The Primal Blueprint (28 page)
Read The Primal Blueprint Online
Authors: Mark Sisson
Besides being free of hormones, pesticides, and antibiotics, animals raised organically offer higher levels of healthy omega-3 and monounsaturated fats (two to six times more omega-3 than commercial beef). The main reason to avoid the very high-fat commercial meats is because these animals, just like humans, tend to store toxins (pesticide residues, hormones, and antibiotic metabolites) in their fat cells. If, for reasons of budget or availability, you find yourself eating a less-than-ideal source of meat, always choose the leanest possible cuts and trim the excess fat. This will significantly limit your potential exposure to these toxins.
A Little Meet and Greet for Your Meat
Following are brief descriptions of common labels on meat products to help you make informed purchasing decisions. Admittedly, navigating this topic is extremely difficult. All manner of impressive terms are commonly used to convince you that you are eating a product that is superior to the conventional, mass-produced animals that are the norm today. Many of the terms have no official designation or are not regulated in a meaningful manner. For further insights,
The Omnivore’s Dilemma
, by Michael Pollan, is a highly regarded book that offers extensive commentary on the subject of eating meat in a healthy manner.
Certified Organic:
This is the premier choice for meat. The USDA is making a serious effort to enforce a comprehensive national definition of the term certified organic. Those using the label are subject to regular inspection (by USDA-approved third parties) and record-keeping requirements. Certified organic meat comes from animals raised on grass or grain feed without antibiotics, hormones, genetic engineering, irradiation, sewage sludge, or artificial ingredients. Furthermore, certified organic animals are afforded “conditions which allow for exercise, freedom of movement, and reduction of stress appropriate to the species.” Certified organic meat is likely rivaled in health quality by animals raised locally from a trusted source (who might not carry official designation due to being a small-sized operation or other economic reasons).
Certified:
The USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service has evaluated the meat for class, grade, or other quality characteristics (e.g., Certified Angus Beef).
Chemical-Free:
This vague term is not defined or recognized by the USDA and has virtually no significant meaning on a package.
Conventional
(i.e. - absent any specialty designations): You are likely buying a mass-produced animal raised on feedlot grains with pesticide residues, growth hormones, and antibiotics and often treated inhumanely.
Country of Origin Labeled (COOL):
This labeling program, regulated by the USDA, specifies where the animal was raised, slaughtered, and processed—sometimes including multiple locations. As with produce, local products are preferred.
Free-Range:
Applies only to poultry, indicating the animals are given “access” to outdoors. However, free-range has no legal definition or third-party verification, and many growers cut corners to slap the impressive distinction on their labels. Furthermore, the term does not guarantee that the meat is free of hormones and antibiotics.
Fresh:
This label implies that the meat has not been frozen (internal temperature dropping below 26 degrees Fahrenheit) prior to sale. It does not pertain to how the animal was raised, fed, or slaughtered, and it is not third-party verified.
Grass-Fed, Grass-Finished, Pasture-Raised, Pasture-Finished, etc.:
These designations require that animals are afforded access to grass in their diet but do not guarantee that the animals’ diets are free from grains, unless you see the “100%” qualifier before the description. Even then, there is no guarantee that the meat is free of hormones or antibiotics. Furthermore, “access” to pasture is loosely defined and can often refer to a large indoor facility (where animals have been conditioned to remain) with a door to a small outdoor area. The terms are not regulated or third-party verified and are certainly inferior designations to USDA certified organic.
Hormone/Antibiotic Free:
This label carries no official meaning from the USDA. Growers must provide documentation to make this claim on their products, but they are not verified by a third party. It certainly suggests an improvement from conventional products, but USDA certified organic is far superior.
Humane Designations:
Animal Welfare Approved, American Humane Certified, Certified Humane Raised & Handled, or Free Farmed are common terms. The first designation, from the Animal Welfare Institute, certifies that animals were treated humanely throughout all life stages. Their designation (and the others) has strict standards for outdoor access; diets free of hormones, pesticides, or antibiotics; and freedom from overcrowded conditions. Furthermore, the terms are third-party verified. This is probably a suitable choice in the absence of USDA-certified organic meat.
