Red Meat

Red meat has been made to look as all bad and many people feel guilty if they enjoy a good piece of beef. Red meat does contain some good things. It is an excellent source of protein. Free range fed beef contains all of the essential amino acids. It is essential that you eat free range beef, since beef that is from cattle fed specific foods does not contain the conjugated linoleic acid that our bodies need to build muscle.

Most of you are probably aware of the info above, but what you may not know is that beef also contains othe vital nutrients. These include bioavailable iron, as well as zinc, selenium, and B vitamins.

Tomorrow I'll talk about some of the cons with red meat.

Building Muscle

To build muscle you need to be eating some protein. The form of the protein is not as important as you just getting the protein. For example, a great source of protein is eggs, especially eggs from free range chickens. This particular source of protein contains conjugated linoleic acid(CLA) which is necessary for the body to form good muscle.

I know I've written about this before, but I think it never hurts to hear it again. If you are beginning an exercise routine, then be sure that you are getting adequate amounts of protein which contains CLA. The best source for supplemental CLA is here.

Eventhough you may take a supplemental CLA, it is still important to eat protein. This doesn't have to be beef, but be sure that you have a good source.

Conjugated Linoleic Acid and Milk

A bit more on conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) found in milk and beef and it's properties. I talked yesterday about building muscle and decrease abdominal fat. CLA also boosts the immune system to help us fight off disease. CLA is a polyunsaturated Omega 6 fatty acid.

In addition, CLA tends to lower food allergies. This can be very beneficial especially since we are seeing more and more food allergies these days.

Sources of CLA

I've mentioned that beef is one of the main sources of CLA (conjugated linoleic acid). The problem being that in order for cows to produce CLA they need to be grass fed. Hay and silage fed cows do not produce as much CLA. Other grass fed ruminants such as sheep, goats, deer, antelope and buffalo also produce higher levels of CLA.

Another source of CLA is eggs, but they should be coming from free range chickens.

Because most of food supply is not free range animals these days, supplementation is often necessary for us to get good amounts of CLA. I've found a great source for the supplement CLA, just click here.

Goat's Milk

Laurie asked about Goat's milk and CLA. Yes, Goat's milk does contain CLA as long as the goats like cows are fed grass. The chemistry is that part of the grass is transformed in the ruminants stomach (for those who may not remember, ruminants have several stomachs.) So the key ingredients for CLA and ruminant's digestion fo grass.

This is one reason it is important to eat free range beef, lamb or mutton. We as humans are able to eat the meat of these animals and obtain the CLA we require.

If you think about this, wild game is obviously the best. Makes me feel a whole lot better remembering that I was raised on wild game. But then, when I was young, the cattle were all free range.

Milk and CLA

CLA is conjugated linoleic acid. Raw milk contains this if the cows have been feeding on grass. So why is it important?

One of the things that CLA does for us is to help us build muscle. Most of the beef and milk that you buy these days comes from beef that are raised in pens and fed specific feed. If you look at the pens, there is not a blade of grass to be found. So the beef that we buy does not contain CLA or very little, and we are becoming CLA deficient.

In addition to helping us build strong muscle, CLA helps remove abdominal fat. You will sometimes see it advertised as a weight loss supplement. While it does help decrease abdominal fat, you won't see huge drops in weight by taking it. What you will see is loss of inches. CLA also helps increase the metabolic rate which will assist in weight loss also. These two assests in turn help the body utilize insulin more efficiently and you will see a decrease in insulin resistance.

Essential Fatty Acids

There are 2 essential fatty acids that you may be aware of, linoleic and linolenic. Your body requires 2% of your caloric intake to be linoleic acid. Linoleic acid is a polyunsaturated fat, so you might think it's a good idea to load up on the polyunsaturated fats. Not true. Eating more than 10% of your calories in polyunsaturated fats can result in the suppression the production of good cholesterol.

Linoleic acid is the most important fatty acid and your body cannot produce it on it's own. The body requires you to get it from foods that you eat. Best foods to eat for linoleic acid are nuts, seeds and some vegetable oils. Watch the vegetable oils for hydrogenation.

Linoleic acid is important for growth and development as well as producing hormones that can help the body maintain a good blood pressure.