MEAT-EATING AND YOUR HEALTH

by Dr. Lawrence Wilson

© October 2020, LD Wilson Consultants, Inc.

All information in this article is for educational purposes only.  It is not for the diagnosis, treatment, prescription or cure of any disease or health condition.

            We find that meats are excellent foods that are required for development.  Doing without them definitely imperils your health and can shorten your life.  Claims made by vegans and vegetarians are often outright lies.

On the other hand, one must use caution with meats.  The problems are:

- Bad quality meat.  See below for details.

- Eating too much meat.  Several popular diet systems such as the Weston Price diet, the Ketogenic diet, and Paleo diet may include too much meat.

- Overcooking meat.  For instructions how to cook meat, read Cooking.

 These can turn meat into a harmful food.

CATTLE DEFINITIONS

Figuring out the meaning of the labels used on meat today is truly confusing!  First are general definitions.   Then are government grades and labels of meats used in the United States and in many other nations, as well.

Livestock.  This word refers to all farm animals such as cows, sheep, lamb, goats, pigs, chickens, llamas, emu and others.

Cattle.  This means cows.

Pasture.  This means grass.  It is the natural food of cows.  Another word for grass is forage.  It can mean live grass or dried grass, also called hay, used in winter if the fresh grass has died off.

Grain.  This usually means corn or some other grain that is fed to cattle on feedlots.  It is not the natural food of cows.  It is used because it makes the cattle fatter, increasing the fat content of the meat.  This gives the meat a sweeter taste, which people like, and makes more money for the farmers because the cows weigh more.  However, it makes the cattle much less healthy.

Eating a lot of grain does the same thing to a human being.  They become fat and unhealthy.  Most people also eat grain-fed meat, which just makes them sicker and fatter.

Supplements.  These are other things fed to cows.  A common one is brewery waste products.  This is barley, hops or other grains that were used to make beer or other alcoholic beverages that are leftovers.

Brewery waste product is a grain product and contains some vitamins and minerals leftover from fermentation of the grain.  However, it is a more yin product and not the natural food of cows.  It makes cows more yin.  Their meat will taste a little sweeter, however.

CAFO.  According to the US Department Of Agriculture, this term stands for a Concentrated Animal Feeding Operation.  It is a farm where at least 1000 animals are confined for at least 45 days.  Most beef today is CAFO beef.

FEEDLOT CATTLE

Most cows raised in mass production fashion.  The cows are hybrids designed to produce more meat or more milk.  However, they are not healthy and need drugs and vaccines to survive.

They may spend the early part of their lives eating some pasture and hay.  However, they are forced to live in pens at least part of their lives, stuffed in with thousands of other cows, where they do little else but eat to become big and fat enough to slaughter.  There is barely room for them to move around and they are forced to eat mainly corn or other grains and supplements such as brewery waste products.

Drugs!  These cows are given plenty of antibiotics and some vaccines and other drugs just to survive.  Most antibiotics today are fed to cattle, not people.

The antibiotic and other drug residues are in the meat and dairy products people eat every day, making this meat and dairy even less healthy.  Drug residues also contaminate the land.  Today, drug residues from animal and human use of medical drugs are in most drinking water supplies throughout the world.

Hormone injections.  Often, feedlot cows have also been injected with female hormones to fatten them even more.  This makes more money for the farmers who sell the meat by the pound.  People are conditioned to like the fatty, sweet taste.  The hormones cause cancer to begin to grow in the animals and the hormone residues are in the meat and dairy products.

Pesticides and insecticides.  The grains used in feedlots is usually sprayed with plenty of pesticides and insecticides because they are hybrid and unhealthy crops.  Residues of these chemicals are in the meat and dairy products.

Cleaning chemicals.  Feedlots are filthy places.  In the winter, cows are often kept in large barns where the sun never shines to kill germs.  Farmers must use lots of soaps and chemicals to help keep them clean.  Residues of these chemicals also find their way into the meat and dairy products.

Dyes.  Recently, the author bought an expensive piece of “natural” beef at Trader Joe’s Market, considered a more healthy supermarket store.  It was bright red in color.  However, when he cut into it, the meat inside was grey.  The steak was clearly dyed red to make it look healthy.  The dyes approved by the government are often caner-causing chemicals.

