Beef

You better believe beef is included in Dr. Dan’s food plans! Beef is delicious and nutritious. Remember pillar #5, a diet must be sustainable. That’s for life, not for a few weeks or months. One important caveat- grass fed. Yes please restrict your beef to grass fed, grass finished beef. I love my ranchers who bring their pride and joy to the farmer’s markets. Yes, it will be more expensive than corn/soy fed beef but it is critical to keep corn/soy out of your system. It is easy to spot grass vs corn fed beef at the market. Grass fed has less marbling (fat) and is a darker color red. It has a meatier flavor too. I originally changed over to grass fed for the flavor and learned about the nutrition benefit after.

Inflammation from beef?

You will have likely heard conflicting reports about inflammation and beef. It is confusing because grass fed vs corn fed is not always identified. Corn fed beef is more inflammatory thanks to the corn. Grass fed beef also has some issues that we need to discuss. The animal protein is often A1 Casein. Remember from our Milk discussion in the “NOT” food section. I am seeing more and more A2 labelled beef products and there are A2 ranches, just not nearly as many. A1 cows grow bigger and faster so obviously preferred by farmers and ranchers.

neu5Gc molecule

The other issue is the talk about the neu5Gc molecule in animals that is not in humans. It is especially concentrated in organ meats and reported a source of inflammation. I need more information on this one. The data I’ve seen remains unconvincing. It fails the “rubber hits the road” test meaning we humans and our ancestors including homo erectus have been eating meat for a million years. If it were that harmful it would likely not be in our diet anymore. For your two week elimination if you want to do beef and only beef then head on over to the sous vide section and make it so. Once you try sous vide, dry brine, flash finished beef you’ll be hooked.

Learn Sous Vide

Add Veggie or Not?

This is optional but I encourage it. Pressure cooked vegetables will add to the meal and give an even greater sense of fullness. Raw vegetables are much harder to digest and not recommended during elimination. Over cooking them is also preferred as it destroys the lectins. So with or without the veggie let the eating begin.