I recently bought a book called “How to Argue With a Meat Eater” by one of the most popular talking head vegans, Earthling Ed. I did this just to challenge my own view on the belonging of meat in the diet of humans. (Sometimes, in search of truth, you have to actively combat your personal bias).

My bias has always been appealing to what humans have done historically.

Now, to be critical of myself, that lens is a logical fallacy already, it’s called the “appeal to tradition” fallacy — arguing that something is good just because humans have done it for a long time.

With that being said, I still think (in spite of the logical fallacy), that observing what ancient humans have done is reasonable and rationally sound.

I know that with the advancement of technology, we’ve learned to stave off the perilous effects of infectious diseases, but we have not been able to say the same for non-communicative chronic diseases.

So, excluding communicable disease and looking through the lens of chronic disease alone, modern day American’s are probably the most metabolically unhealthy people to have ever existed. 3 in 4 American adults have at least one chronic condition (cdc).

Since we are sicker people than ever, why wouldn’t we appeal to what humans of old have eaten?

Meat was in the diet of ancient humans for as long as humans have had history.

B12 is an essential nutrient. It works in tandem with folate to be able to replicate your DNA.

You can not find B12 in plant food.

B12 is the one of the coolest vitamins ever.

B12 is an essential vitamin that is made in the stomach of ruminants by the work of the microbes housed within. Ruminant animals are cows, lamb, goats, etc.

You can also find decent amounts of B12 in certain seafood due to the high microbial activity of seas.

With the release of the new dietary guidelines we see a huge push for the reinstatement of red meat on the American dinner table.

However, I’ve grown frustrated because everyone seems to be overlooking one huge thing: feedlot meat is not the same as grass-finished meat.

*Note: All cattle are raised on grass for the majority of their life here in the U.S. The differences between conventional and grass-fed meat is actually in regards to the animals “finishing” diet and conditions— the period of a few months before the cow is slaughtered. Look for “grass-finished” or “100% grass-fed“ when shopping beef. The term “Grass-fed” has been captured by industry and is highly likely feedlot meat.

Red meat had a rough go at it here in America. It’s been vilified and demoted to the nutrition status of the gum stuck on the bottom of your shoe.

But red meat is one of the most nutritious and un-inflammatory foods you’ll ever eat.

Our views surrounding red meat are uniquely American. We’ve been trained to see meat as meat, and have been given carefully planted subliminal messaging that has lulled away our ability to discriminate good from bad meat- there absolutely is a difference.

The farmers doing it the right way are underrepresented.

It’s going to take a big push from the people to stand for their own consumer values and purchase what’s best for you and your family. More and more folk are figuring out the reality of the market and in time, I can see the American people making a dent in the Big Industrial ownership percentages.

Thank you!🌱