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Have Some Guts
by Ox
 Hey
hardcore, when was the last time you ate any other part of a chicken
aside from the breast? Wait a minute; you almost forgot that chickens
actually have a complete anatomy. It’s easy to begin thinking that on a
farm somewhere chicken breasts are just growing like crazy. When every
time you go to the store, you just grab a bunch of packs of chicken
breast it’s easy to forget that any other parts of the animal even
exist. What about the rest of the chicken? The thighs or the legs? I
know they don’t offer as much protein per square inch as the breast.
What about the organs? The liver, the heart? Do they even contain any
protein at all? Man, you’re such a fuckin meathead. All you think about
is protein.
Seriously though, we all know how important
carbs, proteins and fats are when it comes to fulfilling our
nutritional needs. But what about the other shit out there? And yes,
there is more to nutrition that just carbs, proteins and fats. That’s
why you wash down handful after handful of supps remember? Vitamins,
minerals, aminos and all that great shit. But what about beyond that?
What about nutrients that haven’t even been identified or ones that
have but you’d drive yourself crazy trying to supplement with all of
them.
Think about it like this. You know that it takes amino acids to build
and repair muscle tissue right? So you fill your diet with protein from
various sources. You know carbs give you energy and keep your muscle
full so you eat em accordingly. And you’ve finally come to accept the
role that healthy fats play in your diet you now you even include them.
But what about getting a greater amount of vitamins, minerals and
phytonutrients from food we either throw away or simply choose not to
eat?
What about organs? Like I already said, we eat all the lean cuts of
beef, chicken and so on but we rarely find any use for the organs.
Calves liver is packed with vitamins, minerals and protein; look it up.
Same goes for chicken hearts and kidneys taken from different animals.
Ever had chicken hearts? They’re good. What about bone marrow? Veal or
beef bones; either way it’s not only delicious and cheap, but nutrient
dense as well. That’s right pussy, I get bones from the butcher and
bake em in my oven and then scoop that mushy shit out and gobble it
down. If I cook a whole fish I’ll eat the eyes too. Why not?
The way I see it, in all those things we tend to avoid, there must be
something useful. Isn’t that the idea behind glandular extracts? In
theory if I were to eat the liver of another animal, there must be
substances and nutrients in that liver that would help to build,
strengthen and or repair my liver. If eating lean muscle tissue can
help to increase your muscle tone then I don’t see any reason why
consuming any other part of an animal wouldn’t be of some benefit to
one or many or your own organs or systems. Think about it; the liver of
an animal must be the most concentrated source of nutrients specific to
one’s liver.
Consider this, if an infant is given a limited supply of nutrients, the
greatest percentage will go toward the development of organs and
glands. Watch a person wither away from starvation; the lean tissue is
the first to go. So it would stand to reason that in any animal, the
organs must be the most concentrated source of nutrition. Have you ever
watched the Discovery Channel or National Geographic channel? Watch a
lion attack a zebra and notice that the most prized part of the catch
is the organs. Better yet, do you have a dog at home? Surprise him or
her all at once with some lean meat, some organs and a fresh bone from
the butcher. Let me know which one he goes for first. I can guarantee
you it ain’t the lean meat. And I know what you’re thinking; wild
animals aren’t worried about being as big and lean as possible. I agree
with you. But the main point is that if an animal who relies on
instinct is drawn to one source of nutrition over another, you can be
sure it’s because it’s a more concentrated source of nutrients. You’ve
already come to accept that whole eggs are an incredibly dense in
nutrition. A pound of lean ground turkey meat has 112g protein and 448
calories and 6 jumbo whole eggs has 50g protein, 36g fat and 540
calories. Which one do you choose? The eggs are loaded with vitamins
and minerals, good EFAs and even pack more calories. The point is to
include both but not always simply go for one because it has more
protein and less fat. Don’t be a meathead; there are other valuable
nutrients besides protein when it comes to building muscle and burning
fat.
What about an apple? Let me guess; you don’t eat the seeds or the core.
Don’t tell me you peel it or I will bitch slap you when I see you.
There are a whole list of phytonutrients found in the skin and seeds of
apples. You like to read shit on your computer; look up the health
benefits of an apple. An apple a day can do everything from helping to
fight cancer to helping you shit better. Apple seeds are a concentrated
source of laetrile, a substance used as an alternative cancer
treatment; that’s pretty wild shit.
We, as bodybuilders, have a bad habit of looking at things and asking
ourselves how many grams of carbs, protein and fat it contains and
stopping there. Sometimes the toughest questions have the simplest
answers and other times, the answer is more roundabout. How do I
increase my strength on the bench press? Do more bench presses. True.
But who would have thought that doing heavy squats could also improve
your bench strength? It’s easy to forget that the body is a system;
nothing happens in isolation. Every single thing affects another. You
know that to develop a great physique you need to train hard but that
you also need variety and you need to hit things from different angles.
Same goes for nutrition. |
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