Why The Meat Study Is Bullshit

I'm beginning to sound like a broken record. This is because (A) people refuse to open their eyes to the real truth and (B) media outlets continue to shove into the faces of people these outlandishly false meat studies showing meats' ill effects without any reason or rhyme that works in favor of logic and honest science. And thus here we go back and forth in which all my blogs end up being on topics related to saturated fat, meat, and vegetarianism. This topic has already been discussed ad nauseam, which can be found here on my previous blog.

But just as they showcase these meat articles to the clueless public every 6 months or so, I too will fight back in similar fashion; showcasing how flawed and outlandishly foolish the studies are. In fact, I'm very surprised that such a sophisticated Western society (not just the United States, but other Western nations too) can dip so low in mass producing junk observational research. Junk observational research I call foolish propaganda that disregards honest science and practice of evidence-based research the way it ought to be conducted. If anything, these researchers must be brought to justice for not only fabrication, but unconscionable research behavior in misinforming millions of people; flawed observational research that can lead to malpractice and death.

If you haven't seen the latest articles, here it is on this link from LA Times and here it is on this link from CNN. The study supposedly demonstrates how consuming all red-meat is harmful for your health. You can also see the actual study published here in the archives.

The Study Details:
The study monitored about 38,000 men and 84,000 women from 1980 to 2008 on their diet and lifestyle based on, "Validated food frequency questionnaires and updated every 4 years." The researchers in this study also admitted in the report that the subjects in the study who ate the most red meat also tended to drink more alcohol, be heavier than their peers, and less physically active than normative populations - although all were initially free of cardiovascular disease and cancer upon start of study in 1980. The questionnaires filled out by the 38,000 men and 84,000 women showed researchers most of them consumed processed red meat products such as hot dogs, bacon, and salami. Thus researchers concluded that after 28 years, your risk of dying from all red-meat increases by up to 20%. That's like testing an old 1980 Honda on the race track for a speed-performance test and concluding that because the old Honda didn't perform well, all cars are terrible and thus all drivers of all automobiles must stop driving once and for all!

Duh! You take any Joe Schmoe off the street who eats junk processed foods like bacon, salami, hot dogs and doesn't exercise and you're bound to get either heart disease, cancer, or both. We health conscious meat-eaters, Paleo advocates, and honest practitioners have already been saying for years that these inferior meats will make you sick. This includes all types of processed meats, hot dogs, bacon, and industry-raised cattle that's been hammered with antibiotics, hormones, and fillers. This is pretty much all the meat you find in restaurants and your local grocery store. If it doesn't say 'Grassfed' on the label it mustn't be consumed.

The only type of meat one should and can eat without the ill effects is natural grassfed meat. Sadly, none of these subjects in the study regularly eat natural grassfed meat - and even if they did they still probably consumed M&Ms, soda, cheesecake, McDonald's, and drank alcohol. So you've got clueless little Joe Schmoe filling out his "validated questionnaire" once every 4 years on what he's been eating - junk foods, alcohol, cakes, hormone infested industry red meat - and they simply publish a study stating 'all meat is bad' without differentiating regular meat versus industry hormone-injected meat; which is nearly all the meat sold in grocery stores especially between the times between 1980-2008. And let's not mention all the other junk, sugars, alcohol, and lack of exercise this Joe Schmoe is doing to his malnourished body that has poor digestion, poor immune function, and hormonal imbalance that increases inflammatory markers that can lead to cancer and heart disease. In fact, let's keep all that in the hush hush!

I find it quite ludicrous for a study to be taken as seriously as this based on all the misinformation and flaws. In fact, I find it asinine that nobody can or will take legal action against the idiots who conducted this type of junk research that can harm people, not help. Instead of concluding that everyone should stop eating meat, what must be concluded is everyone should stop smoking, drinking, sitting on the couch, eating processed foods, eating sugar, and eating poor-quality industrial meats while opting for a healthy lifestyle that incorporates exercise, organic produce, and natural grassfed meat.

