Update: On November 28, 2002 Derek from More Plates More Dates posted this video spelling out the PED use of Brian Johnson, known as The Liver King.

The fallout was swift and immediate. Brian Johnson went on social media in the days that followed admitting the big lie that he wrapped himself in, and the mystery is no longer.

The following article was written prior to Liver King's announcement that he is indeed taking performance enhancing drugs, and loads of them! He was spending upwards of $10,000 per month on PEDs and keeping this information from everyone, including family.

The Liver King promotes some sound things. He also is PEDs. Yes, that’s was part of the marketing and sales pitch all along, but this is the one aspect that bugs me like crazy. Go on full gas and then pretend that eating raw meat leads to such a physique? Ultimately I think there are some phenomenal marketers and investors behind him that lead to this rise, but lies can be damaging.

There are young men out there believing that eating raw meat and following the ancestral tenants will lead to this physique. The 'dog and pony show has ended' but don't be deceived, there is still some good to be learned from the Liver King.

The Liver King is Brian Johnson, and no, not the lead singer from ACDC. The Liver King is full throttle; he talks about getting strength and happiness back in society. That is a commendable message. He also talks about eating well. He also has his nine tenets of ancestral living.

Right away, I noticed that he probably read “Nutrition And Physical Degeneration” by Weston A. Price, DDS, took everything out of it and is now applying it all to his internet and online business. So he is doing a great job of taking someone else’s content. 

Weston A. Price was a dentist from the early 1900s who went around and studied indigenous peoples. He looked at what these ancestral people ate and how they ate. For instance, Price recorded how some communities ate organ meats to get vitamins like K2, MK7, and stuff like that.

Liver King is using the guidance of Weston A. Price to create his character. A massive, body perfect character designed to sell supplements from his company: Ancestral Supplements

The Liver King's physique is phenomenal. He talks about his first key tenet being sleep and how it trumps everything else. I think this is a great message. 

His tenet of eating makes me laugh. I don't know why eating is an ancestral tenet. For me, eating is a survival tenet. If we don't eat, we will die. It makes me ask, what defines ancestral? I'm of Dutch descent; how many generations are we talking about here? Anyway, the Liver King talks about eating entire animals. This is pretty commonplace for ancestral tribes. There were vegetarian tribes, but we have evolved to eat animals in most cultures. 

Next the Liver King gets into moving. Moving is the Liver King's definition of fitness. Things like exercising, walking, and possibly getting naps. So far everything has been pretty normal stuff.

Here is where we start to get into some pretty interesting stuff. First, the ancestral tenet of the shield. The website states, "WE MUST SHIELD OUR FAMILY AND PROTECT THEM TO AVOID DANGERS!" Here is where I think things make me a little weary. It gives a weird, cult feeling of "follow me". Somehow (head turn and side eye), don't disrupt your hormones makes it into the shield tenet. He also says to avoid plastics, which is odd because plastics are present in his videos. I'm also curious if he has mercury fillings? 

The next tenet is connect. This tenet makes me think of David Avocado Wolfe, and his grounding pads, beds, and all that stuff can do for an anti-inflammatory effect with electric magnetic fields. Liver King is trying to say stay close to nature. There is some substance to getting out in nature.

This brings us to the tenet of cold, stating that comfort is not good for the organism, so get cold. What about the indigenous, ancestral people who lived and are living by the equator? Geography plays a role in temperature and climate. I do believe there is value in becoming comfortable with being uncomfortable.

Then there is the next tenet, sun. Sun is an excellent aspect of going out and when the sun hits the eyes helps you get your circadian rhythm established. Doing it consistently every morning throughout the week is good. There is a lot of research behind this. But then the Liver King relates this to teeth, talking about not brushing or flossing teeth. Maybe because of vitamin D? But I'm pretty sure indigenous people did floss. The Liver King also talks about MK4, which is beneficial.

Then we come to the tenet of the fight. Liver King says we will fight, scrap, persevere, and win. He also comments that when we win we get rewarded with a big dose of dopamine. I think this tenet is talking about pushing ourselves and in a hokey, progressive mindset, talking about winning the day and achieving goals and lighting an inner fire. Basically establish a vision to be really good at something and steamroll everything.   

And that brings us to the 9th and final tenet, bond. As the Liver King says, we belong to a far greater purpose, giving me an almost socialist vibe to go about and bond with people, establish a community, and make friends to have fun with.

Then there is the food.

Nutrient dense, raw beef liver is the “best thing to eat after working out”. My first group of savages at Garage Strength use to make raw liver shakes with tomato juice, cayenne pepper, lemon, and a little bit of mint into a shake, mix it up and drink it. Basically a V8 liver shake. 