Other toxic chemicals.  Some meat also has other chemical residues in it.  For example, in America, chicken is allowed to have arsenic in it that is used to fatten the chickens.

Feedlot meat and dairy is irritating to our intestinal tract, contaminated and often infected with germs and cancer.  We suggest avoiding it if you can find the better meat described below.

Hybrids.  Another problem with feedlot cows and even grass-fed and organic meat is that they are all hybrids.  This means the cows have been selectively bred for over 100 years to be able to survive in feedlots and to live on food that is not natural for cows.

Common hybridized cows are called Angus and Hereford.  The hybrids are of poorer nutritional quality because those who bred them did not care about nutritional quality.

Natural is a label found on many meat products.  However, it is very misleading.  It only means a minimally processed food that is free of preservatives and some chemical additives.  However, it is not a strict legal definition.  As a result, ordinary feedlot beef, chicken and other meats can carry this label and it means nothing.

Grass fed.  This is a great improvement over feedlot cattle.  By law in the united States, grass-fed means that 75% (not 100%!) of the cow’s food is grass (also called pasture or forage) or hay, which is dried grass that is fed to cows in the winter when the grass has died off due to cold weather.

However, grass-fed meat and dairy products still come from hybridized cows.

Native grasses.  Grazing land for cattle normally has many kinds of plants in it.  Hybrid cattle cannot eat most of the native grasses.  That ability has been bred out of them.  This means their nutrition is limited, even if they are allowed to roam freely and eat pasture grasses.  Only certain heirloom cows can and will eat most native grasses.

Organic meat and dairy products is a legal term in America and some other nations that means that the cows have received only food that is grown organically.  Organic beef is often a little healthier than grass-fed beef and dairy.  However, it still comes from hybridized cows in almost all cases.  In America, organic certification for meat is costly for ranchers, so smaller ranchers may, in fact, offer organic meat, but are not certified organic by the American USDA.  We don’t know the situation in other nations.

Heirloom means that a breed of animal is older and not hybridized.

CRIOLLO COWS

Criollo cows are a special variety of heirloom cows that originated in Spain and were first brought to America by Christopher Columbus on his second voyage in 1493.  They are not hybridized, are much healthier animals.  They are also much more efficient, meaning they require less food and less water, so they are easier on the grazing land.

Eating native grasses.  Also, they can and will eat many native plants that the hybrids can’t eat. This is important because eating the variety of plants that grow in the fields makes the cows much healthier and the meat and dairy products are much more nutritious.  The cows actually choose their diet and are very smart when it comes to deciding what to eat when they are given the choice.

Criollo cows are experiencing a resurgence in popularity today because people are waking up and don’t want to eat poor quality meat.  We highly recommend this breed of meat and dairy products.

They offer:

- Much superior nutrition

- Faster Development.

- Saving the grazing land in the Midwest and southwest USA.

MEAT RECOMMENDATIONS FOR A DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM

1. Freshness.  Meats need to be fresh and clean.  We do not recommend processed meats such as bologna, salami or sausage.

2. Frequency.  Eat animal protein twice daily.  Do not eat it at every meal.  This includes red meat, poultry, fish, eggs and dairy products.

3. Portion size.   For adults, eat only 4-5 ounces or 100-150 grams of meat per portion.  A lot of people eat twice this amount!

COMMENTS ABOUT SPECIFIC MEATS

Red meat.  Eat red meat two or up to three times per week, and not more.  However, do not skip red meat.

Lamb is a good red meat.  Lamb is not eaten too much because of its taste, and its higher cost.  However, it is a wonderful type of meat.  Any lamb is good.  Buying it at the supermarket or Costco is fine, and it need not be organic.  Most of it is grass fed, as lambs require some pasturing in all cases.

            Lamb is mentioned a lot in the Bible, and Jesus was called “the lamb of God”.  Jewish people celebrate Passover with the “pascal lamb”, and so on.  There is a reason for this emphasis on lamb.

We suggest that everyone eat lamb once or twice a week.  If you do not like its taste, then spice it with garlic or onion powder, curry or other healthful spices.  We do not recommend mint sauce that many people put on lamb, as it is too high in sugar.

Lamb contains forms of selenium and other minerals that promote health, longevity and development.  This may be why it is mentioned often in the Bible.  Lamb is also an excellent source of carnitine.  For more, read Lamb.

