Soy and Man Boobs

A client asked me the other day,"Marc, what do you think of Soy" I sometimes have to think carefully about how I answer certain questions - I sometimes can come off a bit to harsh - I said, "I don't think much of Soy, in fact I think most of it's toxic, causes man boobs, thyroid inhibiting, increases estrogen - and for men, this can be especially problematic" and then there was a moment of awkward silence.

So let's explore.....

For the scientists:
288 references to the toxicity of soy in the FDA’s poisonous plants database
http://www.westonaprice.org/images/pdfs/fdasoyreferences.pdf
77 studies showing the adverse reactions to dietary soy
http://www.westonaprice.org/soy-alert/studies-showing-adverse-effects-of-soy
174 studies showing the adverse reactions to isoflavones (phytoestrogens)
http://www.westonaprice.org/soy-alert/studies-showing-adverse-effects-of-isoflavones


So, Is Soy Bad For You?
The short answer? YES! Let’s be clear on the recent history of soy. The soybean was a modest and unpopular crop until food manufacturers intent on creating cheap vegetable oils convinced the U.S. government to start subsidizing it. The soy was turned into oil, and the industry was left with an industrial waste product.

Then somebody had a brilliant idea:

Let’s take this industrial waste product full of toxins and carcinogens — isolated soy protein — add it to virtually almost every pre packaged food and turn it into food that people will eat!

From Nina Planck’s article:
The FDA refused to approve isolated soy protein as a safe food additive with the designation “Generally Recognized as Safe.”
Agribusiness giant Archer Daniels Midland withdrew its application for the coveted GRAS status for soy protein, after an outcry from scientists about the toxins and carcinogens that come with it. They can still put soy protein in your food, but they have to get pre-market approval for every product.

Isolated soy protein is no health food. But we don’t eat soy protein with a spoon. How do we eat it? It is the main ingredient in soy burgers, ice cream, milk shakes, and fake cheese. These soy protein products are phony foods — but they must look like the real foods they imitate. So the soy industry transforms a small yellow soy bean into something resembling a hamburger. They make soy “milk” and “ice cream” white and creamy.

The other ingredients in these foods are no better for you than the soy protein that goes into them. Soy milk, for example, is simply a cocktail of soy protein, sugar, and vegetable oil. The “natural” MSG formed in soy processing is already bad for you, but even more MSG, and more flavorings, are added. Imitation foods need a lot of help to be tasty. Many savory soy foods are loaded with additives to give them the flavor of the real foods they mimic. Most imitation meat, for example, contains man-made MSG, which causes migraines and is associated with brain cancer.

Soy foods aren’t real food. They aren’t traditional. They aren’t old. They’re industrial waste products dressed up in pretty clothes and marketed to an ignorant public.


Dangers of Soy

Kristen from The food renegade blog did a nice job describing some of the probelms associated with soy......so let's take a peek!

Phytoestrogens
Soy is higher in phytoestrogens than just about any other food source. Phytoestrogens are plant-based estrogens that mimic estrogen in our bodies. In recent years, you may have read about studies which indicate phytoestrogens are good for you. But ask yourself, who funded those studies? The soy industry, that’s who. Independent research has clearly shown that consuming phytoestrogens is downright dangerous for the human body.

It’s only common sense. No one argues, for example, that a leading cause of breast cancer, endometriosis, uterine fibroids, infertility, and low libido is unopposed estrogen, or estrogen dominance. Why, then, would anyone argue that we should consume more of a food high in estrogen?

An infant taking the recommended amount of soy formula is consuming a hormone load equivalent of 4 birth control pills a day! Is it any wonder we’ve seen such a dramatic rise in precocious puberty with young girls starting their periods at 6 and 7?

Goitrogenic
Soy will destroy your thyroid. Many foods are goitrogenic (thyroid suppressing), but soy is king of them all. Goitrogens work by preventing your thyroid from getting the necessary amount of iodine. Friends, I believe this is what happened to Oprah’s thyroid. She pushed soy for years, featured it in everyone one of her “healthy” diets, and it destroyed her thyroid. If your thyroid fails, what happens? You gain weight. You have a harder time regulating your moods. You get colder more easily. You’re more easily fatigued. You demonstrate an inability to concentrate and remember details. The list goes on. You simply don’t want to mess with your thyroid.

