This content is part of an article series.
In step #1, we talked about what not to eat. In this article, we’ll talk about what to eat.
Most of the calories we get from food come from protein, carbohydrates and fat. These are referred to as macronutrients. We also get other important nutrients from food, such as vitamins and minerals. These don’t constitute a significant source of calories, so they’re called micronutrients.
For the last 50 years, we’ve been told to follow a diet low in this or that macronutrient. From the 1950s up until the present day the American Heart Association and other similarly misguided and pharmaceutically-financed “consumer organizations” have advocated a low-fat diet. More recently, low-carbohydrate diets are all the rage.
Not all macronutrients are created equal
What many advocates of low-fat or low-carbohydrate diets conveniently ignore is that there are entire groups of people around the world, both past and present, that defy their ideas of what constitutes a healthy diet.
For example, the low-fat crowd will tell you that eating too much fat – especially of the saturated variety – will make you fat and give you a heart attack. Tell that to the traditional Inuit, who get about 90% of calories from fat, and were almost entirely free of obesity and modern degenerative disease. The same is true for the Masai in Africa, who get about 60-70% of calories from fat (almost entirely from meat, milk or blood.) And then there’s the modern French, who have the lowest rate of heart disease of any industrialized country in the world – despite the highest intake of saturated fat.
The low-carb crowd is very much aware of these statistics, which are often used in defense of low-carb diets as the best choice. Tell that to the Kitavans in Melanesia, who get about 70% of calories from carbohydrate and, like the Inuit and Masai, are almost entirely free of obesity, heart disease and other chronic, degenerative diseases that are so common in industrialized societies. We see a similar absence of modern diseases in the Kuna indians in Panama and the Okinawans of Japan, two other healthy indigenous populations that get about 65% of calories from carbohydrate.
These rather inconvenient exceptions to the low-fat and low-carb dogma vigorously promoted by advocates of both approaches show us that humans can in fact thrive on a wide range of macronutrient ratios, ranging from extremely high fat (Inuit, Masai) to very high carb (Kitavans, Kuna & Okinawans). They also hint at the idea that perhaps not all carbohydrates are the same in terms of their effects on human health.
Human fuel: food that nourishes the body
We need to shift away from the idea of macronutrients – as Dr. Kurt Harris of PaleoNu recently suggested – and move towards the idea of nourishment or fuel and understand things like bone broth health benefits.
Gasoline and diesel are both fuel that cars can run on. If you put gasoline in a diesel engine, or vice versa, the engine may run but it won’t run well – or for very long. In a similar way, the human body can run on the entire range of fats, carbohydrates and proteins. But it runs much better on the ones it was designed to run on, and if you put too much of the others in, the body will eventually break down.
With this classification in mind, let’s look primarily at how the different types of fat and carbohydrate (our primary sources of energy) affect us, and which of them we should choose as our preferred “human fuel”.
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Know your fats
LONG-CHAIN SATURATED FAT
We’ll begin with long-chain, saturated fats (LCSFA): myristic, palmitic and stearic acid. These fats are found mostly in the milk and meat of ruminant animals like cattle and sheep. They form the core structural fats in the body, comprising 75-80% of fatty acids in most cells, and they’re the primary storage form of energy for humans. In other words, when the body stores excess energy from food for later use, it stores it primarily as long-chain saturated fat.
Unlike polyunsaturated fats (PUFA) and carbohydrates like glucose and fructose, saturated fats have no known toxicity – even at very high doses – presuming insulin levels are in a normal range. Long-chain saturated fats are more easily burned as energy than PUFA. The process of converting saturated fat into energy the body can use leaves no toxic byproducts. In fact, it leaves nothing but carbon dioxide and water.
I’m sure this will come as a surprise to many of you, since we’ve been collectively brainwashed for 50 years to believe that saturated fat makes us fat and causes heart disease. If you still believe this is true, watch these two videos (1 and 2) and read all of the articles in my special report on cholesterol, fat and heart disease.
Verdict: eat as much as you’d like. The majority of the fats you consume should be LCSFA.
MEDIUM-CHAIN TRIGLYCERIDES
Medium-chain triglycerides (MCT) are another type of saturated fat. They’re found in coconut and in mother’s milk, and they have unusual properties. They’re metabolized differently than long-chain saturated fats; they don’t require bile acids for digestion and they pass directly to the liver via the portal vein. This makes MCTs a great source of easily digestible energy. They’re so easy to digest, in fact, that they’re used in the liquid hospital formulas fed to patients that have had sections of their intestine removed and aren’t able to digest solid food.
