12 Reasons You Should Eat More Meat

One of the biggest and most detrimental myths in society today in regard to what constitutes a healthy diet is the belief that one shouldn’t eat meat. The reasons to eat meat are basic — it is essential for a healthy mind and body and the lack of meat in the diet is one of the biggest contributors to the epidemics of obesity, depression, heart disease, anxiety disorders, hyperactivity, type 2 diabetes, insulin resistance, hypoglycemia, compulsive overeating, candida overgrowth, food addiction, alcoholism, drug addiction, insomnia and many more.

Eating meat is not what leads to heart disease, obesity, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and all the other health conditions that it is blamed for. It is sugar and the overconsumption of complex carbohydrates like grains, legumes, and potatoes, that break down into sugar in the body.

People are confused with all the messages about “eat more grains and avoid fat” and never hear about the reasons to eat meat. The truth of the matter is that grains of any kind, even whole grains, are not healthy for you. The gastrointestinal tract of the human being does not process whole grains very effectively. They actually damage the GI tract and disrupt metabolism. The body can actually get most of the glucose it needs from protein and fat – carbohydrates like grains, legumes, and potatoes are not needed.

Additionally, the body and the mind need fat and cholesterol to function properly. For example, they are crucial for neurotransmitter production and function, blood sugar regulation, hormone production and function, a healthy nervous system, and providing energy. They also increase our ability to absorb nutrients, aid in digestion, and prevent constipation.

However, it is the kind of meat you eat that is important. You should not be eating processed meat or grain-fed cattle. It is grain-fed cattle and processed meat that is pumped full of sugar, salt, chemicals, additives, nitrates, hormones, pesticides, antibiotics, and preservatives that will lead to disease, but not grass-fed, organic, and whole cuts of meat like steaks, roasts, legs, thighs, breasts, or ground.

You should not be eating pepperoni, salami, sausage, chicken fingers, buffalo wings, bologna, or deep-fried, and you should avoid pork cuts of all kinds. Pork harbors a variety of parasites that are not killed with cooking. Your meat should be organic, hormone and antibiotic-free, grass-fed, and cage-free. Being grass-fed for cattle is very important because cows that eat grains have higher amounts of fat and an unhealthy balance in their omega-3 to omega-6 ratio.

Although fish is a healthy meat in most respects, it is pretty much impossible to find fish that isn’t contaminated with high levels of mercury or other toxins from our polluted bodies of water, which is poisonous to the human body, so fish should be minimized.

I encourage you to eat more meat and here are 12 more reasons why:

1. The first and most important reason you should eat meat is because that is the way you were created biologically. Human beings are meat eaters by nature and our bodies require the nourishment that meat provides. Prior to the introduction of sugar, grains, legumes, and dairy in our diet, the degenerative health conditions that plague our society today did not exist. The Paleolithic diet is the diet that human beings should be eating, and meat is the major component.

2. Not eating meat leads to yeast and bacterial overgrowth.

3. Not eating meat leads to or perpetuates sugar addiction, carbohydrate addiction, compulsive overeating, alcoholism, and addiction in general.

4. Meat builds stronger muscles.

5. Meat keeps blood sugar stable and halts cravings for carbohydrates.

6. Meat and its by-products are the only complete sources of protein available to us. All other forms of protein are incomplete and don’t provide us with all the essential amino acids the body and mind need to function adequately, or the levels present are not sufficient.

7. Not eating meat leads to neurotransmitter imbalances that result in a variety of mental and physical health conditions like anxiety, depression, hyperactivity, attention deficit, and addiction. Eating red meat has been shown to reduce symptoms like anxiety and depression.

8. Meat boosts the immune system and antibodies that protect you from infections.

9. Meat is a supreme source of iron and B12

10. Meat protein gives you long-lasting energy, unlike carbohydrates which gives you a high and then a crash.

11. Salmon and organic, grass-fed beef, as well as buffalo, are good sources of balanced omega-3 to omega-6 ratio. Organic grass-fed beef and buffalo are also good sources of CLA, conjugated linolic acid, a substance that has antioxidant and anti-tumor properties and is attributed to reducing abdominal fat, glucose uptake, and changes in serum total lipids.