Phytates
Phytates are enzyme-inhibitors that block mineral absorption in human digestive tract. They are naturally present in all grains, seeds, nuts, and legumes (which is why everyone should soak grains before eating - visit westonaprice.org for more info)- But soy is so high in phytates that it’s almost impossible to get rid of them. Simply soaking soy overnight in an acidic medium won’t do the trick. Soy must be fermented in order to be digestible to humans. That means that if you eat soy at all, you should stick to fermented soy products like miso, tempeh, natto, or a naturally fermented soy sauce (tamari).

Trypsin inhibitors
Finally soy is rich in trypsin inhibitors. Trypsin is a digestive enzyme we need to properly digest protein. Without enough trypsin, you’ll experience many digestive problems including stomach cramps, diarrhea, and bleeding. You’ll also be leaving yourself open to future problems with your pancreas.

Debunking The Asian Soy Myth

But, people say, what about Asians? They eat soy every day, and they’re so healthy!

Soy farming started around 1100 BC in China, where it was used to build soil fertility and feed animals. Soy beans were not considered fit for humans until the Chinese learned to ferment them, which makes them digestible. Asian diets now include fermented soy beans in the form of natto, miso, tamari, and tempeh.
Soy producers want you to eat more soy — more than the Asians eat, and more than is good for you.

The Japanese and Chinese eat 10 grams of soy per day — about two teaspoons. Yet a soy manufacturer recommends Americans eat ten times what the Japanese eat — 100 grams of soy protein per day. In The Soy Zone, Barry Sears recommends a daily diet of a minimum of 50 grams of soy, and up to 75 grams for women and 100 grams for men.
It’s like red wine: a glass or two a day may be good for you; a bottle or two every day rots your liver.

Did you catch that? Asians only eat 2 teaspoons of soy a day, usually as a condiment, and it’s highly fermented! Fermentation takes care of SOME of the dangers of soy. Plus, the typical Asian will also consume soy with mineral-rich and nutrient-dense foods such as fish broth (naturally high in iodine & other minerals which support the thyroid).

The Plano Program will continue to avoid all forms of soy whenever possible. Remember, most protein bars contain soy protein isolates as the main protein source. This is a cheap form of protein that is poorly utilized by the human body.

Is Skim Milk Really Healthier?

Vin Miller - Natural Bias

We’ve been told for years that skim milk and low fat milk are healthier choices than whole milk, but is this really the case? While this advice is mostly based on avoiding saturated fat, there are other important factors to consider as well.

Milk is the primary source of nutrition for young mammals before they’re able to eat and digest other types of food. It’s an excellent source of protein, vitamins, and minerals, all of which are critical to proper development. This applies to the fat content of milk as well. When the fat is removed, so is a portion of its nutritional quality and its ability to support healthy development. The recommendation to avoid milk fat is not only based on questionable science, but is also influenced by the profit based motives of the dairy industry.


Could Nature Be This Inconsistent?

Despite the common misconceptions about heart disease, the saturated fat and cholesterol in milk have important benefits. Although we’re the only mammals that consume milk as adults and also from other species, it’s obvious that milk provides the optimal mix of nutrients for human development and is the result of millions of years of development.

Heart disease is a leading cause of death worldwide, and despite a lack of supporting evidence that can withstand unbiased scrutiny, saturated fat and dietary cholesterol have taken much of the blame. It’s highly unlikely that the very same nutrients that are so critical to human development can be so deadly later in life. In fact, research including the work of Dr. Weston A. Price has shown the opposite to be true. His work, completed in the 1930s, describes the health of a number of isolated cultures that consume significant amounts of saturated fat and cholesterol from a variety of traditional and natural sources including cow’s milk. He consistently found that these people enjoy immunity to many of today’s most common diseases including heart disease.

There’s clearly a significant inconsistency between conventional dietary beliefs and the evidence provided to us by nature. Which is more trustworthy?

A Closer Look at Fat

The many important benefits of saturated fat include stable cell membranes and healthy brain, lung, and skin function. It can also boost immunity and is also an important source of energy and fat soluble vitamins. Another advantageous characteristic of saturated fat is that it’s very stable.1

To decrease the production cost of processed foods and increase their shelf life, the food industry uses a process called hydrogenation to turn oils containing unstable polyunsaturated fats into a substance that is more stable and more similar to saturated fat. However, the unstable polyunsaturated fatty acids in the oil are easily oxidized during this process which results in free radicals that may cause cellular damage and increase the risk of heart disease and other major health problems.8-15 In addition, the substance resulting from hydrogenation, commonly referred to as trans fat, is similar enough in structure to saturated fat to be used by the body, but different enough to cause significant problems.2 Although natural saturated fat has been labeled as the dietary villain, trans fat is a much more likely cause of heart disease as well as many other problems.