In addition to being a good energy source, MCTs have therapeutic properties. They’re high in lauric acid, a fat found in mother’s milk that has anti-bacterial, anti-viral and antioxidant properties.
Verdict: eat as much as you’d like. Coconut oil is an especially good cooking fat, because it is not vulnerable to the oxidative damage that occurs with high-heat cooking using other fats.
MONOUNSATURATED FAT
Monounsaturated fat (MFA), or oleic acid, is found primarily in beef, olive oil, avocados, lard and certain nuts like macadamias. Like saturated fats, MFA form the core structural fats of the body and are non-toxic even at high doses. Interestingly, monounsaturated fats seem to be the only fats that typically fat-phobic groups like the AHA and fat-friendly groups like Atkins and other low-carbers can agree are completely healthy.
Verdict: eat as much as you’d like. But be aware that certain foods that are high in monounsaturated fats, like nuts and avocados, can contain significant amounts of the dreaded omega-6 polyunsaturated fats, which we’ll discuss below. Exercise caution.
In addition to their lack of toxicity, eating these fats will:
- Reduce your risk of heart disease by raising your HDL, lowering your triglycerides and reducing levels of small, dense LDL (a type of LDL associated with a higher risk of heart disease). If you don’t believe me, read this.
- Increase muscle mass. Muscle is composed of equal weights of fat and protein.
- Stabilize your energy and mood. Fat provides a steadier supply of energy throughout the day than carbohydrate, which can cause fluctuations in blood sugar.
POLYUNSATURATED FAT: OMEGA-6 & OMEGA-3
Polyunsaturated fat (PUFA) can be subdivided into omega-6 and omega-3. PUFA are fragile and vulnerable to oxidative damage, a process that creates free radicals in the body and raises our risk for everything from heart disease to cancer. As I pointed out in Step #1: Don’t Eat Toxins, both anthropological and modern research suggest that for optimal health we should consume roughly the same amount of omega-6 and omega-3 fat (1:1 ratio), and that our total intake of PUFA should be no more than 4% of calories.
But Americans’ omega-6:omega-3 ratio today ranges from 10:1 to 20:1, with a ratio as high as 25:1 in some individuals! This means some people are eating as much as 25 times the recommended amount of omega-6 fat. And it is this excess consumption of omega-6 PUFA – not cholesterol and saturated fat – that is responsible for the modern epidemics of cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, obesity, metabolic syndrome, autoimmune disease and more.
Omega-6 PUFA (linoleic acid, or LA) is found in small or moderate amounts of a wide variety of foods including fruits, vegetables, cereal grains and meat. But it is found in very large amounts in industrial processed and refined oils, like soybean, cottonseed, corn, safflower and sunflower. These oils are ubiquitous in the modern diet, present in everything from salad dressing to chips and crackers to restaurant food. LA is also relatively high in most nuts and in all poultry, especially in dark meat with skin.
Linoleic acid is an essential fatty acid. This means it is required for proper function but cannot be produced in the body, and thus must be obtained from the diet. However, the amount of omega-6 that is needed is exceedingly small: less than 0.5 percent of calories when supplied by most animal fats and less than 0.12 percent of calories when supplied by liver. When consumed in excess amounts – as is almost always the case in industrialized countries like the U.S. – omega-6 contributes to all of the diseases mentioned above.
Omega-3 PUFA can be further subdivided into short-chain (alpha-linolenic acid, or ALA) and long-chain (EPA & DHA). ALA is found in plant foods like walnut and flax, whereas EPA & DHA is found in seafood and to a lesser extent the meat and fat of ruminant animals.
While ALA is considered essential, the long-chain EPA & DHA are responsible for the benefits we get from eating omega-3 fats, and they form the denominator of the omega-6:omega-3 ratio. A common misconception is that we can meet our omega-3 needs by taking flax oil or eating plant foods containing ALA. It’s true that the body can convert some ALA to EPA & DHA. But that conversion is extremely inefficient in most people. On average, less than 0.5% of ALA gets converted into the long-chain EPA & DHA, and that number is even worse in people that are chronically ill or have nutrient deficiencies (common in vegans and vegetarians).
Of the two, evidence suggests that DHA plays the more important role.
