Month: October 2016
Is eating meat bad for your health?
Do you ever wonder if eating meat is bad for your health?
Meat and high protein diets have come in for some pretty bad press recently, but is it justified?
It seems the vast majority of studies that suggest a correlation between eating meat and disease are ‘observational’ studies.
he fundamental problem with observational studies in this context is that they don’t take into account that many people who eat a high protein diet also have other VERY bad dietary habits which could be a more significant cause of their poor health.
The fundamental problem with observational studies in this context is that they don’t take into account that many people who eat a high protein diet also have other VERY bad dietary habits which could be a more significant cause of their poor health. This is the opposite to the ‘healthy user bias’ found when studying vegetarians who usually demonstrate other health promoting activities besides what they eat.
If you think about it, many people who eat high quantities of meat also eat high quantities of refined carbohydrates – perhaps grain fed burgers with a sugary refined bread bun washed down with cola!
Some people who eat meat will smoke, drink, sit on their bums all day and eat sweets. Others will be fit, eat a huge range of nutrient dense vegetables, de-stress with yoga and only eat organic meat.
Correlation is NOT causation.
These studies never distinguish between high-quality nutrient-dense animal proteins – like those from 100% grass fed animals, and meat from intensively reared animals that have eaten mainly grain. The effect of these two types of meat on your body is profound.
There are countless great reasons backed up with credible evidence that eating good quality meat is a very healthy thing to do.
Here is the respected Functional Medicine Doctor Dr M Hyman on the topic of ‘Is eating meat bad for your health’.
Frankly spinning scientific research one way and another to suit a moral standpoint isn’t of much help, who said we have to have empirical evidence to make sound judgements anyway?
In these situations, I personally try and bring it back to good old common sense.
My qualifying question is this; Does it make sense that the very food that we are designed to eat and have thrived on, for 100,000s years would suddenly cause a wide range of diseases unknown to our Palaeolithic ancestors? I think not!
What has changed is the quality of the meat we eat and the other things we eat, drink and do.
We will be diving into these subjects in more detail in upcoming articles.
Caroline x
Here is my friend Diana on Meat, Cancer and Sustainability.
This is a fantastic post on the healthiness of eating meat.
Here is Chris Kresser on Eating Meat
Zoe Harcombe has written a wonderful in-depth response to the WHO meat and Cancer report.
Do you want to help ignite a consumer revolution?
Do you want to ignite a consumer revolution?
If you have read any of my articles or looked at our bio you will know that I’m deeply passionate about the environment, animal welfare and healthy food. It probably won’t be a huge surprise to realise that the motivating aim for Primal Meats is to use it as a tool for influencing change in the way our animals and land are being farmed and to provide customers with a level of nutrition not easily found in ‘conventional’ meat.
There is a perception in society that business people are hard-nosed; exploit customers, the environment and animals to make a profit – sadly it’s sometimes true.
But, how does this happen? Most small-scale businesses are born from a passion for a product or solution, I doubt they set out to exploit anyone. Being in business is really tough; perhaps year after year failing to make enough profit leads to tough choices. Shaving costs off every transaction, squeezing every drop out of the workforce to maximise productivity and buying from the cheapest supplier is common practice in order to stay afloat or remain competitive. Click the image below for the true cost accounting video.
Patrick Holden and the Sustainable Food Trust are championing ‘True Cost Accounting’
We are all part of this process too. Most people won’t pay the ACTUAL cost of producing something well if there is a cheaper option available – especially if the consequences of the cheaper option aren’t highlighted. We don’t see the factory farmed animals, the giant ‘efficient’ slaughter houses, the lakes of slurry, the soil losing vast amounts of CO2 into the atmosphere, the rivers destroyed by chemical pollutants, the exploited third world workforce and we don’t notice that what we are eating is merely a shadow of the delicious nutritious food of our grandparents!
In the 1950’s food costs made up about 1/3rd of the household income; nowadays this figure is less than 10%!
The hidden costs of producing cheap food don’t disappear, they are simply shifted. The cost of cleaning up waste, the increased health care needs through consumption of toxic food, the subsidies paid to farmers and the income support given to for poorly treated workers are all paid by US.
I have a dream: one day there will be businesses that can pay their staff (and themselves!) fairly, regenerate the environment with every action, delight their customers with their products AND actually make a profit in order to stay in the game long-term. In this business model, all the ‘true costs’ are accounted for.
Do you know what? It’s up to us to make this happen.
I have for years been a huge advocate of the Savory Institute and Allan Savory’s work in regenerating our grasslands as a way to reverse climate change, heal displaced communities and address the disastrous loss of diversity that is destroying ecosystems worldwide.
Up until last year, it was only a fantasy that I could become involved in such inspiring work.
Guess what?
The first UK hub – 3LM – opened in January 2016 and I was one of the first in the pipeline to become an accredited professional in Holistic Management. With this, I continue to encourage farmers to not only to step away from using ‘inputs’ but to focus their attention on regenerating their land for the sake of the planet and their profits. Regenerating land builds soil health, natural fertility and resistance to flood, drought and disease. In the process of building soil, large amounts of atmospheric carbon can be sequestered making a really huge contribution toward reversing climate change.
As a supporter of Primal Meats, you have helped us increase the demand for high welfare, healthy and sustainable meat – it’s obvious you really care. Rearing 100% grass-fed animals is one very important piece of this puzzle but in order to regenerate soil and sequester CO2, sometimes other principles also need to be in play.
There are only a handful of inspiring Farmers in the UK farming to this level; we need to learn from them and encourage their success.
Rebecca Hosking explains Holistic Management and Holistic planned grazing click the image below.
Rebecca Hosking explains what Holistic Planned Grazing (a tool used in Holistic Management) is all about.
Roger and Gilly who farm on the stunning Isle of Lismore are also planning their grazing and managing for soil health and biodiversity. They’re excited about the results they’ve had and are working hard to teach others what they’ve learned so far.
Roger, Gilly and Rebecca are pioneering a better understanding of how best to maximise the productivity of our UK grasslands while increasing the land’s capacity to make more food, lock down atmospheric carbon and become flood and drought resistant, all while increasing the potential for wildlife to thrive.
I’m a big believer in customers having a stake in, or at least an influence on how a business works. Your money spent in a supermarket is probably lost in a big greedy machine.
Your money directed at passionate, regenerative farmers or growers could keep that business afloat and enable them to inspire other growers to do the same – that’s an incredible power of influence you have right there in your wallet.
Stephen and I have decided to support any Farmers in the UK who start to manage their land regeneratively through Holistic Management. We will offer to sell their meat and other animal products through Primal Meats on our ‘wholly cow‘ platform. Please help us drive this campaign by spreading the word and to consider buying some of the produce when it becomes available. We’ll keep you updated.
Click the image below to watch the film launching the ‘eat it, wear it, regenerate it’ campaign.
Take a look at the campaign video to understand why only YOU have the power to make this happen.
Check out our shop to continue supporting innovative family farms.
Thank you so much for your continued support. Please share this email with anyone you think may find it interesting.
Caroline x