According to conventional wisdom, the risk of heart disease is reduced by choosing skim or low fat milk instead of whole milk and using polyunsaturated vegetable oils instead of saturated fat. However, more and more evidence is indicating that this belief is not only wrong, but completely backwards.23-35

The Ironic Risks of Drinking Low Fat Milk

It’s standard practice for dairy producers to improve the protein content of skim milk and low fat milk by adding dried milk powder to it. This dried milk is produced by forcing skim milk through tiny holes at high temperatures and pressures which damages its nutrients. This also causes the milk’s cholesterol to become oxidized which is a legitimate risk for heart disease.2-4,16-22 Ironically, the milk’s natural and nutritious saturated fat is removed because it’s supposedly unhealthy, but then a more likely promoter of heart disease is added. Although the amount of oxidized cholesterol in skim milk and reduced fat milk may be small, there’s really not much point in taking the risk.

Another potential problem with consuming skim milk or low fat milk is vitamin A deficiency. Because vitamin A is a fat soluble vitamin, its concentration in milk is reduced through the removal of fat. As a result, when skim milk or low fat milk is consumed and digested, the vitamin A needed for the assimilation of its protein is drawn from the liver. This can deplete the body’s reserve of vitamin A, and in turn, increase the risk of autoimmune disease and cancer.

The Politics of Low Fat Milk

We’re consistently told by the USDA and dietitians that skim milk and low fat milk are the healthiest choices, and probably not by coincidence, this is exactly what the dairy industry wants us to believe. This is because the cream that’s extracted from whole milk to reduce its fat content can be used for other dairy products and therefore generate more profit from the same quantity of milk.

According to the Center for Responsive Politics, the dairy industry donated nearly $5 million to political campaigns6 and spent nearly another $5 million on lobbying. Based on this, the dairy industry is clearly interested in keeping politicians on their side, and their contributions are very likely to be a significant factor behind the mainstream belief that it’s healthier to drink skim milk and low fat milk.

Homogenization is Another Cause for Concern

Homogenization changes the nutritional quality of milk by altering the structure of its fat molecules. During homogenization, milk is forced at high pressure and temperature through tiny holes to break its fat molecules into smaller globules. This results in fat molecules with a much higher than normal membrane concentration of casein and whey proteins which has the potential to increase their allergenic properties. In addition, beneficial components have been found in the membrane of the fat molecules in milk that help suppress pathogenic organisms and protect against multiple sclerosis, Alzehimer’s disease, depression, and stress, but homogenization eliminates these benefits.5

Most of the milk available in grocery stores is both pasteurized and homogenized. Even though pasteurization reduces the quality of milk and promotes the use of poor dairy farming practices, it at least serves an arguably important purpose. It destroys many of the pathogens that can contaminate milk and cause infection. In contrast, the only benefit of homogenization is that it prevents the cream in milk from separating and rising to the top by keeping its fat molecules evenly dispersed. This is nothing more than a matter of convenience and aesthetics, neither of which justify the alteration of a food’s nutrients.

More About Milk

For more information about the history, politics, and health benefits of milk, including the controversies surrounding pasteurization, I highly recommend reading The Untold Story of Milk by Ron Schmid ND. For more information on the chemistry and health benefits of fat, I recommend reading Know Your Fats by Mary Enig PhD.

Top 5 Ways To GAIN Bodyfat

Top 5 Ways to GAIN Body Fat
by Rachel Cosgrove


Are you looking to put on a little extra pudge to keep warm? Maybe your boyfriend or husband wants to see “more” of you? How can you put on that extra layer of fat you’ve always wanted to fill out your jeans?

Follow these five recommendations and you’ll be on your way!

1. Do aerobic exercise every day.

The more aerobics you do, the more efficient your body will be at storing fat, especially if you’re looking to gain some size on your thighs!

Recommendation: Go to the gym every single day and find a treadmill or Stairmaster where you can watch TV while you’re working out. After all, you’re going to be there for a while. Do at least an hour per day, seven days per week at a very steady state (you should be able to carry on a conversation easily the entire workout).

