CookWell For Life

 Animal Proteins and Saturated Fats

In deciding to do a liver cleanse recently, I browsed the liver/gallbladder chapter of my favorite book, Healing With Whole Foods, and discovered that I’ve been way too liberal with both red meats and saturated fats.

For years, I’ve been gleefully mounding heaping tablespoons of ghee and virgin coconut oil into my skillet for high-heat cooking because I’d studied that eating a low glycemic, whole foods diet makes one’s metabolism switch from burning sugars for energy to burning fats. Also, it’s now well known that the trans fats from refined vegetable oils in processed and restaurants foods are what clog arteries (especially in conjunction with saturated fats in the diet). And, healthy indigenous people often eat as much as a 60% fat diet of natural, whole, unrefined fats. But, I’ve been stopped in my tracks with this fat-fest after reading that too much saturated fat is really hard for the liver & kidneys to process.

Saturated fats cause internal heat to build up because the energy released from digesting fats is more than twice the amount of energy released from proteins and carbohydrates. No wonder I’ve been opening the windows and waking up sweating at night. According to Chinese medicine, eating too much saturated fat slows the liver’s ability to cleanse the blood, which leads to liver heat and stagnation, which then can lead to excesses and inflammations such as acne, tumors, cancer, obesity, boils, carbuncles, liver/gallbladder disorders, heart disease, and kidney disorders. Whoah Nellie! No wonder my acne has come back again lately...I’m glad I came across this information when I did!

So, how much saturated fat is too much? In a nutshell, even though my metabolism had switched to burning fats, and even though I lost another 5 pounds without even trying on my low-glycemic, whole foods diet, my saturated fat consumption (pasture butter, ghee, virgin coconut oil, etc.) should be no more than 1 teaspoon per meal (as opposed to the tablespoon or two I’d been wallowing in for years). Okay. This guideline is best for me because my diet includes meats  and other animal products, which have copious amounts of their own saturated fats. If I were a low-glycemic, whole food-eating vegan, it would be okay to increase my saturated fat intake to 2 teaspoons or so per meal. But, since I want to continue to enjoy my eggs & greens a few days a week, and my grass fed beef once in a while, I need to eat less saturated fats, and enjoy more monounsaturated fats like high quality, extra virgin olive oil, unrefined sesame oil, raw nuts & seeds like flax, chia, and pumpkin seeds...and of course, avocado! Hallelujah! 

I’ll be using more water in my stir frys now, and way less ghee or butter in my beans. But, I won’t omit these wonderfully flavorful, saturated fats completely, because they’re very important in small to moderate amounts for everyone. Our bodies absolutely need good quality, saturated fats from both plant and animal sources, for brain & nerve repair and function, for glandular secretions & hormone balance, for healthy skin, and for internal warmth in the winter or when feeling cold. If we don’t get any saturated fat & cholesterol in our diets, our liver will begin to over-produce it because it plays such an important role in so many bodily processes. Chinese medicine says that fats should be used more liberally in the winter, or when feeling dry, cold, nervous, underweight, unproductive or ungrounded.

I believe that most health problems in modern people happen from three habits of the standard american diet; 1) eating packaged, restaurant & other refined foods such as iodized salt, refined sugars, refined vegetable oils, and refined grains like wheat flour, 2) in spiking the blood sugar throughout the day and throughout the lifetime, and now 3) in eating too much saturated fat, red meats, or pasteurized dairy products.

Okay. This is the perfect segway into what I just read about animal proteins. Animal foods, especially red meats, contain arachidonic acid. When this substance builds up, the body will experience pain & inflammation, blood clotting, and the inhibition of omega-3 fatty acid uptake. Excess animal protein & especially red meat consumption for long periods of time can eventually lead to: rheumatoid arthritis, asthma, dermatitis, rhinitis, psoriasis, lupus, and tumors. If you’re a regular red meat-eater (protein nutritional type or type O blood), and you’re experiencing any of these symptoms, you’ll probably want to eat at least 50% less animal protein, and replace your red meat with consciously raised, organic poultry (LINK to Dana’s heritage chicken) and clean fish. (Fish LINK: http://www.vitalchoice.com/shop/pc/home.asp).

I do really well as a type A blood type, on a complex carbohydrate-based diet, so, I’m going to reduce my egg consumption from 10 eggs/week down to 4 eggs/week, my poultry and fish consumption down to 4oz twice a week, and my red meat consumption down from 8oz once a week to just 4oz once a month. This is how most healthy, rural, Asain people eat, and seasonal veggies are the base of their diets.

If you find yourself craving meat, spirulina and chlorella are GREAT ways to supplement your protein needs while supplying your body with everything it needs nutrient-wise, including chlorophyl and gamma-linoleic acid (highly absorbable form of omega-3). Micro algae is not really a plant, and not really an animal. It’s sort of between the two. It’s considered a super food, and you can live very healthy, solely on it! Spirulina and chlorella are recommended specifically for people transitioning from over-eating meats to a more vegetarian platter. The recommended dosage is 1-2 teaspoons per day.

Right now is a perfect time to address these issues of overeating meats and fats & oils in our diets because June marks the warm return of summer, and it’s this time of year when our bodies need less meat and fat, and more of the the cooling, cleansing summer fruits and vegetables to maintain balance in mind, body, and spirit. It’s amazing to me how nature gives us what’s most balancing, season to changing season, right where we happen to live.