Verdict: for optimal health, eat no more than 4% of calories (about 9g/d for a 2,000 calorie diet) of polyunsaturated fat, with an equal amount of omega-6 and omega-3. Make sure the omega-3 you eat is long-chain EPA & DHA (from seafood and animal sources) rather than short-chain ALA from plant sources like flax. It is very difficult to limit omega-6 to 4.5g/day. See this article for tips.
TRANS-FATS
There are two types of trans-fats: natural (NTF), and artificial (ATF). The primary natural trans-fat, conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) is found in small amounts (about 2%) in the meat, fat and dairy fat of ruminant animals. CLA does not have the harmful effects of ATFs, and may have anti-cancer properties and other benefits.
Artificial trans-fats have been linked with a variety of diseases. I think most people are aware of this, so I’m not going to belabor the point. We’ve still got carbs to talk about.
Verdict: avoid artificial trans-fats like the plague. Natural trans-fats like CLA are harmless and probably even beneficial, but as long as you’re eating long-chain saturated fats, you’ll get CLA. You don’t have to go out of your way to find it.
SUMMARY OF FATS
Long-chain saturated fat, monounsaturated fat and medium chain triglycerides should form the bulk of your fat intake. Long-chain omega-3 fats (EPA & DHA) should be consumed regularly, while omega-6 LA should be dramatically reduced. Click on the fat pyramid below for a graphic representation.
Know your carbs
Carbohydrates are broken down into either indigestible fiber, glucose or fructose. Let’s discuss the suitability of each of these as human fuel.
Glucose
Glucose is a simple sugar (monosaccharide) found mostly in plant foods like fruits, vegetables, starchy tubers and grains. It has three main uses in the body:
- It forms structural molecules call glycoproteins;
- Like fat, it is a source of energy for cells (especially in the brain); and,
- it’s a precursor to compounds that play an important role in the immune system.
Glucose preceded fatty acids as a fuel source for living organisms by a very long time, and it is the building block of foods that have the longest evolutionary history of use by mammals like us. The fact that glucose can be produced in the body from protein is often used as an argument that we don’t need to eat it in the diet. But I agree with Dr. Harris’s interpretation that, rather than viewing this as evidence that that glucose isn’t important, we should view it as evidence that glucose is so metabolically essential that we evolved a mechanism to produce it even in its absence in the diet.
Presuming we are metabolically healthy, the glucose and starch we eat is digested and rapidly cleared by the liver and muscle cells. It is only when the metabolism is damaged – usually by years of eating toxins like refined cereal grains, industrial seed oils and fructose – that excess glucose is not properly cleared and leads to insulin resistance and diabetes.
Verdict: the range of glucose that is tolerated varies widely across populations and individuals. Assuming no metabolic problems and an active lifestyle, glucose may be consumed relatively freely. However, many people today do have some form of metabolic dysfunction, and live a sedentary lifestyle. If you fall into this category, glucose should probably be limited to 400 calories (about 100g) of glucose per day.
Fructose
Fructose is another simple sugar found primarily in fruits and vegetables. While it has the same chemical formula and caloric content as glucose, it has an entirely different effect on the body.
As I pointed out in Step #1: Don’t Eat Toxins, fructose is toxic at high doses. It damages proteins in a process called fructation, which disrupts metabolic function and causes inflammation and oxidative damage. To prevent this, fructose is shunted directly to the liver for conversion into glucose or innocuous fats. But this process damages the liver over time, leading to non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (which one in three Americans now suffer from) and metabolic syndrome.
Another issue is that excess fructose is not well absorbed in the gut, which in turn leads to its rapid fermentation by bacteria in the colon or abnormal overgrowth of bacteria in the small intestine. Small-bowel bacterial overgrowth, or SIBO, is now believed to be the major cause of irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), a common functional bowel disorder that is the second-leading cause of people missing work behind only the common cold.
Verdict: 3-4 servings a day of fruit is fine for people without metabolic problems. Those with fatty liver, insulin resistance or other issues should further limit fructose intake, and everyone should avoid high-fructose corn syrup and other concentrated sources like agave syrup.
Fiber
Fiber is plant matter that is indigestible to humans. But although we can’t digest it, some of the 100 trillion bacteria that live in our gut can. In fact, up to 10% of the body’s caloric needs can be met by the conversion of glucose into short-chain fats like butyrate, propionate and acetate by intestinal bacteria. These short-chain fats are the primary energy source for intestinal cells in the colon, and butyrate in particular has been associated with several benefits. These are outlined in The Perfect Health Diet, by Paul & Shou-Ching Jaminet. Butyrate:
- Prevents obesity.
