Think Meat Will Help You Lose Weight? Maybe You Should Think Again!

This is the part 2 promised from my last post and is from Kim Klaver's blog (and my personal hero). As I mentioned before, Kim and Dr. Heidi ( I have met them both in my quest for better health and they are the real thing) are my amazing in their knowledge of nutrition and what works and does not work to lose weight and stay healthy. They bypass all the hoopla and commercialism and give you the truth.

Now not to get into my own personal thoughts too much (well it is my blog so maybe just a little) I would like to say that I completely oppose (find them the worst of the worst) factory farms which is where most commercial burgers and meats come from (remember I am a vegetarian). On a humane note, the animals are treated horribly (and horribly is a nice way to put it as I have seen videos that still make me cry when I think of them) and on a health note as you will see you are not doing your body any benefit by eating it. Kim gives you a healthier alternative for you carnivores.


Warning: These Meats are fattening.
by Kim Klaver

Most folks think meat is good if you want to lose weight. (90% - 208 - of 228 respondents said so on our recent survey.)

But alas...

Big Fat Surprise #3: Most meat is fattening.
Meats are not created equal.
Nor are chickens, turkeys, fish, eggs and dairy.

We compare two burgers: An industrial burger and a grassfed burger.

They may look the same, but one is fattening and the other is reducing. Yes, assume you are eating either one WITHOUT the BUN.

An industrial burger is fattening.
Its grassfed counterpart is reducing.

Here's why the industrial burger is fattening. It has:

• An abnormal amount of total and saturated fat: 4 to 6 times more total fat and twice as much saturated fat as grassfed.

• Hardly any omega 3 fats – the type of fat that burns fat, like salmon has. Omega 3 naturally present in cow fat plummets in the feedlot – the longer the cow is in the feedlot, the lower the omega 3 content.

• Excessive amounts of omega 6 fats – the fats found in corn oil that are correlated with obesity and diabetes.

• High level of toxins: growth hormone, antibiotics, pesticides and genetically modified organisms. (Toxins are fattening. See Fat Surprise #4, coming soon.)

• In industrial feedlots cows sleep in deep piles of manure – a source of bacteria that may end up in our hamburgers. They are fed synthetic nitrogen, chicken litter, blood and fat products of other slaughtered cattle, along with as much corn as they can stand. Cows naturally eat grass, not corn. Corn messes up their digestive systems, causing all kinds of disease requiring antibiotics and other medication – which end up in our steaks and burgers. "A growing body of research suggests that many problems associated with eating beef are really problems with corn-fed beef ." (Pollan 2008, p.75)

On the other hand, grassfed meats come from cows that eat grass – food they’re made to eat and digest. They stay healthy, and develop ideal amounts of total fats and the essential omega 3 and 6 fats. Grassfed meats are a boon to folks who don’t like fish, because they provide the omega 3s that we prize in fish.

There are similar differences in the weight loss effects of industrial versus pastured chickens and turkeys, and farmed versus wild fish. I often tell my students that when they eat farmed fish, they might as well be eating a feedlot cow.

Other products from grassfed and industrial animals are also wildly different in the nutrition they offer.

Milk, butter and cream from grassfed cows can help burn fat and build muscle. They contain CLA, a type of fat that causes that to happen. (see Tom, 1977 in Robinson, p 20). Grassfed milk has 5 times more CLA than industrial milk.

Bottom line, meat lovers; meat shunners.

Industrial animal farming has spawned an industrial food syndrome epidemic – folks who are obese, diabetic, and prone to heart disease, cancer, asthma and arthritis.

The reaction against cruelty to animals and dangers to human health from industrial food has given vegetarianism new life. Even Michael Pollan who started out as an omnivore, advises us on the cover of his newest book:

“Eat food, not too much, mostly plants”.

But we need not throw the baby out with the bathwater. Instead, we say:

“Eat food, low carb, grassfed and wild.” And of course, eat real fat.

Great advice! Dr. Heidi has an extreme regime weight loss program that gives results and is highly affordable while keeping you healthy. Please see my last post for more information or email me!