In that regard, if you are going to eat raw beef liver, get it from a grass-fed farm. Make sure the beef is from a high quality source. If it isn’t a high quality product, I wouldn’t even touch it. Liver King says in the modern world we choose processed foods and muscle meats, avoiding the most nutritious parts. 

Indigenous peoples in the Americas slaying a buffalo often wouldn’t touch the liver, the first thing they would eat, with their bare hands. They used a stick to bring the liver to their mouth. They also ate the eyeballs and the heart. They still ate muscle meat. They wouldn’t leave that go. As an aside, bone marrow is delicious. And I just want to say, if the Liver King is preaching eating the animal's horn to hoof, that means eating the muscle meat as well.

Liver King talks about primal fare, like bone broth. We use to call bone broth boner broth. Bone broth is so high in glycine you’d sleep really, really well. Males can understand what the results would be upon waking up. 

Then the Liver King has a sick Ford truck that he pulls with chains around his neck. The Liver King is an absolute savage. The eating he is promoting revolves around good high quality food and recovering with ample sleep from workout to workout and spending time with family is excellent advice. 

The Liver King says don’t disrupt your hormones. Well the Liver King is CLEARLY on the gas. He is full throttle. He is on the sauce. He is so lean, his cocktail sounds like a bio exam vocabulary review. Despite this lifestyle being against his one tenet, he is a total machine and needs to be observed.

Gelatin, collagen, and the foods the Liver King eats on a daily basis are intriguing. I’ll just say bone marrow is good on toast, especially sourdough. Lamb shanks have great bone marrow; I’d just suck the bone marrow out of the shank. But then the Liver King talks about maple syrup, a highly processed syrup, in his breakfast. With that said, the Liver King needs to establish what he considers processed food. Kimchi and raw cream are processed foods. We can’t just be throwing around the term processed food. Next, in the video I watched, he showed off gelatin, creatine, duck fat, and a protein shake (that is processed). Then he talks about eating six raw eggs. I will say, I like to cook egg whites and eat the egg yolks raw. Again, make sure the raw food comes from a high quality place. 

On a complete side note, I didn’t know our ancestors lived in SICK HOUSES like the Liver King does. Then as the Liver King moves on to talking about “breaking the fast again” before he eats lunch. Just ate breakfast, when did he even fast?!?!?! Guy is good at marketing, that’s for sure. My gut tells me that someone with a good, online business sense came to the Liver King, invested some money, and made this barbarian image to make a ton of cash. Like, apply and join the tribe on his website.

As I browsed the Liver King’s website, I learned he sells supplements and does sell beef liver. I think the company is based out of Austin, Texas. This made everything come full circle in my brain at this point. Sad I didn’t realize this earlier when I sat down to investigate and react.

The Liver King talks about drinking a pint of raw milk. At Garage Strength, we have been selling raw milk for 12 years. Again, make sure the raw milk is coming from a certified, clean, high quality source. The Liver King claims in the video I watched that the raw milk was squeezed that morning. I highly doubt that because if you get raw milk, it is usually two to three days before drinking it.

Then he presents tartar, redmond sea salt, and a few cracks of pepper for dinner. This reminds me of ceviche, which I think is less risky of a raw meat because it stews in a citrus base. 

I do want to call out that our ancestors figured out how to cook food. When we figured out how to cook food, we were able to digest more nutrients and vitamins and minerals. Fire helps with processing food. It isn’t accurate to say we evolved eating raw meat; we evolved with fire and fire is used to cook things. 

The Liver King talks about his chocolate liver ice cream. I love ice cream. That’s all.

Then I watched a workout video. Liver King is yoked. I think I’m also jealous because I have been talking about concepts from “Nutrition And Physical Degeneration” for years and no one ever cared and I’m sad. The Liver King has done a good job figuring this stuff out. 

Like, I get it it is cool to knock on beyond meat and impossible meat and rip apart vegans. The promo video is cool. Javelin throwing, ax throwing, sledge hammers and using barbells to lift. I will say again, he sure doesn’t live (or film?) in an ancestral house. With that said, the over-the-top stuff is great for marketing. 

I don’t like how he always looks off to the left in the videos I watched. He is clearly not comfortable eating ball sacks.

My biggest questions are what’s the point? What’s the goal? It would be cooler if he lived off grid and didn’t use electricity. I also think we need to recognize that our ancestors had fire and not everything wasn’t eaten raw. Not everyone ate raw meat. 

The Liver King promotes some sound things. He also is on some type of gas and PEDs. Yes, that’s probably part of the marketing and sales pitch, but this is the one aspect that bugs me like crazy. Go on full gas and then pretend that eating raw meat leads to such a physique? Ultimately I think we will find out there are some phenomenal marketers and investors behind him that lead to this rise. If you know them, tell them to give me a call, I would love to chat.