- Heals the intestine.
- Improves gut barrier integrity.
- Relieves constipation.
- Improves cardiovascular markers.
- Reduces inflammation.
- Stabilizes blood sugar.
The evidence clearly suggests that vegetable fiber is beneficial. However, just as not all fats are created equal, not all fiber is created equal. Grain fiber – which the AHA and other so-called “heart healthy” organizations have been promoting for decades – is toxic for two reasons: it contains toxic proteins like gluten, and it is prone to injure the intestinal wall.
We’ve been bullied into believing that grain fiber prevents heart disease and provides numerous health benefits. But this claim has only been tested in a single clinical trial, and the results were less than spectacular. The Diet and Reinfarction Trial, published in 1989, included 2,033 British men who had suffered a heart attack, and compared a high-fiber group with a control group. The high-fiber group ate whole grains and doubled their grain fiber intake from 9 to 17 grams per day.
How did that work out for them? Not too well. Deaths in the high fiber group were 22% higher over the two year study. 9.9% of the control group died vs. 12.1% of the high fiber group.
There are other reasons to limit all types of fiber.
And while fiber can feed the good bacteria in our gut and increase the production of beneficial short-chain fats like butyrate, it can also feed pathogenic and opportunistic bacteria in the gut.
Verdict: vegetable (but not grain) fiber is beneficial in moderate amounts – about one-half pound of vegetables per day. But think about vegetables and fiber as accompaniments or flavorful condiments to fat and protein, which should form the bulk of calories consumed, rather than the other way around.
SUMMARY OF CARBOHYDRATES
Assuming a healthy metabolism (which isn’t necessarily a safe assumption these days), glucose and starch can be eaten relatively freely, which fructose should be limited to 2-3 servings of fruit per day. Vegetable fiber is beneficial but should also be limited, to about one-half pound of vegetables per day. See the carb pyramid below for a graphic representation.
Know your protein
What about protein? As it turns out, eating the right type of protein is easy if you simply follow Step #1 (don’t eat toxins) and base your diet on the healthy fats I listed above.
Protein is mostly found in animal products, seafood, nuts, legumes and grains. Legumes and grains have toxic compounds that can damage the gut. These toxins can be partially and in some cases completely neutralized by traditional preparation methods like soaking, sprouting and fermenting. But the vast majority of people in modern industrial societies don’t do this and aren’t willing to do it, so I generally recommend that people avoid them altogether.
As I explained above, nuts are often high in omega-6 LA, which we get far too much of as it is. So nuts should not constitute a significant source of protein. Walnuts are especially high. Just 100g of walnuts a day amounts to a whopping 266g of omega-6 per week. Keeping in mind that we want a 1:1 ratio of omega-6 to omega-3, you’d have to eat 34 pounds of salmon a week to achieve a balance. Good luck with that.
Poultry, especially dark meat with the skin on, can also be very high in omega-6 and should also be limited. For example, chicken skin has about 14 times more omega-6 than even grain-finished beef, and 10 times more than grain-finished pork.
That leaves the meat and milk (including butter, cream and cheese) of ruminant animals (beef & lamb), pork, and seafood as the most suitable sources of protein.
We don’t need a pyramid for protein; you can simply follow the fat pyramid and you’ll naturally get the right type and amount of protein.
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Hey Chris,
Great article and series, can’t wait to read the rest of it. I’ve got a quick question and would love your thoughts- we obviously know cholesterol in the diet is harmless and in fact beneficial, but I was wondering if one should place an upper limit on dietary cholesterol intake (too much of a good thing?). Seeing as how the body makes ~1000 mg per day, should that be the ceiling limit? Or can you really not get too much? Thanks!
Hi Chris, thank you very much for your article.
I’d love of you could expand a bit more on the process of detoxing some grains through soaking and sprouting. I’ve been sprouting organic lentils, alfalfa, chick peas, aduki and mung beans for years. Of course I always thought they were a very healthy and tasty thing to eat.
Would you recommend to avoid all of them, a few or would you approve of their intake in moderate quantities? (i.e. something like half a cup of sprouts per day and not every day).
Many thanks!
Laura
“We need to shift away from the idea of macronutrients – as Dr. Kurt Harris of PaleoNu recently suggested – and move towards the idea of nourishment or fuel. This means we classify foods not based on their macronutrient ratios, but on their ability to provide the energy and nutrition the body needs to function optimally.”