As a health and human performance specialist, I've had a myriad of clients write "validated questionnaires" (otherwise known as food logs) on what they consume and I can already tell you most if not all of them eat crap, junk, or all of the above unless there is intervention by a trainer, nutritionist, or practitioner. Likewise, these subjects simply wrote down all the junk they ate once every 4 years and now have a study published without differentiating natural grassfed meat vs. traditional industry meat that can make you sick. And let's not even address the simple fact that food frequency questionnaires have historically been a very unreliable method of data collecting. It is widely accepted in the scientific community that dietary questionnaires are horribly incorrect. Do you even remember what you ate on Monday night?

How many of you eat real, natural grassfed meat?
How many of you know people who eat natural grassfed meat?
How many of you even know what grassfed meat is?
How many of you have proper hormonal ratio?
How many of you sleep well at night and have flawless digestive function?
How many of you are conscious in eliminating processed refined sugars?
How many of you are conscious in eliminating all processed foods/breads?
How many of you are conscious in eliminating trans and hydrogenated fats?
How many of you have a relationship with your local organic farmer?
How many of you shop at local farmer's markets instead of grocery stores?
How many of you cook at home 5-6 times per week and only eat out once?
How many of you have cheated more than 1x per week with junk/fast foods?
How many of you sit on the couch and completely forget to exercise?
How many of you are moderate social drinkers and think that's okay?

And if that weren't enough they had the audacity to continue to spew lies about saturated fats in the articles. Once again, discussed ad nauseam on my previously published blog. We all know saturated fat is not the killer when it comes to red meat intake. It's the inferior quality of the red meat as discussed earlier (antibiotics, hormones, grain-fillers) and the other variables in one's diet such as alcohol, refined sugars, and heart-inflammatory foods like processed breads, soda, and fruit juices. Blaming saturated fats found in red meat on heart disease is like the police blaming you for murder when the real murderer is standing next to you.

For centuries people once thought the world was square! How far did that get them? Ignorance is truly dangerous! As Jack LaLane once said, "If man made it, don't eat it."

It's an old myth to think that high cholesterol is dangerous. In fact, you should strive to raise your cholesterol as much as you can through saturated fats from grassfed beef, avocados, and coconuts while keeping triglycerides down. If your diet is high in carbohydrates/processed foods and low on meats, you'll effectively reverse this for the worse - triglycerides go up and HDL comes down - which in turn increases your heart disease risk. Your LDL shouldn't be low and must be kept well above 100; contrary to popular belief. People often think it's crazy to advocate high cholesterol, but the research, the evidence, and the truth is quite self evident and many physicians are now in tune with the latest research. Check the facts yourself as I've provided numerous links to clinical studies and evidence below.

The 122,000 subjects in this study did not eat natural foods, they ate man made food.
The 122,000 subjects in this study did not eat grassfed meat and/or wasn't reported.
The 122,000 subjects in this study ate industrial meat, hot dogs, bacon, & salami as researchers specifically indicated.
The 122,000 subjects in this study, a majority of them were overweight, smokers, and drank alcohol.
The 122,000 subjects in this study were never checked for any hormonal imbalance which can be deciding factor for disease.
The 122,000 subjects in this study were never checked for digestive function which can be deciding factor for disease.
The 122,000 subjects in this study, a majority of them never exercised consistently and/or never reported doing so.
The 122,000 subjects in this study are part of an observational study; which is NOT real science.
The 122,000 subjects in this study filled out dietary questionnaires; which are horrendously inaccurate, as past data shows.

