Is Meat Good for You After All?

[Nelson Vergel]

Red meat is in the news again.

Last week, the Annals of Internal Medicine published 5 new reviews from the Nutritional Recommendations (NutriRECS) international consortium looking at the impact of red and processed meat consumption on many health outcomes — cancer mortality, cancer risk, diabetes, heart disease, and more.

What caused a stir are the specific recommendations made by this group. In their dietary guideline recommendations[6] the panel suggested “ ... that adults continue current unprocessed red meat consumption (weak recommendation, low-certainty evidence). Similarly, the panel suggests adults continue current processed meat consumption (weak recommendation, low-certainty evidence)”.

Headline Whiplash: Red meat is good for you now?

 

[davidrn]

It depends where you live in the USA, but grass fed beef is available in many grocery stores lately. Myself, I buy grass fed (or pastured) beef or pork direct from the farm. The only issue is, my wife has cut back on pork after I brought her to see new baby pigs, she knows what they look like. I help with giving the piglets iron shots, and castrating the males, occasionally help bring an adult to market. Costs are more expensive, but, I consider the costs worth it.

 

[JohnTaylorHK]

Red meat is in the news again.
Headline Whiplash: Red meat is good for you now?

Meat+Water=Zero Carb Zen

 

[AndrogenHacker]

Based on the research I've read, I've come to this conclusion:

It depends on your goals.

If your goal is to optimize testosterone naturally (and therefore quality of life), then absolutely red meat needs to be a staple in your diet.

In the other hand:

If your goal is longevity without regard to quality, then it is best to keep the red meat to a minimum.

The research is conflicting but,

The negative effects attributed to red meat can possibly be negated by opting for organic, grass fed, etc.

My two cents.

Kind regards,
David, RN, CCRN

 

[Johnny6419]

Hi, we know that a healthy balanced diet includes protein from meat or from fish or eggs which are very essential for our body to get fit and active but it also contains some negative effects by eating too much red meat increases the risk of diabetes by eating too many steaks red meat burgers it may also lead to heart disease and very dangerous for human health.

 

[forumjoe]

Hi, we know that a healthy balanced diet includes protein from meat or from fish or eggs which are very essential for our body to get fit and active but it also contains some negative effects by eating too much red meat increases the risk of diabetes by eating too many steaks red meat burgers it may also lead to heart disease and very dangerous for human health.

Any credible research to back up the statement that red meat increases the risk of diabetes and causes heart disease? Most of the stuff that you can read is associations but to my knowledge there is no credible research making a direct link between those.

 

[bixt]

Heart disease....well ok. If you were unfit and obese then sure, saturated fats can increase cholesterol and thats a linkage.

But diabetes? You are mixing up your carbs and meats man

(disclaimer: Given a fit healthy guy who exercises intensely daily, I personally believe red meat will do no harm)

 

[JohnTaylorHK]

There is an apparent link between the nitrates used in processing meat (preservatives?) and colon cancer. It has also been suggested that red meat forms nitrosos (sic) that have a similar effect. One metastudy, showing how inadequate the science thus far is, can be found here. Namaste.

 

[Vince]

I don't know why we're concerned about red meat. The way people go to fast foods, eat junk food, drink soda. Most people will never eat a healthy diet.

 

[BigTex]

Oddly enough, my wife is a national champion in bodybuilding and ex-pro. She has eaten red meat all of her life as she grew up in Buenos Aires, Argentina. She is 59 years old and still eats lots of red meat including parts most would not think of eating. Her blood work comes out clean every time.

Just for the record, my cardiologist who works at Debakey Cardiology Associates at Methodist in Houston is trying hard to get me on the high fat, keto diet. He says it is much better on the cardiovascular system. Keto is not high protein so I have to bow out and those type II muscle fibers sure need carbohydrates.

 

[Nelson Vergel]

My gut is the most stable when I eat meat every day. My lipids are always good.

But once I get off the wagon with sweets, the bloat starts.

 

[BigTex]

Nelson, I am not sure my wife would be able to make it without her beef. I eat some beef but prefer white meat chicken, fish and whey protein.....with milk of course. My wife can absolutely not handle carbohydrates of any kind. She loves them but has the same problem you do. She looks like a gold fish the next day after a cup of rice.

