Originally published July 4 2011
Fresh meat versus processed meat: Here's why it matters
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
(NaturalNews) Every July 4th, Americans gobble down enormous quantities of meat. Some of it actually comes from animals. The rest comes from factories that assemble bits and pieces of meat scraps, using chemical additives to make the final substance resemble something edible. That's where hot dogs come from… and sausage, pepperoni and deli meats.
If you're eating hot dogs this Fourth of July, you're engaged in acts of nutritional tyranny against your own body. So if you eat meat, eat fresh meat, not processed meat. Here's why:
Read meat versus processed packaged meat
Countless scientific studies have concluded that eating red meat is bad for you. But in those studies, researchers routinely fail to differentiate between processed junk meat versus free-range, grass-fed organic beef which isn't processed with chemicals. And in doing so, they cast a dark shadow of doubt over all red meat when the reality is that there is a huge difference in the health impacts of fresh meat versus processed factory-made meat.
Just like the primary health risk of smoking cigarettes is from the chemical additives, not merely the tobacco (http://www.naturalnews.com/032795_tobacco_wa...); the primary health risk from eating red meat is from the chemical additives, not from the meat itself.
That's my conclusion after reading tens of thousands of news headlines, research reports and study abstracts: Red meat may be objectionable for lots of reasons -- the ethics of raising animals in food factory concentration camp conditions, for example -- but any focus on the health impacts of the meat must conclude that the chemicals are the real problem, not merely the meat. (Unless, of course, it's meat raised on genetically modified corn, in which case the meat probably is biologically toxic, and that's 95% of all conventional meat, just so ya know…)
Why I don't eat red meat
I don't eat red meat, by the way. That fact possibly gives this article even more impact, because it's not even being written by a routine red meat eater. (I tried a bit of organic free-range beef a month ago but just couldn't stomach it. Not my bag, baby!)
From an ethical standpoint, I personally don't wish to participate in the beef industry's treatment of cattle, yet at the same time I've found myself advocating grass-fed organic beef to those who still choose to consume beef for their own reasons. I'm not a food Nazi. People can eat whatever they want -- I just try to help them make healthier choices, and all the evidence I've seen on this issue convinces me that it's the additives in processed meat that are killing people, not the consumption of fresh meat itself.
It doesn't take much sodium nitrite, for example, to greatly increase a person's risk of pancreatic cancer or colon cancer. And guess where you find that chemical? Hot dogs, bacon, sausage, pepperoni, ham, lunchmeat and even beef jerky. It's also in all the quick lunch trays for children, by the way. But never in the fresh meat.
People who eat fresh meat don't poison their bodies with sodium nitrite. Nor MSG (bacon, sausage, beef jerky) nor all the other chemical additives typically added to meat products. That's something to remember if you shop for meat of any kind. And don't forget that unless it's organic meat, it's almost certainly contaminated with GMOs, because cows, pigs and chickens are all fed genetically modified corn and soy as part of their diets.
If you're eating that stuff, you're committing slow suicide. And maybe not even that slow, come to think of it.
People who eat their own farm-fresh meat are remarkably healthy
One interesting angle in all this is that people who eat farm-fresh meat usually don't have all the chronic health problems of people who buy and consume processed factory-made meat. It's the quality of the meat that makes all the difference. I know people who eat their own chickens, cows and pigs, and their health is just great! (But they wouldn't dare eat GMO-contaminated pork sausage sold at the grocery store…)
When research says that "red meat" is linked to pancreatic cancer (for example), what they mean is processed red meat laced with chemical additives. We're never told this, of course, because the entire medical system is so nutritionally ignorant that modern medical researchers don't even recognize any qualitative difference between LIVE foods versus DEAD foods -- nor fresh meat versus processed meat. To them, it's all the same. So their questionnaires simply ask study participants about "meat consumption" without breaking it out into "fresh" versus processed. That's why all meat gets a bad rap when it's really just the processed, GMO-contaminated meat that's the culprit.
Avoiding meat isn't a guaranteed health strategy, either
Interestingly, avoiding meat doesn't automatically make you healthier. While I personally follow a largely plant-based diet that's rich in superfoods and smoothies, I've also met quite a few sick vegetarians and vegans who are eating processed vegetarian foods (pastas, white rice, factory-made foods, etc.) that make them look like they're about to die from malnutrition. An alarming number of vegetarians, I've discovered, are chronically deficient in omega-3s and vitamin B12. They've taken on vegetarianism but never learned how to pursue a plant-based diet in a healthy way.
(Veganism, when done correctly, is undoubtedly the best diet for a sustainable planet, but personally I've found it impossible to follow as someone who works on a ranch and engages in a fair amount of physical work each day. For me, powering my work takes a small amount of fish, fresh farm eggs, some Moxxor omega-3s and other fish oils such as those from Living Fuel. Overall, my diet is probably 95% plant based. No dairy. I do buy grass-fed free-range beef bones for my dog Roxy who greatly benefits from the raw bone nutrition.)
The real answer in all this is simple:
The QUALITY of what you eat matters more than you think.
A vegetarian living on Cheetos and Diet Coke is going to have far worse health than a farmer eating farm-fresh eggs and his own home-grown beef steaks. It's not merely about meat versus no meat, it's about the quality of the food (meat or otherwise) you choose to consume.
From a nutritional standpoint alone, I'm convinced that avoiding chemical additives and GMOs is far more important than merely avoiding meat.
What about the ethics of eating meat? Well, that's a question for another article.
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