Why it works to store fat: Your body will actually use fat as fuel during this workout (you should be in the “fat burning zone”) which will create the perfect effect we want for the other 23 hours of the day – fat storing mode. Yes, your body will adapt to become efficient at storing fat.

This workout will do nothing to increase your metabolism either. You’ll burn off muscle, decreasing your lean muscle mass, and actually slow down your metabolism. Also, because you’re using your lower body to perform this aerobic exercise, your body will adapt and will most likely store your new fat on your thighs.

So get to the gym and start spending countless hours doing aerobics, burning off muscle, and turning your body into a fat storing machine! This is a perfect way to gain some body fat!

2. Follow a low fat, low calorie diet… and don’t drink any water.

The less you eat, the lower your metabolism will go, which is optimal for storing body fat.

Recommendation: Keep your calories very low and deprive your body. Keep your calories around 1000-1200 per day (which is starving) and don’t eat more than 15 to 20 grams of fat per day. You want your body to think it’s starving so it’ll hold on to body fat at all costs. Also, don’t drink any water. Drink juice instead; it’ll work wonders for expanding your waistline.

Why it works to store body fat: Every time you eat, your metabolism goes up. This isn’t good when you’re trying to store fat. Eating enough food will fuel fat burning, the opposite of what we want. You want your body to be in fat storing mode, which is best accomplished by depriving it.

Also, count your fat grams and keep your dietary fat levels low. This will teach your body to hold on to fat, another excellent method for putting on that extra adipose tissue (body fat)! And drinking water will only cause you to drop any excess water you’re holding, therefore keep the water consumption low to keep you fat and bloated!

3. Avoid weight training at all costs!

Increasing your lean body mass is the best way to increase your metabolism to burn fat. So stay away from any weight training!

Recommendation: Don’t touch the weights in the gym. Or, if you do, only lift ones that are small enough not to build any muscle (you know the ones – the little pink dumbbells in the ladies-only room).

Why it works to store fat: The goal is to keep your metabolism as low as possible to turn your body into a fat storing machine. Any lean muscle would be bad news when you’re trying to gain fat because it would increase your metabolism and cause you to burn more calories! Also, weight training will raise your metabolism for the next 24 to 48 hours, which will never work to get that body fat up!

4. Eat only 1-2 meals a day!

Eating meals less frequently is a great way to keep your metabolism in the gutter all day long and will be ideal for storing fat.

Recommendation: The less often you eat, the better. If you can distract yourself all day and skip a couple of meals, you’ll set yourself up perfectly to store fat. And never eat breakfast to assure that you start your day off in a fat storing mode. For best results, don’t eat anything until dinner and then just eat the one meal before you fast again overnight.

Why this works to store fat: Again, every time you eat, your metabolism increases. If you skip a meal, your metabolism will drop, and if you skip more then one meal you can get that metabolism running very slow – perfect for storing body fat. Having a sluggish metabolism is ideal if you want to put on the chub, and this is a great way to achieve it.

5. Perform the exact same workout over and over without ever increasing the intensity.

Doing the same workout each time will confirm that you haven’t become any stronger or more fit, but instead have stayed exactly the same or become worse.

Recommendation: Go to the gym every day and do the exact same thing. Get on the same cardio machine, in front of the same television, and walk the same speed everyday.

Why this works to store fat: This will ensure that you don’t gain any lean body mass and that your workout won’t limit your fat storing capabilities. You don’t ever want to push yourself harder than you’re used to.

Call now for your free consultation - 203.535.9294
www.theplanoprogram.com

Semi Private Personal Training

We are please to announce we are adding additional times for our semi-private personal training sessions. Classes will be held on Tuesday and Thursday mornings at 6am. Once the 6am class fills we will also be opening up a 7am class.

Why Group Training? It's Simple- This Program offer a huge fun factor, accountability, affordability and professional coaching.

Where are classes held? Classes will be held Tuesday and Thursday mornings at The Plano Program, 500 Boston Post Rd. Orange Ct.

How many people are in a class? Minimum 3, Maximum 5.

How long is the program and what are the terms of the contract? The goal of the program is to complete a 16 week periodized training program. Each person will commit to at least a 4 week training program that will include 8 semi private training sessions with a certified Plano Program coach.

What is the cost of the program? The cost of the 4 week program with 8 semi private training sessions is $240 plus tax. Clients will have the option to renew every 4 weeks or elect to keep a credit card on file to be processed every 4 weeks.

