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My Response to the Harvard Red Meat Study
Many of you have asked me today my opinion on red meat intake due to recent media hype of it’s health effects.
You can always count on a some new study to come out that is trying to put the blame on “old school” foods for new modern diseases and even death. You have probably seen in the new Harvard Medical Study saying that red meat consumption is linked to early death. If not read the actual study and not an article on the study. If you don’t know how to read scientific studies, learn or you won’t ever really know what’s going on with your health. I’m no scientist, but a while ago to help further my nutrition education I dove into reading research studies because I care about my health, the health of my clients and above all the TRUTH!
You can never take an article about a study at face value (even this one). Be your own researcher, be your own health detective and above all, notice how food makes you feel, look and perform. Your body knows best, trust it… Oh, and use some common sense (more on this later)…
Disclaimer: I am not a scientist, this is simply my professional opinion as a health & fitness professional, but I will give some quotes at the end from actual scientists.
1) What’s your definition of red meat? In the study many things were counted as “red meat” such as pork, bacon, hotdogs, sausage, salami, bologna and other processed meats. (pork was queried separately only after the first 10 years of the study). You and I both know that processed meats are not an optimal protein source. Just using common sense I can’t imagine that eating processed meats regularly is a good idea, but somehow this gets counted as red meat eating?
2) Quality Control! I eat grass-fed red meat as much as possible. It delicious and so much healthier than commercially raised meat, and definitely healthier than processed commercially raised meat. You can read all about the benefits of Grass-Fed meat in My article: Steak and the Power of Green - How many want to bet that most of the people in this study did not eat grass-fed meat? It was the 70’s 80’s and 90’s y’all - I don’t think the term “grass-fed” existed then - did it?!
3) Pop Quiz: What do MOST people eat their beef with? If you said a hamburger bun, fries and a coke you get a gold star! When doing a study that involves a questionnaire there are so many flaws, who’s to say that red meat eaters in the study were not all french fry eaters and coke drinkers and if so what’s really to blame for their death? The “feared” red meat or the inflammatory, processed vegetable oils and the insulin spiking high fructose corn syrup full of chemicals???
Here’s a direct quote from the study: “Questionnaire items about unprocessed red meat consumption included “beef, pork, or lamb as main dish” (pork was queried separately beginning in 1990), “hamburger,” and “beef, pork, or lamb as a sandwich or mixed dish.” The standard serving size was 85 g (3 oz) for unprocessed red meat.”
Personally I eat way over 3 ounces of red meat per day and my doctor says I have some of the best lab scores of all her patients. The difference is I eat my red meat grass-fed with a side of spinach and some baked sweet potatoes - Yum! My meat never comes as a “sandwich” and my red meat is never in meatball form with spaghetti. Who is the real devil here: The red meat that we have been eating for hundred and thousands of years OR our processed, carb rich diets full of breads, pastas and other grains that come with a 3 oz serving of poor quality, often processed “red” meat?
4) People that shun red meat may do other “healthy” things like exercise, skip dessert, eat more veggies and pet puppy dogs at the park. You get the idea. There is no way in a study of this size to factor in all the healthy choices people make in addition to their red meat habits.
5) People who ate more than 3500 calories were excluded from the study. We excluded 5617 men and 5613 women who… reported implausible energy intake levels (<500 or >3500 kcal/d). I get it, you don’t want anorexics or obese people in the study or those that overeat considerably because it might throw off statistics, but I know plenty of VERY healthy and fit red meat eaters who eat way more than 3500 calories a day, they are called athletes. :)
6) Don’t take my word for it. Do this test yourself: For one month eat a vegetarian diet full of grains, dairy and legumes or even go raw food vegan if you are brave enough. Then the next month eat Grass-fed beef, wild caught fish, pastured poultry and eggs, grass-fed butter, coconut oil, lots of organic veggies and NO grains, dairy or legumes. Then write me and tell me how you look feel and perform. Or you can save yourself the trouble and just take my word for it, I was vegetarian and even raw food vegan for a total of 20 years. Now I eat lots of red meat, fish, poultry and eggs of GOOD quality and tons of veggies, some fruit and nuts and very little or no grains, dairy and legumes (avoiding all gluten and soy completely). I feel awesome, I look better than I did when I was 21, I have no health complaints (I had quite a few before) and my lab work rocks. Case closed.