Organic ground beef is another very good meat.  It must be cooked very lightly, however (see below).  We do not recommend regular beef, except occasionally.

Dark meat chicken.  This is also an excellent meat.  White meat (chicken breast) is not as good, in part because it does not contain enough fat.

You may have to try several brands of chicken, as some are not as healthful as others, even if they are labeled organic or free-range.  Foster Farms is a very good brand in the United States.

Avoid “glued chicken”, chicken nuggets, which are similar, and things like “turkey roll”.  This is the usual turkey sold in restaurants.  Be sure you are getting real chicken or turkey meat, for example, not the glued together rolled up variety that may contain many chemicals.

Wild game.  We do not recommend buffalo or bison.  Other wild game is okay.

Fish.  Only eat sardines.  Other small fish are not as good.  All larger fish contain too much mercury, including salmon.  Tunafish and swordfish are among the worst in this regard.

Avoid all shellfish, even small shrimp, due to toxic metals and other toxins.Ossasionally, one may have anchovies or smelt, which are other very small fish.  However, sardines are best – either with bones and skin or without.  We like to rotate these, as they are somewhat different foods.

Avoid all pig products such as pork, ham, bacon, lard, pig skin (chorizo) and pig intestines used to make sausages.  These can contain parasite eggs, even if well-cooked.  They are also stimulating, even if they are nutritious. 

Also avoid all processed meats such as lunch meats, bologna, salami and others.  Also avoid sausage unless you make it yourself because you never know what went into it.

Avoid Sanderson Farms chicken at this time.  All the other large chicken producers have reduced antibiotic use, except Sanderson Farms.  Foster Farms is a decent chicken if it is available in your area.  Organically-raised, free-range chicken is not necessarily better, and can still contain viruses and diseases.

THE NUTRITIONAL VALUE OF FLESH FOODS

            Meats are an excellent source of many nutrients.  Claims that meats are not quality foods, or that they are not nutrient-dense foods are ridiculous.  In fact, we explain to our die-hard vegetarian clients that they may wish to regard meat as a 'food supplement'.  Here are just a few examples of these nutrients not found elsewhere besides meats.

            Iron. The iron in meat products is better absorbed than vegetarian sources of iron.  The type of iron in meats is called heme iron, and it is by far the best-absorbed iron.

Niacin and other B-complex vitamins.  All meats, along with eggs, is high in niacin, as well as many other B-complex vitamins.  While there are some vegetarian sources such as beans and yeast, they are not necessarily as good.  Over 100 years ago, researchers found that some meat and eggs were needed to overcome pellagra and other B-vitamin deficiency diseases.

Fat.  Dr. Bernard Jensen, a well-known natural health authority, referred to the fats found in meats as the 'brain fats'.  Our nervous system is highly dependent upon certain fatty substances for its proper functioning.

Dr. Jensen's statement regarding meat-eating is, "It is hard to drive the Los Angeles freeways and be a vegetarian".  By this he meant that the nutrients that are depleted living in an urban environment are hard to replace adequately without eating at least some chicken and fish.

            It is true that today many animals are fed on grains.  Thus their meat contains less of the essential omega-3 oils.  However, lamb and some other meats are grass-fed.

            Zinc.  Zinc is another critical nutrient that is low in many, if not all vegetarian diets.  Even when zinc is present, most vegetarian foods are high in copper, which competes with zinc for absorption.  Grains and soy also contain phytates that bind with zinc and prevent its absorption. 

Zinc is a critical and essential nutrient for everyone today, as it is needed for hundreds if not thousands of enzymes in the human body.  All of our food is lower in zinc today due to agricultural methods, hybrid crops, zinc-deficient soils, stress and for other reasons.

For this reason, a zinc supplement is given as part of all nutritional balancing programs – in addition to recommending that everyone eat some red meat, the best source of zinc.

Zinc is needed for the nervous system, acid-base balance, wound healing, vision, the prostate gland, male and female fertility, hair, skin and nails, growth and development in children, emotional stability, higher intelligence, mental development in adults, and to prevent birth defects and many other body functions. 

Zinc is lost whenever we come under stress as part of the fight-or-flight response.  There is plenty of stress today, and this is another reason this nutrient is one of the most important reasons for eating meats.  The zinc found in pumpkin seeds and other seeds and grains is not nearly as well utilized, in my experience.

