Should I eat meat today?

So many mixed messages. So should you eat meat today? How can anyone really know what to do? This is a tough topic to talk about in todays world for sure.

There are so many diets, information and questions on meat being healthy or not healthy.

• Is meat healthy to eat?
• Are certain types better than others?
• Should I eat it and how much should I eat?

Can’t there be a simple answer to all this confusion? I believe there is. I’ve went back and forth in my studies for the last few years and I have come to a positive healthy conclusion.

I believe you can know what to do and be able to bring some clarity AFTER considering these 3 simple guidelines. Just for the record, I am not a vegetarian haha…

1. You must consider how your meat today is produced.

As you take a look throughout our history, after the flood, you will see that humans have always eaten meat.

If you lived near the ocean, you would have primarily eaten fish. If you lived in the mountains or farther inland, you would have eaten wild meat from animals that were closest to you in your climate.

Whatever tress, plants or vegetation you had or could grow in your climate, that is what you ate. Seems pretty obvious and simple right?

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So why has it become so complicated today? What has gone wrong?

Demand. Money. Information.

As the world wars come and go. The industrial age comes in and the population increases rapidly. The demand is great BUT with it comes the opportunity to make money. I believe we started with good intentions but the power of money won out as it always will.

Now we have so much information with the media and the internet. Everyone and anyone can post whatever they want and steer the conversation, content and context to appear however they want.

What do I mean?

In the 21st sentry, the result and reality that we now have, is that we have meat that is being produced drastically unnatural and unhealthy for our bodies like no other generation before.

It is not sustainable and it will cost us or our children. The way meat is produced today is not only unnatural and unhealthy for our bodies but also for the horrible for environment, nature and animals.

Do you understand what is going on and how your meat is being produced?

In short… ANIMAL ABUSE. Cruelty. – Our fish are being poisoned by the chemical waste in our waters. – Our beef, pork and poultry are…

• Living cramped up in overcrowded stalls, sitting in their own waist.
• Being fed modified grain (what they are not made to eat).
• Injected with hormones and steroids to grow bigger – faster…
• Given antibiotics (to most-likely fight infections caused by their living conditions)…
• Little sun or fresh air.
• Grown fat, and no lean quality meat.

And this… This is what is brought to your plate. But even before that, it has to have some additives like sugar, salt and preservatives… You might as well throw some pesticides or herbicides in there because they are bound to end up in the mix somewhere.

So to end this point…

Please consider how your meat is grown. Do you know what you are actually eating? With the amount of bad/processed meat we consume, no wonder we are sick.

Simply put… Our meat is not the same and definitely not as healthy.

2. Eat to live NOT Live to eat.

We… In North America (and now heavily influencing the world) are ADDICTED to meat. And yes, maybe not intentionally. But the fact is, we are.

• The meat industry is the biggest part of U.S agriculture.
• Meat = 52 billion pounds and Poultry = 48 Billion a year in 2017.

It does have protein and iron among other nutrients. Also it’s nutrients are easily absorbed… This is true. Meat is good. And please hear me out on this! I am not biased. I love meat and I eat it every week.

However…

We need to consider the messages that are engraved in us without knowing. Do we really need to eat as much meat as we are told? Considering how unhealthy and dangerous our meat is being made… This industry is one of the biggest and most influential right along side the pharmacutical world.

Bear with me and – Consider this.

Question: How could you make more money as a company selling meat? Answer: Fund studies that say meat is healthy… Advertise the results and promote it as much as you can to your ideal audience.

• Have you ever heard of someone having a protein deficiency?
• How come the the amount of protein that we need per pound of body weight keeps rising?
• And it is promoted to give us the perfect body everyone wants?
• How are we told to get protein for a lean, fit body? MEAT.

Do you ever hear about how there is so much protein in vegetables? Nuts? Seeds? Healthy, perfect, sustainable foods such as these? NO. Why?

Healthy foods do not make money. They are not sexy. So you won’t hear about them. It’s all about the money.

My point is this.

I have found so much more joy, energy, strength and vibrance when I started to – EAT TO LIVE.

When I was young I always tried to eat as much as I could. It was what we did. Your not a real man until you consume the most meat of everyone at the table… Even if your stomach kills you after.

You don’t need to eat as much meat as you do. Trust me. You will feel 10 times better and 10X your energy if you listen to your body and just eat to be satisfied. And may I be so bold to add that your muscles and your core body strength will be in better shape.

Don’t over eat. Take what you need. Eat to give you the energy to do what you need to do and to get you through the day. You know your body.

