Eat

The second Ancestral Tenet is Eat because we evolved eating the whole animal.

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In the modern world, we choose processed foods and muscle meats over the most nourishing, nutrient-dense bits like liver and bone marrow.

The foods we evolved with for more than 2 million years are the same foods that we still expect today to heal and be healthy. Drop the processed foods, the seed oils and the liquid calories and start incorporating whole foods, liver, bone marrow, heart and bone soups into your primal fare to express the best version of you.

We are descendants of genus Homo, the baddest mammalian predators that ever lived. We honor their legacy by putting back in what the modern world has left out. This is precisely why we eat like our early ancestors did: the whole animal, nose-to-tail, horns-to-hooves.

Young Primals, looking to skip the line, the Liver King Bar includes raw beef liver and organ meat as part of a well-balanced carnivore diet. You never had liver pate taste so good.

How much liver to eat weekly? I personally eat Liver with breakfast, lunch and dinner (to the tune of one pound/day)... I also get all the fat solubles (i.e. vitamin D from mid-day sun, vitamin K from bone marrow and pastured egg yolks, vitamin E from real authentic olive oil and avocados). For everyone else, try three ounces two to three times/week for a total of six to nine ounces/week because Liver... is... king!

NOTE: chicken liver has a higher amount of vitamin K. Liver Queen mixes these into the rotation weekly.

FAQ

WHERE SHOULD I START?

Start by dropping processed foods, seed oils and liquid calories and start incorporating whole foods - especially liver, bone marrow, heart, bone broth - and mTOR-rich foods like raw pastured eggs. You’ll be surprised by how much energy, vitality and primal purpose you regain.

WHAT DO YOU EAT IN A DAY?

For an average day, everyday except rest days, refer here.


The ancestral grocery list:

MEAL 1:

  • 6 farm-fresh eggs
  • 45g protein shake with ice-cold Mountain Valley Spring (mineral) water
  • 100g homemade whole greek yogurt, mixed with 30g maple syrup, 5g creatine, 10g collagen, 30g almond butter, 20g ghee and 2g Redmond sea salt.
  • 2oz raw liver, drizzled in maple syrup with a sprinkle of Redmond sea salt.  
  • 1oz raw bone marrow, also served with maple syrup and salt.
  • 1/2 pint of farm fresh raw milk (usually milked that morning). NB: If my stomach is full, I replace water with milk in my protein shake.

MEAL 2:

  • Repeat Meal 1

MEAL 3:

  • 16oz of full-fat, cooked red meat. Anything from grass-finished rib eye to ground wagyu, short ribs or ground organs including liver, spleen, pancreas, heart and kidney.
  • 2 to 3oz of something raw: raw bull testicles, raw sweet bread, or raw heart.
  • 1 avocado with 100% genuine olive oil and Redmond sea salt.

*If I’ve earned it, I might have a pile of sweet potatoes.


WHAT DO YOU EAT ON REST DAYS?

Liver King fasts for 24 hours (every Wednesday and Sunday) and breaks the fast with the same 3 meals as above.

WHY SHOULD I EAT A KETO DIET?

Carnivore keto is the original human diet. Our ancestors preferentially hunted and consumed animals and occasionally ate some foraging foods like in-season fruits, veggies and tubers, this is what Liver King and family do too.

WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS OF KETOSIS?

Ketosis is a process that happens when your body burns fat instead of carbohydrates for fuel and makes things called ketones, which it can use for fuel instead of sugar.

  • Ketosis can help with neurodegeneration conditions such as Alzheimer’s disease, aging-related cognitive decline, epilepsy, and Parkinson’s disease*
  • Anecdotal evidence suggests that otherwise healthy people can experience cognitive benefits from brain utilization of ketones.
  • Ketosis upregulates mitochondrial biogenesis in the brain. It creates new power plants in the brain that are good at burning fat-derived fuel and mopping up brain fog

DO YOU RECOMMEND THE KETO DIET FOR EVERYONE?

Unless you have a neurodegenerative, mood and/or memory condition, we don’t all need to be on a ketogenic diet, nor do we all need to remain in ketosis for extended periods of time; however, slipping in and out of ketosis on a regular basis, just as our early ancestors would have done, is beneficial. We seem to be purpose-built for doing it and we derive massive health and happiness benefits from it. 

For these reasons, The Tribe follows seasonal eating patterns that allow us to slip in and out of ketosis. If we’re feeling really good, we may stay in it a little longer. It helps us to think, to perform, and to produce. 

We also go through periods of feast and famine with purposeful 24 to 120-hour fasts followed by huge refeeds where almost nothing is off limits.

WHY DO YOU FAST?

Water fasting (only consuming water and minerals) is likely the single, most powerful metabolic intervention in existence. 

It’s accessible to everyone, it’s time and money saving and it’s the default way of life in the animal kingdom. Only recently have certain animals (Sapiens included) had such easy, unlimited, no effort required, access to food. 

Can’t figure out how to heal and be healthy? Consider a 5-day water fast to address root cause issues. Liver King and Queen do it once a quarter because it’s awesome! No, this is not medical advice but it is the way animals, including humans, have healed for millennia upon millennia and it still works in the modern world too. 

All you have to do is not eat but if you’d like some hand holding, read or Audible “The Complete Guide to Fasting” by Jason Fung and Jimmy Moore. Don't forget to simulate a successful hunt before you refeed. Any intense physical activity in a restricted time-frame will do. Liver King does kettlebell swings, heavy carries and sprint variations. Do what works for you and dominate!

WHICH SUPPLEMENTS DO YOU RECOMMEND?

To be clear, Liver King and tribe prioritize fundamentals like Liver and Bone Marrow and a nutrient dense nose-to-tail diet. As the name infers “supplements” should be used as a secondary means to enhance a nutrient rich diet. Supplementation can help with sleep and metabolic function and be leveraged for targeted support.

  • Ancestral Supplements Minerals  –  Nature's whole food electrolyte and mineral complex
  • Ancestral Supplements – Beef Organs
  • The Fittest – Whole Feast Protein
  • Vitamin D3 – get this from adequate sun exposure, wild fish eggs, blubber and grass finished tallow.
  • UVEX Glasses – Liver King doesn't want even a glimpse of artificial ambient light to disrupt sleep physiology

Honorable mentions for targeted support:

  • Thymus or Spleen for allergies or to boost immune system
  • Brain if the brain need a boost
  • Bovine Tracheal Cartilage to recover an injury
  • Thyroid in the winter when little to no carbs are available
  • Adrenal if adrenal support is required.