Okay, enough about me, as promised…smart people that agree with me:
On the validity of the recent Harvard study…
“Red meat has been perceived as a villain for many years, and people who avoid red meat take all sorts of precautionary measures for their future health. It is not possible to statistically adjust for all of these measures.” Staffan Lindeberg, M.D., an associate professor of medicine at the University of Lund, Sweden.
On red meat consumption…
“Short of doing a statistical analysis, let’s consider if there are ANY examples of populations who consume significant amounts of red meat who DO NOT see deleterious health effects. That’s a pretty easy answer, the Inuit Diet. In the article it’s called the “Inuit Paradox” because it is assumed that meat is unhealthful. This is the same story as the French/Spanish paradoxes(i?) that cultures who eat loads of fat are neither as fat nor as sick as North Americans.” Robb Wolf, author of The Paleo Solution, is a former research biochemist and one of the world’s leading experts in Paleolithic nutrition.
On studies we see in the media:
“The point of this post is that you shouldn’t get wound up about a study that gets reported throughout the media because there are more than likely other studies that are just as well done and just as important showing exactly the opposite findings that the press chooses to ignore. You’re not seeing the science as it is, you’re seeing the science as the press wants you to see it, which, typically, is the way that confirms the bias of members of the press.” Dr. Michael Eades. Since 1986 Dr. Eades has been in the full time practice of bariatric, nutritional, and metabolic medicine.
On the importance of grass-fed meat…
“The case for increasing omega-3 fatty acids in the U.S. diet has broad and wide sweeping potential to improve human health. Specifically, omega-3 fatty acids and their balance with omega-6 fatty acids play an important role in the prevention and treatment of coronary heart disease, hypertension, type 2 diabetes, arthritis and other inflammatory diseases, autoimmune diseases, and cancer.”
“On average grass produced beef contains 60 mg of LC omega-3 fatty acids whereas grain produced beef contains roughly half as much (28.5 mg). Accordingly, at current levels of beef consumption in the U.S. (82 g/day) grass fed beef would contribute 20 % of the recommended LC omega-3 fatty acids while grain produced beef contributes 9.5 % of these fatty acids. Once again a more nutritionally relevant comparison is by energy. In order to achieve 50 % of the recommended LC omega-3 fatty acids (150 mg) it would require 295 kcal from a grass produced serving of beef, whereas to reach a similar level, it would require 673 kcal from grain produced beef. In summary, the concentrations of both 18:3n3 and LC omega-3 fatty acids are significantly greater in grass produced beef than in grain produced beef, and when considered on an energetic basis support the notion that increased consumption of grass fed beef could provide an important source of omega-3 fatty acids in the U.S. diet.” Loren Cordain, Ph.D., the world’s leading expert on Paleolithic diets
On meat quality…
“There’s a tremendous difference in the quality of protein in the meat from an animal given steroids and one raised on its own accord. The one given steroids is lacking certain essential amino acids.The US Department of Agriculture has approved the feeding of sawdust, plastic chips, industrial waste, sewage, cement dust, and dead animal parts to commercially raised animals. These are toxins, and the body stores toxins in fat.This causes the animal to pack on tremendous amounts of fat because all animal bodies, including humans, use fat to wall toxins off away from the nervous system and the vital organs. When they sell these animals, they don’t do body fat checks on them and say that some are too fat. So what they’re essentially doing is selling us huge amounts of toxic fat. Red meat isn’t bad for you, but commercially raised and poisoned meat is.” Paul Chek, Holistic Health Practitioner, founder of the C.H.E.K Institute
Eat Healthy Feel Good xo Roxy
Your Health Responsibily & Rising Medical Costs $
Your food choices affect more than just you. Health insurance rates are rising due in large part to the obesity epidemic and degenerative diseases needing medical attention, diseases/conditions that can be prevent SOLELY by good nutrition - REAL FOOD. I pay $200 a month for healthy insurance I don’t use. There are many people just like me doing them same. It’s everyone’s responsibly to take care of themselves - if not for yourself for the future of our nation. On the whole we are sick, uneducated about health and dying. It’s up to you to learn about real nutrition and take the best care of yourself so we can fix this mess.
