There are bad fats and good fats, and the truth is almost never talked about accurately. Our body uses fat as fuel and when we don’t have enough fat for basic bodily functions, everything starts shutting down; hormones, reproductive organs, liver, metabolism, and heart. When we think about the health of our planet; fertility rates have plummeted, and all diseases have increased. There is a direct link to the foods we choose to put in our body today, versus what our ancestors ate.
Most of us do the best we can with the information we have. I request as you read the rest of this post with an open mind, and be in inquiry, especially if this information is new to you. We are only growing if we are learning, and we must be open to what we don’t know, and ok with the possibility of being wrong.
Good Fats are Phat
All meats are not created equally. Literally. Fat is where toxins AND nutrients are stored. We are either feeding disease (literally) or supplying our body with nutrient dense foods to support optimum health. If we’re eating low quality meat, go low fat or lean cuts! Eating low quality, toxic meats are not recommended, but have become normal and acceptable to most people (who don’t know better). However, good fats from quality meat is nutrient dense, and supports optimal health and aids in disease prevention, eat high fat, often.
Factory farmed food is full of toxins, antibiotics, steroids, disease, and inflammatory agents like gluten. Animals in feedlots are kept in extremely small spaces with limited range of movement and supplemented with toxic foods. They limit their movement and feed poor food to fatten these animals as quickly as possibly so they can get their money and cut expenses. Due to the tight quarters and poor food they have weakened immunity and are prone to disease they are given antibiotics and steroids as normal protocol. All of this is in the meat, and passed along to you! Yikes!
There are good fats! These are from sustainable, pastured, organic, and locally family farmed. I say locally, because you should really know what you are putting into your body. See how the animals live, what they eat, how they are slaughtered, this is your body, your health, you should know. When animals are fed quality foods, foods they are supposed to eat, allowed to move freely, and killed as humane as possible the meat is completely different. The fat of quality meats are sooooo good, they are nutrient dense and you want to eat as much of these good fats as possible.
Do you remember the Adkins diet? How people lost weight quickly? It’s because we need good fats, good fats are imperative for optimal body functioning. We need good fats from animals, this means understanding what is bad fat. The Adkins diet had numerous holes including the extreme restriction on carbs and lacked quality foods, but Dr. Adkins was old. When he grew up farming was done ethically, honestly and animals were properly cared for.
Over the decades the food industry has completely changed, is now mostly run by large corporations with financial motives, many of which are directly owned by pharmaceutical companies. As quality of food has decreased, diseases have increased. Health starts with food, and many people treat diseases, but not the causes. The root cause of almost any disease can be linked back to the foods consumed. No need for pharmaceuticals, when there is no disease to treat.
How this affects you:
The factory farmer only cares about their bank account, not your health, and fills the cow full of fatting grains, and ultimately you too. Sustainable Farmers producing high quality meat costs more because the cattle are more expensive to raise and the farmer gets less meat because it lacks the excessive toxic fats. Good farmers, are passionate about farming, producing a great product and caring for the animals. Google your area and “pasture raised”.
Bad Fats
- Toxic meats
- Peanuts or peanut butter
- Excessive nut consumption
Fat Deficiencies
- Thin hair and/or hair loss
- Hormone imbalances
- Fertility problems
- Mood swings
- Emotional sensitivity
- Metabolism problems
Good Fats
- Quality meat, eat lots
- Avocado
- Nuts, raw or soaked (in moderation)
Fat Benefits
- Balanced hormones
- Kills cancer cells
- Fat burns fat, so it promotes lean muscle
- Reduces seizures for people with epilepsy
- Supports prevention and remission of cancer
- Keeps us feeling satiated longer
We all have cancer cells in our body, but they only grow in certain environments. Much like a whale can’t live in the desert, quality animal fats create an environment that cancer cells do not live in. For this reason alone, it is worth eating good fats!
Beef misconceptions: Red meat is hard to digest. No it’s not, it is actually the toxins and grains (the cows eating and passing to you) that are causing inflammation in your body, and difficult to digest. Not only in your digestive tract, but in your joints, muscles, soft tissue, organs, and overall bodily functions. Lots of meat company’s intentionally mislead people by calling their beef grass fed, well most beef is grass fed. It’s the finishing that’s the difference. Quality companies always feed their cows grass, up until they are slaughtered, and this is referenced as “grass finished”. The factory farms who produce toxic meat will feed grass up until the last 60-90 days and then fatten the cows up with grains.
