Organ Meat: The Unsung Superfood

Organ Meats are Full of Nutrition!

Organ meat was a crucial part of hunter-gatherer diets! Our ancient ancestors wouldn’t even dream of wasting a part of an animal that they had raised or hunted just because it “tastes funny”. They wouldn’t throw out the healthiest parts of the animal because it has “a weird texture”.

I get that they taste weird. I’m right there with you! That’s why I usually take them as a supplement the same way you can take fish oil if you don’t like the taste of fish.

In this article, I am going to talk about what nutrients are in organs, why you should be eating them, how you can get the benefits of organs without having to taste them, and how to cook with them in creative ways if you would rather just eat them as food instead.

Introduction to Organ Meats:

Besides being high in protein, beef liver is a nutritional powerhouse of fat-soluble vitamin A and vitamin B12. A single 3 oz serving has over
2,500% of our RDA of vitamin B12, and 899% of our RDA of fat-soluble vitamin A. There are also a plethora of B vitamins.

You can probably now see why you only need a few capsules per day of grass-fed beef liver to get your RDA of certain key brain nutrients. A 3oz serving is roughly the size of a deck of cards. A 3 oz serving of beef liver also has 356mg of dietary choline that supports memory and learning.

What About Other Livers?

A 3 oz serving of chicken liver still has 597% of our RDA for B12 and 378% of our RDA for fat-soluble vitamin A. This is much lower than beef liver, but it is still very high in folate which (along with B12) is important in the methylation pathways that regulate our neurotransmitters in our brain.

Chicken livers have 127% of our RDA for folate while beef livers only have 54% of our daily folate. This is why it is so important to have a diverse diet and to follow our cravings for whole foods.

There is often a missing nutrient that we require if we are craving something like broccoli.

Both chicken livers and beef livers are very high in vitamin B2 (aka riboflavin) and vitamin B5 (aka pantothenic acid) as you get more than 100% RDA of each in just a 3 oz serving. Lamb liver is very low in vitamin B5, but its vitamin B12 levels are over 2,700% of the RDA!

This could be a crucial factor for healing for someone with issues of circulation or anemia is to just eat whole foods with mega doses of the missing nutrients they need. Vitamin B12 deficiency is fairly common in people who have intestinal permeability, and even in meat eaters as well as vegetarians.

Organ meats could be the whole food that tips the nutritional scales in your favor depending on what is going on in your physiology.

What About Other Organs?

Beef sweetbreads are a common organ meat product that you will find other than livers. Sweetbreads are a little more tolerable flavor-wise compared to organs, but they are not quite as nutrient dense as liver. Liver was always one of those foods I avoided as a kid.

Sweetbreads are a lot more neutral so they are sneaked into salads, and dishes as long as you mix a little magic in for texture. Beef sweetbreads have a decent amount of vitamin B12, and even vitamin C believe it or not.

Beef sweetbreads also have certain minerals like selenium and zinc that are critical for the production of glutathione in our bodies, and immune function in our bodies respectively.

What About Lamb?

Lamb sweetbreads are also very high in vitamin C, and vitamin B12 like beef sweetbreads as well as minerals like iron, phosphorus, selenium, and zinc that do so much for our bodies. These foods all have slightly different ratios of these nutrients.

They all have a distinct flavor profile and nutrient profile. They all have a certain feel, and personality of sorts based on these very particular ratios of nutrients like protein, antioxidants, minerals, and more. In the end, you have to find what resonates with your body.

You can try heart, tongue, liver, sweetbreads, and many more exotic meats and cuts. The sky is the limit. Have fun with it, and remember that eating healthy can be exotic and fun. Its a joy and blessing to be able to eat a wide-variety of high-quality food.

Two of Our Favorite Places to Get Organs or Organ Supplements:

Organ Meat Recipes Here!