Hey Radical Health Seekers 👋
In last week’s newsletter we talked about why protein from red meat should be the foundation of your animal-based diet.
We believe red meat is one of the best things you can eat for radical health…
Because not only is it incredibly nutritious…
But something like ground beef is also accessible, affordable and delicious.
Yet understandably, you might have concerns about increasing your consumption of this wonderful food, because for decades now, we’ve been told by health authorities that it can lead to heart attacks, strokes, cancers and other chronic diseases.
If this is you, then please read this newsletter. Because it might just save your life.
Unfortunately, most doctors (probably including yours) still consider red meat to be harmful for humans, despite the unbiased science saying otherwise.
The mainstream IS catching up, but it moves at a snail’s pace, especially because of vested financial interests.
You see, in science, money talks.
For example, this paper from 2022 found that 95% of the committee members for the newest USDA Dietary Guidelines had conflicts of interest with the food and pharmaceutical industries…
And somehow, top nutrition researchers now deem it fit to rank Frosted Mini-Wheats above REAL foods like ground beef:
Money talks.
And big food companies fund a ton of nutritional research in order to skew the results in their favor…
So that their products can then be promoted as the healthiest option despite being anything but.
Consequently, most people don’t know who to trust for nutrition advice, and their health suffers…
The food companies continue to make bank…
And ACTUAL food is demonized.
Now of all the demonized foods, red meat is probably top of the pile…
Even though we’ve been eating red meat for millions of years!
Meat made us human.
“But doesn’t red meat increase my risk of heart disease and other chronic diseases?”
We all have an ‘Uncle Joe’ or ‘Aunt Marge’ who had a stroke or heart attack…
And we bet most of your family believed it was because of all the saturated fat in the steaks they were eating…
Mainstream authorities like the American Heart Association and the USDA STILL recommend limiting beef intake because of its saturated fat content…
Even though we now have many studies confirming that saturated fat is NOT associated with heart disease and other chronic diseases (1, 2, 3, 4).
This 2020 study concluded that unprocessed red meat is not associated with heart disease:
“There is no robust evidence that current population-wide arbitrary upper limits on saturated fat consumption in the United States will prevent CVD or reduce mortality.”
“But red meat does cause cancer, right?”
For decades, mainstream nutritional wisdom has said so, but this advice emerged from epidemiological studies showing correlation, not causation…
And the studies also frequently fail to correct for unhealthy user bias (e.g. those that eat red meat also might eat processed foods and drink alcohol).
Plus, we now have newer, higher-quality review studies that indicate otherwise, like this study from 2019:
It’s one of the most comprehensive to date, which looked at data from 48 studies with over 5.7 million participants…
And concluded that the recommendations to limit red meat intake based on cancer concerns were bogus (you can read what they say here).
And there’s this 2019 study:
Which concludes:
“The possible absolute effects of red and processed meat consumption on cancer mortality and incidence are very small, and the certainty of evidence is low to very low”
“Ok, ok, but what about all the studies that show vegetarians live longer?”
This is another example of “if you repeat a lie often enough, people will believe it”…
But it’s a belief based on more bogus science, with more weak correlations that fail to correct for healthy user bias.
For example, many of the studies showing positive correlations between vegetarians and lifespan fail to correct for the fact that health-conscious vegetarians often avoid alcohol and ultra-processed foods too…
So which factor is responsible for their long life? The lack of meat or the lack of junk food?
And we now have evidence to indicate the opposite, like this recent study:
Here, the authors conclude that the more meat people eat, the longer they live!
And then there’s the fact that Hong Kong has the highest meat consumption per capita AND highest life expectancy per capita combined (yes it’s true, Google it)…
It may be a correlation, but it sure flies in the face of the belief that you must eat less red meat if you want to live a long life.
Not all red meats are equal
There is a vast difference between processed red meats like sausage, salamis, hotdogs and bacon vs unprocessed grass-fed & finished beef from cattle raised as nature intended.
In our opinion, the best meat you can eat is either wild game (e.g. venison, moose, elk) or grass-fed & finished beef, lamb or bison.
Yes, these meats can be expensive, but it’s also possible to find them at affordable prices (especially ground beef) if you know where to look. Start with your local farmers market or rancher.
Our founder Paul Saladino MD has also recently released videos showing it’s possible to find affordable high-quality meat in places like Sam’s Club and Costco too!
Grass-fed & grain-finished cattle come in at a close second, and will still be an incredible food for you, far superior and more nutritious than processed meats, vegetables or grains.
The problem with pork 🐖
Like chickens, pigs are mostly raised in densely crowded spaces with little to no access to their natural environment.
They are also fed a highly processed diet containing grains and soy. Both of these factors leads to a sickly animal with meat that is excessively high in omega-6 fatty acids. The primary concern is that when we eat these animals, the omega-6 fatty acids then build up in our bodies, contributing to metabolic disease.
We hope today’s newsletter clears up some concerns you might have had about eating more red meat…
If you’d like to explore this topic further, then be sure to check out our latest YouTube video where we dive further into red meat misinformation:
The Science Behind Red Meat: Debunking Misinformation
That’s all from us this week 👋
Stay Radical (and go enjoy a steak, guilt-free)!
The Heart & Soil Team
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