Let's Do Some Fact Checking:

Fact: Heart disease isn't from red meat. It is from the advent of hydrogenated fats and refined sugars. Source: Diet Publishing

Fact: Saturated fat actually helps lower heart disease. Source: Center for Cardiovascular Disease Prevention

Fact: Low cholesterol levels increase risk of dying. Source: Laboratory of Epidemiology and Biostatistics

Fact: Low blood cholesterol levels increase mortality risk factors. Source: American Heart Association

Fact: The higher your total cholesterol, the longer you live. Raise those cholesterol levels and stop freaking out about old myths from old misinformed doctors who tell you cholesterol is too high. Source: Journal of Evaluation in Clinical Practice

Fact: HDL and Triglyceride levels are better markers for heart disease, not LDL. A healthy heart must have low triglycerides (under 60) and high HDL/LDL. If you consume junk carbohydrates, you will reverse this (triglycerides go up and HDL goes down) which will increase risk of heart disease. Source: The Academic Medical Center of Amsterdam led by Dr. Karim El Harchaoui

Fact: LDL ("bad cholesterol") is a poor indicator of heart disease as most hospital patients being admitted for heart disease actually have low LDL levels while individuals with high LDL levels tend to have less heart disease. Source: Reputable CNN Documentary 'The Last Heart Attack' by Dr. Sanjay Gupta

Fact: Over 47% of red meat and poultry that's traditionally raised (non-grassfed, non-natural) and tested contains the antibiotic-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) bacteria that is clinically known to break down heart valves, lung function, and increase cancer. Source: Journal of Clinical Infection & Disease, Division of Pathogen Genomics

Fact: Over 70% of hot-dogs in the United States contain the above said MRSA bacteria; which is reason why processed meats increase heart disease. Source: Department of Epidemiology, University of Iowa College of Public Health

Fact: The high-cholesterol causing heart attack theory is complete hogwash. A laudry list of studies can be found here on Dr. Mercola's page as well as the scientific rationale and studies from all over the world here from The International Network of Cholesterol skeptics.

Fact: Concrete scientific data conducted in a clinical setting from Australia confirms that people who avoid red meat are at an increased risk of clinical depression. Lack of red meat consumption can lead to mood and anxiety disorders since saturated fat is needed for the gut to secrete serotonin to the brain. It is widely studied and well acknowledged in the scientific community that individuals with low cholesterol have higher risk for depression and suicide; and suicide rates are highest among individuals with low-fat diets. School of Medicine, Deakin University, Geelong, Victoria.

Fact: If you consume refined sugars and high fructose corn syrup, your chances of heart disease sky-rocket regardless of cholesterol levels since cholesterol has very little to do with heart disease. The real bloody culprit of heart disease - in addition to the hydrogenated fats discussed above - is high fructose corn syrup. A study of over 10 weeks and 16 volunteers on a controlled diet of fructose produced new fat cells around their heart, liver and other digestive organs. Source: Journal of Clinical Investigation

Fact: Fructose consumption including corn syrup increases risk for heart disease in controlled trials, not meat. Source: The Endocrine Society's Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism

Fact: There is a direct association between falling cholesterol levels over the first 14 years and mortality over the following 18 years (11% overall and 14% CVD death rate increase per 1 mg/dL per year drop in cholesterol levels). The Journal of the American Medical Association; 30-Year Follow-Up Study by Framingham.

Fact: The earlier that patients start to have lower cholesterol concentrations, the greater the risk of death. In clinical trials, lower LDL increased risk of mortality. Published in The Lancet, Volume 358 August 2001.

Fact: Yet another study of similar nature from a very prominent Russian clinical trial, a greater risk of death came from heart disease in those with low blood LDL/cholesterol levels. Russian Lipid Research Clinics by Shestov. The Institute of Experimental Medicine, Russian Academy of Medical Sciences, St. Petersburg.

