Grass-fed vs. Grain-fed Beef

So just what is the difference between grass-fed vs. grain-fed? Well the answer is alot! Its better for the animals, the environment and your own health. Lets take a look at each one separately.

• The Animals Health-Factory farming is a disgusting practice, I do not support it at all. But the logic is flawed when you think this is the only way animals are raised. Not true. Cows are a ruminant. What this basically means is they are designed to digest plant based foods only. They have three stomachs, the first is called a "rumen." Cows basically semi-chew their food, swallow it and allow the bacteria in their rumen to break the cellulose down further. Then they regurgitate (yummy) this semi-digested food and swallow it again. This allows the cow to actually use the grass, and they eat the bacteria as well! Cool huh? Ok, maybe only to me. By feeding these animals grains, they develop a conditions known as "acidosis" or "acid ingestion." The bacteria in their guts create a variety of acids. When they are on pasture they create plenty of saliva to neutralize it. But since a grain based diet is low on roughage, they do not ruminate their food as long, leading to this net acid load. If this continues long enough, which in feedlot it does, the cows develop "rumenitis." This is an inflammatory state of the rumen wall. They develop ulcers because of it and cannot digest food nearly as well.

• The Environment-Agriculture is easily the most destructive act we have done to our planet in the last 10,000...or of all time for that matter. Soil is the basis of life on earth, and the planting of annual mono-crops (wheat, soy, corn etc) year after year destroy top soil. Without top soil there will be nothing. This is why the answer to world hunger doesn't involve feeding the starving grains. Planting annual mono-crops is not a sustainable practice, when all the top soil is gone, what will you grow? We need agricultural practices that build top soil, not destroy it. Raising animals on a perennial poly-culture does just that. Ruminants eat the grass, expend the waste as urine and fecal matter, and that right their builds topsoil. What do you actually think is more destructive to the planet, eating a steak from a cow raised on a pasture, or replacing it with some pseudo soy burger shipped here from mexico? Let's see, I killed one animal to eat my meal (the cow) and you killed countless by plowing your field for soy, destroyed top soil while my cow built it, burned plenty more fossil fuel getting it on your plate, and damned rivers to irrigate it. Basically you destroyed entire ecosystems to eat a shitty tasting piece of fake meat. Thumbs up to you. Substitute the soy burger for; bagels, cereal or low-fat bran muffins. My steak still wins any day of the week.

"What separates me from vegetarians isn't ethics or commitment. It's information"-Lierre Keith, author of The Vegetarian Myth

• Nutritionally-Basically, grass-fed kicks ass in the nutrition department. It's total fat content is lower, making it higher in protein. It has a far better ratio of omega-6 to omega-3, is higher in CLA (conjugated linoleic acid), Vitamin E & C and Beta-carotene. The difference in n-6/n-3 ratios is of major importance. If like most of use, you do not have access to grass-fed meats all the time, I would highly advise looking into a fish oil supplement to balance those fats.

Do a search in your local area for grass-fed meats right from the supplier (farm). In March I am looking to put in an order for 30lbs of grass-fed beef and 50lbs of grass-fed bison! Buying from the supplier is far cheaper than from a supermarket as well and you know exactly where your food is coming from. Go to Eat Wild to find a supplier in your area.

What You Eat After Exercise Matters

Weighted Pull-up back in the garage: 100lbs

A new study in the Journal of Applied Physiology found that subjects who consumed fewer carbohydrates post-workout retained more benefits than those who consumed a larger % of calories from carbohydrates, even when total calories of the meal was the same. What was surprising to me was the lower carbohydrate meal consisted of 200g! That isn't a low-carb meal, that isn't even a low-carb diet! Most low-carb diets, such as Mark Sisson's book, The Primal Blueprint, recommend a daily intake of no more then 50g of carbohydrates when trying to lose and no higher than 150g when maintaining. 50g is easily obtainable by sticking with non-starchy vegetables as your main source. I would be interested to see what sort of effects a meal moderate in protein, high in fat would have. From what research I've seen, the benefits of increase insulin sensitivity would be even greater. Dietary protein can easily supply enough amino acids for both protein synthesis and glycogen depletion, depending on the activity. If you wish to read the press release on Science Daily, here it is.

Why Avoid Grains?

