I think the key element is what the animals are fed; far more so than
whether they are "organic" or not (which often means they are fed
"organic" grains and soy that are not good for them). Well fed means
free-range animals that are allowed to obtain their own food in their
natural habitat for most or all of their food (which means pasture-fed
beef/bison, free-range chickens, wild fish, game meats, etc.).
Unfortunately, this near-Paleo-quality meat is now astronomically
expensive where I live, whereas it was pretty reasonable when I started
the Paleo diet, and I can't do things like store half a pasture-fed
steer in a big basement freezer or other strategies that some people
here do. I predicted these price rises (though a lot of it is due to gas
price increases) and I predict far greater price rises in the future as
more people eat Paleo and low-carb and the world's population continues
to grow.

When I do fat/protein/carb proportion analyses of my diet I find it is
very hard to get the fat proportion up, despite eating a diet high in
meat, but very easy to raise the carb proportion, as so much of the
non-dairy foods in supermarkets and even health food stores are high
carb and low fat and it's hard to eat a lot of fat when you don't eat
dairy foods like whole milk, cream and butter and avoid hydrogenated
oils (unless you eat bacon and sausage every day--and even they have a
lot of protein--or you eat a lot of suet, marrow, tongue or brain). So I
don't restrict my fat intake at all, but still probably eat less fat
than most Americans. I don't eat suet, marrow, tongue, brain or kidney
yet, so that contributes to the leanness of my diet, but I do sometimes
eat calf and chicken livers, as well as fatty wild fish. I also add
plenty of fish oil, flaxseed oil and olive oil to my diet, so it doesn't
get too lean (though I know several people here are against any
consumption of flaxseed or olive oil). 

For whatever reason, my health seems to fare best when I eat plenty of
beef jerky, wild salmon and other fish. Unfortunately, some people hate
the smell of fish when I clean it or cook it and others think eating
jerky or unbattered fish is wierd--some don't even know what jerky is. I
don't let the critical comments  bother me (mostly from the younger
generations who rarely see, much less eat, foods that aren't processed),
but it undercuts my authority a bit because so many people seem to
assume that anyone who eats jerky or wild fish or doesn't eat processed
foods must be a misguided fanatic or a bit crazy. Trying to explain
healthy eating only seems to confirm the assumptions of many of these
people (so I usually don't bother). Luckily, there are some who grasp it
quickly.

On Thu, 24 Jul 2008 19:23:16 +0100, "Ashley Moran" <[log in to unmask]>
said:
> On Jul 24, 2008, at 7:00 pm, Larry Magee wrote:
> 
> > The Paleo Diet recommends lean meat but also recommends organ meats  
> > that are
> > very high fat, like beef sweetbreads and tongue (see www.nutritiondata.com 
> > ).
> > These organs from the young animal (veal) aren't too high in fat,  
> > but would
> > probably hard to find.
> >
> > I'm assuming there are a lot of Paleo Dieters that eat the beef  
> > sweetbreads
> > and tongue.  Is the high fat okay?  Also, all the organ meats are  
> > pretty
> > high in cholesterol.  What is the answer about that?
> 
> 
> Hi Larry
> 
> As far as I'm concerned, Cordain is just plain *wrong* about fat.   
> Animal fat is a very healthy, at least from well-fed organic animals,  
> and should be a significant (if not your primary) source of energy.
> 
> Dietary saturated fat and cholesterol do not cause any of the health  
> issues they are alleged to.  I suggest reading either The Cholesterol  
> Con[1] or The Cholesterol Myths[2] and having a look at the THINCS  
> site[3].  [1] is more accessible than [2], if you don't mind the  
> scathing tone.
> 
> It is my single biggest frustration that there no paleo book tells you  
> to eat animal fat.  Even Neanderthin tells you to trim excess fat from  
> meat.
> 
> Ashley ....