Say it with me: Health is a privilege not a right.
It’s simple (notice I said “simple” not “easy” – there is a difference): Don’t eat so much sugar (yes fruit and grains are basically sugar). Eat meats, poultry, fish, veggies and good fats! Avoid grains, dairy, legumes, just EAT REAL FOOD, MOVE your body and lift heavy stuff sometimes. I’m sure I’ll get some haters from this post, but I’m feeling more passionate about this than usual this morning upon receiving another letter from my health insurance about my rising insurance rate AND a bill from my doctor for all the PREVENTATIVE care my insurance does NOT cover.
Yes I realize that this is in part due to our health care structure… but one of the main reasons medical rates are so high is the huge amount of money that is spent on care for people that have not bothered to care for themselves throughout their lives. It even says this in my letter from Anthem Blue Cross, “Below are several reasons contributing to the rising cost of health care… Lifestyles such as physical inactivity and increases in obesity.” Thanks for pointing that out Blue Cross and then charging me to get a basic blood panel.
Where has our survival instinct gone?! As a nation do we really care more about drinking soda than we do about playing with our grand-kids at 80? Ask yourself what’s more important spending $50 more a week on groceries so that you can eat grass-fed meat and fresh vegetables that will allow you to live a long comfortable life filled with great energy, good moods and general well-being or spending $50 a week on a bar tab? Most people choose the latter. Or how about spending $200 a month on a quality gym OR $200 a month leasing a new car? Which will give you the more long term satisfaction? Moving your body in the way it was designed to move or looking cool driving your new shiny wheels?
This is not a sales pitch for my services. I don’t care if you do this for yourself at the gym down the street from mine – this is a cry for help. Everyone needs to focus on what’s truly important. We are a country obsessed with instant gratification. “Hungry? Why wait?” says Snickers. In 1993 Pepsi told us to “Be Young, Have Fun, Drink Pepsi.” Even, Nike says, “Just do it.” We want to feel good now. There is nothing wrong with the instinct to feel good, but somewhere along the way we got our signals and timing mixed up.
What really feels good is being healthy and strong. Binging on ice cream and sitting on your butt in front of the TV or at the bar night after night does not feel good. Trust me I’ve done both and I can tell you that being healthy feels a million times better. Anyone that says different is in denial.
The rough trade comes in when we have to accept that what makes us healthy and strong requires a bit of sacrifice and hard work, especially when temptation is just a 5 minute drive to the 7-11. I never claim that fitness and health is easy. I tell all my clients health is not convenient, nor will they get drastic results immediately. They will also get no results if they don’t change the way they eat, think and move – but if they are committed to positive change they will look and FEEL amazing.
So what’s the trick? How do we get from lazy to motivated when it comes to our health? I think the answer is simple (simple not easy remember).
The answer is to enjoy the work and enjoy in the results even more.
I would say enjoy the journey, but that sounds super cheesy and new-agey, and really what gets you results is hard work and dedication not some mythical journey. Try something that requires effort every day and see how good it feels. Remember that feeling and keep repeating the good habit that lead to it and then change something else for the better. For example: stop drinking soda, after the withdrawals notice you feel better, do not drink soda anymore. Then start going for a walk outside at lunch. Notice that you feel more energized and happy the rest of the day, and then keep walking at lunch. Keep adding more good things to your life, keep trying new healthy things, keep learning and searching and above all NEVER give up. Sorry to end on a downer, but if you give up you end up sick with diabetes, heart disease or some other debilitating condition… never getting to play with your grandchildren. Take a moment right now to focus on what’s really MORE important in the long run.
