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Giving Some Respect to Meat

These days you can’t open a health magazine or a newspaper, or watch a news story, where meat is not being maligned by someone. Well, meat is a good food and humans are not natural born vegetarians as some would try to convince the majority. It just isn’t so when you investigate the evolution of humankind. Meat contains essential fatty acids that contributed to the growth of the human brain to 4 times the size as it was when our early ancestors were vegetarian. A bigger brain equals a smarter creature. It’s not just the food, or tigers would be building spaceships, but there is something within humanity that when combined with adopting an animal based diet, led to brain development which brought us to the top of the evolutionary chain on this planet. It may have started with foraging on carcasses or by scavenging shellfish in the coastal areas, but the essential fatty acids and omega fats in meat and fish are what got the ball rolling with respect to the growth and intellectual capacity of the human brain. This isn’t to say that vegetarians today are somehow dumber. They are the beneficiaries of their carnivorous lineage. If humanity adopted a strict vegetarian diet en masse, however, you could probably expect somewhat of a biological weakened state over several generations. There is already data to suggest that populations which rely on vegetarian lifestyles and have diets high in pro inflammatory Omega 6 vegetable fats have high rates of atherosclerosis and other pro inflammatory maladies. There are also studies to show that populations who have meat and fish based diets do very well health wise. Do not confuse the Western diet for the Eskimo diet, however. While meat and animal fat consumption may be high in the Western diet, it is also loaded with processed foods, Omega 6 fatty acids, and other factors which are then erroneously blamed on meat consumption. This is an issue for another article, however.

Protein from meat is very easy for the human body to assimilate and reorganize into body tissues for growth and repair. The human body is a biological body of animal composition, and so are the bodies of our prey animals. Plants are plants, and usually don’t even contain all of the essential amino acids. Even with food combining to attain all of the essential amino acids, meat contains fatty acids and other constituents which our bodies are very good at combining to support our growth and health needs. We need these biochemicals to produce hormones, for example. Even with the Omega 3 fatty acids, the body has to convert plant Omega 3, otherwise known as ALA, into the usable DHA which is already found in abundance in fish and wild reared animals, without having to convert them. The conversion process is also not always efficient. Some people cannot convert ALA to DHA , especially as they age.

Vitamin B12 is only available from animal based foods or by a reaction of gut bacteria, which some people lack because of the overuse of antibiotics has wiped their intestines clear of probiotics. The nervous system and the blood are reliant on adequate B12 intake. If you eat meat then your B12 levels should be sufficient.

Carnitine is needed by the heart and for the health of the entire cardiovascular system. Red meat is a rich source of this essential amino acid. Beef and lamb are a great source of palmitoleic and linoleic acids. They fight cancer as well as viruses and other pathenogenic organisms. Animals that have been fed grass also provide us with CLA, conjugated linoleic acid, which is protective against cancer and fosters weight loss. Zinc, which is necessary for the immune system and for prostate and sexual health in men, is provided by meat and animal based foods.

Meat is a healthy food which should be a part of any health based diet. As with any food, you can get too much of a good thing, so don’t stuff yourself and you will be fine. A diet based around healthy fat providing meats, along with full fat dairy and eggs, while being supplemented with low glycemic vegetables, is the best thing that you can do for your health. The current epidemic of inflammatory disease can actually be laid at the feet of processed carbohydrates, processed foods, and chemicals rather than at the feet of foods which humanity has been thriving on since the dawn of man.

Sprucing up a Meat and Potatoes Diet with Healthier Foods

By T.J. Paul

There are many people today who subsist totally on meat and starches like potatoes, rice, and bread. It is amazing how long the body can survive while not getting all of the nutrients it really needs. It is a testament to the genius of human biology. Unfortunately if you go long enough eating this way, you open yourself up to an array of degenerative diseases and possibly cancer which can result from DNA damage and cell mutations which can be prevented with proper nutrition and intake of antioxidants, phytochemicals, and other beneficial free radical scavengers and biochemicals derived from the intake of healthy fruits, vegetables, and healthy oils.

This author is not anti meat. Red meat can be a very healthy part of a balanced diet. It provides superior protein and its own array of antioxidants and beneficial chemicals for your body. It should not be the sole nutrient, merely combined with some vitamins and minerals derived from starchy vegetable matter such as rice or potatoes. A way out of this pattern is to introduce other green and colorful foods into the diet. You don’t have to give up meat or your starches, merely add in other good things and pretty soon you might end up reducing the other stuff just a bit in order to accommodate the newer items. Picky eaters please listen here. You should at least be open to some sort of change, if for no other reason than that you must come to grips with the overwhelming evidence that if you do not your aging years might be fraught with all sorts of pain and discomfort from a host of degenerative disease directly related to your years of stubbornly following a boring flavorless and nutrient poor diet. Having a boring palate can lead you even to getting cancer someday. Now, while there is plenty of evidence that there are genetic factors which override any sort of dietary habit, that for many people it can make the difference of going one way or the other.

Learn to like salad. Even the most diehard meat eaters can sit down and enjoy a nicely prepared salad. Iceberg lettuce is not recommended because it is pretty much devoid of nutrients. Opt for romaine lettuce or a nice spring or herb mix. You can add anything you like to your salad from other raw vegetables, to nuts and dried fruits. The more colorful the salad the better the nutritional profile becomes. You can even throw in fresh blueberries. You would be surprised at what tastes good in a salad. Red and blue pigments from berries add a rich assortment of antioxidants and phytochemicals, while tomatoes add lycopene.

Ditch the nutrition and fiber poor white bread and replace it with whole grain bread that is higher in fiber and rich with nutrients that come from the whole grain and are not merely added in by a factory. Once you get used to this bread, which takes less to fill you up due to the added fiber, you can experiment with other grain breads like oatmeal and seed mixes. The sky is the limit here as some even have nuts and nut flours mixed in.
If you have a baked potato just try adding lowfat yogurt to it instead of butter, or reduce the butter and add the yogurt. You will get some calcium as well as beneficial yogurt bacteria which also helps your B12 production via probiotic bacteria which lives in your intestines. Another thing that you can do is to replace sugar laden desserts with fruit based desserts.

All of this added healthy food might actually reduce some of your meat and starch intake while not affecting your total food intake one bit. The idea here is to add healthy nutrient dense food into your diet and to never feel deprived or that you have gone hungry. In time you will gain better health and might also lose some weight. Give it a try because you have nothing to lose but weight and bad eating habits, while gaining longevity and a brighter healthier future as you get older.