Should I eat meat? I asked myself this question years ago. I thought being vegan was somehow better for me than eating meat.
I’ll admit I was a bit biased towards being vegan because I heard beef stays in your intestine for seven days before you get rid of it.
I also had my issues with “feedlot” beef as every time I ate it, my stomach would gurgle, hurt, then gurgle again.
So, in my quest for pleasure and avoidance of pain, I opted to be vegan.
My experience with being vegan consisted of going to Subway and ordering a sub with vegetables and eating salads.
I was what I’d call a low budget vegan. I did the best I could on a college student’s finances. My experiment lasted a week.
I ran back to meat quickly and I’ve been a self proclaimed Meegan ( pronounced Mee-guhn) ever since.
Recently, meat has been receiving a bad rap.
If you pay attention to the mainstream media, you’ll see stories like “meat causes cancer,” “vegetarians live longer,” or any other attacks on “flesh.”
Here’s the sad thing about it…the media tends to generalize subjects.
The media knows being specific doesn’t sell magazines or makes you turn on your TV to watch the news.
If they dealt in specifics, they would tell us what kind of meat they’re demonizing.
We’ll talk more on this later but for now understand this.
Human beings are nothing more than animals with the ability to reason and sometimes we reason ourselves into absurdity.
Human Design and Meat
Over the years, I’ve heard just about every thing one could hear about why you shouldn’t eat red meat or meat period.
For instance, human beings weren’t designed to eat meat because we have a longer digestive tract unlike dogs and other animals.
Since our digestive tract is so much longer than other mammals, obviously we were evolved to eat more plant matter.
It sounds like a convincing argument but its a fallacy.
Some people don’t stop at the first obstacle to eating meat but they may get blindsided by the “teeth thing”.
What’s the teeth thing you might ask?
Well, they’re some who believe human teeth weren’t designed to rip flesh.
Human beings might not be as equipped as a lion to rip flesh from bones, but we do just as good with a knife and fork.
Oh, and what about this one because I know you’ve heard it: meat makes the body acidic.
For those who chase the acid- alkaline balance wheel there may be some truth to this.
It seems for some people who may have cancer, removing meat from the diet may be effective in establishing temporary alkalinity to ward off the disease but there are exceptions to the rule.
If you’re feeling adventuresome one day, check out William Donald Kelley and his thoughts on meat and cancer.
Meat is bad to the bone
The anti meat campaign is in full effect!
Study after study says meat causes cancer, diabetes, and every other ailment plaguing mankind.
When did we turn against meat and why did Meatless Monday become so popular?
Meat being viewed as unhealthy seems to center on two negative schools of thought…fat and cholesterol.
There’s no doubt we live in a fat phobic society- just take a look around.
People still believe eating fat will make them fat but the opposite is true…eating good saturated fat will make you slim!
If you don’t believe me, head over to my Coconut Oil Weight Loss video– it’s received over 23k views.
Its nice to see some of us are getting over our saturated fat phobia and realizing fat is good.
The link between saturated fat and cholesterol seems to be mutually exclusive where one causes the other.
This isn’t so! Meat is composed of stearic acid which has been shown to have a neutral effect on cholesterol levels.
So, if it has a neutral effect on cholesterol how could it cause heart disease?
Well, if you know anything about meat, you know it contains both fat and cholesterol, right?
If you tell the masses meat will give them a heart attack what do you think will happen?
I’ll spell it out for you: you can sell a lot more cholesterol lowering drugs and vegetable oils not to mention “leaner” cuts of meat.
They ain’t all good
Here’s one thing I know. All studies ain’t good! I learned this firsthand as a pharmaceutical rep.
When I visited doctors in my territory, I would walk in armed with the latest study detailing how my antibiotic was the best.
I had no idea the rep before me representing my competitor was doing the exact same thing.
I later found out pharmaceutical companies fund their own studies.
Now…if you’re a research company and I fund your study, is it advantageous for the research company to find a chink in my armor?
Of course not!
On the flip side, pharmaceutical companies also fund their own studies in order to prove to the FDA their drug is safe.
Whenever I see a new study detailing the dangers of meat, my “What you talkin’ bout Willis face” comes out.
Most studies are poorly conducted and funded from a source or sources with underlying agendas.
Top Shelf Meat vs. Booty Meat
All meat isn’t the same. You have what I term top shelf meat and “booty meat”.
Booty meat is sold in your local grocery store. It’s unhealthy and the majority of people eat it.
The meat comes from sick animals most likely from factory farms. No one can get good health from a sick animal.
In order to find the good meat you may have to source it locally. Top shelf meats include:
- Grassfed
- Pasture Raised
- Wild Caught
When you eat premium meat you’re getting nutrient dense meat.
When you eat booty meat, well…you’re eating booty meat 🙂
Booty meat is usually manufactured with antibiotics, hormones, and who knows what else.
The Benefits of Top Shelf Meat
Meat provides three benefits… Glutamine, Glycine, and Carnitine.
These nutrients are essential for a healthy brain, fat loss, and prevention of food cravings.
Coincidentally, non meat eaters are more likely to suffer from mental disorders than meat eaters.
Vitamin B12 found in meat and absent from plant foods is essential for healthy digestion, brain function, and cancer prevention.
I’d say that’s pretty important, huh?
Ask yourself…should I eat meat? I do but I don’t indulge in “booty meat.”
All meat isn’t the same, contrary to popular belief, but the media will make you think otherwise.
We now have Meatless Monday and Meat Bashing Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.
The campaign against meat is alive and well, while genetically modified plants creep into our lives.
It sounds like someone or some “thing” has an agenda, right?
Everyone has a choice to follow whatever diet they choose. I choose to eat meat because I like it and happen to think its healthy.
Meat is magnificent! My name is Darren “Phat-Man” McDuffie and I’m A Meegan dammit!
If you know someone who may be asking themselves should they eat meat, share this post with them. Meat eaters have to stick together.
Any thoughts on meat? Leave your comments below!