Paleo Diet

[BRUMI1968]

my personal guess is that animal fats are healthier uncooked...and we don't typically eat our meat raw. But that's just a guess. The only fat I get that is cooked is coconut oil right now (waiting to eating meat again.)

[hayley3]

I think natural organic grass-fed fat is healthy but hormone, grain-fed fat is not.

I wonder if you are allergic to corn and the animals are fed corn abundantly, would that cause you to be allergic to the meat? Just wondering if it's ever been discussed.....

After thinking about it, it's probably a moot point, since you would no longer be eating corn anyway on this diet. It just drives me crazy what they feed the animals they send to market and grass-fed beef is outrageous in cost, when all you have to do it let it eat grass.

[mushroom]

I think natural organic grass-fed fat is healthy but hormone, grain-fed fat is not.

I wonder if you are allergic to corn and the animals are fed corn abundantly, would that cause you to be allergic to the meat? Just wondering if it's ever been discussed.....

After thinking about it, it's probably a moot point, since you would no longer be eating corn anyway on this diet. It just drives me crazy what they feed the animals they send to market and grass-fed beef is outrageous in cost, when all you have to do it let it eat grass.

As I posted elsewhere on this forum, I am intolerant of both corn and beef in the U.S., but able to eat both here in New Zealand. I blame it on the fact that all the corn in the U.S. is GM, either by design or CC. We are still fighting the GM battle down here but are slowly losing. All our beef is free range to my knowledge. Grass we have plenty of! I have not gone so far as the paleo diet yet; still getting the hang of gluten free.

[ruthla]

I noticed that the Paleo diet restricts fatty meats, but with the current research on how fats are good for us, does anyone think the fat found on meats might be good for us ?

I eat fatty meats, and use animal fats for cooking (such as the chicken fat that I skim off chicken soup.) I disagree with the Paleo Diet author about fatty meats being unhealthy- I don't think cavemen cared about fat content- they simply ate what was available, and didn't waste any part of the animal!

Again, this goes back to me eating what my body does well with, rather than following anything "by the book." I'm doing very well on a moderate protein, low carb, high fat diet. Since I can't have dairy products, I'm including lots of animal fats in my diet.

It just drives me crazy what they feed the animals they send to market and grass-fed beef is outrageous in cost, when all you have to do it let it eat grass.

But for grass-fed beef, you need to have enough space to let all the animals graze. Grain-fed animals need less pasture- just buy the animal feed and give it to them in the barn. It ends up being cheaper (considering the cost of land) and probably less work than sheparding the cattle in and out of various pasture lands.

Most cattle ARE fed some amount of grass- it's just that they're fed grains in the last month or so before slaughter to "fatten them up" and that affects the quality of the fats at the time of slaughter. Fatter animals can be sold for more money, so the ranchers make more profit by feeding them grains.

[hayley3]

I get hay for my goats from a man who sells his cattle to market. I try not to ask too many questions, because I don't feel he treats his animals well, and you can probably see that on my face. But, his cattle do go out on pasture every day and he does fatten them up at the end, but I think he also feeds them corn gluten every day. I'll have to ask him to be sure. He showed me the corn gluten because he was so proud of it because it was such a cheap means of fattening them up. However, and I was shocked that they still do this, but he gives every one of them hormones to make them fatter. I thought that because of the cancer rates, they had stopped this practice, but it is still going on.

With all that bad news on meat, I have no place to buy organic meat. I tell myself that eating the grains is worse than eating the meat, which is true. I do try to buy my meat from slaughter/butcher shops. It makes me feel better because I can really see and taste the difference.

Most cattle ARE fed some amount of grass- it's just that they're fed grains in the last month or so before slaughter to "fatten them up" and that affects the quality of the fats at the time of slaughter. Fatter animals can be sold for more money, so the ranchers make more profit by feeding them grains.

[BRUMI1968]

When I eat meat, I only eat grass fed organic. We have a nice ranch here by me, and I visited them to check out the conditions. Grass fed beef is way more nutritious than corn fed. But to me, the most important part is ethics - I will not contribute to a system that feeds animals food they are incapable of properly digesting without drugs -- after all, isn't that what I had been doing to myself for 38 years. Cows were meant to digest grass and nothing else. I personally consider it an abomination to feed them anything but. Sounds strong, but that's my belief. If people can afford it, they should get grass fed beef. If they can't afford it, they should consider vegetarianism, if it works for their health.

But it really is a problem now of economics. More and more corn is being used to make fuel, including that which is exported. More and more land is being used to grow corn for this purpose. This leaves less land to raise grass fed animals, and less corn to feed them as well. People need to buy locally - that is probably the only answer. Hopefully after gas gets to be over $5/gallon and the cost of food goes way up, we'll have to rethink the way we think about food in this country -- it is not a commodity, it is a human right AND, it should be community pride as well. If you think about how much we use food socially - going out to eat, cooking and eating together at home, etc. - it's easy to see how much it guides our community. Adding some sort of food bartering to this makes perfect sense.

I've gotten a bit off topic. I guess the main point being to me: 1) health of me 2) health of the food I eat. I believe what many east Indians believe: the life of the animal lives on in the meat. If the animal had a bad life or a bad slaughter or whatever, that energy lives on in their flesh, and I consume it. I've actually given up eating meat for the most part - maybe a 1/2 a grass fed hamburger patty a week. I just can't stand the thought of being part of the economy that treats animals so poorly, and which seems to care about the health of consumers just about the same miniscule amount.

[nige2008]

Hey, thanks for all the replies

Well I did 1 month of a very strict paleo diet and for most of the month I felt great. My painful joints felt cured and tiredness was very good. I felt fitter than I have for years and where previously after exercise I would be aching all over I felt as I used to when I was younger = almost pain free.

Anyhow, I think I pushed myself too hard and walked 25 miles in 5 days taking me about 11 hours total walking and the terrain was quite hilly. One of the days I did 8 miles in one walk with only a 5 minute stop. I had not much pain in my knees even going down a steep hill at the end of the walk.

I did too much though and felt very tired. The feeling was of overtraining (I've had this when I used to cycle race). The biggest problem was my weight loss. I was turning too thin and people who know me were commenting. Also I was looking pasty, all the color had gone from my cheeks and the worst of all was the dark circles around my eyes.

From what I read you do lose weight but then put it back on, also you do look bad for a while then get better.

I stopped eating strict paleo maybe 6 days ago and went back to eating bread, milk etc.

Now I am in pain all over again. My elbows, knees, back, fingers, ankles etc.

I did a 4 mile walk yesterday and after only 2 miles my legs were in a bad way and it was hard work, aching hips, knees, shoulders and neck even : everywhere at a matter of fact : it's almost as if my blood now has poison in it.

Something that I did for that month has shown me that I must be definitely allergic to something or other.

Any advice would be much appreciated...

Nigel