Carnitine.  This is an essential nutrient found in greatest abundance in meats, especially in lamb.  Vegetarians do not get enough of it, and it affects their health profoundly.

            Taurine.  This is another essential nutrient for the brain, nervous system, the heart and other organs.  It, too, is mainly found in red meat.

Pre-formed vitamin A.  Meat contains some vitamin A, as well.  Those with low thyroid activity have difficulty converting B-carotene to vitamin A.  They need the pre-formed vitamin A found in animal products. 

Alpha-lipoic acid, a powerful anti-oxidant nutrient, is another nutrient found mainly in animal flesh foods. 

COOKED VERSUS RAW MEAT            

            A few health authorities recommend eating raw meat.  We do not agree with this.  Light cooking destroys harmful bacteria, parasites and other things in meats.  It also makes the meat more yang, which is also very beneficial.  For instructions on how to cook meat properly, which is very important, read Cooking.

SUGGESTING FOR DIGESTING MEAT

If you have trouble digesting meat, do not give up on it.  Instead, do the following:

1. Begin with very little meat - just a few bites. Work up slowly as you are able to do so.

2. Always chew meat thoroughly.

3. Always take a digestive enzyme when you eat meat.  The best digestive aid in our view is pancreatin and ox bile.  We recommend a product called GB-3 from Endomet Labs in Phoenix, Arizona, USA.

4. Always eat meat in simple food combinations.  An excellent combination is meat with cooked vegetables.  Do not mix meat with other proteins such as cheese or fish, or with milk or fruit.  These are not good food combinations and will often cause gas, bloating and stomach discomfort.

5. If you have weak digestion, eat your meat first.  Then eat cooked vegetables.  This is a little easier on digestion. 

6. If #4 is too difficult, just have your meat alone.  This is called a mono meal.  If you can eat cooked vegetables with meat, that is a little better for development, however.

7. Do not drink liquids when you eat meat.  Drink up to 15 minutes before a meal or an hour and a half or more after a meal.  Drink just enough to take your nutritional supplements.  The less, the better.

8. Ideally, rest for 10 minutes or more after eating meat.  This helps digestion.

WHAT ABOUT BEEF JERKY AND OTHER MEAT JERKY?

Beef and other types of meat jerky are okay as occasional snack foods.  It is a better snack than nuts, seeds, fruit, dried fruit, granola, trail mix or other raw grains, for example.

WHAT ABOUT PORK, HAM AND BACON?

            Pig products are often infected with trichina or other parasite ova or cysts, even if well-cooked.  It is hard to eliminate all the cysts.  Pig products are also somewhat irritating. 

For these reasons, avoid ALL pig products, including ham, bacon, pork, pigs feet, lard, pork rinds, and all sausage made with pig intestines.

CANCER AND MEAT-EATING

            If one has cancer, we suggest avoiding all red meat and all eggs until the cancer is in remission or gone.  This is because both these foods are high in iron, a problem for cancer patients.

Some doctors recommend a complete vegetarian diet for cancer patients.  So far, we find it is not necessary or helpful if the cancer recovery program is correct.  Avoiding all meat makes one very yin after a while.  For more on these topics, read Cancer And Alternatives and Yin Disease.

OBLIGATORY VEGETARIANS

            Some people become vegetarians because they are unable to digest meats.  A meat meal, particularly red meat, feels heavy and can sit in the stomach for hours.  Such individuals are called 'obligatory vegetarians'.  The cause is a slowing of metabolism accompanied often by low digestive enzymes in the stomach, causing an inability to handle animal protein and fat.

            Today many people are obligatory vegetarians due to decreased adrenal and thyroid gland activity for a variety of nutritional and other reasons.  When the causes are addressed, the condition can be reversed and one actually develops a craving for meat. 

WHY DO PEOPLE SOMETIMES FEEL MUCH BETTER ON A VEGETARIAN DIET, AT LEAST INITIALLY?

            It is true that many people feel better initially on a vegetarian diet.  However, in my experience this is because they have eliminated many junk foods and perhaps foods they were allergic to.  Also, they are often eating simpler food combinations.  Also, to digest meat most people need a digestive enzyme, so a vegetarian diet can feel better in the stomach and reduce gas and bloating.