The logic behind avoiding grains in a paleo diet not only rests on the fact that we have only been consuming these foods for 10,000 years, a blink of an eye in our evolution. But also in the health harming effects these little buggers can have. Let this point be very clear to you, nothing likes to be eaten! Where as animals can run away from their predators, plants cannot, therefore they require other defense mechanism so that their whole species does not get wiped out. Lets take a look at some of those defenses that protect the grain, but harm the consumer (you).

• Gluten-You have more than likely seen products in the grocery store that proclaim "gluten-free!" If your like the average person you probably had no clue what this meant, all you knew was you weren't going to be eating it. So what is gluten? Why should you avoid it? Gluten is a protein found in mostly all grain (wheat, rye, spelt, barley, oats etc) that your body does not obtain the ability to digest. Your body does not use protein, it uses the building blocks that constitute them, amino acids. Gluten is a defense mechanism in that it cannot be digested, and it irritates the gut lining causing a problem known as "leaky gut" or increased intestinal permeability. If your gut lining is irritated, large undigested proteins can slip through into the blood stream. Why is this a problem? Becuase like I mentioned before, your body doesn't use proteins, it uses amino acids. Protein has to be broken down into amino acids and absorbed for the body to use. When these intact proteins get into our blood stream, the immune system will mount an attack to the foreign substance and create anti-bodies so that if anything similar comes through again your body is ready. The problem lies when these foreign proteins (anything protein you eat) resemble that of protein tissue that make up your body. If this happens, those anti-bodies begin attacking yourself, this is known as "molecular mimicry." Now we have an auto-immune condition. Increased gut permeability or "leaky gut" has been implicated as one of the main causes for every auto-immune condition, including: Multiple Sclerosis, Insulin-dependent Diabetes, Rheumatoid Arthritis, Hypothyroidism and Asthma. It should also be noted that just because you do not have any auto-immune conditions, doesn't mean this isn't effecting you. More than half of all celiacs (gluten-intolerance) have latent (present but not visible) symptoms. With an irritated gut it will make it harder too absorb nutrients, and break down food in general. Are you one of those people that just can't digest meat, especially red meat? Get all the gut irritants out of your diet, allow your gut to heal and I will almost guarantee this issue will go away. The pH of your stomach could also be low due to the stress of latent irritation and the fact you could be low on zinc (not absorbing nutrients properly, remember?).

• Fiber?-Ever heard of broccoli, cauliflower, kale or spinach? In fact I cannot find one shred of evidence why fiber is essential for health. Check out this nutritional table at Living Paleo to see just how nutritionally inadequate grains are compared to fruits & vegetables.

• Phytic Acid- Also known as "phytates" are little buggers that bind to minerals such as calcium, magnesium, iron, zinc etc. They won't allow you to absorb what little nutrients grains have in the first place, and they can rob your body of them as well.

• Fatty Acid Profile- Grains are predominantly omega-6 and very little omega-3. The problem with this is that omega-6 tend to be pro-inflammatory and omega-3's anti-inflammatory. Too much omega 6 in the diet will encourage inflammation in the body. If that doesn't sound good, its because it isn't good. Inflammation is the route cause of almost all disease. Adjusting you 6s & 3s can have an enormous effect on your health and well-being.

• Insulin management-Whether your goal is to lose a few pounds or just be healthier in general, controlling insulin should be your main priority. Insulin is a hormone released in response to elevated blood sugar. The best way to elevated your blood sugar is by consuming carbohydrates. There are no "simple" or "complex" carbs, they are both just sugar and enter the blood stream at a rapid pace. Grains being almost entirely carbohydrate (sugar), would be a poor choice to consume if you want to control insulin. Why is this such a big deal? Insulin control what your body does with incoming nutrients. If their is room you will store some of those amino acids & glucose in the muscle tissue or liver, if not they will be readily shipped to the fat tissue for storage. Insulin is a storage hormone. When insulin is high, nothing gets out of the cells. You can't burn fat when it can't get out of the cells.

Step Away From The Gluten!

Well here is another great article on the effects of gluten. As more and more research gets out it is going to be harder and harder for the average person to ignore. This is a great piece that highlights many of the effects gluten can have on you, and surely leaves you wondering if there are any good reasons to have it in your diet. There aren't any. This stuff is a product from Satan himself!

Here is a quote from the article:

"This study looked at almost 30,000 patients from 1969 to 2008 and examined deaths in three groups: Those with full-blown celiac disease, those with inflammation of their intestine but not full-blown celiac disease, and those with latent celiac disease or gluten sensitivity (elevated gluten antibodies but negative intestinal biopsy).