“I’m Too Busy to Eat Healthy” is a BS Excuse.
Real Food Tips for a Modern Lifestyle
When I was asked to write a blog about tips for eating healthy for busy professionals I originally thought that I would be coming from a more compassionate, forgiving perspective. But after thinking of all the busy professionals I counsel in nutrition that have adapted right away to my suggestions and began eating a diet of only whole, real foods - no grains, no legumes, very little dairy and sugar only for the occasional treat – and how those people were very busy, some working 50 plus hours a week – I told myself if they can do it, so can everyone else.
All it takes to make a change in your diet and your lifestyle is a desire and a commitment to change. If your life is really too busy to allow for you to take care of your basic needs: nutritious food, adequate sleep and moderate exercise - you need to check your priorities. Your health is your life. Good, vibrant, non-medicated, long term health makes you a better worker, a better parent, a better friend and a better lover. We can only give to the world as much as we get from it and we get so much more if we are energetic, active, clear thinking, non-dependent, and healthy people.
My own adherence to my nutrition and lifestyle principals was put to the test recently when I opened my new business. Could I eat well, get rest and exercise while running my own business full time with ridiculous hours? While I did find that my coffee consumption increased and my sleep temporarily did decrease, after a week or turmoil, I managed to set in a healthy routine that allows me to work hard, eat real food that’s grain, legume and mostly dairy free, workout some, rest well and enjoy life.
Quit feeling guilty about your bad habits. Guilt is a pointless emotion. Just take ACTION and change things. Baby steps are not a required method for change. Jump in head first and make your health a priority.
Here are my tips for all your busy people out there:
1) Eat real food. Put down the protein bars and shakes. Most are full or nasty sweeteners, and powdered proteins. Soy protein is the worst of them all – but any protein powder is a processed food. Making dairy your main protein source at a meal does not favor fat loss and for many causes gut irritation. If you are trying to GAIN weight I might recommend protein shakes with good grass-fed whey protein… but again real food does the job better. Real food will satisfy you longer, cost less in the long run and doesn’t have a list of ingredients you can’t pronounce.
2) If you say you have no time for breakfast you are full of s#!* - get off Facebook at 11am, you don’t need to be shopping on EBay after dinner, really. Power down all electronics by 10pm skip the cocktail, beer or wine with dinner which can affect sleep - set your alarm 15 minutes earlier and get up to make a breakfast with protein and fat. Eat eggs, sausage, bacon, chicken, etc with veggies or avocado, and maybe a small apple or some berries too. Eat real food and eat until satisfied. Breakfast should sustain you 5 hours until lunch time. If you find you are hungry earlier you probably didn’t eat the right stuff or you didn’t eat enough.
I used to be a protein shake whore. It was one of the last processed foods I clung to in my diet and like a stubborn athlete I just couldn’t give it up. I was addicted to the convenience and the fact that I could make it taste like a milk shake (that should have given me a clue to its real health benefit right there). But after switching to a hot real food breakfast I have more energy, lower body fat and less food cravings. I’m totally satisfied until 12pm or 1pm… AND I get to have bacon a few more times than just brunch on weekends. It’s a win-win in my book!
3) Skip the lunch truck. If you can pack your own lunch, great! It will save you money and be the healthiest bet. Leftovers are great for packing. Just make extra for dinner and save the rest for lunch. Get over the nerd factor of packing your lunch. Avoiding diabetes by not eating pizza and donuts in the office is very sexy and cool… but these cute bento boxes are super sexy.
Don’t want to pack your grub? Fine. There are plenty of options. My favorite is the Whole Foods salad bar/hot food bar. I can go there and always find some form of meat/poultry/fish that is of good quality and some veggie side dish or salad to accompany it. Just make sure to avoid the canola oil and hidden gluten sources in the prepared foods (check the ingredients list on the display case). If there is no acceptable protein at the salad bar/hot food bar, I order something from the deli case and add it to my salad. Grab a big bottle of water or some green tea and you are good to go. I’m a sucker for the $3.69 bottles of Kombucha, but try not to have them every day so my pocketbook doesn’t take a hit.
