A good friend of mine is having double hip replacement surgery this week. His M.D. told him that meat causes inflammation, and that he should reduce the amount he is eating. My stomach sank. My friend will need as many protein building blocks as he can get after his surgery for healing tissue, and his M.D. is recommending for him to stay away from meat.
I suggested to my friend that sugar is the biggest contributor for inflammation, but you are right that poor quality meat can cause problems in the body due to the use of antibiotics, hormones, and chemicals injected into the meat. He said, “Ya, but she is an M.D., and she is a nutritionist. She said meat causes inflammation.” He believed her because of the amount of education she has. With all the false information being given to us by our medical doctors, who are supposed to be well-educated, and who are supposed to have our best interest in mind, how are we able to sift through the false information and find the truth? Most of us do not have the time or patience to analyze the research to see which studies were good or bad. We’ve all heard the myths: “fat causes heart disease” and “margarine’s okay, but butter is not”, and now apparently “meat causes inflammation”. What do we believe? And what is the TRUTH?
Let me ask you this: Did you know that the medical school text books are written by the pharmaceutical companies? Pharmaceutical companies who make money off of sick people do not have it in their best interest to get sick people well. They are educating the M.D.’s, and they are siting poorly done research studies to back their claims. Insurance companies and pharmaceutical companies are in each others’ pockets, and M.D.’s get perks when they push certain drugs. Have you ever heard an M.D. say to you, “you need this anti-depressant, statin drug, or thyroid medication, and you will be on it the rest of your life.” They are not looking at healing your organs, or the underlying causes. M.D.’s treat symptoms. It takes time to heal organs. It took years of nutritional deficiency to cause organ dysfunction, resulting in the symptoms you are having. M.D.’s then group your symptoms into a nice little package called a “Syndrome”, “Disease” or “Diagnosis” in order to make sense of what is happening, and also to be able to assign you a drug.
Here, in this office, we support the body to heal itself. We use food, vitamins, and minerals to specifically target the organs of priority. One of the ways we can support the body is by eliminating sugar from the diet. Inflamed organs do not heal well. Sugar, and anything that breaks down quickly into sugar in the body, causes inflammation in every cell as soon as it touches the tongue. We are talking about reducing the carbohydrate load on the body. What is a carbohydrate? High carbohydrate foods include: cookies, cakes, ice cream, breads, pastas, and grains. Dairy has carbohydrates, which is why we recommend full fat dairy and cheese, as opposed to skimmed milk products. Beans and legumes contain good protein, but also are higher in carbohydrates. Vegetables are carbohydrates too, some have higher levels than others, but they also offer a lot of wonderful fiber, vitamins and minerals. It is important to choose the nutrient-filled carbohydrates and limit the ones devoid of nutrients, such as cookies, cakes, ice cream, breads and pastas.
So, when you are having surgery, what do you eat? If you are following the M.D.’s advice that meat is a “no-no”, then your options for protein are limited to the higher carbohydrate proteins like beans, legumes, quinoa, etc. This is okay occasionally, but if we are trying to decrease inflammation in the body, we recommend decreasing the total amount of carbohydrates as much as possible without sacrificing nutrients. Nuts are lower carb, but often flair and feed viruses, so should be limited pre- and post-surgery. To heal tissue, eat meat and organic vegetables. (Organic vegetables will have a much higher vitamin and mineral content than conventionally grown veggies.)
When I talk about meat, I am referring to chicken, fish, beef, and pork. The pastured animals will have more nutrients and better fats than conventionally raised animals. Did you know that a pastured cow has as many omega-3’s as fish? That’s right. Quality animal fat is good for you! Bacon, butter, steak – all healthy – if it comes from a reputable source. If you are concerned about the ethics of eating an animal, then KNOW…YOUR…FARM, and the people who care for the animals. Pastured animals are typically better cared for and healthier in general, without the added hormones and antibiotics. Often, if a person has a difficult time digesting animal protein, and this is the reason for diverging to vegetarianism, the solution isn’t to “stop eating meat”. The solution is to assist the body to better digest meat and fats. The inability to digest meat and fat is the result of organ dysfunction. We are concerned with healing organs, healing the gut, and reminding the body how to assimilate food.
If you are looking ahead to the prospect of surgery, please come in to the office first, so that we can help support your body through your upcoming healing phase with whole food nutrition. A healthy body will be better able to recover from the shock of surgery, and our clinical results show that being on a nutritional program allows for faster recovery time.
By: Connie Kelly-Saur