On Jun 20, 2004, at 10:07 pm, Michael Weis wrote:
> Many people believe that chicken skin is among the worst substances a
> human
> can possibly ingest because it's almost completely composed of fat and
> cholesterol.

I've been going through a phase lately of wanting animal fat.  We had
crispy duck tonight as part of a chinese and I went straight for the
fatty bits of skin.  I'm not normally like this but I am inclined to
follow my body seeing as most dietary advice is just plain wrong.  My
only concern is that modern meat is of such poor quality that my body
is guiding me towards food that is far from what it is hoping for,
nutrionally.

> Is there any reason why, based on the principles of the paleolithic
> diet, that
> one wouldn't want
> to eat chicken skin? Also, Cordain recommends only eating white
> chicken meat,
> but that doesn't
> really make sense to me. What would our paleolithic ancestors have
> done, just
> thrown away the
> dark meat because it wasn't healthy? I don't think so.

Cordain promotes lean meat, but I suspect that is because he has in
mind that most people change their diet to lose weight, and it's very
hard to tell overweight people to eat fatty meat, as it would be
possible to overeat and make the diet a "failure".

I suspect more and more than muscle is the worst (or rather, least
good) part of an animal to eat.  Nutritionally, organs are the best
part of an animal.   For energy, you are best off eating the fat.

Cordain also says you should have a regular intake of meat, but I
imagine paleolithic people had to gorge on meat every few days and then
went without until the next kill.  (Depends on the skill of the hunters
in the group and the type of local wildlife I guess.)  I would be
interested to know if anyone has ever ate like this.