Meat has gotten such a bad reputation the past few years that few know that there are many nutrients in it besides protein.
If you are iron-anemic, it is difficult to get sufficient iron built up in your system on plants alone. You need to add red meat. We don’t know all there is in blood, but nature may provide many constituents in meat that we have not yet isolated that are vital for rich blood. Iron carries oxygen in the red blood cells, and that is cancer protective. In fact, alternative and adjunctive cancer therapies include oxygen treatments since it appears that cancer cannot exist in an oxygen rich environment.
Meat, chicken and pork all contain amino acids that form carnotine. This is an amino acid that packs enough anti-aging punch that it is surprising no one has bottled it and slapped a hundred dollar price tag on it!
Carnotine binds with excess metals in the body to help prevent toxic build-up, which may make it protective against Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s. It binds with excess sugar to prevent glycation, which is a kind of sugar oxidation that causes breakdown of collagen to form wrinkles.
All cells need Carnotine for mitochondrial function. Those are the little engines of the cells and deficient mitochondria make you tired. Also, it has been shown that fat cells must have active mitochondria for the fat to be used for energy. Diabetes or Metabolic Syndrome increase the need for carnotine. Metabolic Syndrome is severe dys-metabolism, characterized by high blood pressure, high blood sugar and obesity.
“Carno” means meat, from “carnivore”. Humans are Omnivores. We must have nutrients from both animal and plant sources. We can actually live on animal sources alone. Witness the Massai tribe in Africa. I went to a preview of the season premiere of “Wild Things With Dominic Monaghan”. If you love animals and long to travel to see them, I highly recommend Dominic’s insouciant and enthusiastic approach. http://www.bbcamerica.com/wild-things/ Dominic, as a tribute to Steve Irwin, has become a renowned wild life enthusiast, which allows him to seek out and handle exotic creatures on every continent. In the premiere show Dominic lunches with some Massai tribesman and his host mentions that they do not eat vegetables, but only meat, milk and blood. Yet the Massai are the tallest people on earth and quite healthy. http://www.maasai-association.org/welcome.html If the organ meats and blood are eaten, we can get complete nutrients from animals, but the same does not hold true for plants.
I hear they now have In and Out Burger in Russia, but I recommend you try pasture raised chicken and grass fed (and grass finished!) meat, and don’t over cook. Pork will serve, also, but should be well cooked.
Animals are sustainable and do less harm to the environment than farming methods for grains. There must have been a reason that the entire central U.S. was covered in grasslands and much of Europe was forests. If we use wise and humane practices we can have the food we need to be strong and healthy. Good quality food is more costly than cheap chemicals, just as whole food nutritional supplements are more costly than synthetic chemical vitamins, so it may take a shift in thinking and budgeting, but the long-term benefits in health are worth it. A serving or protein equal to the size of your palm will give you sustained energy, although you may need digestive enzymes or more hydrochloric stomach acid to digest it, if you have been avoiding meat recently. Calculate that you need about half your body weight in grams of protein. That is 60-80 grams for most normal weight adults. With stress or illness more protein is needed.
So, you are doing your health a favor and contributing to your longevity with meat. A patient of mine just lost 16 pounds in 3 ½ weeks, eating basically protein, healthy fats, and vegetables. His blood pressure has come down and he is one his way to getting back to the activities he misses. When your body gets in your way, it is time to reduce it down to a manageable size, so you can be the boss.