What types of payments do you accept? All major credit cards, cash, or checks are acceptable. Checks should be made out to Optimal Results.

Is this a bootcamp? This is NOT a bootcamp. Each person will be provided with a individualized program based around client needs, goals, limitations, and fitness level. Your individualized program will be modified every 4 weeks to maximize results. The Plano Program uses a uniquely designed 16 week periodized training program to maximize results and minimize injury.

What if I am severely de-conditioned? Congrats for taking the first step! We all need to start somewhere. Your coach will adjust and modify your program according to your physical limitations, medications, injuries, fitness level, etc.

What happens the first class? All participants have the option to participate in a baseline assessment including:

• strength/flexibility assessment
• circumference measurements
• Bodyweight/bodyfat assessment.

Clients will also learn the correct biomechanics of the BIG 4 exercises. These BIG 4 will be the cornerstones of your exercise programs. Clients will also learn how to properly execute cardio equipment and how they will be used for Intervals and Circuit Training.

What if I want to do The Plano Program Nutrition Component? We are offering our cutting edge 12 week fat blasting program at a reduced rate of $500. ($100 off) Also Includes 2 Bodygem Metabolism tests.

Can I get my metabolism and burn rate tested with the Bodygem? Yes! We are offering 2 RMR test for the price of 1. Get tested at the beginning of your training program and get tested as your body significantly changes. Knowing this information will further optimize your results! Price: $100 for 2 tests.

Email Marc@theplanoprogram.com for more info and to reserve your spot!

Vitamin D and Performance

The Chicago Blackhawks are the first vitamin D team in modern professional sports history.

According to sources, the Chicago Blackhawk team physicians began diagnosing and treating vitamin D deficiency in all Blackhawk players about 18 months ago. Apparently, most players are on 5,000 IU per day.

After many losing seasons, last year the Blackhawks came out of nowhere to get to the Western conference finals. This year they are playing even better.

Improved athletic performance is only one of the benefits for the Blackhawk players. The other is a reduction in the number and severity of colds and flu and a reduction in the number and severity of repetitive use injuries.

Six months ago, Runner’s World published a story on vitamin D and physical performance.

Asp K. Running on D: The "sun vitamin" may boost performance, but you probably aren't getting enough. Runners World, December 2009.

A year ago, the flagship journal of the American College of Sports Medicine was the first journal to publish the theory that vitamin D would improve athletic performance.

Cannell JJ, Hollis BW, Sorenson MB, Taft TN, Anderson JJ. Athletic performance and vitamin D. Med Sci Sports Exerc. 2009 May;41(5):1102-10.

Grains-Healthy??

The Caveman in You, Grains, and Evolution

Data indicates that 40,000 to 50,000 years ago, prehistoric men and women were tall, strapping athletes with defined muscles, fit, strong, and free of heart disease and obesity. Early Humans were hunters and gatherers who subsisted on a diet that was extremely high in animal and plant based foods sources. They consumed significant amounts of plant in the form of fruits, tubers, leafy vegetation, nuts and seeds. Interestingly, these hunter gatherer societies consumed what we now consider “unhealthy” amounts of dietary fats, these humans were lean and muscular free of plaques that lead to heart disease and stroke.

So what went wrong?

About 10,000 years ago, the pressures of increasing population density in many areas of civilization forced and abrupt shift from the nomadic, hunter-gatherer lifestyle to more geographically stable populations that depended on agriculture for survival. The advent of civilization brought about the domestication of livestock and introduction of dairy foods, as well as the cultivation of tubers, root vegetables, legumes, and cereal grains like rice oats, and wheat.

Got Grains??
After the advent of agriculture, and more specifically, the cultivation of grains, the humans lost a foot in height and experienced a significantly increased incidence of infections, anemia, bone disease, tooth defects, cavities, infant mortality, and a sizeable reduction in life span. This switch to a grain based diet caused the introduction of numerous food items for which our genetic predisposition was not prepared.

UNTIL TEN THOUSAND YEARS AGO-A MERE BLINK OF AN EYE COMPARED TO OUR GENETIC LIFESPAN-THE ENVIRONMENT THAT DICTATED OUR GENETIC MAKEUP DID NOT INCLUDE GRAINS.

As a result, we were never physiologically equipped to digest, absorb, and assimilate grains in a way that promotes a well balanced, strong healthy body.
Anthropologist believe that our hasty shift to a grain based diet, for which we were genetically ill prepared, lies at the root of many modern degenerative diseases.