Kosher:
Meats with this label have been prepared under rabbinical supervision and the corresponding guidelines mandated to be awarded the distinction. The guidelines relate more to slaughtering methods, segregation of implements and production facilities (meat cannot be mixed with dairy products, etc.), and other factors that may or may not be related to health quality.
Natural:
To the USDA, this term merely means the meat is free of artificial flavors, colorings, and preservatives. It has no relevance to how the animal was raised, fed, or slaughtered, and it is not third-party verified.
Vegetarian Diet:
This pertains to the animal’s diet only and does not guarantee that the animal had access to pasture or humane treatment.
Fish offer a rich source of omega-3 fatty acids (particularly the important omega-3 fractions known as DHA and EPA, which are not present in most other foods), complete protein, B complex vitamins, selenium, vitamin D, vitamin E, zinc, iron, magnesium, phosphorous, antioxidants, and other nutrients. A 2006 study by the Harvard School of Public Health indicated that regular consumption of fish helps dramatically reduce the risk of heart disease and that the benefits (particularly the omega-3 content) outweigh the potential risks of ingesting toxins from polluted waters. Regular consumption of fish has been shown to exert a strong anti-inflammatory effect, reduce risk for heart disease, help protect against asthma in children, moderate chronic lung disease, reduce the risk of breast and other cancers by stunting tumor growth, and ease the symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis and certain bone and joint diseases. Nursing and pregnant women enjoy a host of benefits from fish consumption, including support for fetal and early childhood brain and retinal development and a lowered risk of premature birth.
While the benefits of eating fish are substantial, you should choose wisely to avoid fish possibly tainted with environmental toxins and steer clear of the increasingly popular farmed sources that are inferior to wild-caught fish. The risk of ingesting fish tainted by environmental contaminants (heavy metals such as mercury, polychlorinated biphenyls [PCBs], dioxins, and other toxins) can be countered by emphasizing fish caught in remote, pollution-free ocean waters. The healthiest sources of fish are small, oily fish, such as wild-caught Alaskan salmon, sardines, herring, anchovies, and mackerel. Domestic mahimahi, Pacific halibut, pollack, white sea bass, and shellfish (e.g., oysters, calamari, and American lobster) are also healthful and carry a lower risk of contaminants. The fish at the top of the marine food chain are the least desirable, due to their tendency to accumulate concentrated contaminants. Hence, you should avoid or limit your consumption of swordfish, ahi tuna, shark, and Chilean sea bass, to name just a few.
The reason to avoid farmed fish is that they are generally raised under unsanitary conditions similar to those of ranch animals, and exposed to high levels of dangerous chemicals, such as dioxins, dieldrin, toxaphene, and other pesticides or toxic residue. These chemicals (from contaminated sediments in their fish meal) are easily absorbed into fat cells. Farmed fish are constantly exposed to their own waste and are often fed artificial dyes (to match color with wild varieties; e.g., wild salmon derive their pink color from the healthy carotene astaxanthin in their natural diet) and antibiotics to ward off the high risk of infection and disease from living in cramped farms. The waste from a large salmon farm is estimated to equal the sewage from a city of 10,000 people. A 2004 report in the popular journal
Science
warned that farmed salmon contained 10 times the amount of toxins of wild salmon and should be eaten rarely—once every five months—due to their high cancer risk. (Hey,
Science
—how about never?)
While wild salmon, trout, and catfish offer 19 to 27 percent of their total fat in omega-3s, the farmed varieties of these fish contain significantly less omega-3s, less protein, and much higher levels of omega-6 fats (obtained from their commercial feed, unlike the omega-3-rich algae that nourishes wild fish). Of additional concern is the estimated three million salmon that escape from their pens into the ocean each year, contaminating and genetically diluting nearby wild salmon (farmers’ daughters sneaking out to fool around with wild boys from out of town—what else is new?). Use discretion and look for wild Alaskan salmon (distant from the escaped convicts of the major farms located in the North Atlantic, the North American continent, and Chile).
