Beck Anderson Yoga & Wellness Hammock

If you are the typical American, I know what you’re thinking and I don’t need your attitude! I bet you haven’t even had good liver, if any at all! And I’m right, aren’t I? So sit tight and quite whining.  First, read why liver is good for you, then read what kind of liver to get and then go shopping and cook it up!  Using my easy-peasy instructions, of course.

Why Liver?

Liver contains more nutrients than any other food.  Historically hunter-gatherer societies would feed the best part of an animal to the pregnant women and young children (survival of the species, you know). And what part was that? The liver of course! And other organs, but we’re just into livers today. The Weston A. Price foundation has a wonderful list in their Liver Files that I’ve copied right here – no need for me to re-create the wheel:

• An excellent source of high-quality protein
• Nature’s most concentrated source of vitamin A
• All the B vitamins in abundance, particularly vitamin B12
• One of our best sources of folic acid
• A highly usable form of iron
• Trace elements such as copper, zinc and chromium; liver is our best source of copper
• An unidentified anti-fatigue factor
• CoQ10, a nutrient that is especially important for cardio-vascular function
• A good source of purines, nitrogen-containing compounds that serve as precursors for DNA and RNA.

Where to Buy

Do not eat liver from commercial farm animals!

I repeat: do not eat liver from commercial farm animals! In fact, try not eat any meat from commercial farm animals (hint: most of the meats at your local supermarket or Walmart) because a) the animals are living the holocaust, squished together and caged in a barn versus grazing on grass outside in the sunlight and b) they become sickly and are given antibiotics, and yes that will affect your body, although you may not notice a single dose, you will notice the accumulation.

You do want to eat liver from animals that spend their lives outdoors on pasture and in the cold months, eating hay or fermented hay. If you can’t find this type of liver, go for organic chicken, beef and calves liver. If supermarket liver is your only choice, the best option is calves liver because in the U.S. beef cattle spend their first months on pasture.

Go Shopping

Go on, I can’t do this for you. Although you can click on Local Harvest, to find local farmers in your area, or Eat Well Guide for local foods in the U.S. or Canada.

How much should I eat?

“A good recommendation for liver is one 100-gram serving of beef, lamb, bison or duck liver (about 4 ounces) once or twice a week, providing about 50,000 IU vitamin A per serving. Chicken liver, which is lower in vitamin A, may be consumed more frequently.” (The Liver Files, Weston A. Price)

Bacon, Liver & Onions

Serves 2

Ingredients

2-4 pieces Liver
8 slices Bacon, cut into 2-3 inch pieces
Onion, sliced

Directions

1. In a medium sized pan, add bacon and onions.  Stir until you get your bacon the way you like it.
2. Clear out a space in the pan, place your liver pieces down and sear each side of the liver until just barely cooked through (tough liver is the worst liver).
3. Pile bacon and onions on top of liver and include a healthy helping of bacon and onions with each bit of liver.

Myth: “All fat is bad fat.”

Truth: An avocado is NOT the same fat as potato chips.  “A combination of monounsaturated fats (olive oil, avocado, peanut oil and olives), polyunsaturated fats (nuts and seeds) and saturated fats (butter, coconut oil and palm oil) is the best. All of these fats and oils should carry the label cold pressed or expeller pressed to ensure that heat or chemical processing has not damaged these fragile fats and oils. Buying organic fats and oils to eliminate pesticide and hormone residue is even smarter. For cooking, use peanut oil, coconut oil or palm oil for higher heat and olive oil and butter for sautéing at low heat.” (Nutritional Weight and Wellness)

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Myth: “You can lose weight if you cut out all fat from your diet.”

Truth: Your body’s preferred energy source is healthy fats.  When you cut out healthy fats from your diet, your body can’t function as well.  When you avoid fat, you eat more carbohydrates and protein both of which increase insulin levels in the blood and actually causes your body to take the excess sugar and store it as fat.

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Myth: “Consuming saturated fat will make my cholesterol high, clog my arteries and lead to heart attacks.”

Truth: Dozens of studies have looked at a low-carb diet versus the low-fat, low-calorie diet and have shown the heart disease risk factors improve on a low-carb diet (Gary Taubes, Reader’s Digest Feb 2011).  Many studies show there is NO direct relationship between consumption of saturated fats and higher incidences of heart disease.  In fact, Americans have cut back on saturated fat and cholesterol and still the incidence of heart disease increases.

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Myth: “Science blames saturated fat for heart disease, so?”

Truth:  Actually, science is not conclusive on the link between saturated fat and heart disease. “Prominent researchers have periodically examined the inaccurate 1950’s nutritional data blaming saturated fat for the increase in heart disease only to find no association between saturated fat intake and coronary heart disease.” (Nutritional Weight and Wellness)

• 1974: Dr. Walter Willet and Associates found “no association between saturated fat and coronary heart disease.”
• 1992: Dr. William Castelli, director of the famous Framingham Heart Study found, “The more saturated fat one ate, the more cholesterol one ate, the more calories one ate, the lower the person’s serum cholesterol and weight.”
• 1995: Dr. Walter Willet and Associates stated, “Data do not support the strong association between intake of saturated fat and risk of coronary heart disease.”

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Myth: “Fat in my food will lead to fat on my body.”

Truth: There is NO good evidence that links dietary fat with excess weight.

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For more information read: Know Your Fats : The Complete Primer for Understanding the Nutrition of Fats, Oils and Cholesterol Dr. Mary Enig, and Good Calories, Bad Calories: Fats, Carbs, and the Controversial Science of Diet and Health (Vintage) by Gary Taubes.