Todd Moody wrote:
>
> Perhaps the French eating more organ meats and root vegetables is part of
> their better health. Also for the Greeks. Organ meats and root vegetables
> are strongly featured in hunter gatherer diets- I strongly encourage them as
> firstly I suspect they  are important to good health and secondly I don't
> like Paleo diets being diets of exclusion- if one concentrates too much on
> what NOT to eat one gets monotony, so these give us some room to broaden the
> diet (even if many people find turnips and liver unappetising, that is their
> freedom to choose). I was never able to find the antioxidant levels of root
> vegetables despite a thorough search. The lacklustre reputation of root
> vegetables may have left them unfairly ignored by the biochemists.

Have you tried the USDA nutrient database?  It doesn't cover things like
lycopene, but it certainly lists the antioxidant vitamins and minerals.

ITA about organ meats.  I had a debate on a totally
non-nutrition-related newsgroup recently because one of the posters came
up with the old canard about liver being unhealthy because it's "the
filter of the body" -- as if livers were like oil filters, and all the
toxins just stayed in them.  I try to work liver in fairly frequently,
and need to start eating kidneys again; I grew up eating them and always
liked them.  I mean, liked them as in, "Oh, goody, kidneys for dinner!!"
rather than, "Oh, okay, I'll eat them..."

Haven't tried sweetbreads, but I suppose I should; I bet I'd like them.
I do worry about brain, what with CJD and all that.  Oh, and marrow is
arguably the most delicious substance on the planet.  Hot lamb marrow,
mmmmmm... <drools>

Of course, we could all just eat a lot of cheap luncheon meat,
liverwurst, and chorizo.  Isn't that where most organ meats go
nowadays?  The chorizo at my grocery store has "salivary and lymph
glands" listed as the primary ingredient.  Mighty tasty, too.
--
Dana W. Carpender