Angies World Blog – News and Events

This is the thought for the day:

As I was walking my dog around my neighborhood, I noticed that it was trash day.  Everyone had their cans at the curb: recycling, greens, and trash.  Being that I train most of my neighbors, I am familiar with their diets.  And then it dawned on me – the most unhealthy eaters are the ones that need to recycle the most!  Think about it: If you at a whole food diet, your food would come from the store in just a bit of plastic – the little bags you put your veggies in (unless you bring your own cloth bags) and the plastic that wraps your meat around a small piece of styrofoam.   That’s it.  Hmmm… But, if you eat a processed food diet, you will have multiple cardboard boxes, plastic bottles, aluminum cans, and plastic tv dinner trays to recycle.   Now don’t get me wrong, I am glad my neighbors are doing their part to recycle these products. (And I do indeed recycle the little bit of cardboard and boxes I get.)  But if we look at the big picture, its our Standard American Diet (S.A.D) that is causing the problems of pollution and waste.   If we would just slow down a bit, take time to cook our own food, we would not only help with waste (because there wouldn’t be anything to recycle) we would also be lean and healthy.

As a nutritionist, I have been asked more and more frequently about the safety our beef.  After watching the movie “Super Size Me” or reading the book “Fast Food Nation”, it is a very valid question – is our beef really safe?  With all the hormones and antibiotics being pumped into our cattle, with their food supply containing discarded animal organs and old meat, with their living conditions being cramped and unsanitized – this is a valid question.   My first reaction was to tell my clients “Absolutely not!”  – but there is another answer.  The answer is very simple: choose organic meats.   Organic cattle are supposed to be hormone free, less contaminated, given a balanced vegetarian diet, and plenty of room to roam outdoors.   (I say “supposed to” because as bigger companies are discovering they can get more money for their cattle if they are organic, they are trying to falsely claim their meats are organic.) Another reason to choose organic beef, besides the humane treatment of the animal, is that non organic meat are typically higher in fat.  Why?  Because the meat industry knows that Americans love fat.  And how do cows become fatter?  By giving them more toxins!  All animals, when burdened by a toxic load, will store the excess  toxins in their fat cells .  This is caused by the liver and kidneys not being able to keep up with the demand to detoxify the body.  These toxins start accumulating in your tissues and create an acidic environment.  An acidic environment can promote cancer/disease. Your body knows this and begins to store these toxins inside your fat cells.  Man and cow alike, our bodies begin to create more fat cells to store the toxic load.   So, if our cattle is pumped with high loads of antibiotics and growth hormones, we now have the recipe for meatier and fattier beef – YUM!  Just kidding. That’s not very appetizing at all. In fact, this is the reason why we are told that eating red meat will cause heart disease, increase your cholesterol levels, and increase your chances of getting colon and breast cancers.   It is the toxins associated with red meats that are promoting illness.

But, if we are eating organic beef, free of extreme toxic loads, then beef can be a very healthy addition to your diet.  My advice is to still choose the leaner cuts of meat (especially if you can’t afford to buy organic) to ward off extra calories.   The leaner meats are those that contain the word “loin” or “round” in the name (i.e. Sirloin, top round roast).  The fattiest meats are the ones that contain the word “rib” or “filet” in the name (i.e. Prime rib, Filet mignon).

And of course, everything in moderation.