Steak and Eggs: Good or Bad for Weight Loss? What is the best way to lose weight fast and stay healthy? There has been a lot of hysteria for and against the Atkins-type weight loss regimen, with the low calorie/low fat portion control camp screaming that red meat and eggs are dangerous.
In a recent weight loss study sponsored by the folks at Atkins, supporters of the plant-based diet gleefully point out that participants were apparently being advised to “choose vegetarian sources of fat and protein.”

Kathy Freston, a low-fat, calorie-counting anti-meat fanatic at Dean Ornish, insists “there’s a growing shift to healthy plant-based diets, especially among people looking to lose weight and keep it off.” And a move away from meat, animal fats and eggs, she writes. However, low-carb, low-meat and low-fat diet enthusiasts show evidence of healthy weight loss and keeping it off. Like me. Or Dr. Heidi and her ER clientele.

What should you believe?

Both. Steak (all red meat and poultry) and eggs are like cholesterol: some are good and some are bad. You need to know which is good and which is bad.

bad meat Most of the meat in US supermarkets and restaurants comes from confined, ungrazed cows that are often sick. The Poky Animal ‘Hospital’ (described in Pollan’s Omnivore’s Dilemma) is one of many large animal hospitals that treat industrial feedlot cattle. Most animal health problems, Pollan reports, are directly or indirectly related to what they are fed.

The cows are force-fed corn and soybeans that they cannot digest. “They are made to eat forage and we are making them eat grain,” says Dr. Metzin, who treats them. (p. 77, The Omnivore’s Dilemma)
Virtually all feedlot cattle, according to animal scientists, are sick because they can’t digest grain. Then the sick animals are injected with antibiotics to make them live a little longer, to fatten up a little before they are slaughtered. Happy Sunday barbecue.

So yes, the Dean Ornishes and Kathy Frestons are right. Eating bad meats and fats from those animals can NOT be good for you. Avoid eating meats and bad fats.

good meat Grass-fed animals. Grass-fed animals are grazed. [NOT pasteurized – but pastured.] This, my omnivorous friends, you CAN eat. Do. Grass-fed animals can forage and graze on pastures, on grass, and other things on land. Eat what they eat naturally. They are not full of antibiotics because they are not sick.

Hot Tip for Buying Meat: When shopping for meat, ASK the meat person: Do you have 100% grass-fed beef (or grass-fed chicken)? If not, find a local farmer. They will have grass-fed beef and poultry. Search for local farmers in YOUR CITY or search for local farmers online at Local Harvest or Weston A Price Foundation.

Until you find a farmer, at least get meats that haven’t been fed antibiotics and hormones.

rotten eggs Same story. Don’t eat eggs from chickens that are crammed into spaces no larger than an 8 1/2 x 11″ sheet of paper throughout your life. Don’t eat the ones fed GE grains. Eat the ones kept awake with lights on in their cages 24/7 so they can lay as many eggs as possible before they turn into soup.

good eggs
Eats eggs from free-range chickens: They are the ones that go OUTSIDE and scratch the floor of the farm, eating grass, worms and things that are designed to eat. NOTE: These eggs are also a surprise source of vitamin D. Regular eggs do not have natural vitamin D.

A good tip for buying eggs: contact your local farmer for free range chickens and free range chicken eggs. Organic isn’t enough here (not if you want that added benefit of vitamin D, says Dr. Heidi here ) See sources above.

Bottom line: find grass-fed animals. Eat those. They are the good meats and animal fats. They have the same type of GOOD fats that sea fish have, they have more minerals and vitamins and they do not get fat or cause diseases, like fattening animals. Right, you won’t pass out after a McDonald’s hamburger. But the cumulative effect over the years of eating bad meats and bad animal fats weakens the body and makes it ripe for disease to attack. Usually when you least expect it.

PS I learned most of this while filming an amazing nutrition course that Dr. Heidi Dulay taught in CA this spring. I hope some of the videos will be available soon.