Phytates are the salts of phytic acid. More correctly named inositol hexakisphosphate, the acid (or salt) is a phosphorus based compound found in the many grains.

There is sufficient evidence that this overreliance on grains and excessive phytate consumption, (especially the low quality grains that are grown in the Unites States) may lead to numerous, vitamin, mineral, and nutritional deficiencies.

Check out the Plano Program food guide pyramid, you will see that grains play a very small role in our nutrition program.


Gluten and Containing Grains:

Researchers now believe that as many as a third of us are probably gluten intolerant or gluten sensitive. The third of people who are reactive to gluten (I think the number is actually higher) evoke an inflammatory response that triggers the immune system. Over time, those who are known to be gluten intolerant can develop an array of medical conditions such as joint pain, skin conditions, acid reflux, autoimmiune disorders and celiac disease. Some people may experience some lower grade symptoms that linger before a bigger symptom may present. At the very least, it’s worth conducting a 30 day test to determine your sensitivity. It is more than likely those aches and pains, allergenic responses, and GI discomfort you have been plagued with might subside.

You will most likely never see cereal for breakfast on The Plano Program. We feel that most cereals are low quality, highly processed, fortified with synthetic vitamins and minerals, void of essential fats, and low in protein. Most common breakfast foods like cereals, bagels, French toast, Pancakes, and Scones provide very little nutrition and make it extremely difficult to regulate blood sugar and insulin. These foods will undoubtedly attribute to weight gain, poor energy, and ill health.

Lectins and Grains:

Lectins are involved in food allergies/sensitivities, inflammation and autoimmune disease, just to name a few. For instance, Lectins are linked to celiac disease. Even weight gain and low energy can be linked to Lectins.

Whole grains, peanuts, kidney beans, and soybeans are high in Lectins. Cow’s milk, nightshade vegetables (like potatoes and tomatoes) and some seafood also contain fairly high amounts of lectin.

In fact, estimates are that about 30% of our foods contain Lectins, and about 5% of the lectins we eat will enter our circulation.

Lectins are problematic because they are sticky molecules that can bind to the linings of human tissue, especially intestinal cells. In so doing, they disable cells in the GI tract, keeping them from repairing and rebuilding. Therefore, Lectins can contribute to eroding your intestinal barrier (leaky gut.

The Lectins in wheat for example, are specifically known to be involved in rheumatoid arthritis.

If you have any Lectin-related health issues like arthritis, allergies or autoimmune disease, our experience shows it is very helpful to reduce your intake of Lectins, especially from wheat. It’s also very important to balance immunity by working on stress management and gut health.

Cordain L et al. British Journal of Nutrition (2000), 83, 207–217.

Are You Eating Toxic Meat??

I have been wanting to write a clip on meats for a long time, but Vin Miller sums it up pretty well in the article below. I have been ordering my meats at uswellnessmeats.com and also found a place on Merwin Ave in Milford called Treats Farmstand. There is a local farmer there who sells grass fed beef - He is there on Saturdays and Wednesdays. Trader Joe's sells hormone free and antibiotic free meat which is a HUGE step up from most commercial places who sell toxic meat. If you want to go the extra step and get hormone free, antibiotic free, organic, free range AND grass fed feel free to visit Treats Farmstand or place an order with US Wellness Meats, I also get my grass fed butter from them...it's amazing. Remember, the quality of the food we eat comes from the quality of the food our food eats.

Enjoy the article!

When the topic of organic food comes up, most people think of fruit, vegetables, and perhaps dairy, but almost always fail to consider meat. This is an unfortunate mistake because meat from conventionally raised livestock comes with significant risk.

You Are What You Eat

Each of the trillions of cells that we’re made of are created from the nutrients we eat. While a healthy diet will support optimal cell function, a poor diet will promote cell malfunction and lead to disease. As the saying goes, we are what we eat!

This applies to animals as well. If forced to eat poor quality food, they’ll likely become sick and develop disease. By eating meat from these unhealthy animals, you’re relying on a poor source of nutrition and are consuming the toxic chemicals that made them sick. They’ll eventually make you sick as well. In other words, you are what your food ate! This is an important concept to keep in mind throughout the rest of the article.


Are Farmers Smarter Than Nature?

Understanding that livestock will do best on the diet they naturally eat in the wild is nothing more than common sense. Despite this, conventional farmers don’t even come close to raising their livestock in this fashion.

