Zero Carb Keto: Essential Nutrients

I wanted to talk a little bit today about essential nutrients.

I know that many zero carb followers do not eat organ meats or bone marrow fat, but personally I think it is a good idea in order to get a full array of nutrients. Plus, they are delicious, provide variety, and make full use of the animal.

I think that liver especially is important. It provides much needed vitamin A, which is crucial for melanin production, fresh and healthy wrinkle-free skin, and good eyesight. It is also very high in copper, which is again needed for melanin, to prevent whitening of the hair and skin. Lamb liver is very mild and delicious just simply roasted lightly in the toaster oven. Beef liver can be a bit stronger flavored and has some more membranous parts, but only a few bites are needed for crucial vitamins. I notice that I get dry patches on my skin and my vision in dim lighting is worse when I am low in vitamin A!

Other important nutrients are vitamins D, E, K, and omega 3 fatty acids, which are present in the fat. There are different types of fat on an animal: visceral (around the organs), subcutaneous (under the skin), intermuscular (between the cuts), intramuscular (marbling), and marrow. Each of these have different properties and even different fatty acid compositions! 

This article does a great job of explaining the difference between visceral and subcutaneous beef fat:

https://grassfood.me/2014/02/03/what-type-of-fat-do-i-have-rendering-tallow/

This is a good discussion of the difference too:

http://meatcuttersclub.activeboard.com/t52895798/what-are-some-differences-between-fat-and-suet/

Tallow is made from visceral fat, and is very waxy and hard to clean up because of its waxiness. It is not very palatable in my opinion, however, it is more tolerable when I make beefheart jerky and leave the fat on the heart when dehydrating it. 

The other fat types are softer and more palatable. Bone marrow fat contains more unsaturated fats:

http://www.cyberlipid.org/glycer/glyc0071.htm

This table shows what the names are for the different numbers:

http://nutritiondata.self.com/topics/fatty-acids

You can see in the "Lipids of Land Animals" chart that bone marrow fat is much lower in saturated fat than tallow, and higher in omega 3 fatty acids.  I think that it why it is more palatable.

You can also see in that table that poultry and pork fat are much, much higher in 18:2 linoleic acids (omega 6) which are not as healthy:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polyunsaturated_fat

"Contrary to conventional advice, an evaluation of evidence from 1966-1973 pertaining to the health impacts of replacing dietary saturated fat with linoleic acid found that participants in the group doing so had increased rates of death from all causes, coronary heart disease, and cardiovascular disease."

So ruminant animal fats, especially bone marrow fat, are very healthy and high in essential nutrients.

Also, beef and lamb heart provide coenzyme Q10, which accordingly is known for maintaining heart health!

Beef sweetbreads (pancreas and thymus) are a great source of vitamin C. Note: vitamin C requirements are much lower when doing zero carb keto:
http://breaknutrition.com/ketogenic-diet-vitamin-c-101/

I am really grateful that my local grassfed farmers have been able to provide me with all of these wonderful organ meats! 

Grassfed beef liver with bone marrow fat