Fact: Japanese study shows that between 1980 and 1989, age-adjusted total serum cholesterol levels increased from 4.84 to 5.22 for men and from 4.91 to 5.24 mmol/l for women. Prevalence of age-adjusted hypercholesterolaemia of > or = 5.68 mmol/l increased from 15.8% to 29.4% for men and from 18.4% to 30.6% for women. Considerable increases in total serum cholesterol levels do not offer an explanation of the recent decline in mortality from coronary heart disease in Japan. Okayama A, Marmot MG Int J Epidemiol Dec 1993.

Fact: An American study which was conducted on thousands of men, researchers concluded that majority of men who needed a bypass had cholesterol levels below 5.2mmol/l. Carle Foundation Hospital Urbana, Ill. Kummerow Atherosclerosis March 2001.

All of the studies linked above demonstrate very clearly that the rate of heart disease has very little to nothing do with the level of LDL/cholesterol in your bloodstream. And nearly all of the studies were long-term studies done over several years or decades on thousands of individuals. These were real studies and not the observational bullshit we witnessed by Harvard. In short, high cholesterol doesn't cause heart attack. The higher your cholesterol, the longer you live. The lower your cholesterol, the shorter you live. This is not based on hogwash observational research that's more propaganda than actual research, but rather it's based on real evidence-based data gathered from hundreds of studies over hundreds of countries, scientists, and researchers from the past 60 years.

The recent meat study by the Harvard researchers demonstrates to us what one ought not to do when conducting poor observational research. It demonstrates that people should increase exercise and decrease consumption of processed foods, processed meats, industrial meats, and refined sugars. It demonstrates to us the importance of natural grassfed beef - and unless there is a long-term randomized clinical study done that shows natural grassfed beef/organic produce/consistent exercise increases cancer and heart disease - it is time to raise your knives and dig into a nice juicy, fatty steak. You'll be healthier than all the nay-sayers who have stopped consuming meat and fat entirely because a vegan/vegetarian diet is terrible for your health!

After all, it isn't any statistical surprise that vegans tend to have shorter lives. This is well documented by anthropologists who conducted research on our ancestral tribes (comparing vegan vs. omnivore tribes) and validated by the hundreds of studies demonstrating the need for high saturated fat and high cholesterol levels. So eat up your grassfed meat and enjoy a high, healthy cholesterol level that will increase your life. Cheers!

Vegans Vs. Paleo: Can't We All Just Get Along?

"A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to get its pants on." -Winston Churchill

Can't vegans and Paleo meat-eaters just get along? The short answer is no. It's unfortunate that lies and myths are far more expansive and believed than the real truth. Fact is, vegans continue to defy logic, biochemistry, and what a human being needs to function correctly without compensation in any of the systems involved in the body. The premise of this article is quite simple: Do exactly as a vegan does, except add grassfed meat! Allow me to explain...

To this day, it is no coincidence I continue to witness more and more vegan/vegetarian clients come to me in the most terrible health - both from the inside (hormones, digestion, sleep) and outside (belly fat).

At heart, vegans and Paleo meat-eaters are very similar. As the graphic image below shows, both agree that we mustn't eat industrialized meat because it contains toxic antibiotics, chemicals, and hormones fed to the already poorly-treated animal. We also both agree that we shouldn't consume sugar, white flour, processed foods, adulterated oils like hydrogenated fats, and other man-made junk that makes us sick. In fact, both groups advocate the consumption of a wide variety of organic vegetables that are locally grown and both groups are relatively health conscious. The only difference between the two groups is that one group consumes no meat while the other consumes natural grassfed meat that doesn't contain all the harmful toxic chemicals, hormones, and antibiotics that make us sick.

So what makes the vegan case so special? In reality, it doesn't. This is because their arguments are flawed since they treat all meat equal. Truth is, all meat is not created equal. Just as you've got cheaply made cars (think Yugo, Pontiac, or Fiat) versus quality cars (think Mercedes, BMW, Audi) we also have inferior meat and superior meat. One will make you sick. The other will not.

