That’s just OFFAL:

Posted on April 15, 2018 by Dr. G

Anti aging coming from an unlikely place

 Is food getting boring. 

How much variety do you really have?  After all, diversity of food contributes to more fun in your kitchen, more energy for you to get things done and far better personal health in general.  

Are you looking to make a change to your lifestyle that will contribute to adding culinary variety and developing your palate for cuisine that is as natural to human health as picking an apple off a tree?  All the while  you will be adding to your brain health, bone health, digestive health, immune health and provide you with more energy than you know what to do with. In a nutshell, you will be avoiding all of the diseases that you think your genes destine you or your family to have.

That’s a pretty exciting proposition for anyone who would like to keep muscle mass, keep muscle strength and stay mentally sharp.  The hallmarks of anti-aging.  In addition its an exciting proposition for anyone who thinks their family genes are responsible for their diabetes, weight gain or obesity, heart disease, stroke, Alzheimer’s to name a few.  

Ethnic, Cultural and Religious Traditions:  

Easter is a holiday of celebration for many reasons.  This post is not a theological one, however being raised Greek Orthodox, Easter is by far the biggest holiday of the year.  The celebrations are centered around the feast, especially after 40 days of religious fasting and restricting what is eaten.   There has to be a reason why every major religion incorporates fasting into their spiritual practice, but that’s the topic of another blog.

12 years ago after my uncle George retired from hosting easter for 35 years of my life, he passed it onto me.  The traditions that were passed down from generation to generation, were handed to me and I took it seriously. Maintaining those traditions has contributed a great deal to my health and wellbeing.

The traditional foods include the parts of a healthy animal that most do not normally consume.  Offal (pronounced ‘Awful”), yes pun intended. It is a word derived by the two words, ‘fall’ & ‘Off’. The parts of the animal that falls off when butchered because they are not attached to the skeleton as are the ‘muscle meats’ (like steak, chicken breast and thighs, etc.) we are used to eating.  Examples are liver, kidney, heart, tongue, eyes, thymus, to name a few.

Reconsider Conventional Wisdom:

One of my favorite books of recent years is The Big Fat Surprise by Nina Teicholz.  Without going into detail, Nina has credentials from Yale, Stanford, Oxford and Columbia universities.  She is clearly an authority on the science of nutrition.

When thinking about conventional wisdom about fat, saturated fat, vegetarianism, or anything nutritional, consider the following quotes about Nina’s work and the authority of where they come from.  

• The executive editor of “The Lancet” wrote, “this is a disquieting book about scientific incompetence, evangelical ambition, and ruthless silencing of dissent that has shaped our lives for decades…researchers, clinicians, and health policy advisors should read this provocative book.”
• A review in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition said, “This book should be read by every scientist…[and] every nutritional science professional.”
• In the BMJ (British Medical Journal), the journal’s former editor wrote, “Teicholz has done a remarkable job in analyzing [the] weak science, strong personalities, vested interests, and political expediency” of nutrition science.

Finally its also important to consider that Nina had spent 25 years as a vegetarian.  A scientist and author who can reverse course and change personal behaviors based on overwhelming evidence is one we should respect.

There is wisdom in the ancients:

The aspects of Nina’s work I would like to consider here is the evidence she has uncovered.  After reviewing over 100 years of nutritional science and the study of different peoples and cultures around the globe.  It turns out that those who lived most like our hunter gatherer ancestors expressed the greatest health and least chronic disease.  When we are trying to mimic (emphasis on the word ‘trying’) the wisdom of the ancients or our pre-historic ancestors , we call that ‘ancestral living’. 

Fit or Dead

As I’ve written in the past; It is my contention that if you lived in the harsh environments from which our ancestors came (by ancestors I mean the pre agricultural, hunter gatherer ancestors.  I choose them because that is who we are genetically), you would find yourself in one of 2 conditions; incredibly fit and healthy or dead. There was no such thing as post ice age North Americans and Europeans being kind of fatigued, brain fogged, over weight and prediabetic (your standard American neighbor); you would be dead.  

One of my favorite segments of Nina’s book is when she describes the way in which the inuit natives of north america, when hunting Caribou, would immediately harvest the offal and blood, while leaving what we consider to be the ‘tenderloin’ or filet mignon of the animal for the dogs to eat.  They found little value in the lean muscle meat. They find great value in dense nutrition and saturated fat found in organs and offal.

Nina tells the stories that come directly from the original Lewis and Clark expedition journals, a story where the guides returned from a hunt that seemed to be successful based on the volume of buffalo, deer and other wild animals, but turned out to be animals that were entirely too lean.  Without the fat their health and energy would be compromised.

Dispelling Myths about Offal.

I wish I had a dollar for every time people would say, “do not eat organs like liver and kidneys, because they are ‘filter’ organs and they trap all of the toxins”.  This is a ridiculous statements and has no basis, but when a statement is repeated so many times by so many people, it becomes conventional wisdom that is false. The truth is that the liver is an incredible organ that renders toxins harmless so they can be removed.  The massive amount of nutrients required to do that work is stored in the liver.

The liver from a humanely treated animal will have massive amounts of micronutrients like activated B vitamins, Vitamin A (deficiencies of which are poorly understood), amino acids, folate.  Liver is a super food that rivals the micronutrient value of kale, broccoli and the like.  

Offal meats contain nutrients that contribute to mitochondrial function protecting our energy, brain and heart.  These meats contribute to improving fertility, decreasing several forms of common anemias. The devastating effect of subclinical anemia (levels of anemia your doctor would not place much emphasis on but has the power to dramatically reduce your health and increase stress) is under appreciated.  

For any animal product to bring health benefits, the animal must have lived a healthy life.

Toxins are more likely to be stored in fat, which is why when considering being a carnivore and avoiding toxicity, as I am clearly advocating for, it is your responsibility to buy and support the production of animal products that are humanely treated.  Where the animals are permitted to live their lives without the toxicity of hormones and antibiotics. Where animals are able to live in an open air environment and not in close quarters as seen in feedlots. Animals should be fed an innately appropriate diet.  So looking for terms like ‘grass fed’, ‘hormone and antibiotic free’, ‘pastured’, ‘wild’, ‘free range’ and ‘organic’ are incredibly important distinctions to look for.

Please submit your comments.  This is a topic that warrants an ongoing discussion.