Rex Trulove
A lot of people might wonder why a growing number of doctors and nutritionists are recommending that their patients eat more meat in their diets. There are some good reasons for this.
The United States has a weight problem and obesity is common. Being 20 pounds or more overweight elevates your chances of heart disease, stroke, heart attack, diabetes, and there is even an implied connection with cancer. You might wonder what this has to do with eating more meat.
Mind you, we aren’t talking about being seven pounds overweight. Obesity is defined as weighing 20% more than your ideal weight. That means that if your ideal weight is 110 pounds, you’d be obese if you weighed 132 pounds or more.
People who are reasonably active and who eat a balanced diet tend to gradually get to their ideal weight and to stay there, provided that their caloric intake matches or is below the number of calories they burn during their normal daily activities. A “balanced diet” is one where 40% of the calories come from carbohydrates, 30% come from proteins, and 30% come from fat.
This has been identified as a major part of the problem. In general, Americans tend to eat twice as many carbohydrates as they should and half as much protein as they need. Note: This is true of people in other countries as well, to varying degrees.
This being the case, the question becomes, “How do we lower our carbohydrate intake while increasing our protein intake?”
Consider for a moment that most vegetables and fruits are high in carbohydrates and low in protein. For example, a cup of carrots contains about 12.3 g. of carbohydrates and only 1.2 g. of protein. That isn’t necessarily bad and it certainly isn’t for the plants. Plants are designed to produce carbohydrates, mostly in the form of sugars, as part of photosynthesis. However, this predisposes people who eat a lot of fruits and vegetables to have a diet that has a lot of carbs without having much protein.
That is where meat enters the picture. Meat is high in protein and low in carbohydrates. For example, a lean sirloin steak contains no carbohydrates, but it contains about 115 g. of protein. That is over 200% of the recommended daily allowance established by the FDA and based on a 2,000 calorie per day diet. In fact, the steak has a glycemic load index of 0, which makes it excellent for diabetics. The carrots have an index of 3, which is still very good, but not as good as the steak.
It should be fairly obvious that eating a steak along with fruits and vegetables will increase the protein to carbohydrate ratio. This is only one of the advantages of eating more meat.
Even without going into the part about vitamins and minerals the meat contains, the protein in meat also has the trait of beginning the sequence of “turning off” the hunger center of the brain. It is actually the protein that does this, regardless of where the protein comes from. Meat simply contains a lot more protein than vegetation, so it works faster at shutting down the feeling of hunger.
Thus, the second reason a growing number of doctors and nutritionists are recommending eating more meat is that as the body begins digesting it, the person normally gets less hungry. If they aren’t as hungry, they are less likely to eat too much.
As a consequence, eating more meat in the diet vastly and quickly improves the carbohydrate/protein ratio while also curbing the appetite. For people who are overweight, this is a win-win. In fact, it is a win-win for people who are underweight, too. As the diet becomes balanced, the body naturally approaches the ideal weight. Taken a step farther, as can be seen by the glycemic load index numbers, this is even great for diabetics.
I love my choices of T-bone steaks, rib-eye fillets, chicken breast with skin on, lamb chops (fatty skin not removed)— cooked on tallow (medium rare or well done) is, indeed, energizing and satisfying. Your article is exactly what I can testify to be accurate in my on diet lifestyle.
It’s advisable to eat my steaks with non-carbs food and not with potatoes for proper metabolism.
From the sound of it, you are getting plenty of protein in your diet. Way to go!
Well done! Nice post!
I eat meat almost every day. I combine it with vegetables and salad. Our culture is such … we have meat and we enjoy it.
It sounds like you are eating a truly omnivorous diet, which is a good thing. As a guess, I’d say that your diet is probably a lot more balanced than a typical American’s is.
I often watch your movies .. I do not know if that’s all true..but I see that Americans usually eat fast food. They just eat a hamburger, or they put food in a microwave oven. It has it in our country, but in a very small percentage. Although people go to work, they always have time to cook a homemade, healthy meal. I cook a variety of foods every day.In addition to the main meal, I always have homemade soup on the table and a fresh salad. I wonder how you do it in America?
A lot of Americans do eat healthy, home-cooked meals. However, you are right. A large number of people in America eat fast-food burgers and fries or eat pre-cooked meals, even though they know of the health risks.
It is interesting, too, that there is proof, though it is circumstantial. The US is one of the world leaders in regard to heart disease, heart attacks, and stroke. Less than 100 years ago, Japan had among the lowest incidents of these causes of death. That started to change rapidly in the 1970’s and Japan now has almost the same rate of heart disease, heart attack, and stroke as the US.
It took researchers a while to figure out the most likely reason why. A century ago, the Japanese diet heavily relied on fish. In the 1970’s, McDonald’s and other fast food restaurants started opening all over Japan. They were very popular from the very beginning, and it was at the same time that the health of the Japanese people began to drop fast.
Fast food restaurants are death for the body … I almost never eat such food … just when I have to. But modern life imposes such a diet.
Great post about this….great facts/points. I personally can’t eat 40% carbs, but balanced is better than eating too many carbs!
Yes. The pity is that way too many people don’t really know what a balanced diet is. Add to that the fact that most packaged meals from the store contain a lot of carbs and it is pretty easy to see why so many people are eating way too many carbs and not nearly enough protein.
Well on my diet, I eat a moderate amount of protein….only 5% carbs and the rest from fat…I find it hard to limit protein since I am not eating carbs. I hear what you are saying though, about a balanced diet & a lot of people don’t know what it is.
Are you on a Keto diet? Two of the pastors at our church are pre-diabetic and they’ve both gone to a keto diet.
There are conditions that require significantly changing the dietary balance. However, many of those conditions would probably have never existed if the diet had been initially balanced in the first place.
Yes, the Keto diet is what I do (when I can stick to it) It’s a great diet to help with diabetes…I went from an a1c of almost 9 down to 6.1 in 3 months of doing the diet.
And yes, I agree the conditions would probably not exist if we ate how people ate in the past (lots of meat….no processed/packaged foods etc)
I have never been a big meat eater but I know the heat benefits so I try to eat what I can. I love seafood.
That is the great thing. Seafood, fish, beef, pork, chicken, turkey, venison, and even milk, eggs, and cheese contains a lot of protein and basically zilch carbohydrates.
You are right and I love dairy as well. All in moderation.
O, I agree with this one that even of a small portion of meat you don’t get hungry, that’s true.
That is one reason I’ve often taken jerky with me when I’ve gone someplace where I knew that I wouldn’t be eating for a while. When I start getting hungry, just eating some jerky staves off the hunger pains.