12. Meat helps you burn fat.

How much meat you should eat with each meal may vary from person to person depending on your unique biochemical needs and what health conditions you may face. It is recommended that slightly more than half of your meal should consist of meat.

That is what I have found to be true in my own life. I eat about eight ounces of meat with each meal. I need eight ounces of meat in each of my meals or I can’t stabilize my blood sugar. If I eat less than eight ounces of meat, I will have severe hypoglycemia symptoms and develop a migraine.

Your meat should be accompanied by a moderate amount of fat, and a lesser amount of low-starch vegetables. Eggs are acceptable as well. Fruit, nuts, and seeds should be minimized.

Yes, I’m aware that some environmentalists say we shouldn’t eat meat because it’s bad for the environment. I am a strong environmentalist, but I completely disagree with this stance. We can’t shoot ourselves in the foot in the process of protecting the environment. Eating meat is essential for our physical and mental health, therefore we must find another solution to manage the negative impact that cattle has on the environment. Human beings are an important species in the environment and our health needs must be taken into account. Telling people they shouldn’t eat meat is as irresponsible and destructive as telling someone to ignore global warming and recycling.

Yes, I’m also aware that vegetarians say we shouldn’t eat meat because it’s unethical or immoral. I, too am an animal lover and a strong supporter of the ethical treatment of animals. However, eating meat is not inhumane, unkind, immoral, or unethical. It is the way nature intended it to be. We must first be kind, respectful and loving to our own bodies, and that means providing it with the nourishment that nature intended it to have. It is entirely possible to eat meat in an ethical and humane way by eating organic meat that is cage-free and grass-fed.

According to some of the most respected authorities on the subject like Professor Loren Cordain, the human genome has not changed very much in the last 40,000 years — less than 0.02 percent. As a matter of fact, 99.99% of our genes were developed before the agricultural revolution. For more than two million years we were meat eaters — grains, dairy, legumes, and sugar were not part of the diet. This means our bodies were genetically programmed to function most optimally on a diet that includes meat, vegetables, eggs, fish, nuts, seeds, and fruit — not grains, legumes, potatoes, sugar, and dairy.

I agree with this line of research because that is what I have found to be true in my own life. I’ve dealt with a variety of health issues over the years, including addiction, hypoglycemia, chronic fatigue, hormonal imbalances, fibromyalgia, candida overgrowth, anxiety attacks, compulsive overeating, depression, food sensitivities, and irritable bowel and I found that eating a diet that consists primarily of animal protein and fat with a small number of vegetables was the primary factor needed for healing each of these conditions. As a matter of fact, it was the ingestion of sugar, grains, legumes, and potatoes or other high carbohydrate foods that were at the root of these conditions.

To learn more about the importance of meat in your diet, I encourage you to take a look at The Primal Blueprint and The Paleo Diet.

The reasons to eat meat are clear — it is required by the body and mind to function optimally.

References

Missing Link Ate Meat.” History of Humans Eating Meat. Dr. Al Sears, 01 Nov. 2010. Web. 26 July 2012. https://www.alsearsmd.com/missing-link-ate-meat/

Dr. Al Sears – Why I Prescribe Meat to my Patients https://www.alsearsmd.com/why-i-prescribe-meat-to-my-patients/

Mark’s Daily Apple- Did Grok Really Eat that Much Meat? https://www.marksdailyapple.com/did-grok-really-eat-that-much-meat/

American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Vol. 71, No. 3, 682-692, March 2000 Plant-animal subsistence ratios and macronutrient energy estimations in worldwide hunter-gatherer diets.

Cordain, Loren. The Paleo Diet. Wiley, 2001

Jacka FN, et al. “A randomized controlled trial of dietary improvement for adults with major depression (the ‘SMILES’ trial).” BMC Med. 2017;15(1):23.

Dr. Joseph Mercola https://www.mercola.com/beef/cla.htm