What I also like about Whole Foods is I can pick up a snack for later If I know I’m gonna be working late. Like jerky or raw nuts or coconut water for post workout.
No Whole Foods? Trader Joe’s or you local supermarket has some options too. When in a pinch I can grab some deli turkey slices, some baby carrots and/or snap peas and an avocado and have a lunch and leftover snacking options.
Business lunch? Order meat/poultry/fish and veggies. I don’t know why people complain that this is so hard. Just make requests to the waiter. You are paying and they are happy to accommodate. Order a salad no cheese, olive oil dressing with meat on it; order a piece of grilled fish or chicken with double veggies no grains. Ballin’ it at a steak house for lunch? You rock, I’m jealous and that’s super easy - get steak and broccoli or a pork chop and asparagus. If you are unsure about the quality of a sauce ask for it on the side and just use a little. This is not rocket science; it’s simply changing the way you order stuff. If I can do it after being raised vegetarian and eating a grain/soy based diet that destroyed my health for 20 plus years, so can you.
4) Dinner is just about having a stocked fridge. When planning your week plan what day you go grocery shopping. Buy some fresh meat and some for freezing; you can then defrost it the night before as needed. Get an assortment of fresh veggies (frozen if you must) and a little bit of fresh fruit and raw nuts. Eggs don’t go bad quickly so buy a dozen even if you live alone. Apples keep well in the fridge so buy a bunch of those – if everything is gone at least you have eggs and apple to eat for breakfast until you go grocery shopping. Buy some yams/sweet potato/squashes for higher starch meals if you are active.
Have coconut oil and ghee (clarified butter) on hand for cooking, olive oil for dressing or drizzling on steamed veggies and plenty of organic spices and seasonings.
Invest in good non-toxic cook ware. Like Pyrex, stainless steel or ceramic and non-plastic cooking tools. Buy a veggie steamer basket. They are cheap and easy to use - delicious veggies in about 5 minutes or so.
It takes me about 20-30 minutes tops to cook a delicious meal for dinner. If you don’t have 20 minutes at the end of your day to cook for yourself and your family you should re-evaluate your life choices that got you to that point and make some changes so you can live better.
If I’m really rushed or simply exhausted from a long day I pick up a whole roasted chicken from Whole Foods and just steam some veggies to go with it. Boom.
5) You can live it up a little bit on the weekends (if you really want) and still be pretty healthy. Gluten free pancakes for brunch, gluten-free pizza for a Saturday night dinner while watching a movie with friends, some brown rice sushi or corn tortillas, a little Haggen Das maybe and a couple Vodka martinis of Nor Cal Margaritas for a twist… Don’t go hog wild, just live a little and make mostly smart, real food choices with a couple fun “cheats” and then when you get back to work Monday cut out the slack. Don’t plan your binges like you are planning a Charlie Sheen style crack run - that’s neurotic food behavior. Just indulge occasionally when you feel it’s right (hopefully gluten free) and then go back to normal.
6) Get your butt to the gym. Even in you only make it twice during the week you can take a nice hike on the weekends - and get some natural vitamin D from the sun. That’s enough to maintain muscle mass and get some general health benefits. You don’t have to slave away at the gym. 45 minutes is fine from warm up to cool down. Lift some weights, do some body weight exercises, sprint a little, push it hard then leave. If you don’t know what you are doing hire someone that does from a few sessions just so you can learn. Check credentials and references; don’t just hire your local Globo gym trainer. Pay cheap and get cheap.
7) Sleep. The single most important thing you can do for your health is be well rested aim for 7-8 hours a night and get 9 hours when you can. There is no excuse for poor sleep. If you have trouble sleeping you are having health issues that need to be addressed. Cut down caffeine, power down electronics early, get your hormones and gut function checked. Sleep is paramount. Get it.
