Red Meat and Your Health (Not What You Think)

I stopped eating red meat about 25 years ago, when I was an impressionable teenager. Actually I stopped eating all meat. Recently I was at an event and had some lovely cheese dip with pita breat. Later I got very sick, and found out the next day it had had ground beef in it. It seems I can no longer digest red meat…is that possible?

Hi Joe, my dad ate meat everyday, it was our family staple along with rice and veggies. He lived to be 97, died of prostate cancer. Dr said his heart was still beating like a horse. He never did eat processed foods though. Ate eggs, bacon and beef

Red meat lower cholesterol, interesting! Well, I guess anything in moderation is OK. It is just that, we tend to overeat and go overboard. I don’t eat beef because I don’t digest it well. I get sick. But I have tried buffalo and Ted’s Montana grill makes a great Buffalo pot roast – and the bison burgers are great!
Venison – I had that too – much leaner meat! Tell us more Joey!

I enjoy a good steak when I get the chance. My wife doesn’t like the taste of beef – I figure it may have something to do with the fact that her mother doesn’t prepare it properly that put her off when she was younger.

Grass fed beef is great but it isn’t as tender as corn fed beef. Also, its really expensive and difficult to find (true 100% grass fed). Maybe you can get us a 15%off coupon with US Wellness beef ;-) Having said that, they say the fat profile is better than salmon so its definitely worth the premium.

I grew up in Argentina eating what most in the US and Canada would consider enormous amounts of beef. After spending a long time in Canada, I started to eat more chicken.

Once I started Arnel Ricafranca’s program I noticed that I felt stronger in my work outs if I ate more beef. I also noticed I like it better than chicken and I also missed it.

I can’t see how you’d build muscle on veggies.

Every blog post that you do simply takes a “myth” and states some little reason why its not true. You can’t go against everything that has ever been said about nutrition. It is making you sound less and less credible.

Hi Joel,
Good article..I not really a red meat eater either..if I do it has to be really well done, I stick to my chicken and fish..but this is good info to have as my husband is a meat & potato kind of a guy.

@Craig Meiners –

Before you get all up on your high horse… It is just as easy to be an unhealthy vegetarian as an unhealthy omnivore, same reason: Too much PROCESSED FOOD.

yowza. that’s amazing! one of my hippy vegetarian friends has a bumper sticker that says “beef. it’s what’s rotting in your colon.” now i fiinally have something to toss back in her direction!

I’m going to eat all the red meat I want as long as it comes from grass-fed cows! That’s the good stuff! (I try to limit red meat from commercially raised cows). Why does everyone always blame animal fat? What about high doses of sugar and massive amounts of starchy carbs? Those overwork your pancreas and decrease insuiln sensitivity over time –> high triglycerides, diabetes, obesity, metabolic syndrome, hellooooo? Precursors to heart disease anyone?

Plus, animal protein stimulates the secretion of GLUCAGON, a hormone that COUNTERACTS INSULIN (insulin being a fat-storing hormone). Yay!

YAY! I always buy grass fed beef from sirloin and my cholesterol is just fine.
While a few vegans I know have high cholesterol, but they would NEVER believe this.

I cut back on red meat due to both price and calories (you can simply get more chicken for the calories!), but I have no issue with it and always have to tell people how it’s not the streak that will kill you but the side of mashed potatoes drowned in trans-fat margarine! The world is coming around … slowly.

Great article and thanks for sharing it! And how healthy grass fed beef is, not to mention better flavour! I have been eating grass fed for many years, and will continue to!

i love red meat

I’m am unbashed carnivore…and make no apologies to ANYONE for that. I have several friends who have ‘discovered the vegan or vegetarian lifestyles’, I have to say they are easily the most unhealthy people in my circle of friends.

Now, don’t get me wrong – there are some healthy vegans and vegetarians – no doubt about it. But this misconception that meat is the culprit for making people fat and unhealthy is just well – ridiculous.

thanks for the article and glad you enjoyed your meat!

How do you know what fat is saturated versus unsaturated? I always thought that the saturated fat was solid and unsaturated liquid. If I cut out all of the visible fat before I eat the meat. Doesn’t that remove most of the saturated fat anyway?

I enjoy read meat, but have tended to go for alternatives, such as buffalo and Ostrich, which both taste fantastic, and are extremely lean. However, do you have some suggestions for the best, leanest cuts of traditional red meat (e.g., Sirloin, flank, etc.). Thanks.

how can you go without beef? as far as muscle gains and just enjoying it in general? some people..

Being a meathead and all, I don’t know how impartial I am on this subject, but I do see where the anti-red meat advocates are coming from, albeit misinformed. They are speaking on behalf of the vast majority of red meat preparations on the restaurant market. The “Sweet Baby Rays” and the midrange affordable steaks are not the ones that most personal trainers would push their clients toward, yet the client can justify the low quality steak and it’s additional high fructose corn syrup and “saute” preparation based on trying to save money and that it’s protein, and that’s good for me, right? So I agree with you Joel, preparing your own is the ideal, and keeps you in control, but to Joe Sixpack who isn’t willing to cook his own steak, at least request to the waiter that your steak be cooked “healthy style”, which will probably be followed by a snicker. (no, not Snickers… fatty)

I’m an Albertian so I love the beef. Streak is my favourite meat and I love to BBQ it. There is no better source of iron than red meat and you need to have some every-so-often. Like most things, moderation is the key. You should also be eating the chicken and fish, not just beef, but beef sure is tasty

I think overall if you get the best, freshest and most organic food that you can get, that you will be healthier, with very few foods being strictly forbidden.

Been a red meat eater forever. I prefer it and have recently discovered Bison and so far love the burgers. Yummy.

Some people go overboard and eat only chicken breast and tuna. Well, if they can eat only two of those for the rest of their life, good luck to them.

But for me, balanced meal and meat is important. Just consume in moderation, everything will be fine. Don’t sweat about the fine prints. Nature will take care of it. Just don’t eat steak and beef 365 days a year, eh?

When animals are fed grains rather than their natural diet of grass the fat that the grain produces is what is unhealthy. Animals are fed grain to make them fat which tenderizes the meat, makes it more flavorful and for us to consume, much less healthy.

When animals eat their natural diet, their fat is comprised of balanced omega-3 and omega-6 acids. Grain fed beef provides NO omega-3 fatty acids. Since grain fed beef is what is predominately sold in the US, the the “experts” will only tell you about how bad beef is for you without explaining (and maybe not even understanding) why.