Why is red meat the only true super food? No other food on the planet has close to the amount of nutrient-density that red meat has. It’s an incredible food to have in your diet if your goal is to lose fat and build muscle.
For many years now, red meat has been demonized as this unhealthy food that would give you cancer, clog your arteries, give you heart disease, give you diabetes, or give you high cholesterol. Like everything else in the nutritional sciences, we must look at the context of the research that makes these claims.
In this article, we are going to discuss how regular red meat consumption supports your health and fitness.
Red Meat is Rich in Collagen.
The richest source of dietary collagen is found in red meat. Collagen is the most abundant protein in the human body, making up over a third of the body’s protein. We need collagen to support healthy:
- Hair
- Skin
- Nails
- Heart
- Bones
- Tendons
- Ligaments
- Muscles
- Connective tissue
You can consider collagen to be the “glue” that holds the body together.
Today, more people are eating less red meat and therefore not optimizing collagen production. This is not a good thing, because collagen is the building block for joints and connective tissue.
If you are someone that does heavy resistance training, it is your joints that support your ability to lift heavy weights. The collagen you get from red meat can reduce your risk of exercise-related inflammation or injury.
Other foods such as chicken and fish contain collagen, but red meat has the most abundance of it.
The body’s natural collagen production declines in young adulthood and supplementation should be highly considered.
If you want to read more about collagen, check out this article Why You Should Supplement with Collagen Protein If You Are Over 25 Years Old.
Red Meat Contains Amino Acids
Red meat is rich in amino acids. It contains all 9 of the essential amino acids. These are the amino acids you can’t produce naturally. You can only get them through dietary means.
As you diet down to low levels of body fat, you put yourself more at risk for muscle protein breakdown in a calorie deficit.
If you integrate more red meat in your diet, you can stimulate more amino acid production in your body without having to rely too much on supplementation.
In other words, the amino acid profile in red meat can help you:
- Retain more muscle at low levels of body fat.
- Build some muscle at low levels of body fat.
- Gain more strength at low levels of body fat.
- Have more energy at low levels of body fat.
Amino acid supplementation is going to be most important for men that are trying to diet below 12% body fat and women that are trying to diet below 17% body fat.
If you want to learn more about the importance of amino acids, check out this article Amino Acids for Muscle Growth.
Red Meat is High in Creatine
You can get the most amount of dietary creatine in red meat. Creatine is naturally produced in the body, but half of its production comes from food sources. Whether you’re an endurance athlete, strength trainer, college student, or working professional, you need creatine to:
- Provide energy for the muscles so you can train long and hard.
- Provide energy for the muscles so you can produce more strength on key compound exercises.
- Provide energy for the brain so you can complete day-to-day activities.
Most people need about 3-5 grams of creatine per day. How much creatine you need depends largely on muscle development and red meat consumption.
Someone that eats a pound of steak per day is going to need less creatine supplementation than someone that eats a vegan diet. One pound of steak contains about 1-2 grams of creatine.
You don’t want to exclusively rely on red meat to get your daily creatine intake. Literally, thousands of calories of beef would need to be consumed in a day to get 3-5grams of creatine, which wouldn’t be conducive for you if you are on a fat loss program.
Creatine supplementation can be beneficial for you if you want to maximize satiety, gym performance, and muscle fullness.
If you want to learn more about the awesome benefits of creatine, check out this article Why Creatine is Good for Muscle Growth.
Red Meat Can Boost Testosterone Levels in Men
Testosterone levels have been shown to be positively impacted by more red meat consumption. Red meat is high in vitamin D and zinc, which are precursors to testosterone. For males, low levels of testosterone negatively impact:
- The way the body stores fat
- Muscle Development
- Body Composition
- Mental Health
- Ambition
- Focus
- Sex Drive
Testosterone levels naturally decline as you get older, so it’s important to eat as much micro-nutrient dense foods as you can to minimize the decline.
Depending on the age of the man, stable testosterone levels are between 300 and 1,000 nanograms per deciliter or 35 nanograms per liter.
If you are unsure of your testosterone levels or suspect that they may be low, go to your health care provider to have your blood work done.
