A chicken liver a day vs. more once a week vs. daily beef organ capsules?

[messylttlfoodie]

So, I'm still trying to find a way to incorporate more organ meats into my diet, but for various reasons I'm limited. I just started taking APE Nutrition beef organ capsules, to bridge the time until I figure out a more economic way that is easy to do for me within the confines of my current living situation and daily routine (I'm neurodivergent so it has to be stupidly simple and fit into my routine well enough for me to stick with it).

I have ordered a pack of organic chicken livers from Abel & Cole, a) because beef liver is always, always sold out and b) I think it would require less hassle to just take out one chicken liver and throw it in the pan with my fried egg for breakfast each morning. Plus I think I prefer the taste, and the ones from A & C look and sound like I could take them straight from the pack without needing to trim and do all sorts of things to it before I can fry it.

Chicken Livers, Organic, Abel & Cole (250g) | Abel & Cole

www.abelandcole.co.uk

Question: would one chicken liver a day be too much? I would drink coffee with it so not worried about iron overload (except that I am currently suffering with a fibroid which is causing heavy periods and spotting between periods leading to symptoms of anaemia so maybe I shouldn't try and block the iron, I still don't know).

Is there any particular benefit of eating small amounts every day vs a larger amount once a week?

And once I start eating a small amount of liver each day or one larger amount once a week, should I stop taking the capsules and just keep them as a backup for days when I can't be bothered to cook the liver or run out?

Apologies if my questions seem dumb or have already been discussed to death elsewhere (I'm sure they have) but I feel like I have research burnout and my ADHD makes me go around in circles.

Thanks in advance for your help!

 

[ecstatichamster]

It is a lot of iron. One liver supposedly is 12 or 13 mg of iron. I would not eat one every day.

 

[Peatress]

If you are low thyroid you don't need liver, according to Dr Peat. He also said you can get enough vitamin A from eggs and milk.

 

[Bliss]

If you must eat liver I would suggest once a week is preferable to every day, (once a fortnight or once a month even better), to give the body a chance to detox inbetween doses. Hunter-gatherers would not have been eating liver very frequently, certainly not every day.

 

[golder]

If you must eat liver I would suggest once a week is preferable to every day, (once a fortnight or once a month even better), to give the body a chance to detox inbetween doses. Hunter-gatherers would not have been eating liver very frequently, certainly not every day.

Interesting point, I think I’m going to drop the frequency as I’m hypothyroid anyway and I assumed regular liver would be better than infrequently. When you say ‘detox between doses’, what do you specifically mean?

 

[golder]

If you are low thyroid you don't need liver, according to Dr Peat. He also said you can get enough vitamin A from eggs and milk.

Do you think that improving thyroid status would allow one to eat more liver? Why would that be the case? Thanks for any help.

 

[Peatress]

Do you think that improving thyroid status would allow one to eat more liver? Why would that be the case? Thanks for any help.

Yes, if the metabolic rate in high but I think it's always safer to test before going crazy on liver

In this interview Ray talk about Vitamin A requirement - start around 1:19

https://wiki.chadnet.org/files/ewh-110427-glycemia-starch-and-sugar-in-context.mp3

 

[Bliss]

Interesting point, I think I’m going to drop the frequency as I’m hypothyroid anyway and I assumed regular liver would be better than infrequently. When you say ‘detox between doses’, what do you specifically mean?

Liver has very high stores of copper and vitamin A as well as iron, all of which can be problematic if they accumulate in excess. In my experience with vitamin A, the result of regular intake (excess to requirements) is that the body stays in storage mode and only switches to detox mode when intake has been low for a while. However the more important point would be not to exceed the RDA on average. The problem with liver is it’s hard to know how much you’re getting, levels vary so much depending on what the animal was fed and for how long… However, chicken liver has significantly lower levels than beef liver, so you are less likely to unwittingly consume an excessive amount.