Based on millions of years of evolution, cattle and sheep eat grass while chickens and pigs primarily eat insects and plants. However, conventional farmers choose to ignore the significance of evolution and force their livestock to eat grain. In many cases, livestock are kept in enclosed buildings, and because they don’t have access to natural pastures, grain is all they eat.

How well do you think your health would hold up if you ate nothing but grass your entire life? It wouldn’t hold up at all! Because these animals are forced to eat foods that they’re not evolved to process, their health doesn’t hold up either.

Grain Quality Translates Into Meat Quality

As with most conventional crops, the grain fed to livestock is heavily sprayed with pesticides and other toxic chemicals. This causes health problems for the animals that eat the grain, and also for us when we eat the meat of these animals.

In addition to the chemicals, the conventional grain will probably have low nutrient levels. Based on all the consequences of the grain only diet, it’s highly unlikely that the livestock will receive the nutrition they need to support good health and this further compounds the risk of sickness and disease.

Furthermore, the grain that conventional farmers feed their livestock is often very poor in quality. In many cases, farmers save money by purchasing grain that failed inspection for human consumption, usually because of mold growth. Ironically, by eating meat from the animals that eat this grain, humans are exposed to the mold toxins anyway.

In general, the meat from purely grain fed livestock is not very nutritious, especially if the grain is of poor quality. The potential for the meat to contain toxins makes it a health risk as well.

Would You Like a Side of Antibiotics With That?

It’s clearly a big problem for a farmer to have sick livestock. The connection between unhealthy livestock and the grain only diet should be a matter of common sense. But instead of choosing to improve livestock health through a better diet, conventional farmers compensate by feeding their livestock grain that’s laced with antibiotics. How convenient.

Antibiotics originate from toxins produced by fungi. Although this may surprise you, it shouldn’t. After all, the phrase anti biotic literally means anti life. Antibiotics kill without discrimination, and as a result, good bacteria is killed along with the bad. This can easily lead to intestinal imbalance and destroy your health. Because antibiotics are toxins and enter your blood stream, they can also cause unwanted problems anywhere in your body.

In many cases, livestock are raised under such poor conditions that antibiotics just aren’t enough to keep them healthy. They become infected by parasites and develop cancer, glandular swelling, infectious arthritis, pneumonia, and other serious health issues. What’s most frightening is that the FDA allows the meat from these sick animals to be passed along to your plate as long as any relevant tumors or lesions are removed. Do you really want to eat the meat of a cancerous animals?

How About Some Newspaper and Cardboard?

Many conventional farmers are completely overcome with a greed based mentality. As such, they focus on efficiency and strive for quantity at the cost of quality. In exchange for easier profit, they’re sacrificing the health of their livestock, and more importantly, the health of the people who consume their meat.

To further reduce the cost of the already inexpensive grain, some farmers use fillers such as sawdust, cement dust, cardboard, newspaper, and sewage. Sounds tasty, doesn’t it? Before you answer, consider the fact that you may already be eating some of these fillers if you eat conventionally raised meat!

The use of these fillers provides the greedy farmer with another significant advantage that increases the incentive even further. In addition to reducing costs, the fillers also cause the livestock to gain weight. Because most farmers are paid by the pound for their livestock, this is an amazing deal. They not only save money on feed, but are also rewarded with additional profit. As you can probably imagine, only a farmer with the purest intentions would pass on this opportunity.

Hormones are Also on the Menu

For some farmers, the use of cheap grain and filler isn’t enough. To further accelerate growth, they feed synthetic hormones to their livestock.

Synthetic hormones are often associated with cancer. Furthermore, hormones can be very powerful in small concentrations and have a significant effect on our day to day function. It doesn’t take much to disrupt our delicate and complex hormonal balance, and when it does go out of balance, our health will often deteriorate significantly. Remember, if you eat an animal that was fed synthetic hormones, you’re eating the hormones as well.

Apparently, nature just isn’t fast enough for the business minded farmer. With the use of grains, fillers, antibiotics, and hormones, conventional farmers are able to bring a steer to full size in less than a year and a half. Under natural conditions, it would take 4 or 5 years! These animals are basically being transformed into mutants. Is that what you want to have on your plate every day?

