Everyone needs a decent amount of protein in their diet.
Your body utilises the amino acids found in protein to repair, restore and rebuild your cells – including that all important muscle tissue.
For anyone who trains or competes in sport, protein is even more essential and it should form the cornerstone of your eating plan to help you properly perform and recover.
However so many people fall into the trap of just eating the same types of proteins over and over again.
We all know that guy down at the gym who just eats chicken and broccoli out of a tub for six meals a day.
Eating chicken – or any other meat – day in day out, isn’t going to do you any good in the long run – and that’s how food intolerance and gut inflammation can occur (yes you can even develop an intolerance to chicken, so chill out on the Nando’s bro).
It’s important to mix up your meats and protein sources to ensure you’re getting the widest spectrum of the nine essential amino acids as possible.
So fill your boots with pork, beef, fish, chicken, turkey, eggs and the various plant sources of protein that are rich in amino acids like pea protein.
But, even if your dinner plate looks like some king of Viking carnivore’s banquet, we’re betting there’s one brilliant source of protein and other nutrients you’re probably missing out on.
It might sound disgusting and you might pull your face when you read this, but you need to eat more organ meat.
Back in the good old days people would not waste a single morsel of an animal – things like tongue, heart and liver would be part of everyone’s staple diet.
Now though many of these more grim-sounding parts of an animal won’t find their way onto people’s dinner plates.
But we’re all missing out on some of the most nutritious, nutrient-rich and power-packed cuts of meat, according to US nutrition specialist Chris Kresser who was speaking on the Joe Rogan Experience Podcast.
“Organ meats and shellfish are the two most nutrient-dense classes of foods. I’m looking at nutrient data about what the highest foods sources of those nutrients are, and in almost ever my case it’s always an organ meat or a shellfish that’s the highest source of that.
“That’s whether you’re talking about B12 or iron or copper or zinc or folate.
“It’s always beef liver, chicken liver, clams or oysters etc.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1BUL78hbkLA
It’s quite obvious that in Britain, organ meats have fallen out of favour in people’s diets. We aren’t exactly queuing up down the aisles at Tesco to get some kidney or liver.
Many people won’t touch live especially because it’s the organ responsible for dealing with toxins.
“It’s a common misconception,” Kresser explains about people’s fear of toxins from liver. “The liver processes them but the fat stores them.”
“If you’re concerned about toxins in food, you want to make sure you’re eating pasture-raised organic fats like butter and cream, if you eat dairy, and animal fats.
“Grass-fed butter from pasture-raised animals. Because the fat is where toxins are stored.”
What organ meat should you be eating then, and why?
Heart is a brilliant protein-packed organ – it’s cheap and no too dissimilar to a steak, according to Men’s Fitness.
A 4oz piece can contain 20g of protein and just 4g of fat. But is also crammed with vital micronutrients thiamine, folate, selenium, phosphorus, zinc, CoQ10 and some B vitamins.
It contains amino acids that boost the metabolism and also contains collagen and elastin which are good for the skin.
Liver is also a must-have organ on your shopping list and a 70g piece can contain 20g of protein. Its also one of the best sources of vitamin A, along with copper, folic acid and iron.
Men’s Fitness say liver is a hit with athletes who want to improve the oxygen-carrying capacity of blood cells and boost their endurance, strength and stamina.
Kidney is another great organ meat that sounds pretty grisly, but is low in fat, high in protein and bursting with other essential nutrients.
An 8oz slice has around 40g of protein with just 6g of fat, making it a particularly lean source of protein. Like liver, kidney is full of iron used in cell growth and vitamin B12, and other B vitamins, which is important for addressing adrenal fatigue as well as many crucial metabolic functions like enzyme production and hormone balance.
They might look and sound a bit grim, but they will work wonders in your diet.
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