Farmers make money based on “hanging meat” so the heavier the cow the more they make. When buying in small portions the quality meat can cost a lot more, but when purchased directly from the farmer as ¼ cow or ½ cow (yes get a large freezer) the meat can actually be much more affordable then the cheap crap at traditional grocery stores. Grocery stores like Whole Foods and small organic local shops carry grass-finished meats, talk to your local butcher.
Pork misconceptions: Pigs are filthy dirty animals full of parasites and disease that spread to humans when they digest this toxic meat. Well this is actually true, when we are discussing factory farming, again. Pigs are extremely intelligent animals, and actually enjoy defecating in the same area, keeping feed areas clean. In factory farming pigs are confined in dirty, contaminated pens, fed poor quality “food”, their movement is limited so they can get as fat as soon as possible just to be slaughtered. Typical Factory farmed pigs go to slaughter at 6 months, loaded full of steroids, antibiotics, and toxins.
Sustainable pig farming feeds quality food since it directly impacts the taste of the meat, they also give them lots of space to run around. This creates marbling in the meat because these pigs actually have muscle, as they should. These pigs typically go to slaughter at a year and a half and don’t contain the parasites and disease that factory farmed pigs do. Pork produced from a quality source is loaded with nutrient dense good fats that is incredibly good for our bodies.
Chicken misconceptions: Organic, vegetarian, cage free is good right? It’s so scary how the large corporate factory “farmers” mislead the public, and how easily the sheeple follow.
Organic is great considering the chickens are not pumped full of hormones and antibiotics. But, they are confined in small cages with limited movement causing numerous others problems that affect the quality of meat and inhumane living conditions.
Vegetarian fed… Remember above discussing about high fat environments cancer cells can’t survive? We’ll cancer cells thrive, grow and love soy. Yikes!! Getting back to chickens origins, they live in fields and eat bugs. Yes, they are carnivores! Completely changing their natural diet affects the over health of the chicken, meat quality, organs. Limit their space and feed them soy, you’re now ingesting toxic meat.
Cage free, possibly the most misleading of all chicken marketing tactics. Yes, it is true, they are not in cases but they are in a large enclosed barn so crowded the average chicken has 5/8’s of a square foot for themselves. With hardly any movement these chickens suffer trampling, atrophy, eating poor quality “food”, and are shot up with steroids and antibiotics. Some of these chickens grow large so quickly due to the injections they lose their ability to walk at 6-8 weeks and go to slaughter (because they’ve reached adult size…).
Sustainable chicken farming allows chickens to live in a natural environment, eating natural food. It’s called rotational grazing; they live in large movable pens that are covered so they cannot be eaten by prey. They eat bugs and grass and have lots of room to move. They grow at a normal rate and are slaughtered around 12-16 weeks. The eggs produced from these chickens are nutrient dense unlike the eggs from factory-farmed chickens.
Ways you can take action now:
1. I recommend finding local farmers go to the farm, meet the animals, see how they live, ask questions about their feeding program.
2. There are lots more healthy restaurants than you realize. Google farm to table in your desired area. These are restaurants that use quality foods from local farmers because they are knowledgeable and know there’s a difference.
3. Expensive doesn’t mean better. You must know better to do better, Ruth Chris Steak house uses Factory Farmed toxic meat. You will find very high caliber restaurants use quality meat, but chain restaurants do not.
4. Avoid chain restaurants, with a few exceptions including True Food Kitchen
5. Eat good fats!!
Who I buy from:
Butcher Box get 10% off with code “caveman”
Cook Pigs
hi Lindsey!! I love your site..thank you for all of the wonderful, informative information! I got in contact with The Butcher Box and we are going to place an order. We live in Pittsburgh, and know there are farms around that can supply us with meat, but I trust your opinion because I know how passionate you are about your health: I am the same way! Keep shining and putting goodness out there 🙂
Hello Kim,
That’s awesome! We are lucky to have farms near us too, but it’s so convenient getting the meat delivered. Please keep me updated with what you think!
~ Lindsey