Wellbeing: Lifestyle and Longevity

Red Meat and Egg Consumption

Today, another Saturday morning, we are heading out to a Homesteading conference to learn and to listen to Joel Salatin speak in Front Royal, Virginia. We will also do a bit of shopping at Rural King in Front Royal, as we don’t have a local branch of this large farm store. Yep, we are actually going to a conference to learn and have some fun. Unless we are traveling, a day away from the farm is a rarity. So, this is a treat.

Going to a homesteading conference got me thinking about diet. Having been vegetarians for 30+ years, last January we decided to eat meat again. This came about because my physician and friend, Dr. Brooke Miller convinced me that the way for me to get control of my blood sugar, hypertension and weight was to begin eating meat again, particularly grass-fed beef. Now, I really wasn’t “that” heavy - but I am light framed, and any excess weight affects me very negatively. That means to get my health back into control, I had to lay off the carbs big-time, stop eating sugar and eat a lot more protein. This all meant that I needed to eat more eggs, white and red meat. I had also come to the conclusion that I needed to stop eating processed soy products, because of the plant estrogens and added chemicals. What that really meant, in a practical sense, was going cold turkey on the variety of plant-based processed foods found in the freezer section. We have always been health conscious, but have “slipped up” once too many times in the past five years. All those lovely pastries that they put out in hotel buffets! It was time to get serious. We also incorporated intermittent fasting into this major lifestyle change.

Over the course of the last 10 months, I have dropped thirty pounds and Jill has lost even more than that. My stamina is better, allergies are better, my hypertension is under control, my blood sugar and hemoglobin A1C are back to normal and I have been able to significantly cut back on various medications that I am taking to treat the cardiac damage associated with COVID vaccination.

People have asked me, wasn’t it hard to switch to eating meat again? That answer is no. Once the decision was made, we didn’t look back. But more than that, once I started eating meat again, I found that my body craved it. It literally has become the “go to” food for me.

The truth is that I have more stamina, feel great and am much healthier for this major diet change. I am in my 60s, therefore the amount of protein my body needs to maintain muscle mass has changed. This new diet reflects that.

There is a large propaganda and nudging push within main stream media to convert the general public into vegetarians “for their own good”, as well as the good of the “planet”. This of course, is not based on sound science (another future Substack) but rather the idealistic musings of a certain political/financial class.

But are there scientific data on the impact of a meat-based diet on mortality? Are there concrete conclusions which can be drawn concerning any correlations between meat and egg consumption and longevity? Conclusions that main stream media isn’t reporting?

So, today I did a deep dive into some of the peer-reviewed studies that go against the MSM narrative. Buckle up, because we may run into some “cognitive dissonance” turbulence - here we go!

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Food Sources of Animal Protein in Relation to Overall and Cause-Specific Mortality-Causal Associations or Confounding? An Analysis of the EPIC-Heidelberg Cohort

Nutrients 2023 Jul 26;15(15):3322. doi: 10.3390/nu15153322.

The conclusions of this large and very recent study is that when confounding variables, such as smoking, high obesity levels, heavy alcohol consumption, and low physical activity were eliminated, the authors found NO EVIDENCE that a diet rich in red meat affected cardiovascular and cancer-related mortality. Furthermore, there was no evidence that eating poultry, milk, cheese or red meat affected mortality rates either.

In summary, we found no convincing evidence that any of the principal food sources of animal protein are meaningful determinants for overall cardiovascular or cancer-related mortality risk, independently of smoking, alcohol consumption, and excess body weight.

Crucially, adjusting for the latter risk factors in the statistical models completely eliminated most associations of food consumption levels with mortality risk, leaving only two weak associations, of which one suggested a small increase in cardiovascular mortality (association with processed meat intake), and one suggested a weak reduction in cancer mortality (association with cheese consumption).

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I love eggs. But we have all been told to avoid eating eggs all of our lives by the medical cabal and the nanny state. Which, frankly, has seemed bizarre. Government guidelines during the 1980s through the 2010s assured us all that the science was settled, only one egg a week was allowed to maintain optimal cholesterol levels. Luckily for me, Jill and I never really limited eggs in our diet, as being vegetarians made it difficult to meet protein requirements without eggs.

But the truth is that generations of families in America were raised on yet more bad science that limited a great source of inexpensive protein, particularly for young adults. Who, instead of eating eggs, turned to sugary cereals and processed foods mostly made of wheat and sugar to fill their caloric needs. With the new messaging about red mead being “bad” for the planet, kids in American are chronically deficient in protein. Instead of advocating a nutrient rich diet for children, parents stock an endless supply of “shelf-stable” cheap, tasty processed foods. No wonder our children are unhealthy and obese! Sixty-one percent of children in the USA have insufficient levels of vitamin D in the blood and an additional nine percent of children are vitamin D deficient. Yet eggs are one of the best natural food sources for vitamin D and for decades our government has convinced families to limit egg consumption.

There is no conclusive evidence what-so-ever that eating eggs will lead to a shorter life. Which is fascinating, given how our government has pushed the narrative that eggs are bad for people’s health for so long.

And then suddenly, in a blink of an eye, without any explanation all those warnings to eat only one or two eggs a week were gone.

