You may have noticed that I’ve been including small portions of liver in some of my recent meals. I was pretty squeamish about organ meats when I was a kid, but ultimately decided there’s no real reason to have more of psychological aversion to them than to meat — they’re both different kinds of tissue. A chopped liver shouldn’t be any more suspect than a chopped muscle.
My dad had to eat organ meats frequently when he spent a couple of years in the British Isles as a youngster, and developed a lifelong aversion to them — especially liver, which he calls “the body’s garbage dump.” In truth, though, liver is one of the most nutritious foods you can eat — nature’s multivitamin, some call it:
A popular objection to eating liver is the belief that the liver is a storage organ for toxins in the body. While it is true that one of the liver’s role is to neutralize toxins (such as drugs, chemical agents and poisons), it does not store these toxins. Toxins the body cannot eliminate are likely to accumulate in the body’s fatty tissues and nervous systems. On the other hand, the liver is a is a storage organ for many important nutrients (vitamins A, D, E, K, B12 and folic acid, and minerals such as copper and iron). These nutrients provide the body with some of the tools it needs to get rid of toxins.
Interestingly, organs provided almost exclusively meat-eating cultures like the Inuit with the full complement of essential vitamins and minerals, including vitamin C, that most other people get in part from plants. Organs are also one of the crucial components of the self-experimenting diet that Dr. Terry Wahls used to reverse her progressive multiple sclerosis:
“Nose to tail” cuisine has become a foodie trend in recent years, in part for culinary variety and in part out of a desire to consume efficiently. It also just makes good nutritional sense. So, I periodically like to incorporate small amounts of organ meat from quality, pastured sources. A little goes a long way.
Here are my food photos for day 13:
Monday, Jan. 27
I woke up at 9:25 a.m. (after heading to bed at 1:30 a.m.).
Breakfast: 10:40 a.m. | 8 oz. salmon, 3 eggs, 1/2 oz. calf liver, 1 oz. baby kale/spinach/chard/beet greens mix, 2 Tbsp. coconut oil, herbs & spices
Leftovers from last night’s dinner.
Lunch: 1:25 p.m. | 6.7 oz. herring, 2 oz. kale chips, 5,000 IU Vitamin D capsule, Calcium/Magnesium/Zinc caplet
I found a variety of calcium/magnesium/zinc that’s suitably additive-free, which I’m now incorporating into my Whole30 program.
Dinner: 9:55 p.m. | 6 oz. lamb, 2 oz. calf liver, 1 1/2 carrots, 1/8 head cabbage, 1/2 red onion, 4 cloves garlic, 2 Tbsp. coconut oil, herbs & spices
Pictured: the three vastly different types of carrots I included in tonight’s dinner, from the great folks at Maple Avenue Market. I ate half the contents of the skillet below, saving the other half for breakfast.