If you already know you have low levels of testosterone, there are steps you can take to increase it naturally without having to go on hormone replacement therapy.
To learn more about increasing your testosterone levels naturally, check out this article How to Increase Testosterone Levels.
How Women Can Benefit from Eating More Red Meat
Red meat can combat iron-deficiency. Women tend to be more deficient in iron then men. This is evident when a woman is going through her menstrual cycle, and she loses a lot of blood. With the loss of blood comes the loss of iron as well as suffering from Anemia.
Consuming more high-quality beef can restore the iron loss during the menstrual cycle and provide a good bit of B vitamins.
It would lessen the cramps or pain caused by menstruation.
Does Red Meat Increase Your Risk of Disease?
Red Meat in its unprocessed form does not increase your risk of any disease. There are several research studies that can validate that red meat is safe to consume. However, processed red meat has been shown to increase the risk of heart disease, diabetes, and certain cancers.
When red meat is processed in factories with the intention of preserving shelf life, it loses credibility as a health food. It is often processed by:
- Curing
- Salting
- Chemical Additives
The fat in red meat is also what gives it a negative reputation. If you purchase lean cuts of beef, the fat content would not be bad. For instance, New York Strip steaks have a good ratio of protein to fat.
The Problem with Studies Claiming Red Meat is Bad for Your Health
A lot of the studies that claim red meat is bad for your health are survey-conducted studies. In other words, researchers would give questionnaires to people with common health conditions, and they would ask what food the person consumes most often.
If red meat is the common denominator answer among participants, that would be where blame is assigned.
The main problem with these observational studies is they don’t account for other lifestyle habits participants have that maybe hurting their health such as:
- Smoking cigarettes
- Drinking too much alcohol
- Eating a diet high in refined or processed carbohydrates
- Being Obese
- Being Sedentary
Another factor researchers don’t consider is the family history of certain illnesses.
A study can see a “relationship” between women who consume red meat and an increased risk of breast cancer, but if all the women in the study have a family history of breast cancer, then it’s not evidence to conclude red meat increases the risk of breast cancer.
The Difference Between Grass-Fed and Grass-Finished Beef
When thinking of the highest quality beef, grass-fed tends to come to most people’s mind. Sometimes grass-fed is interchanged with grass-finished. These two terms don’t mean the same thing.
Grass-fed beef means the cows were fed grass at some point of their lives and then fed chemically modified grains during the last years of their lives. This is done so farmers can raise them quicker, fatten them up, kill them, and then sell the meat for more money.
Grains are not a natural part of cows’ diet because they have trouble digesting grains.
Grass-finished beef means the cows were raised on grass their entire lives, even up until the point of slaughter. This kind of beef is leaner and contains more omega 3s and essential fatty acids.
Some research has concluded the nutritional difference between grass-fed and grain-fed beef is very marginal.
You can still receive plenty of health benefits eating grain-fed meat. It all comes down to personal preference. If you like a fattier steak, your best bet would be grain-finished.
If you like a leaner steak and you’re a little more health conscious, you will want to go with the grass-finished.
Can You Eat Red Meat Every day?
Absolutely, you can eat red meat daily if you want. If it’s quality unprocessed red meat, it’s safe to consume.
The red meat you do not want to eat every day is the low-quality processed red meats like:
- Hot Dogs
- Sausages
- Salami
- Cured Bacon
- Deli Meats
The same way you can drink coffee in moderation each day, eat eggs in moderation each day, and have chicken in moderation each day, you can have red meat in moderation each day too.
If you’re not consuming 2,700 calories of steak every day, you won’t have to worry about destroying your health. Just make sure the steak balances in with fruits, vegetables, and other healthy foods in your diet.
Conclusion
Unless you have a unique health condition where your body rejects red meat, there is no reason to be afraid of it. No other food can give you the amount of dietary collagen, amino acids, creatine, vitamins, and minerals that red meat can.
It supports testosterone functioning in men and helps women with their periods. Grass-finished beef would be the best quality read meat you can eat, but if you prefer grain-finished, you are still getting plenty of nutrition.
Lastly, you can have red meat in moderation every day if your heart desires.
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