My first thought is “YUCK. GROSS. NEVER IN A MILLION YEARS!”  I can remember having liver and onions as a kid and it was dry and crumbly and I just couldn’t eat it, no matter how much I tried and no matter how much I wanted the dessert that was awarded if I cleaned my plate!  Sometimes there was turkey liver, heart and giblets in the Thanksgiving gravy and I would opt for dry mashed potatoes before eating that!  Tree Climber on the other hand had a totally different experience…

He LOVES liver.  I am ashamed to say I’ve never made it for him, not even on his birthday.  He does mention every month or two how much he loves liver and I just can’t bring myself to make it.

After reading this chapter it makes me want to give it a try.  There are so many health benefits that I really ought to be willing to tough it out for my family!  I’m sure there are better ways to cook liver and onions that this chapter can help me with.  I guess I should give it a try… especially since I have beef livers as accessible as the freezer!

Some fear toxins being in the liver since the function of the liver is to filter the blood.  Fallon addresses that and the numerous benefits to consuming organ meats (page 299):

“Organic liver may contain some toxic substances, but its nutritive value outweighs the dangers of any toxins it contains.  Not only does liver provide copper, zinc, iron and vitamins A and D in abundance, but it is also a rich source of antioxidants – substances that help your own liver remove toxic substances from the body.”

In Weston A Price’s book [amazon_link id=”0916764206″ target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]Nutrition and Physical Degeneration[/amazon_link] he talks about how not until recently could lions in captivity reproduce.  It was always common knowledge that zoos needed lion mothers recently captured from the jungle in order for them to reproduce.  Recently it was discovered that When a lion in captivity makes a kill the first thing it eats is the liver and then other internal organs.  Once internal organs were given to the captive lions they were then able to reproduce again and so were their young.

Fallon also quotes other studies and books drawing links between infertility, blindness weakness, inability to thrive, prolonged labors, birth defects, and increased rates of death of mother and babies of different animals when their consumption of Vitamin A was lower than needed or restricted all together.

Just a thought of mine, and not anything Fallon suggests in her book… but there are so many infertility issues in America currently.  And probably not many of those women eat much organ meat.  Maybe an increase in Vitamin A consumption from organ meats might help???  Hmmm….

Tree Climber and I haven’t had any problems having babies (4,3 and 1), but that doesn’t mean that I couldn’t benefit from getting more Vitamin A and D! 😉  I’m so thankful and blessed to have healthy, uneventful, uncomplicated pregnancies.  I thank God for that and realize even more that He has given us such a variety of things to eat and enjoy that makes life wonderful and full of joys which are a small taste of what heaven will be like!

Read Part XX