Gorgeous Girls Eat Meat Article

A great article about Paleo diets and the affect of wheat and soy by Esther Blum (MS, RD, CDN, CDS, Holistic Nutritionist and registered dietician). You can find the article here and her Living Gorgeous website here. 

"My foray into being a sexy paleo girl was a little uncertain, to say the least.  At the tender age of 16, I spent six weeks travelling around Israel on a seminar program.  The meat on the trip was unidentifiable, and the schwarma street meat had flies all over it.  I broke up with animal protein for a couple of years after that.  There were exceptions to the rule, though.  One New Year’s Eve I went to a party with friends and we decided to make chili.  Walking out the door, my mom handed me a package of veal.  I proudly carried it into the house and announced, “I don’t eat meat so I brought over veal!”  Everyone burst out laughing and my cheeks turned ten shades of red.  (For the record, I still have not lived that one down.)  

After my fall from grace, I continued on the vegetarian path until years later, when I was attending graduate school in New York.  Out to dinner with friends, I spied the most gorgeous looking leg of lamb I’ve ever seen.  Like a lusty schoolgirl, I had to have it.  To this day I think it was the most succulent, rich, buttery piece of lamb I’ve ever had.  And I haven’t looked back since.

Living a paleo life is for the most part quite enjoyable.  I love to cook new types of wild game when the opportunity presents itself.  I chew meat off the bone and suck out the marrow like some knuckle-dragging cro-magnon chick.  I have trained my five-year old son to know and value his proteins and why eating paleo is so vital to his health.  And yet, I still manage to tick off the vegetarians who take issue with eating animals.  So I want to explain why I have made the choices I’ve made to continue to eat animals in spite of the ethical and political issues involved.

My perspective on eating meat is based on thousands of research papers and 17 years of working with clients. First and foremost, I have never seen a healthy vegetarian in my practice.  So many of my clients are sick from grains and soy and just can't handle them at all due to autoimmune conditions, digestive issues, food allergies and environmental toxicities. Then, there are my menopausal clients, who get fat from too many grains and lean out on high protein diets. There are also my toxic clients who require high amounts of protein to facilitate the body's removal of those toxins. And there are my diabetics who need at least 60% fat in their diets and lots of protein with minimal carbs...the list goes on, but you get my point. Animal cruelty is one thing, but treating clients is another.  I have to work with their reality because that is their world. I have to remove the offending substances when someone is sick, and more often than not the illness stems from grains and starches, not the protein sources.  The Hippocratic oath is always at the forefront of my mind—first, do no harm.

I do agree with vegetarians that we need a paradigm shift where the boon of small farming returns, animals are not jacked up on hormones, toxins and chemicals, or treated inhumanely, and the value of our food gets placed above all.  I do believe its possible to buy animals from local and sustainable farms.  I do believe that organic farming is the answer to our problems.  And I will continue to believe in the power of meat."



It always helps to have an registered and certified opinion and there are numerous studies on the affect of the paleo diet but I still find the best source of information (and the studies to back it up) is the Paleo Diet by Loren Cordain. 

"I am free to create success in my life - it is my choice. I create my success daily, every decision I make impacts the world. I live to the fullest knowing that I am the best that I can be and I am justly rewarded with the success I choose." Deepak Chopra

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