The Meat of the Matter

I've watched tons of documentaries on food. Food and medicine; what's wrong with the standard American diet; what happened to family farms; why diets don't work...I can't get enough. It's a topic that's near and dear to my heart (and family). These documentaries inspired me to start juicing and join a local community supported agriculture (CSA) program, which provides us with fresh, organically grown vegetables on a weekly basis.

If you haven't watched Forks Over Knives, or Food Matters, or Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead, or Food, Inc., you're missing out. (There's a widget with my favorites at the bottom of this post.)

Many of these documentaries discuss issues with meat. I've learned about studies linking meat and dairy proteins to cancer. Cultures that consume less meat have lower cancer rates. Reviews of these documentaries sometimes label them as "vegan propaganda."

All of the documentaries I've watched suggest following a plant-based diet. I agree with that wholeheartedly. But I also like meat.

And I think the problem isn't that we eat meat. I think it's the meat that we eat. More specifically, I think it's what is in the meat that we eat.

(Please note: what follows is only my opinion. I don't have research or studies. And I'm not a doctor/scientist/astronaut/whatever. So you've been warned.)

For years, I had issues with beef. Not so much fast food beef, but real beef. If I ate half a steak, I would get stomach pain so intense, all I could do was curl up on the floor and wait it out. Then I'd spend a long time making too-frequent trips to the bathroom, unsure which end to aim at the toilet, food-poisoning-style. I thought it was food poisoning, but after the third or fourth time, I realized it wasn't very likely that all of the places failed so miserably at providing safe food.

I saw a doctor. The doctor said it's nearly impossible to have a beef allergy or other medical reason for the reactions I was having. He suggested avoiding beef. (I paid $50 for that bit of advice, by the way.)

So I avoided beef, except for the rare times someone was making steak and it smelled so good I thought, I'll just have a few bites. A thought I regretted every time.

Several years after all this started, my mom raised a cow named T-Bone. (You might be able to guess his fate. His replacement is named Eddie Bull.) T-Bone was fed hay raised on their farm. He was finished on grain. He wasn't given antibiotics or hormones or anything other than food. T-Bone provided more beef than they could eat, so we were given a huge cooler full. Mom suggested I give it a try, so I did.

Guess what? I didn't get sick. I didn't have a crippling stomach ache. I ate steak, and I rejoiced. I started buying organic, grass-fed, pastured beef, and I haven't had a problem since. (Except the time I asked for all chicken in my dinner combo at a Mexican restaurant, and it turned out the tamales were only ever made with beef. They were so good, I ate a whole one. Mmmm...tamales. Not SCD-friendly, though.)

I've done some reading, and, as previously mentioned, I've watched some documentaries. Beef raised on feed lots is fed corn. As I understand it, corn (which can't really be eaten on the cob; it's a different kind of corn) is grown for corn syrup and livestock feed. All of the stalks and leaves and things are fed to cows, along with the corn.

Cows weren't meant to eat nothing but corn, or even mostly corn. Cows were meant to eat grass. All that corn? It makes them sick.

If they weren't butchered, they'd die in a few months anyway.

So how is meat from these cows going to nourish us and keep us healthy? (Same thing for chickens and pigs.)

THEN, throw in the fact that the corn is genetically modified. Perfectly safe, they say. The corn produces its own pesticides, but the toxins will only harm the insects. Honestly, I don't think it's been around long enough for that to be known.

Allergies and sensitivities to foods that are now commonly genetically modified (wheat, corn, soy) have gone up around 300 percent since genetically modified foods became common, and inflammatory bowel diseases have gone up more than that. (I'll try to find what I read and link it, I promise. I'm not just making up numbers.) There may or may not be a link, but it seems like more than coincidence to me.

So here's my bottom line: If you're trying to get healthy or stay healthy, please consider the food you eat. It's really not quite enough to eat a plant-based diet if those plants are doused in pesticides and grown in soil that's lacking nutrients (because fertilizers only replace a few). And meat from unhealthy animals won't help. If you can afford it, buy organic, buy grass-fed, buy pastured. If you can afford it, buy local and seasonally available. If you can't afford it, do the best you can.

Since starting the specific carbohydrate diet, we've cut out grains, starches, and processed foods, and started purchasing organic, pastured, grass-fed meats and organic vegetables. Our monthly food bill is roughly the same as it was before. The only difference is the money now goes to foods that actually nourish us.