I take beef liver capsules most days and have for years. If I could only keep one supplement, liver is the one I would keep.
After pregnancy I wanted more than that. Carrying a child is depleting work, and the body pays for it out of its own stores. I added the FEM blend from Ancestral Supplements to help bring mine back up, and I bought the MOFO blend for my husband while I was at it, because it seemed unfair to rebuild alone. The word I use for that stretch is repletion. It means putting back what was spent, and it takes months of steady food and steady habits.
The part of it I look forward to every day is this cocoa. It starts with a scoop of Ancestral protein powder, which is bone broth protein with organs and mushrooms in it. Their chocolate is my favorite chocolate protein on the market for flavor, and their vanilla is my favorite vanilla. I like things darker, less sweet and a little more interesting than a scoop stirred into water, and this is where I landed. It is a real pick-me-up, and it is the easiest way I have found to get my organs and adaptogens in one mug.
If you want to try what I use, this is my link to Ancestral Supplements. It is an affiliate link, which means it earns me a small commission. It does not change what you pay, and I only list things I actually use.
What is in it, and why
Most hot cocoa is sugar with some chocolate in it. This one is protein and fat with a lot of chocolate in it, and every addition is there for a reason.
- The protein powder. Each scoop carries 20 grams of beef bone broth protein, plus freeze-dried liver, heart, kidney, pancreas and spleen, and four mushrooms: reishi, chaga, cordyceps and lion’s mane. Bone broth protein is the collagen kind, rich in glycine and proline, which a plate built on muscle meat tends to run short of. It is low in tryptophan, which makes it an incomplete protein, and I count it alongside my meals because although it cannot stand in for one, it is satiating and warming. It is sweetened with monk fruit and has no sugar.
- Raw cacao. The chocolate in the powder is alkalized cocoa, which tastes mellow because alkalizing takes out much of the bitterness and a good share of the flavanols with it. A tablespoon of raw cacao puts both back. It also brings magnesium and theobromine, the slower and steadier relative of caffeine, which is a large part of why this mug lifts me without the jitter.
- Ceylon cinnamon. I use Ceylon and skip cassia, because cassia carries far more coumarin and that adds up when cinnamon is a daily habit. It also makes the drink taste sweeter than it is.
- Pink salt. A pinch rounds off the bitterness of the cacao, and a little sodium in the day does most of us good, especially those of us who need the mineral boost. I’m a mom of four, I homeschool, I run a business and one of those four is a toddler, so I definitely do. .
- Cayenne. A small pinch gives warmth at the back of the throat. Capsaicin gets the circulation moving, and it is the difference between cocoa and cocoa with a pulse.
- Peppermint oil. One drop, on the days I feel like it. It is a concentrated oil and one drop flavors the whole mug.
- A2 cream. Fat carries the flavor and slows the whole drink down, which is why it holds me for a couple of hours. A2 refers to the type of casein in the milk, and some people who struggle with regular dairy do better with it. Cream is mostly fat with very little protein in it, which also makes it the dairy that most people tolerate best.
About the organs and the mushrooms
Liver is the solid ground here. It is the most nutrient-dense food most of us will ever eat, with preformed vitamin A, B12, folate, choline, copper and the heme form of iron, which is the form the body absorbs most readily. Those are the same nutrients pregnancy draws on hardest, which is why liver was the first thing I reached for afterward. I would rather people ate it, and capsules are how I stay consistent on the weeks I do not cook it.
The blends go further than liver. FEM adds ovary, uterus, fallopian tube and bone marrow. MOFO pairs liver with testicle, prostate, heart and bone marrow. The idea behind them is an old one, that the organ you eat supports the same organ in you, and traditional cultures prized these parts of the animal for exactly that reason. The research on glandulars is much thinner than the research on liver, but what I can tell you is that my energy came back while I was taking FEM, alongside everything else I was doing to rebuild. I just know I feel better with glandular blends.
The mushrooms in the protein powder are the adaptogen side of the mug. Reishi and cordyceps have the longest history of use for stamina and for staying steady under strain, lion’s mane is the one people take for focus, and chaga is valued for its antioxidants. The whole organ and mushroom blend comes to a little over half a gram per scoop, which makes the powder a daily top-up. It adds to my morning adaptogens, and frankly, sometimes I throw that blend in the cup too.
Worth knowing
- Vitamin A adds up. Liver is rich in the preformed kind. If you are pregnant or trying to be, total what you are getting from food, your prenatal and any organ capsules with whoever is looking after your care before you add more.
- Iron and copper add up too. If your iron stores run high, organ supplements are a conversation to have before you start.
- Cacao and bone broth do not suit everyone. Cacao is high in oxalates, and both can bother people who react to histamine. Half a scoop and a teaspoon of cacao is a fair first try.
- Peppermint and reflux. Peppermint relaxes the valve at the top of the stomach. If you deal with reflux, leave the drop out.
- Cacao has a little caffeine. It is far less than coffee, and I still have this in the morning and keep it out of my evenings.
Repletion Cocoa
A dark, barely sweet hot cocoa that carries protein, organs and mushrooms in one mug.
Conversions are approximate. Scoops vary by brand.
Nutrition — bone broth protein for glycine, organs for vitamin A, B12 and iron, and cacao for magnesium.
Blood sugar — protein and fat with no sugar, so it holds rather than spikes.
Stress response — reishi and cordyceps in the powder, and theobromine in place of a second coffee.
One drop of peppermint means one drop. It is a concentrated oil. Use one that is labeled for food use, and leave it out if you deal with reflux.
Ingredients
- 1 scoop chocolate or vanilla bone broth protein powder with organs and mushrooms
- 1 tbsp raw organic cacao powder
- A dash of Ceylon cinnamon
- A pinch of pink salt
- A small pinch of cayenne
- 1 drop food-grade organic peppermint oil, optional
- 2 tbsp A2 cream, or to taste
- 1 cup hot water, just off the boil
Method
- Put the protein powder, cacao, cinnamon, salt and cayenne in a large mug. Add the peppermint if you are using it.
- Pour in a few splashes of the hot water and froth like crazy until it is smooth and there are no dry pockets left.
- Add the cream and froth again.
- Top up with the rest of the hot water, stir once and drink it warm.
Per mug
Glycine — high. Bone broth protein.
Magnesium — moderate. The raw cacao.
Vitamin A, B12 and copper — present. A small amount of liver in every scoop.
Protein is taken from the label of the powder I use, plus the cacao and cream. Carbs and fat move with your cream and your scoop, and I have not put a number on them.
Notes and swaps
Vanilla powder with the full tablespoon of cacao makes a softer, rounder cocoa. Chocolate with cacao makes it properly dark.
Full-fat coconut milk works in place of the cream if you are dairy-free.
If you like it sweeter, leave out half the cacao before you reach for a sweetener.
A handheld frother is all you need. Powder stirred with a spoon will clump.
Brenna May Wellness
Where I get these
The protein powder, the liver and both blends come straight from Ancestral Supplements. The NOW organic peppermint oil comes through my own dispensary, where I know the seller has not changed between orders and that what is in the bottle is what is on the label. For the cayenne and the rest of the spice drawer I like Frontier Co-op, because their spices are not irradiated.
Some of these links earn me a small commission. It does not change what you pay, and I only list things I actually use.
The rest of the pantry is there too, along with the household cleaning and skincare I actually use. Browse the whole dispensary.