The findings were dramatic. There was a 39 percent increased risk of death in those with celiac disease, 72 percent increased risk in those with gut inflammation related to gluten, and 35 percent increased risk in those with gluten sensitivity but no celiac disease.

This is ground-breaking research that proves you don't have to have full-blown celiac disease with a positive intestinal biopsy (which is what conventional thinking tells us) to have serious health problems and complications--even death--from eating gluten.

Yet an estimated 99 percent of people who have a problem with eating gluten don't even know it. They ascribe their ill health or symptoms to something else--not gluten sensitivity, which is 100 percent curable.

And here's some more shocking news ...

Another study comparing the blood of 10,000 people from 50 years ago to 10,000 people today found that the incidences of full-blown celiac disease increased by 400 percent (elevated TTG antibodies) during that time period. If we saw a 400 percent increase in heart disease or cancer, this would be headline news."

"By failing to identify gluten sensitivity and celiac disease, we create needless suffering and death for millions of Americans. Health problems caused by gluten sensitivity cannot be treated with better medication. They can only be resolved by eliminating 100 percent of the gluten from your diet."

Gluten: What You Don't Know Might Kill You!

Saturated Fat: The Tide is Turning!

Using tomatoes & parsley to combat the evil effects of Cholesterol!

Actually the above shot was a kick ass breakfast I made, looking back the biggest mistake was not having more bacon! So as the title beholds, the tables are turning in the acceptance of letting saturated fat off the hook as the prime villain in coronary heart & related disease. Dr.Ronald Krauss, once a firm believer in the lipid hypothesis (saturated fat raises cholesterol which in turn causes heart disease), has now openly confessed that he see's no benefit to reducing saturated fat in the prevention of heart disease. If you actually care to read the journal, here. This stuff is finally going mainstream, with Men's Health publishing an article on the findings. The emphasis on the difference between the size of LDL particles will be old news to anyone who has read Good Calories, Bad Calories by Gary Taubes.

Here's a couple quotes from the article:

"Bad Cholesterol is at best a poor shorthand for four major types of independently behaving LDL, each with its own implications for heart disease. We ignore the distinctions at our peril."

"LDL COMES IN FOUR BASIC FORMS: a big, fluffy form known as large LDL, and three increasingly dense forms known as medium, small and very small LDL. A diet high in saturated fat mainly boosts the numbers of large LDL particles, while a low-fat diet high in carbohydrates propagates the smaller forms. The big, fluffy particles are largely benign, while the small, dense versions keep lipid-science researchers awake at night."

I hope everyone has at least by now come to terms with the fact that there is only one type of cholesterol, HDL & LDL aren't cholesterol! They are protein carries that shuttle cholesterol around the body. The major oversimplifications of "good" and "bad" cholesterol has just led to more confusion and disease. I hope I live to see the day when Canada's food guide gets flipped on its head.Recommend more than 3 serving of meat a day and in place of fortified soy beverages we see a can of coconut milk! I have to give them credit though, at least they recommend more vegetables & fruit then grains. But still, do I really need 8 slices of bread a day?

Kelly Starrett on Ibuprofen

Kelly Starrett is the co-founder of San Francisco Crossfit. He is a Doctor in Physical Therapy, having worked with some of the top athletes around the world. He runs the Mobility and Recovery Seminar for Crossfit HQ and is just a certified badass in the realm of recovery and improving your movement. Most of you probably recognize him from his awesome videos via the Crossfit Journal. Awhile back he wrote a pretty sweet article on the use of Ibuprofen for recovery, so I thought I'd post it here for some the folks that care about this stuff! If you don't want to read the entire thing, the short version is...Get off it!

San Francisco Crossfit- Get Off The Ibuprofen Peoples!

Nutritional density and bioavailability

Lets just assume for a minute that we actually could digest gluten, that grains didn't contain any other lectins or phytates. That no real harm came from eating these foods. But you still have to ask yourself, why? Why would you eat these foods that provide nothing but added sugar to your diet? When matched up against fruits & vegetables, grains or legumes don't even stand a nutritional chance. (Table courtesy of Living Paleo)

Vitamin and Mineral Content of Approximately 10 Calories of Typical Carbohydrates

Vegetables (cooked and drained)

