Tag Archives: meat

Paleo Vs. Whole30: The Big Differences Between the Biggest Clean-Eating Diets

Ironically, you’d have to have been living in a cave to not be somewhat familiar with the paleo diet. It was massively popular in 2024, and it doesn’t appear to be losing any steam as we start 2024. The diet that encourages eating like our ancestors has become a major player in the health and fitness industry, sparking interest in many other similar diets.

One such program is Whole30. In fact, the two are often presented together, with Whole30 acting as a way to “try” going paleo. However, there are some small, yet significant differences between the two that can derail your diet if you’re not careful.

There’s no denying these diets are similar. To help you pick the right one for you, we’re breaking down what each diet is, as well as their similarities and differences. (more…)

Posted on January 19, 2024 by Elizabeth

Where Your Paleo Diet Actually Came From in National Geographic’s Evolution of Diet

evolution of diet

Paleo is certainly a buzzword in the diet and health communities, but do people really know what it means when they say they “want to eat like their ancestors?” National Geographic’s Evolution of Diet investigates what an original Paleolithic diet might have been, and how the modern diet developed.

To start, they first looked at the few groups of true hunter-gatherers remaining — those whose diets haven’t changed much in thousands of years.

“Hunter-gatherers are not living fossils,” Alyssa Crittenden, a nutritional anthropologist at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, told National Geographic. “That being said, we have a small handful of foraging populations that remain on the planet. We are running out of time. If we want to glean any information on what a nomadic, foraging lifestyle looks like, we need to capture their diet now.”

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Posted on August 28, 2024 by Elizabeth

Win This Big ‘Ole Applegate Weinervention Sweepstakes to Save Your Hot Dog Lovin’ Soul

This sweepstakes is done in partnership with Applegate, but is not sponsored. We were provided complimentary product for review, but were not obligated to enjoy the ever loving heck out of it. Since we did, they said we could share the love with you.

Hot dogs. Bare feet. Summertime. It’s a perfect recipe for the best three months of the year.

Unfortunately, the recipe in most hot dogs looks more like the seedy bowels of a dark, cold winter. Who knows what is actually in those things?!

But the folks at Applegate get it right. Super right. It’s like they invented the hot dog. Sadly, they did not. They did, however, make them so much better. Like way better, better enough that you won’t cringe watching your kids bite in to them.

“Looking more like strawberry frosting than blended meat and bone bits…” writes Treehugger about what’s actually inside the standard hot dog, “the country’s most beloved tube of meat.” There’s mechanically separated meat (or pink slime) from a few animals that could include cow, pig, chicken, or turkey. Don’t forget the corn syrup, flavor additives, tons of sodium, and a whole host of other preservatives and the like. Yuck.

Applegate Naturals Beef Hot Dogs are “cleaner weiners.” They have a super simple list of uncured beef, water, and six seasonings. That’s it! Even my four-year-old can digest this list (and so can her tummy!). They’re tasty and juicy, the way a hot dog should be. They also don’t have that typical gnarly hot dog smell, phew! We felt better eating these since they weren’t stocked with nasty junk. (more…)

Posted on June 30, 2024 by Health Buzz

6 Secrets for a Healthy Backyard Cookout

By Team Best Life

Spring is in the air and so is the smell of smoky, mouth-watering barbecue! As you prepare to pick up your spatula and fire up the grill follow these six barbecue basics for a healthy and tasty meal:

Look for lean.
Opt for lean meats to keep calories and fat in check. Try burgers made with lean beef (95 percent), buffalo burgers with naturally lean ground buffalo meat, turkey burgers, or veggie burgers (try this tasty recipe). As for steak, look for T-bone or different cuts of sirloin and flank steaks, or buffalo steaks, which are naturally lean. And don’t forget to remove the skin from poultry; it’s loaded with fat.

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Posted on May 13, 2024 by BestLifeDiet

Taco Bell Divulges What’s Really in Their Beef (HINT: It’s Not Just Meat)

Taco Bell had an announcement this week that certainly surprised us. The fast food corporation decided to divulge what’s actually in its meat—and it turns out, it is mostly actually meat! Or at least, it’s almost 9/10ths meat.

In an official statement, Taco Bell stated that their beef is “88% beef and 12% signature recipe.” The company also assured the nation that their beef is not grade D beef, but that it is as quality as any ground beef that you might find in a grocery store.

So what makes up the “signature recipe” that accounts for the other 12% of the filling? Mostly spices and thickeners, the chain insists. “Ingredients like oats and sodium phosphates help make sure the texture is right.” We’re of the opinion that “beef texture” is probably best produced by beef, but I guess when you operate a worldwide chain you need consistency. Maybe these fillers make the beef used in Kansas taste the same as the beef used in California?

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Posted on May 1, 2024 by Jessica Tholmer

Did Cavemen Follow the Paleo Diet? Probably Not

Eating like our ancestors, eating like a caveman, eating like hunter-gatherers – no matter how you phrase it, it all comes down to the same thing: the paleo diet.