Oh really.
What about those of us who are never satisfied? We need to control or intake and some system of measurement. Eating to satiety is a meaningless concept to someone who never feels satiety. I need to measure and calculate each meal not be wildly over in calories. Under is more of a problem, as when I am under, I get uncontrollably hunger.
To that end, too much carbohydrate, too much fat, too much protein each cause me different issues, as does too little of anything. Without measuring and computing I would be as fat or fatter than I once was.
Understanding the the amounts that I need was also difficult until I can across
Phil Maffetone’s two week carbohydrate intolerance test. After setting the carbohydrate, I was able to use the process to set my fat requirements, and protein requirements to control weight.
For me, I found that I needed to follow Dr. Bernstein’s concept. According to Dr. R Bernstein (diebetic) you need to hold your carb level steady (at some low level), move your protein level up or down to gain or lose weight, and eat enough fat to not be hungry.
Note that in Canada we have a Dr. S Bernstein (weight) that runs weight loss clinics. Good for weight loss, but short on education.
My diet does not contain much sugar, grains (except ground flax), lubricant (omega 666) and manufactured eatable products (anything with labels).
But what do I know.
Chris,
What should guy like me do who wants to follow a low carb – high fat diet but doesn’t have access to organic and pasture raised fats including eggs, butter, ghee, cheese etc. How can I increase and safely consume fats in large amounts?
Sucrose is 50/50, HFCS is 55/45, so HFCS is worse than sucrose in that regard. But sucrose is still concentrated sugar, and is best avoided entirely.
Excellent article. I noticed that you didn’t mention sucrose which I assume is not healthy because it is metabolized to half fructose. So isn’t it almost as bad as high-fructose corn syrup?
nutritiondata.com
Chris,
What is a good source to reference n-6 amounts in any given food? Is there a website that has a pretty reliable database?
Thanks,
Jack
Ross: totally depends on what other sources of n-6 you’re eating. An avocado is 2.3g of n-6. Considering that in an ideal world we limit n-6 to 4.5g/d, you could have one avocado a day if you’re eating very little n-6 elsewhere in your diet. Adjust accordingly.
Excellent article Chris. I really like how you structure and organize the information in your new series. Very clear, easy to understand and refer back to it when needed. Love the new food pyramids. You should write a book.
I am just a bit confused about Omega 3 and Omega 6 in meat.
In the data that you provided did they measure Omega 3 in raw or cooked meat (sorry, I didn’t have time to read the actual studies yet)?
Also, since we are usually told that Omega 3 are fragile and we shouldn’t cook with oils containing it, I was wondering what happens to Omega 3 in cooked meat, don’t they get damaged, oxidized etc?
Chris,
How many avocados can I safely consume per day without without consuming excessive omega-6 ? How much fish can I include in my diet regularly while using saturated oils for cooking?
Regarding: “Carbohydrates are broken down into either indigestible fiber, glucose or fructose.”
How about galactose? I know that lactose is broken down into the simple sugars glucose and galactose by the enzyme lactase (which is missing or insufficient in those who are lactose intolerant). But what happens with the galactose? Does the comment I sited above mean that it is broken down to glucose too? Please clarify!
By the way, I want to thank you for the excellent work you are doing!
Barbara: bones are fine.
Chuck: directlabs.com
Remo: this comes from Chris Masterjohn’s excellent research on essential fatty acids. Liver supplies a substantial amount or arachidonate in addition to B6, both of which help in the production of arachidonate from linoleate released from fat stores. This is why the requirement is lower when obtaining n-6 from liver than it is from animal fat.
great post! i’m just confused about one part..you say “However, the amount of omega-6 that is needed is exceedingly small: less than 0.5 percent of calories when supplied by most animal fats and less than 0.12 percent of calories when supplied by liver”..
do you mean to say that our omega 6 needs are lower if we get them from eating liver as opposed to animal fat? Isn’t fat in liver the same as animal fat?
Can you recommend an affordable lab to get a complete blood test report? My doctor usually orders the usual suspects, so I’d like to just buy it myself rather than have to convince him why I want these tested!
This is what I’d ideally get measured, in order of importance:
1.
Non-esterified fatty acids (NERA)
2.
Omega-3, Omega-6
3.
Vitamin D3 (25-OH)
4.
Measured LDL Cholesterol (Pattern A/B), HLD, Trig
5.
Ubiquinol (CoQ10)
7.
Choline, Glutathione, CLA
8.
