Brian's Story: 17 Years Without Red Meat

Do you know anyone that doesn't eat red meat because they think it's not healthy OR they don't think they can digest it?  Maybe you are that person that tends to stick to the white meat or no meat at all.  Brian has been an athlete of mine for a year and has dropped 35 lbs since being in class.  When he first told me he had not eaten red meat in 17 years, my jaw dropped.  I mean, I can hardly go a couple of days without a big juicy burger like the one shown to the right!  17 years?  How sad! He was convinced that he could not digest red meat, but after some "encouragement" (more like insistence that he needed red meat in his diet), he cleaned up other food items and was pleasantly surprised he could digest red meat just fine!  In the end, it was other food items like grains, processed foods, and sugar that were causing disruption in the gut.    Brian's Story: I started CrossFit in January 2010 and noticed over the course of a few months results in the form of weight loss (217 lbs to 204 lbs), endurance, and overall energy.  By June, however, I noticed that my improvements had plated and improvements were not coming as easily or as often.  After consulting with Crystal, she convinced me to give Fuel-21 a try.  Thinking I ate pretty healthy (no red meat in 17 years and no soda in 3 years) I was somewhat hesitant.  Nonetheless, Crystal convinced me to enroll and was further determined to reintroduce red meat back into my diet. So in August of 2010, I enrolled in the 21 day class.  The results over the 21 days were impressive for sure (3.8% decrease in Body Fat, 9.2 lbs lost, and a decrease of 3.25 total inches); but to be honest, it was how the "lessons learned" have carried forward that has been the game changer.  Six months later I am still in "maintenance mode" and maintaining the weight I competitively swam in college (188 lbs) some 24 years ago.  In addition, I have reintroduced red meat into my diet without enduring my previous stomach ailments! It's like they say, it's 70% nutrition and Fuel-21 definitely taught me to live that way!  -Brian Vogel

Why do we need Red Meat??

First off, red meat is delicious and has a variety of flavors, tenderness, and taste that each of us enjoys and craves.  There are many reasons why red meat is beneficial, but here are a few of the main ones:

1. Iron- This is essential for transforming oxygen in the blood that then gets converted into energy and provides fuel for the body
2. Zinc- You need this to heal wounds, support your immune system and aid in growth
3. Omega-3 Fats (from GrassFed sources)- brain cells require the use of Omega-3's along with many other physical processes and heart health
4. Protein- we need good, quality protein for amino acids to build every single cell in our body
5. B Vitamins and other Vital Supplements (a very BIG reason)- Red meat is filled with many of the essential B vitamins that are necessary for many of the body's processes that ARE NOT FOUND IN MANY PLANTS: B6, B12, niacin, Vitamin A, cysteine, bovine cartilage, and riboflavin.

  From the Weston A Price Foundation "It's the Beef":

"What a shame we have demonized red meat because this is one modern food, enjoyed by almost everybody, that is rich in nutrients. Red meat provides complete protein, including sulphur-containing proteins like cysteine. Beef is a wonderful source of taurine and carnitine, needed for healthy eyes and a healthy heart. Beef also provides another key nutrient for the cardiovascular system—coenzyme Q10. 

Beef is an excellent source of minerals like magnesium and zinc—you need zinc for clear thinking and a healthy sex life. The fuzzy-headedness that vegetarians mistake for heightened consciousness is really the fog of zinc deficiency. Vitamin B₆ is abundant in meat, especially rare meat. Red meat is one of the best sources of vitamin B₁₂, which is vital to a healthy nervous system and healthy blood. Vegetarians are especially prone to vitamin B₁₂ deficiency. One of the first signs of vitamin B₁₂ deficiency is a tendency to irrational anger-—so much for vegetarian claims that we will have a more peaceful, harmonious world if we all just stop eating meat. 

If you use the animal bones and hooves to make stock, and use the stock as our ancestors did in soups, stews and sauces, you will get plenty of calcium and the components of cartilage to give you healthy bones and cartilage. If you eat organ meats, as our ancestors did, you will get vital fat-soluble nutrients like vitamin A and D, both of which are essential for protein utilization and mineral absorption."  

Read the full article here

What about cholesterol?  Red meat is high in cholesterol and therefore will raise my cholesterol right??

First off, I want to point out that cholesterol is NOT the bad guy.  It is actually necessary and vital to have a good amount of cholesterol.  When something happens in the body, cholesterol is the one to come in and take care of the problem, or in a way, act like a band-aid.

There is no evidence to suggest that eating foods high in saturated fat or cholesterol raise cholesterol levels and cause heart disease.  In fact, since Americans have cut back on saturated fats, there has been a marked INCREASE in heart disease.  Funny how that works!  It seems that what is actually causing heart disease is when we are deficient in B6, B12, and Folic Acid.  These happen to be exactly the vitamins you get from eating red meat.    

Look at the diets of the primitive people Dr. Weston Price studied.  One of the common themes was that animal and animal fats were staples in the diet.  There were no cases of high cholesterol or heart disease in any of the groups he studied.  In fact, there was no evidence of disease at all until sugar was introduced.

So what are the benefits of cholesterol?

• Cholesterol is produced by almost every cell in the body.
• Cholesterol in cell membranes makes cells waterproof so there can be a different chemistry on the inside and the outside of the cell.
• Cholesterol is nature’s repair substance, used to repair wounds, including tears and irritations in the arteries.
• Many important hormones are made of cholesterol, including hormones that regulate mineral metabolism and blood sugar, hormones that help us deal with stress, and all the sex hormones, such as testosterone, estrogen and progesterone.
• Cholesterol is vital to the function of the brain and nervous system.
• Cholesterol protects us against depression; it plays a role in the utilization of seratonin, the body’s “feel-good” chemical.
• The bile salts, needed for the digestion of fats, are made from cholesterol.
• Cholesterol is the precursor of vitamin D, which is formed by the action of ultra-violet (UV-B) light on cholesterol in the skin.
• Cholesterol is a powerful antioxidant that protects us against free radicals and therefore against cancer. Cholesterol, especially LDL-cholesterol (the so-called bad cholesterol), helps fight infection.

I have a steak to go eat now...  For any questions, shoot me an email or post in the comments section!