It is not always how much meat you eat but what you eat with it that matters. Today you have an abundance of meat on your plate with little to no vegetables. Eat lots of vegetables compared to the meat.

Throughout our history men always hunted, gathered and ate what they needed to survive.

The book of 1 Corinthians in the Bible says that your body is a temple. You are called to take care of it. Galatians 5 says that you are to have self-control.

I don’t see that today. Do you? I see a bunch of men pigging out on meat. No control. Unhealthy and unwise. Which leads me to my final point.

Please stay with me here… Keep reading for my solution after my last point.

3. Good things may be permissible. BUT not every good thing is beneficial.

• Romans 14:1-23
• 1 Corinthiens 6:12-20
• 1 Corinthiens 10:23-33

If you have a bible I would encourage you to read these passages. To sum them up, In these 3 passages, God approves meat. “Food is for the stomach and the stomach for food. Eat whatever meat you find that is being sold at the market. Everything is clean”…

First…

You must not be a stumbling block or judge those who choose to eat or not to eat meat. God has said that it is okay to eat meat and he has left it up to us to decide. But you cannot tear someone down because of what they eat.

Do everything to build each other up in peace and love. Keep our convictions on food to ourselves. Again, this is all in those passages above so please read them and form your own convictions. Be careful about how you use your liberties around others.

The weaker brother?

Romans 14:1-3… As for the one who is weak in faith, welcome him, but not to quarrel over opinions. 2One person believes he may eat anything, while the weak person eats only vegetables. 3Let not the one who eats despise the one who abstains, and let not the one who abstains pass judgment on the one who eats, for God has welcomed him.

I believe (correct me if I’m wrong) that this stems from certain people who still believed from Jewish traditions that meat was unclean and that they are not to eat it.

Here we learn that it is not right that those who freely eat all things (as they believe it to be right) should require those, who are still weak in the faith, to believe and do the same.

Today, this passage is used more, by many people, to approve their gluttony with meat. Calling those who are vegetarian “weak”. Maybe they are weaker in the faith but you are not to judge and despise.

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Second. Consider again our history.

1. Before the flood man ate only vegetation.

Genesis 1: 29And God said, “Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit. You shall have them for food. 30And to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the heavens and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food.” And it was so. 31And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good.

I believe according to this passage that man, before the flood, was originally made to eat only vegetation. Ever since we have adapted to eating meat. I see so many people improve their health when they begin to eat less meat.

2. Daniel, in the bible, did something that may have cost him his life and YET he was confident. In Daniel 1:8-16, we read that Daniel asked (because of his traditions and beliefs) that he refrain from eating the food that the King had and eat only vegetables and drink only water.

At the end Daniel looked “better and healthier” than all the young men eating the kings food.

To summarize this point.

“Everything is permissible for me, but not everything is beneficial”…

So although meat is good to eat. It is not what we were originally designed to eat and it may not always be as beneficial as plant food for us.

Meat is healthy and good to eat. However, you need to be very careful about your convictions, not being a stumbling block. Do not “put down” those who may not agree to eat meat.

Even though meat is permissible, I would argue that the meat you have today is not as healthy and “beneficial” to you AS eating vegetables, fruits, nuts, seeds and plants.

Then what are we to do?

Most meat today is not raised naturally or the most healthy for us. Even though it does still have lots of health benefits, you should seek-out meat that is naturally raised.

• Animals that are out in the fields eating grass and bugs. With plenty of clean space, sun, food. This allows them to have a healthy natural lifestyle.
• Grown at their own rate with no use of harmful chemicals and drugs.
• In this environment, antibiotics will most likely not need to be used.
• Clean, strong, healthy meat.
• Sustainable environment.

The best and most sustainable way to farm is by letting nature take its’s course. Leave it alone and watch it flourish. Have you ever noticed how lush the forests and amazons are before man touches them?

This farming method is called – Regenerative agriculture. Look it up and find a local farm that does it here!

When buying and eating meat, follow these helpful guidelines…

• Look for meat and produce that is grown naturally.
• That is grown locally.
• Always have more vegetables compared to the amount of meat on your plate.
• Stay away from processed meat.
• Eating more meat to get bigger muscles is a lie to make more money. It does help but there is much protein in nuts, seeds, plants and veggies as well.
• Eat to live. Please, have self-control…
• Keep your convictions to yourself and respect those who may or may not eat the same as you.
• Meat may be good for you but it might not always be beneficial for you especially today.
• Consider our history and what you were designed to eat.

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Question for you!

Was this helpful? What do you believe about meat in our culture today?

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