For instance, the CDC no longer has dire warnings on their webpage about the dangers of cholesterol and egg eating. Even the American Heart Association has changed their tune about eggs. They now write that eggs are good for most people.

“Eating an egg a day as a part of a healthy diet for healthy individuals is a reasonable thing to do.” (from the American Heart Association website)

Scientism, the new official government religion. One of the commandments of which is to never apologize when the government’s promoted “scientific truths” turn out to have been wrong.

What happened to all that government wisdom and certainty (ergo propaganda) about not eating eggs? Remember how eating eggs with their unacceptable cholesterol levels would cause heart attacks (cardiovascular disease)? Which is what drove the whole craze to only eat “healthy” egg whites, so that the cholesterol content would be reduced?

This peer reviewed meta-analysis, a systematic summary of many studies, documents that eating eggs (even in moderate amounts) is not linked to an increased risk in all-cause mortality.

Adv Nutr 2022 Oct 2;13(5):1762-1773. doi: 10.1093/advances/nmac040.

Egg Consumption and Risk of All-Cause and Cause-Specific Mortality: A Systematic Review and Dose-Response Meta-analysis of Prospective Studies

Abstract

The primary comprehensive literature search was conducted in PubMed/Medline, Scopus, ISI Web of Science, and Embase up to March 2021, as well as reference lists of relevant original papers and key journals. We calculated summary RRs and their 95% CIs for the highest and lowest categories, as well as the linear trend estimation of egg intake, using the random-effects model. Thirty-three (32 publications) cohort studies were included. These studies enrolled 2,216,720 participants and recorded 232,408 deaths from all causes…

Higher egg consumption was not associated with an increased risk of mortality from all causes, CVD, CHD, stroke, or respiratory disease, whereas an elevated risk was observed for cancer mortality. These findings suggest that eggs be consumed in low to moderate amounts (≤1 egg/d) as part of a healthy diet.

We failed to find any significant association between egg consumption and risk of CVD mortality. This was consistent with earlier findings of meta-analyses.

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The 2020-2025 Dietary Guidelines for Americans (a government document) states that Americans are not getting enough protein.

They also write:

Protein Foods Healthy dietary patterns include a variety of protein foods in nutrient-dense forms. The protein foods group comprises a broad group of foods from both animal and plant sources, and includes several subgroups: meats, poultry, and eggs; seafood; and nuts, seeds, and soy products. As noted previously, beans, peas, and lentils may be considered a part of the protein foods group as well as the vegetable group. Protein also is found in some foods from other food groups, such as dairy. Meats and poultry vary in fat content and include both fresh and processed forms. Most intake of meats and poultry should be from fresh, frozen, or canned, and in lean forms (e.g., chicken breast or ground turkey) versus processed meats (e.g., hot dogs, sausages, ham, luncheon meats).

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The cynic in me has to wonder. Is it ok for studies to conclude that eating eggs and meat is healthy now- because the main statin medications are “off-patent”? Basically, the huge profits from selling statins are no longer there.

Now the big money that was made from statin medications is gone, is it ok to write that cholesterol is not a poison? So is this the reason why the counter-narrative studies are finding their way back into the scientific literature?

Has big pharma been behind all those earlier studies documenting that eating high cholesterol foods is bad? Has all this been a ruse to get patients on statin medications?

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On a slightly different topic-

Recently, Jill and I watched the Netflix series: "Live to 100: Secrets of the Blue Zones". The series promotes the idea that certain regions in the world live longer than the rest of us, and that there is a secret to unlocking how to live to be 100. The program promotes its own “Blue Zone Diet”, which is pure speculation, and not based on scientific evidence. The propaganda for the author’s diet book was so thick, the series was hard to watch.

The Blue Zone Diet assumes that dietary factors have been identified in these regions, such as sweet potatoes (eaten in only one of the regions), plant-based diet (not found in all the regions listed), moderate alcohol use (again, not true for all of the regions) and lots of mental health tips that they claim these regions follow - to live to 100.

But the idea behind the book that the series is based off of is that by following this diet, people will live longer. The speculation by the author, thick with misinformation and illogical thinking, was mind blowing. Even more mind bending is that this is one of the most heavily promoted and watched series on Netflix this year.

The program pushed the narrative again and again that the most important aspect to this diet is that it is plant based, despite little evidence that many of these groups of people who often live to be 100 actually follow a “plant-based” diet. Frankly, I would love to know who funded the making of this docu-series. It smacks of the worst kind of nudging and propaganda.

Now, I have no issues with a plant-based diet. If one can avoid the carbs, it can be healthy and life- affirming. It is not a diet for everyone. Having lived as a vegetarian for thirty years, I can honestly say that for my age and genetics, I need more protein that is more easily digested. It is not a diet that is healthy for me.

We are each different. That is ok.

But main stream media’s propaganda and nudging, combined with the latest fifth-gen warfare techniques at the behest of world leaders, NGOs and governments is not ok with me. Personal sovereignty means that I get to make personal choices without being influenced by government and United Nations Agenda 2030 non-science.

Having personal choice and autonomy taken away by large scale strategies deployed by the nanny state to influence our minds is not ok. The problem with the false religion of Scientism is that it is often wrong, but never in doubt.

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