The premise of the diet is to mimic the ancient humans. This is done by removing products of modern agriculture (wheat, legumes, and dairy). Instead, paleo dieters eat meals full of meat, nuts, and vegetables.

According to author Michael Pollan, however, that diet isn’t what our ancient ancestors would have eaten. On an episode of the Inquiring Minds podcast, he said, “I don’t think we really understand…well the proportions in the ancient diet. Most people who tell you with great confidence that this is what our ancestors ate-I think they’re kind of blowing smoke.”

We asked Mary Hartley, R.D. what her take on the paleo diet was, and she agrees with Pollan. “Over the last several years, researchers have learned more about early hominid diets. Early hominids from forested areas ate the fruit and tree nuts, but ancients for the savanna ate the grasses and sedges that grew there. (Millions of years later, those grasses would become domesticated cereal crops).”

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Posted on January 23, 2024 by Elizabeth

Carnivorous Humans Poised to Shake Up the Food Chain

Traditionally omnivores, humans are shifting towards a more carnivorous lifestyle. This change is especially apparent in countries like India and China where the rapidly changing economies are causing citizens to eat more meat.

A new study on global food consumption published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, looks in detail at what people are eating. It also studied trends for individual countries. The ones that are eating more meat are doing so in such amounts that they effectively “cancel out” any decrease in meat-eating in other countries.

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Posted on December 5, 2023 by Elizabeth

Kentucky Man’s Raw Meat Diet Sounds Insane and Dangerous

When the benefits of a raw diet started being lauded more frequently and becoming just a smidge more mainstream, this is not what anyone had in mind. Derek Nance has been consuming raw meat exclusively for five years, and the kicker is that he told Vice.com he’s never been healthier. We can’t even wrap our heads around this.

Every time we think we’ve seen it all, some stunt like this pops up and we’re educated all over again.

Apparently he had some health problems and did what a lot of people do – yo-yo diet. While he wasn’t trying to lose weight, that was happening without any control of his own, he was trying to improve his health. He bounced from giving up wheat and dairy, to the Mediterranean diet, and then going, shockingly, to a vegan diet. Like most people who diet hop, he wasn’t finding anything that worked. Then someone suggested a carnivorous take on the ever-popular Paleo diet, and here we are. We’ve got a dude in Kentucky who subsists on raw meat, and even brushes his teeth with animal fat.

“This is really really hard to believe for so many reasons,” said Cheryl Forberg, RD, nutrition expert for The Biggest Loser and author of Flavor First. She claims there is nothing positive that could come from a raw meat diet. And quite pointedly shares the negatives. (more…)

Posted on October 1, 2024 by Natalie K

The American Red Meat Habit: How Much is Too Much?

For many Americans, their meat-eating habits are becoming a concern – especially when it comes to red meat. With so many advocates for vegan and vegetarian diets and campaigns to eat less meat, it’s hard not to question our carnivorous ways. But maybe that’s a good thing.

Meat isn’t inherently bad. In fact, it can be healthy as there are many nutrients we can gain from it such as iron, protein and essential amino acids. But where the concern rises is in the amount of meat we eat, how much fat it contains, and what kind of quality it is.

So what kind of meat should we be eating? Poultry and fish are traditionally the leanest options. Some types of fish provide highly-beneficial Omega-3 fatty acids. And chicken is typically very lean making it a healthy option for those wanting to keep meat in their lives, as long as it isn’t fried.

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Posted on June 28, 2024 by Dana

Your Meat Eating Preferences May Be Determined by Genetics

Have you ever thought that your preference to eat meat or not may be genetic? Well a new study that’s linked a person’s genes to how appetizing meat smells, suggests that it is.

Researchers entered the study knowing that the way our bodies detect scents is through tiny chemical receptors that are perched on nerve cells inside the nose. It’s estimated that in total, humans have about 400 unique smell receptors that help sense around 10,000 different odors.

Some receptors detect androstenone – a steroid found in high concentration in male pigs. And previous research shows that 70% of the broader population has two copies of a specific gene that helps sense the steroid. Such people typically have a mixed reaction to pork, with many finding it disgusting and likening it to sweat or urine. But people with only one copy of the gene aren’t as bothered by the smell of androstenone. (more…)

Posted on May 10, 2024 by Dana

Taiwan Trashes US Meat Over Livestock Drug

Ractopamine, ever heard of it? Probably not. However, this feed additive is rather controversial and is causing international waves.

Ractopamine is fed to American livestock in order to promote lean meat. Currently, it is fed to about 60 to 80 percent of the pigs in America and as a result, there have been numerous reports of dead and sickened pigs. No other livestock drug has caused such high numbers of death and illness according to an investigation by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

Since the drug was introduced, over 218,000 pigs on ractopamine have been reported to show very adverse effects. Since March 2024, the drug has caused the majority of problems in pigs even though other livestock animals are on the drug. Pigs are suffering from hyperactivity, trembling, broken limbs, the inability to walk, and death. These results were gathered from a FDA report that was released under a Freedom of Information Act request. Even though these disturbing things are happening to the livestock, the FDA says the data can’t determine that the drug caused these effects.

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Posted on March 14, 2024 by Lacy

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