However, vegetarian diets are not best, in my experience.  In fact, they are dangerous because they are deficient and too yin, in my experience.  I do not agree that one can simply substitute vegetable foods and obtain all the nutrients found in meat.  It is simply not true in my experience.

Perhaps for this reason, many of our vegetarian clients report feeling 100% better when they add back at least chicken and fish to their diets.  As a former vegetarian who 'followed the rules', I have experienced this myself.  There must be reasons for this phenomenon. 

MEAT-EATING AND VIOLENCE

            Ghandi and Albert Einstein were vegetarians, but so were Adolf Hitler and Osama Bin Laden.  While a few spiritual leaders were vegetarians, let us not forget that most were not.  India, a largely vegetarian country, is one of the most backward countries, and certainly has had its share of wars. 

A neighbor of ours was from India.  He commented to me that his own people in India have so little drive and energy that he is much happier living in the United States.  People on vegetarian diets often become tired and listless.  This might reduce violence because one no longer has the energy to fight.  This is not non-violence.  This is burnout!

            Many vegetarians that we come in contact with are copper-toxic.  This is due to the high copper content of beans, seeds, nuts, and grains.  At the same time, these people are not eating the zinc-rich meats which could balance their copper intake.  Copper toxicity causes fatigue and 'spaciness', which often masquerades as peacefulness and happiness.  Many vegetarians fool themselves into thinking they are less violent, when in fact they are really just tired.

IS MEAT-EATING THE CAUSE OF WORLD HUNGER?

            No!  Francis Moore Lappe, author of Diet For a Small Planet, mentions that the real causes of hunger include: 1)governments that systematically starve their own people to maintain control, 2) collective farms in Communist and socialist nations that are unproductive, 3) poor food distribution, and 4) mismanagement and destruction of agricultural land.  In many places, grazing by animals is the most productive use of the land.

MEAT-EATING AND CHOLESTEROL

            Eskimos eat more fat than any other group and have cholesterol levels of about 170 mg.  The Massai tribe drink up to seven quarts of milk daily, yet they too have low cholesterol.  There is much more to the cholesterol story than how you butter your toast. 

            Cholesterol, the precursor for the steroid hormones, often rises when the body is under stress.  While overeating on any food is not beneficial, avoiding all cholesterol-containing foods is not necessary or wise for most people. 

IS MEAT SAFE TO EAT?

            We are amused by people who shun meat because it contains hormones, but are not bothered by the tons of herbicides and pesticides used on vegetables and fruits.  As the demand for pure food increases, more hormone-free and antibiotic-free meat is becoming available.

We can continue to support clean food by buying it in preference to sprayed and tainted food.   This is the strongest message we can send to the farmers and the supermarkets.

            Some people avoid meat because it contains bacteria and 'toxins'.  However, all foods contain toxins.  Flesh foods are an integral part of the diet of virtually all human groups.  This would suggest that the benefits to eating healthfully-produced flesh foods far outweigh any harmful effects.

WHY NOT EAT MEAT SUBSTITUTES?

            1. They don’t contain the same nutrients contained in meats. 

2. Some are highly processed, chemical-laden concoctions that are hardly fit to eat.  For example, soy, a major meat substitute, contains phytates that bind minerals, enzyme inhibitors, and has been linked to a greater incidence of dementia in the elderly.  We do not recommend any soy foods at all, even tempeh and tofu, except perhaps once a month or so.  They are just not as high quality foods as meats, eggs, poultry and raw cheeses.

Textured vegetable protein (TVP) and soy isolate are refined byproducts of the soy oil refining.  They are junk foods, in my opinion.  They are found in many processed foods such as Hamburger Helper, and they are found in some vegetarian meat substitutes and in many “fast food” hamburgers and other fast foods because they are cheap.  Stay away from them.

HEAVY MENSTRUAL PERIODS AND MEAT EATING

            If a woman does not enough meat, she is much more likely to have very heavy menstrual periods.  Eating more meat, especially red meat, heals the problem.

WHAT ABOUT NATURAL HYGIENE AND MUCUSLESS DIETS?

While there are some valid ideas in the vegetarian literature, there are also numerous false concepts.  For example, the once-popular book, Fit For Life, expounds the Natural Hygiene point of view that since our intestines are like those of apes we ought to eat like apes.  But how many apes drive the freeways or go to college while holding down a full-time job?  These analogies are not logical when examined carefully.