We all know consuming traditional industry/commercial meat (anything that's not naturally grassfed) found in grocery stores and restaurants can make you sick because it contains damaging chemicals. Eating this meat can deteriorate your skin & bone health while raising inflammation markers that can lead to many autoimmune disorders, heart disease, & cancers. However, science has proven to us that natural grassfed meat doesn't do what inferior industrialized meats do. Sadly, vegans cannot differentiate this due to a small handful of ludicrous propaganda from 'PETA' & films like 'Forks Over Knives,' among others. They simply think all meat is equal - turning a blind eye to real truth and research.

Saturated Fats:
These are also the same folks who think saturated fat will kill you, but a myriad of evidence shows otherwise; saturated fat from natural, high-quality grassfed sources is one of the best ways to live a long healthy life as the cholesterol-causes-heart-disease myth was debunked long ago! In fact, let me go a step further and tell you that there are absolutely zero studies linking high saturated fat with heart disease and conversely that there are direct links showing saturated fat helps reduce heart disease.

We also have very convincing evidence from published studies showing higher blood cholesterol levels can increase your life span. Indeed, the more fat you eat, the longer you live. Two of the studies can be found here and here.

Studies investigating fat have also shown throughout the world that it is HDL and Triglyceride levels that are markers for heart disease - not LDL, the supposed "bad fat." In essence, if your HDL is low and triglycerides are high (sign of too much carbohydrate and processed food consumption) your heart disease risk increases. Science shows us that the heart functions best when both HDL and LDL is high and triglycerides are low. And any vegan who cannot comprehend this isn't doing their homework.

Hard to swallow the truth? Just read the research and observe the facts. It's quite difficult to argue how native Arctic Inuit tribes depended on a 50-73% saturated-fat diet consisting of nothing but whale protein, fat and blubber. They had no fields to grow. No crops to harvest. No fruits to seed. And there was no UPS or FedEX to deliver them raw fruits and vegetables, yet they survive and continue to do so while also being among the lowest reported in heart disease around the world.

Confounding Variables In Vegan Arguments:
Many vegans and vegetarians simply ignore the fact that most if not all of the studies being conducted on a vegan diets also involve other variables - confounding variables - that change the outcome. This includes increase in exercise, increase in vegetable consumption, and complete elimination of the toxic meat, sugars, processed foods, white flour, adulterated fats, and alcohol.

Of course you're going to lose weight, have less risk for heart disease, less risk for diabetes, and feel an initial immediate improvement in skin health, weight, energy, and sex drive. Congratulations - you just did exactly what Paleo meat-eaters have been telling you for years: Eliminate sugar, white flour, bad oils, alcohol, and your toxic hormone-injected cheap meats while exercising more! A vegan does exactly what a Paleo meat-eater advocates - minus the grassfed meat and protein part. So essentially you're doing 8 out of 10 things correctly so it's no mystery that your health will improve initially. But how long will that last? Take any average Joe couch potato who has been eating hot dogs, pancakes, and shooting tequila shots with his buddies every weekend and put him on a vegan diet with consistent exercise and he will prosper for several weeks if not months or even a year. Slap on a doctor's title and call it a 'Study That Shows How Vegan Diet Is Good For Your Health.' This is essentially how bull-crap vegan documentaries & books are created and I'm here to call out every single one of them because there is absolutely no vegan study that supports valid science, biochemistry, and physiology without involving these confounding variables - variables that Paleo meat-eating counterparts have already been advocating for years!

Back To The Average Joe Who Just Started A Vegan Diet:
How long is your vegan diet going to make you happy and fit before you start adding weight, losing energy, and losing your sex drive? 4 months? 8 months? 1 year? If I were given a dime for every vegan or vegetarian who comes up to me saying they've put on weight in the past year after being a skinny and fit vegan a year ago, I'd be a very rich man! Simply put, most vegans and vegetarians begin adding weight around the belly, lose ability to sleep well, and lose their energy and sex drive because their high-carbohydrate diet lacks essential fatty acids and essential amino acids - the building blocks of life.

