juice, etc is for the taste to make it more palatable. Another step you get to skip when making these pills. 😉
Hello, this is awesome. I’ve also seen people blending and putting the liver in the dehydrator at the right temperature to keep it raw, then blending to make a powder then put it in pills… I had a hard time swallowing the liver raw even when frozen
Thank you! Yeah that method can be good too, just depends on what your needs are. 🙂 Thanks for sharing!