Carb	Amount	Vit. A	Vit. C	Folic Acid	Magnesium	Calcium	Fibre
Asparagus	1 cup	940	19.5	262	18	36	3
Broccoli	3 cups	6,492	348	234	114	210	13.2
Cauliflower	4 cups	88	216	216	48	80	12.8
Green beans	1 cup	832	12	41	31	57	4
Kale	2 cups	16,000	34	36	46	556	5.2
Red pepper	2 cups	10,224	464	48	28	26	3.2
Spinach	3.5 cups	51,600	62	917	546	854	15
Swiss chard	2.5 cups	10,986	63	30	300	203	7.4
Zucchini	2 cups	864	16	60	80	46	5

Fruits

Carb	Amount	Vit. A	Vit. C	Folic Acid	Magnesium	Calcium	Fibre
Cantaloupe	3/4 cup	3,771	49	19.5	12.8	13.2	1.0
Grapes	1/2 cup	46	3.3	1.8	2.3	6.4	0.5
Orange	1/2	12	40	23	7	28	1.8
Nectarine	1/2	500	3.7	2.5	5.4	3.8	1.1
Orange	1/2	12	40	23	7	28	1.8
Peach	1	53	6.5	3.3	6.8	4.9	2
Pear	1/2	17	3.3	6	4.9	9.1	2
Strawberries	1 cup	45	94	29	17	23	3.8
Raspberries	1 cup	159	31	33	22	27	8.3
Blueberries	1/2 cup	72	9.4	4.5	3.5	4.4	1.8

Grains (cooked and drained)

Carb	Amount	Vit. A	Vit. C	Folic Acid	Magnesium	Calcium	Fibre
Rice, brown	1/5 cup	0	0	1.6	21	3.9	0.7
Rice, white	1/5 cup	0	0	1.2	3.8	0
Spaghetti, whole wheat	1/4 cup	0	0	2.5	6.3	2.0	0.6
Bread, white	1 slice	0	0	3	6	27	0.6
Bagel, small	1/4	0	0	3.9	5	13	0.4

This doesn't even address the fact that these foods are nothing but carbohydrate (sugar). What little protein they have is either indigestible in the form of gluten or wrapped in a nice package of cellulose. You're not a cow, you don't have the digestive ability to break down that insoluble fiber to get at that protein. This goes for not only grains, but; nuts, seeds, soy & other legumes. If you take a look at the system that ranks protein "bioavailability", PDCAAS (the protein digestibility corrected amino acid score), you will find something like this:

• Casein 1.00
• Egg White 1.00
• Soybean (isolate) .99
• Beef .92
• Pea Flour .69
• Kidney Beans .68
• Chick Peas .66
• Pinto Beans .63
• Peanut Meal .52

One vegetarian points out "soy has a better adsorption rate than beef!" Oh yeah buddy? Have any clue how they "isolate" soy protein? Before we even go there, just note that in the 1970's, soy protein isolate (SPI) was ruled safe for the use as an ingredient in cardboard! From here I will let Kaayla Daniel, author of The Whole Soy Story explain, " The basic procedure begins with a defatted soybean meal, which is mixed with a caustic alkaline solution to precipitate out the protein. The protein curds are then dipped into yet another alkaline solution and spray dried at extremely high temperatures." That alkaline solution has a pH above 10. As Lierre Keith notes, it is then " mixed with various binders, gums, fats, flavors, and sweeteners. Hungry yet?" This is the stuff they use is soy baby formula. Awesome. Providing 38mg of isoflavones a day. That adds up to the hormone equivalent of three to five birth control pills each day. If you feed that to your baby, I will call you a fucking dumb ass to your face. Because that shit angers me.

Enough about soy, what about nuts & seeds? These foods fit along nicely with the paleo diet, but you want to consider them a condiment. Definitely not a main source of fat, and definitely not protein (unless you live in a third world country). Overconsuming will throw off your omega-6/omega-3 ratio. Nuts being predominantly omega 6. What little omega-3 they do contain is in the form of alpha-linolenic acid, the shorter chain version that your body must convert to EPA and DHA. I have since replaced all my nut consumption and added in coconut oil instead. I find this works a lot better myself, especially in keeping that n-6/n-3 ratio in check. When your already eating grain-fed meat, adding all that linoleic acid from the nuts will just add to the problem. Eliminating any remaining foods with gut irritants (saponins in nuts) and phytates I believe has made the difference as well. By soaking the nuts overnight it will help to break down the anti-nutrients which is obviously a good thing! The only way to find out is to experiment yourself. Take foods out for an extended period (at least 30 days), then re-introduce and see how you look, feel & perform.

*Note*: Nutritional table was cut off, for full view look here.