Vitamin K2 (MK-4/MK-7),
9.
Trans-Resveratrol, Fisetin
Possibly a few others… mainly regarding the Thyroid. There is SO much info on Thyroid, that it’s a bit overwhelming. I found these program, but haven’t found any reviews…
https://www.drbrownstein.com/bookstore_Thyroid.php
http://store.renegadehealth.com/Books-amp-DVDs/The-Complete-Thyroid-Health-Program-with-Dr-J-E-Williams-eCouse-Digital-p308.html ,
Any suggestions?
Chris,
I have just noticed your comment recommending boneless/skinless chicken breast. I understand the skinless part but why boneless? Is it still healthy to make chicken broth? I make my broth with some skin/fat in addition to the bones. I guess I better use just “clean”bones?
Thank you.
Just for the record, regarding a comment above. To refer anybody for any reason to quackwatch is like taking the word of J Edgar Hoover to decide who had communist ties in the 50s. The quackwatch site is nothing short of a poorly justified attack on people and companies without regard to fact or due diligence. I would imagine one day Stephen Barret will be sued for libel by some wronged individual who is moved to do so.
WP:
1. Most people that don’t restrict fat tend to eat less than those that do, because the latter eat more carbohydrates which actually stimulate appetite and promote overeating when eaten in excess. This is borne out in clinical studies.
2. While grass-fed meat is certainly far superior to conventional meat, some of the dangers/risks of eating CAFO meat have been overstated. Read Don Matesz’s excellent series on CAFO meat at his blog. This is part 3: http://donmatesz.blogspot.com/2011/01/practically-primal-guide-to_21.html Work back from there.
With regards to your first point, I have found this to be true in my own life. Having reduced carbohydrate intake and increased saturated fat intake, I have lost weight without even needing to count calories, which is seemingly due to the fact that a) my metabolism is functioning better than on a low-fat/high-carb diet and b) I have no desire to overeat. Conversely, on a low-fat/high-carb diet constantly craved more carbs and sugar, even when full.
That has been my experience, too.
It seems to me that if you want to avoid toxins, you really really want to avoid conventional, mass-produced meat. And as Matesz himself says, the meat industry takes a terrible, inexcusable toll on our environment. And the industrial pig farms are some of the most toxic, horrible places that exist, polluting the ground and air and making people sick.
Eat organic and free-range and wild. I know many in the inner city don’t have easy access to these, I really hope that is changing.
There is a lot of evidence of high levels of synthetic antibiotics in industrially produced meat, and these same antibiotics have endocrine disruptor effects in our bodies and specifically disrupt
protein synthesis our cells.
Not only has this blog entry been removed, but Matesz has done a 180 and eats very differently from what he was previously promoting. He doesn’t believe in Paleo at all now, as far as I can tell.
Wow, thanks for the post. It definitely set me thinking. There are so many questions swimming in my mind that I hope you can bear with me.
Firstly, does that mean that what we’ve been told in the past about taking too much calories than what we can expend can lead to overweight is flawed too? If it isn’t, wouldn’t taking fats, regardless of saturated or not, without limitation will lead to unwanted weight gain?
Secondly, considering the way factory meats are being raised today (antibiotics, growth hormones, unnatural fed, poor living conditions), do you think the benefits of taking such meats will outweigh the risks involved, if one has no access or can’t afford to buy grass-fed organic meats?
Thanks so much for your thoughts. Cheers!
ahhhh this post is awesome, and portrays exactly how i eat. i love beef cheese and eggs and seafood from the gulf!!!!! my downfall is the money i spend on cheese, but thats my own doing. i think if you stick to wha was written, the omega crap should fsall into place and maybe people should stop trying to justify ways to eat more chicken thighs….eat beef haha. you broke this down very easy to read and understand, i hope the general public gets word on this!!
Mallory, I am also in the same boat as you. I am a lean, mean egg/bacon/cheese/meat machine. Recently I seem to have found I crave thickened cream and cheese omelettes and cheesy sauces with my meats heaps. I have reduced my carb intake (which is primarily green and red veggies) because I have increased my fat intake to answer my cravings. Do you find that eating cheese/cream/avocado regularly as your main fats stalls your lean body appearance? I have been feeling a bit more ‘flabby’ lately even though I know I’ve been eating a 80% fat 15% protein 5% carb ratio.
Does anyone else eat lots of fat and get the feeling they need to change up their ratios now and again? I just love meat and cheese 😀