            The same book encourages fruit-eating by stating that because the earth is about two-thirds water, so our food should be composed of two-thirds water.  Figure that one out!

We find that fruit is too yin today due to its mineral composition and its higher sugar content.  We suggest avoiding ALL fruit, especially tropical and sub-tropical fruits, raw fruits, and all fruit juices.

Even the healthful berries are not needed because there are plenty of anti-oxidants and the other phytonutrients in other excellent foods such as blue corn.  For more, please read Fruit-Eating on this site.

The author was the health director at a Natural Hygiene Spa for 3 and 1/2 years.  While he was there, the owner nearly died of pernicious anemia.  When he recovered, thanks to a blood transfusion, he asked me not to tell anyone what had happened.

He died only a few years later, perhaps from permanent damage that had been done to his body by his rigid vegetarian diet.  We are sharing this story so that others may be warned about following any rigid vegetarian diets. 

VEGETARIANISM AND LIMITATION

            Many people limit themselves to rigid regimens including vegetarian diets.  Often this is an expression of guilt, or an effort to control an aspect of life because life seems out of control.  In these instances, guilt, limitation and fear are the real issues.  This is not a sound way to decide what to eat!

            Also, vegetarianism is a physically-based concept of life that is very limited.  Life is not just about what we eat.  By changing our physical diet we cannot atone for our sins, save the earth or achieve enlightenment.  It is time to let go of these ideas. 

We believe, along with all native or indigenous cultures, that certain animal species have agreed to serve as food, and it is their service to humanity.  Let us thank them and enjoy their gift to us.

TOO MUCH MEAT, RAPE AND SEXUAL FLUID CRAVING

            It is possible to eat too much meat, and this is common in some cultures in Europe, particularly.  In most cases, red meat should be eaten in most cases no more than two or three times a week.

            An exception is in women or men who experience rape.  They need more organic beef, in particular, for a while.  It will help them recover.  To understand this better, read Rape and Healing Rape on this site.

Eating more red meat is absolutely needed to get rid of sexual fluid craving, a common problem among women today.  For more on this, read Sexual Fluid Craving on this website.

EAT HEIRLOOM GRASS-FED MEATS, IF POSSIBLE

This small section is courtesy of Mercola.com.  We don’t agree with Dr. Mercola on many things, but we do agree on the value of grass-fed meats. 

Unfortunately, most animals in the USA and some in other nations are not fed their natural food, which is grass, insects and other forage.  Instead, they are fed on corn and perhaps other things that are inexpensive and abundant.  This produces a less healthy meat that is much lower in zinc and in omega-3 fatty acids, for example.

A joint effort between the USDA and Clemson University researchers in 2009 determined a total of 10 key areas where grass-fed beef is better than grain-fed for human health.  In a side-by-side comparison, they determined that grass-fed beef was:

Lower in total fat

Higher in total omega-3s

Higher in beta-carotene

A healthier ratio of omega-6 to omega-3 fatty acids (1.65 vs 4.84)

Higher in vitamin E (alpha-tocopherol)

Higher in CLA (cis-9 trans-11), a potential cancer fighter

Higher in the B-vitamins thiamin and riboflavin

Higher in vaccenic acid (which can be transformed into CLA)

Higher in the minerals calcium, magnesium, and potassium

Lower in the saturated fats linked with heart disease

CONCLUSION

While a few people appear to do well on a healthful vegetarian diet, most eventually become lethargic, depressed, and susceptible to yeast infections, cancers and other problems.  They do not live longer and are not healthier.  In fact, they may seem very healthy, but in our experience, they die sooner than meat-eating people, at least in America.  

            In certain illnesses such as active cancer, eliminating red meat and eggs is helpful to reduce one’s iron intake for about a year or so.  However, as the body is rebuilt using nutritional balancing science, but not necessarily other methods, everyone can benefit by then re-introducing organically-produced flesh foods into the diet. 

            A most important principle is to love yourself so fully and completely that you are willing to give your body whatever it needs.  This is an important principle of health.  If animal products would be helpful, then let us thank and bless the animals for their gifts and gratefully accept what we need for our health.  For more on vegetarian diets, please read Vegetarianism on this site.