Looking for liver information
Has anyone come across a comparison chart of the nutrients fromdifferent livers (ie beef, lamb, chicken etc.)?
Since the liver question comes up regularly I think it would beuseful if we had a file on liver and a collection of recipes fromthe old posts. I’m putting it together from the archives but wouldlike to include some more information on the nutritional aspects.
Also can anyone point me in the direction of where the value ofeating “raw” liver comes from? I use it all the time but my reasonsare ancedotal from other reader’s success (plus my own success). Theonly real references I could find for eating [tag]raw liver[/tag] are from thePottenger tonic in NT and Gerson’s use of it to treat pancreaticcancer patients (which I think he got from Pottenger). Plus I thinksomeone mentioned American Indians eating it right after a kill.
June 5th, 2007 at 1:14 am
Don’t forget the duck liver (foie gras). Yummy!I don’t know the nutritional numbers. If I come across somenutritional info I’ll let ya know.Personnally, I just try to rotate my different livers in meals. I geta little treat (a little liver) when I buy a whole organic chicken.
June 6th, 2007 at 3:54 am
I guess this has been repeated a lot but can I ask whatsuccess you are referring to? What difference did you notice?
Yesterday I started cutting up some liver into small pieces tofreeze into “liver pills” but I found it was really easy just to popa bit of raw liver under my tongue then swallow it down with a bitof water. It would be great to have a bit of encouragement for whyI’m actually doing this though!
June 7th, 2007 at 6:05 am
I think Paul Idol basically started the trend, in large part because hecouldn’t tolerate cooked liver. I think all liver, cooked or not, isenergizing,but I do think liver seems to be best raw for health benefits.
I suspect a large part of it is the purines, but ruminant liver is also oneof the two highest sources of Coenzyme Q10, which is destroyed by heat, andthat might be part of it. (Ruminant heart is the other major source, followedbybeef, pork, poultry, fish, and last plant foods, which are relativelynegligble. Notice this heart-healthy vitamin is present most in the foods thatare”bad” for the heart!)
I find raw liver to basically eliminate the effect of lost sleep. IOW if youhave trouble sleeping and only get 3 hours, for me, some raw liver makes mefeel pretty normal throughout the day.
I also find it by far the most convenient way to eat it. Since I used tosautee it with onions and garlic, which was a lot of cutting, between cookingandwashing I save about 25 minutes of work eating it raw. Since I find itprevents my energy from crashing while working out, that allows me to work outat areasonable time after classes while being able to eat liver first. It’s alsomuch lighter on the stomach and relatively low-calorie, so a little bit ofraw liver doesn’t prevent me from reaping the benefits of working out on anempty stomach.
I usually eat raw liver in portions of 1/4 pound or more. I don’t chase itdown with anything, and I chew it well. I think your taste will get used to itfast, the faster the more of it you eat, and it certainly helps to use agood-tasting liver, like buffalo, or pastured chicken.