This may sounds like my “tough love” blog – and it kind of is. But I care that much about your health that I want you to realize how serious it is that you make these things a priority. Now put down that skinny vanilla latte, skip the fries get the burger no bun extra salad, stop kidding yourself that Balance bars are healthy and make some choices in your life that really matter. You’ll feel so much better that you’ll have more energy and drive to do everything you love… and isn’t that what really matters.
Two simple things you can do to eat heathlier.
Eliminate gluten (wheat) and dairy from your diet. I know what you are thinking… What will I eat, but it’s not as hard as you think.
About a year ago after doing some research and talking to others who had tried it I decided to eliminate gluten from my diet. It helped me cut weight for a fight and I felt so amazing that I stuck with it. I never missed the bread, pasta and cake-like desserts and even on “cheat” meals I stuck to things like fries with my steak and ice cream or flour-less chocolate cake. Sure, I’ve occasionally in the past year had a waffle or a Christmas cookie, but for the most part I have enjoyed and stayed true to my gluten-free lifestyle. Besides even if you don’t have a gluten intolerance staying clear of bread, pasta cakes and cookies is gonna be hugely beneficial to your health.
What makes gluten so evil and why do I avoid it? Well, first of all most wheat Americans consume is extremely processed and so devoid of nutrition that they have to add nutrients back to it to make it a food (like fortified bread and pasta). I won’t even get into how refined wheat wrecks havoc on our blood sugar… So, about 50% of light skinned people have a gluten intolerance. An intolerance is not a sever allergic reaction (like breaking out in hives) it’s a inability of the body to digest and process a food. You can have or develop an intolerance to many foods. Everyone reacts differently to foods they are intolerant to. Headaches, constipation, fatigue, bloating, mental fog and acne are just a few of the symptoms of food intolerance. Wheat (gluten) is one of the top foods people have no idea they are reactive to. When you have a gluten intolerance it causes massive inflammation of the gut.
Inflammation caused by gluten intolerance can lead to many other health problems. It can also make you intolerant of another food - dairy. All the inflammation caused by gluten can prevent proper digestion of dairy and now you have two major food intolerance on you plate. No fun.
I recommend to clients that they cut gluten and dairy (even raw dairy) out of their diet for a couple of weeks and see how they feel. If that helps, which it almost always does, go one step further, stay off gluten and dairy for 3 months, then carefully “test” tolerance to dairy by adding in a little raw, organic dairy to the diet to see if the gut has repaired it’s self from the damage done by gluten intolerance.
I know this is the right approach to optimal health, but I have a dirty secret. I am an ice cream addict. I love the stuff. It’s my treat that I allow myself cause I eat really well 80% of the time. But lately every time I eat ice cream I get so tired I can’t keep my eyes open. My boyfriend jokes that ice cream is my sleeping pill, but I know that my body is trying to tell me something that my mind fails to acknowledge. Ice cream is a dead food. It’s dead, pasteurized milk and sugar. Two evil things that ruin health and have no nutritional value at all. I could go into that more, but I want to keep this short.
Now that I have publicly come to accept my ice cream addiction I am ready to make a commitment to being gluten AND dairy free for 3 months. This is a big step for me. I’m a fan of cheese on salads. I like my whey protein shakes after workouts and don’t get me started on whipped cream. I know that stuff is pasteurized junk, but I lie to myself about it when I want to indulge. Don’t get me wrong I think raw, organic milk and dairy are wonderful, nutritious foods and I hope to enjoy then later when I reintroduce them to diet 3 months from now. After which, I hope to cap off this experiment with a celebratory ice cream sundae without slipping into a coma.
So… I challenge all of you to do the two week experiment with me… and then continue if you feel up to it. I will be occasionally blogging my progress as the weeks pass. It helps to know there are others with the same goal as me, so please let me know if you are accepting my challenge and joining me on my gluten and dairy free journey.
xoroxy
About Me
Co-owner of Function 5 Fitness in Los Angeles, Pro Muay Thai Fighter, Personal Trainer, Muay Thai Instructor, Health & Fitness Expert, Nutrition Geek, Writer.
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