 

[Gman86]

Nelson, I am not sure my wife would be able to make it without her beef. I eat some beef but prefer white meat chicken, fish and whey protein.....with milk of course. My wife can absolutely not handle carbohydrates of any kind. She loves them but has the same problem you do. She looks like a gold fish the next day after a cup of rice.

Grassfed beef, and any other ruminant animal meat that’s eating it’s natural diet is going to be one of the healthiest foods on the planet, if not the healthiest. So ur wife is absolutely on the right track. For u, I would try to include more ruminant animal meat. Ruminant animals have 4 chambers to their stomachs, so even if they don’t eat a diet that’s all that healthy, their meat that we consume still ends up being pretty favorable for us overall. Opposed to mono-gastric animals, like chickens, pigs and fish, where if they’re eating crap, ur eating crap by consuming their meat. And I would just make sure the whey protein ur consuming comes from grassfed cows. Oh, and commercial pasteurized and homogenized dairy is going to be very inflammatory. It’s a dead food, and all the healthy bacteria and enzymes needed to digest it properly are killed off in the pasteurization process. If u want to consume dairy, try to always consume grassfed raw dairy, organic if possible. Any raw, grassfed dairy is a superfood.

 

[BigTex]

Being I live in Texas, beef is a staple. I use to love to cook on a grill but the price of beef has gone up so much it is not as fun. I am very spoiled an only eat the lean cuts of beef. My wife being from Buenos AIres loves the fatty sections and organ meets. So here they are so much cheaper because no one really wants them. So I try to stick with chicken and seafoods. It honestly gets expensive to consume 480g of protein on a daily basis.

 

[Gman86]

Being I live in Texas, beef is a staple. I use to love to cook on a grill but the price of beef has gone up so much it is not as fun. I am very spoiled an only eat the lean cuts of beef. My wife being from Buenos AIres loves the fatty sections and organ meets. So here they are so much cheaper because no one really wants them. So I try to stick with chicken and seafoods. It honestly gets expensive to consume 480g of protein on a daily basis.

Jesus Christ, 480g of protein a day?! Ya I can definitely see how ur grocery bill can easily sky rocket if ur not careful lol. Gaining muscle wise chicken and seafoods will definitely do the trick, but just keep in mind they’re not the healthiest, unless ur getting chicken from pastured chickens that only eat their natural diet, and seafood that’s all wild caught and doesn’t contain too much mercury. And just keep in mind that with the way ur wife eats, compared to what ur mostly eating, she’s most likely gonna outlive u by many many years. Just calling it how I see it lol. But hopefully u can eventually get on her diet and u both can live into old age together

 

[BigTex]

Jesus Christ, 480g of protein a day?! Ya I can definitely see how ur grocery bill can easily sky rocket if ur not careful lol. Gaining muscle wise chicken and seafoods will definitely do the trick, but just keep in mind they’re not the healthiest, unless ur getting chicken from pastured chickens that only eat their natural diet, and seafood that’s all wild caught and doesn’t contain too much mercury. And just keep in mind that with the way ur wife eats, compared to what ur mostly eating, she’s most likely gonna outlive u by many many years. Just calling it how I see it lol. But hopefully u can eventually get on her diet and u both can live into old age together

My wife eats a huge amount of red meat but does a lot of intermittent fasting (8/16). Eating Natural here in Houston is almost impossible. The term 'natural" usually means it is the same thing as in Costco but 3 x the price. I do a carb cycling diet where I go high carb, medium carb and low carb on the weekends. So I eat quite a bit of carbs on Mon-Wed and almost none on the weekend. Helps me keep the fuel for workouts 5 days a week but also allows me to maintain a pretty low body fat. We have both cut most all vegetable oil and eat mostly mono or saturated fats, avocado oil coconut oil and Ghee butter. I also take in quite a bit of fish oil to keep the c-reactive protein levels at a minimum. I only eat white fish (shrimp, scallops redfish) and white chicken meat, eggs milk, and tons of isolate whey. Easier to get the protein but keep the dietary fats down to 133g/d. We live close to the Gulf so there is plenty of fresh fish here right off the boats.