Food is so controversial. It is certainly a hot-button topic these days. Everyone has an opinion on what is best and to be honest, what is best for one person may not be best for another. We are individuals with bio-individual needs and that goes for the food we eat – except for this one food in particular.
The most important food you can eat is meat — good ‘ol animal protein. Now I’m not going to take the time in this blog post to go into all the different diets and cultures who are vegetarian and have lived well off that particular diet. Not in this post, anyway. I want to keep it simple for now.
Animal Foods are Builders. Plant Foods are Detoxifiers.
Animal foods and plant foods play vastly different roles in the body. Animal protein builds the body. We cannot properly heal or grow without animal foods. Meat contains complete proteins that are more bio-available to the body than plant proteins. Our body, and brain, is made up of proteins and fats and we must eat these things to properly feed our body, help it heal and grow.
Plant foods are fantastic detoxifiers. They are wonderful to eat, if tolerated, and really help the body toss toxins. However, they cannot build a body or heal the body the way animal foods can. Many people who move to a vegan diet feel better initially because the body is dumping many toxins that make us feel bad.
Animal foods help us build muscle, heal wounds, grow another human, have optimal brain function, prevent leaky gut, maintain strong teeth and a lot more. Without enough animal foods we find muscle weakness, more broken bones and tooth issues. Dr. Weston A Price, a dentist in the 1930’s, found this to be true of his American patients. He decided to travel the world and study indigenous people groups who ate their traditional diets and found they did not have these issues. Every group he visited ate generous amounts of animal foods. He hoped to find a group who were vegan/vegetarian and thriving but he did not. To learn more about Weston A. Price you can find his book or visit the foundation’s website.
The Importance of Animals and Plants on GAPS
Both animal foods and plants played an important role in my son, Raleigh’s, healing journey. He could not have healed without the meat stock, the meat and the animal fat. The meat stock is made from cuts of meat with connective tissue. During the cooking process, amino acids necessary to healing the gut (proline and glycine, specifically) are pulled from the ligaments and joints of the meaty bones. This become the “glue” that heals and seals the gut lining. This is not achieved in any plant food found on earth. Only animal foods can heal a leaky gut.
In combination with the abundance of animal foods, Raleigh consumed many vegetables and herbs. These pulled toxins from his body. He also juiced fruits and vegetables for many years while on the GAPS diet. Plants are powerful detoxifiers and do an amazing job in helping the body get rid of so many of the toxins we come into contact with in our toxin-congested world.
Everyone is different, though. Not everyone can handle plant foods and some are bothered very greatly by them. In Dr Natasha’s most updated version of the GAPS book she talks about a No Plant GAPS version for those who cannot handle the fiber from plant foods. Fiber is like sandpaper on a leaky gut and can cause great distress to some. There is not, however, a No Animal foods GAPS because it is impossible to heal the gut without animal foods.
Now it isn’t my job or aim to convince you, dear reader, of any of this. I’d rather you go on your own journey, researching this issue on your own and come to your own conclusion. I have seen first hand how animal foods – meat – have healed my son of a leaky gut and chronic eczema. I, too, have personal experience with changing specific health-related issues once I increased animal foods in my own diet.
We still live in a society that demonizes meat and saturated fats. It has been decades of misinformation and many have fallen for the lie. My hope is that my son’s story of healing, along with all of the other voices out there, will help change the narrative and change the health of generations to come.
Dr. Natasha has a great article on her blog about this subject as well for further reading on this issue.
Now go enjoy some tasty meat!
