Thursday, March 15, 2012

Will Red Meat Kill Us?

If you've listened to the news, opened a newspaper or have participated in social media, I have no doubt that yet once again, you've been led to believe that your red meat consumption will kill you.

I have been practicing a lower carbohydrate omnivorous diet for 12 years now and working very hard to study the latest research for not only myself but my family as well.

I have quite a few people who count on me for accurate advice as related to current science and trends in dietary choices.

It's frustrating when these studies come out and even more frustrating that they're referred to as "studies" and "science". There is no science in a self reporting correlative study.

I'm no scientist and readily admit that I'm just a former fat girl who lost some weight and reversed a few health related ailments through a lower carb, grain free, whole foods lifestyle so I turn to the "science heads" and "dietary smarties" for guidance on determining the factors that truly make up the factors in these findings.

One of my favorite writers is a humble soul by the name of Denise Minger who has bit by bit, analyzed The China Study by T. Colin Campbell. Now Denise is a former raw vegan who has recently analyzed her own diet due to poor health and has figured out the appropriate diet for her biochemical individuality. Denise contributed her thoughts on Mark Sisson's site, Marks Daily Apple and as usual with humor and intelligence, two qualities that draw me to this chickie.

Zoe Harcombe, another intelligent female whom at the top of her website exclaims
"Because everything you know about obesity is wrong"

Zoƫ discovered that there are three medical conditions that cause insatiable food cravings. She also experienced all three first hand. And so her first book came about the answer to the million dollar question,
The Obesity Epidemic: What Caused It? How Can We Stop It?

Why Do You Overeat?: When All You Want Is to Be Slim was published in 2004 and it continues to change the lives of people who read it. In light of her more than 2 decades of study and research, Zoe has so eloquently interpreted what the data really states.

Of course if you've followed me for any period of time, you know that one of the most influental people in my life has been Robb Wolf. Robb, a biochemist has a personal story of his own health recovering from a grain dominant vegan diet in his book The Paleo Solution: The Original Human Diet. Robb contributes his thoughts in what he calls "The Meatpocalypse". Now I know Robb would giggle if he read this but I do believe he's the smartest person I know. That might not be saying much about my little world, but I think many other smart folks out there would agree with this. He is a self proclaimed geek and one with a great deal of humor. Never is there a podcast or writing where Robb doesn't make me laugh out loud. My dark sense of humor perhaps?

Another professional I follow is a Bay Area local by the name of Chris Kresser. Chris has a practice in Berkeley, California and is the creator of The Healthy Baby Code, a program that encourages and increases fertility through a Whole Foods lifestyle. Not only does Chris have a successful practice and a blog but he also provides a most valuable podcast that I love to listen to. Chris has taken the study out of Harvard and contributed his professional thoughts and opinion on this matter here.

And finally, from Coach Charles Poliquin's site. Hailed as one of the world's premier strength coaches, Coach Poliquin has successfully trained professional athletes and Olympians worldwide. His training methods and nutritional philosophies quickly became highly sought after in the industry and it became our goal to improve the level of sports performance throughout the world by developing a higher quality strength coach:

"Until the day I see a single randomized, clinical study showing that a diet of grass-fed meat and a ton of vegetables produces a single percentage point increase in early death, heart disease, cancer or diabetes, I’m sticking to the same diet that I’ve been on for over a decade: grass-fed meat, wild salmon, tons of vegetables, berries, nuts, full-fat yogurt and as little sugar and grains as I can manage to live without. That’s kept me healthy, energetic and without a single serious medical condition for 60-something years. I realize that’s not much of a scientific experiment—but then again, neither was the study from Harvard."


We can find many more who have written about this but I do believe that the above references should satisfy you as you pull that grass fed ground beef out of the freezer. Rest assured knowing that red meat is used therapeutically to assist an ill person back into the circle of good health due to the vitamins and minerals present. Take into consideration, in a 2.6 million year human history, we evolved on ruminants. It was not until we over hunted Bison that we began eating grains and from there, disease began. The Masai of Tankanika, a herding population have shown no degenerative disease subsiding on red meat and the blood of their herds.

But we've known for more than 50 years the truth about our consumption of real, nutrient dense food from pioneer Weston A. Price. Remove the equation of refined foods and vegetable oils and ones health improves exponentially.


As my friend Sean Croxton has said so many times;

Old Foods Do Not Cause New Diseases