A Quick Note About Dairy

Although this article is about meat, I want to quickly mention a related concern about dairy. Some farmers use a hormone called recombinant bovine growth hormone which is specifically designed to increase the lactation period of cattle. In fact, it nearly doubles it. As with other synthetic hormones, rBGH is linked to cancer and can disrupt normal hormone balance.

Producing milk is a physiologically demanding process for cattle. Their bodies are simply not evolved to handle the amount of milk production that’s possible with rBGH. As a result, their utters often become inflamed and infected which causes puss to be secreted into the milk. How does that make a nice thick milk mustache sound?

The cattle that are injected with rBGH are literally milked to death and typically die after approximately two years.

Animal Cruelty

Some of the horror stories associated with conventionally raised livestock are enough to turn a meat lover into a vegetarian. However, it doesn’t have to be this way. As omnivores, eating animal meat is part of our evolution. Although vegetarians and vegans may argue this point, meat is quite simply a basic part of our natural diet. But this certainly doesn’t justify the inhumane ways that some farmers maintain their livestock.

In many cases, conventionally raised livestock are kept indoors where they get absolutely no exposure to sunlight, are so crowded that they can barely move, and are forced to live in their own feces. This merely scratches the surface of how bad the living conditions can be for these animals. This significantly impacts the health of the animal and the nutritional quality of it’s meat, but more importantly, it’s cruel, inhumane, and absolutely unnecessary.

Any time you buy meat or dairy that comes from conventionally raised livestock, keep in mind that you may be supporting these cruel and inhumane practices.

The Alternative - Buying Quality Meat

The good news is that there are plenty of healthy and humane alternatives to the meat that comes from conventionally raised livestock.

Although organic certification is a fairly reliable marker of high quality fruits and vegetables, that’s not entirely the case with meat. While organic meat is free of hormones, drugs, and other chemicals, it may still come from a predominately grain fed animal. Even though the grain must be organic, it still compromises the health of the animal and the quality of it’s meat. Furthermore, people who are sensitive to grains can also be sensitive to meat that comes from grain fed animals.

The absolute best way to buy meat is to find a local farmer that raises livestock according to their natural diets, under humane conditions, and follows organic farming practices. Don’t be overly concerned with organic certification. Local farmers often have too small of an operation to justify the expense, and by overlooking this, you may be missing out on an excellent resource.

Below are some guidelines on what to look for when evaluating a potential source of meat.

Beef and Lamb

Cattle and sheep naturally eat grass. As such, you should buy beef and lamb from farms that allow their livestock to roam freely on grass pastures. Meat from a pasture raised livestock is often referred to as “grass fed.” Verify that pesticides and other chemicals aren’t used on the pastures and that the animals are not treated with antibiotics or hormones. Some organic minded farmers will use antibiotics on rare occasion when an animal absolutely needs it. You’ll have to decide for yourself if this is acceptable or not.

Some organic farmers “finish” their livestock with grain. This means the animal was raised on grass pastures, but was fed grain for a brief period before slaughter to increase the flavor and marbling of the meat. Personally, I think this is completely unnecessary and think purely grass fed beef and lamb taste excellent, but once again, it’s your choice.

Chicken and Pork

Chickens and pigs have much more variety in their diet than cattle and sheep. Chickens eat mostly insects and plants while pigs will eat just about anything. Because these animals eat more than just grass, their meat is often referred to as “free range.” This means they’re free to roam the pastures of the farm and are free to choose what they eat.

I’m not sure if chickens and pigs eat grain in the wild. My guess is that they don’t, but it seems to be quite acceptable and common for organic farmers to supplement the diet of their chickens and pigs with grain. What’s important is that the animals have the freedom to roam the pasture and consume the natural food it provides.

As with cattle and sheep, you want to make sure the pastures are free of chemicals and that the animals are not exposed to drugs or hormones.

Where to Buy Locally and Online

As I said, the best option is to buy from a local farmer that you can trust. EatWild.com is an excellent resource that will help you find local farmers that have embraced the practices of grass fed, free range, organic and humane farming.

If buying from a local farmer isn’t possible or is too inconvenient, you can often find quality meat at local farmer’s markets. Check LocalHarvest.org for a listing of farmer’s markets in your area.

Finally, if you prefer the simplicity of having your meat delivered to your doorstep, an excellent place to order from online is U.S. Wellness Meats. You can click on their “Protocol” link to read about how they raise their livestock.

Another excellent place to order from online is Blackwing Quality Meats. I’ve ordered from both places many times and think their meat is excellent.