Again, most vegans and vegetarians initially see immediate results for the better. Their skin clears up, their energy increases, and they begin to see a shrinking waist. They get excited. Several months and/or years go by and they soon realize it's back to ground one where they started. Energy drops, immune system gets hammered with constant colds, and they realize their bellies aren't getting any smaller or simply cannot build muscle while sporting a "skinny-fat" flab look. Sound familiar?

Anybody who studies biochemistry will know that if we only eat plant-based foods, we will be deficient in all our B vitamins. Also, because of the lack of taurine, carnitine, and carnosine (amino acids that are vital for hormonal health) in any plant-based food, vegans soon find themselves adding belly fat and fatiguing faster than their natural grassfed meat-eating counterparts. And let's not mention the lack of the mineral selenium that prohibits the ability for your thyroid to function correctly - harboring yet another recipe for thyroid and adrenal dysfunction and/or fat-gain around the waist & butt.

These missing amino acids - among numerous others including glycine - are what our body uses to detoxify itself through a process called conjugation, make antibodies to support proper immune function, and make hormones from proteins that not only help build muscle, but neurotransmitters that help us think properly. I can't tell you the number of punchlines I've got in my bag of jokes about vegans and their inability to think properly...

As mentioned, essential amino acids are the building blocks of life. Without them you're either going to die or live a very unhealthy, uncomfortable life riddled with constant colds due to inferior immune system, low energy levels and brain function due to lack of amino acids/neurotransmitters, and terrible body composition due to the lack of biologically superior protein that allows muscle-gain and faster metabolism. A vegan diet may try very hard to mimic these amino acid profiles, but in the end the biological value and bio-availability of vegan-based amino acids through plant-eating doesn't come close to that of a natural grassfed consumer. It's like Fisher Price toy company trying to compete with Apple in making their own type of plastic iPhone yet marketing it as better than the iPhone! Sound silly? That's the closest analogy I can come up with between veganism and their natural meat-eating counterparts.

The Solution:
Stop living in a bubble. The Earth is not square, it's round. The reason things fall is because of gravity, not spirits. The reason you use a toilet is so you can take a dump or piss. Indeed, these are common-knowledge items that are rudimentary since childhood. Likewise, begin understanding that your health will begin improving while you drop the pounds and build real muscle (not the "skinny-fat" look) once you start doing everything a vegan is doing except by adding natural grassfed-meat into the mix.

1. Veganism and vegetarianism is nothing but false propaganda based on misinformation, myth, and "tree-hugging" fads of modern environmentally-conscious society without real scientific basis or understanding.

2. There is absolutely no basis of truth involved in vegan studies, documentaries, and other outlets due to the sheer fact that their health improved because they eliminated hormone-injected toxic meat, sugar, alcohol, white flour, and processed foods - and not because they simply eliminated natural grassfed meat.

3. Consumption of natural grassfed meat and fat - in addition to tons of seasonal vegetables - is vital to all the systems of the human body because essential fatty acids and essential amino acids are the building blocks of life that drive our bodies to replicate cells, detoxify, improve immunity, and power the brain. And anybody who is against consuming high fats is also ignorant and oblivious to the truth; more can be read here about fats and why the cholesterol-heart-disease theory is completely false!

4. Failure to understand this is failure to understand biochemistry, physiology, and basic human biology. Sure your Lara Bars, vegan cupcakes, and oatmeal may taste okay, but all those carbohydrates + lack of real amino acids is deteriorating your brain and thyroid while making you "skinny-fat" with less muscle and slower metabolism. Trust me, the malnourished yet "fat-around-the-waist-n-butt" look isn't exactly what we'd call sexy. Ignoring the truth is ignoring science. And anybody who goes against science might as well think the Earth is square, gravity doesn't exist, and toilets are made to drink water from. To end, here's a little something from Paul Check himself.