If you are wild about salmon and willing to endure the trade-off of a big carbon footprint and substantial expense to get a quality product, you can do your shopping online at such Web sites as
wildpacificsalmon.com
,
seabeef.com
,
jdockseafood.com
, or
vitalchoice.com
. The first site,
wildpacificsalmon.com
, offers a choice of a half-dozen different species, all caught in Alaska and shipped across the United States via FedEx next-day in vacuum-packed, cold-insulated containers. This site also features extensive details about the benefits of eating wild salmon and the dangers of eating farmed salmon.
“
Farmed fish should be avoided because they are raised in unsanitary, waste-infested waters; have dangerous chemical additives in their diets; and offer much lower levels of omega-3s than their wild counterparts
.
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Eggs can be freely enjoyed as an excellent source of healthy protein, fat, B complex vitamins, and folate. Be sure to obtain organic chicken eggs, which contain up to 20 times more omega-3s (obtained from green leaves in the chickens’ natural diet) than factory-produced, grain-fed chicken eggs. The popular Conventional Wisdom “heart-healthy” concept of discarding the yolk to avoid cholesterol is misguided, as the yolk is one of the most nutrient-rich foods you can find—laden with omega-3s and the other aforementioned nutrients. In contrast, egg whites, besides being a good source of complete protein, have otherwise a rather low nutrient content. Furthermore, and contrary to Conventional Wisdom, there is no proof that egg consumption raises blood cholesterol or affects your risk for heart disease.
A Harvard Medical School study of 115,000 subjects over the span of eight to fourteen years demonstrated no correlation between egg consumption and heart disease or stroke. A 2008 study published in the
International Journal of Obesity
suggests that
eating two eggs for breakfast (not just the whites—the whole deal) is healthier than eating a bagel. Most quality grocers, health food stores, co-ops, and national chains (e.g., Trader Joe’s and Whole Foods) stock abundant sources of organic eggs. If you have trouble finding organic eggs near you, visit
localharvest.org
and perform a zip code search.
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Even the most vocal complainers about high-priced organic food might benefit from examining their discretionary purchases and moving healthy food up the priority list. Eliminating processed or packaged foods and bottled beverages and growing your own fruits and vegetables can reduce your budget and improve your dietary quality
.
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I understand that buying organic animal products can be cost-prohibitive. I will accept criticism that the distinctions I elaborate here could characterize the
Primal Blueprint
eating style as elitist in the eyes of some. I’ll discuss this philosophical issue with great enthusiasm and detail in
Chapter 9
. For now, I’ll proudly stand as an advocate for healthy living and getting your priorities straight, including budgeting for the best foods you can afford—even if this means your diet potentially (but not necessarily, if you do a little legwork) becomes more expensive and cumbersome for you than for the other families on your block. The fact is, to reprogram your genes for optimal health, you must make every effort to eat as cleanly as Grok did.
Even the most vocal complainers about high-priced organic food might benefit from examining their discretionary purchases and moving healthy food up the priority list. For example, if you sharply cut back or eliminate processed carbohydrates from your diet, you avoid the vast majority of the high-cost (and high-profit), low-nutritional-value products in the store. Shifting from bottled waters, juices, and all manner of sweetened beverages to a simple water-filtration system in your home can save money and improve dietary quality. Shifting from designer foods such as synthetic energy bars and meal replacements (Kelly Korg spends about 70 bucks a month on her twice-daily Slim-Fast shakes) to such basics as trail mix, jerky, or farm-fresh eggs can also reduce your budget while improving dietary quality.
Consider growing your own fruits and vegetables in your backyard garden or rent a patch in a community garden if your urban environment is short on soil. Part-time employees at many food stores enjoy a purchase discount. Perhaps there is even a co-op or farmers’ market in your area where you can trade time for food? One popular post on
MarksDailyApple.com
detailed the concept of “cowpooling”—chipping in with
other families to purchase and divide up all or part of a butchered cow, typically raised locally and naturally. I’ve written numerous other posts detailing ways to make
Primal Blueprint
eating convenient and affordable.