| Last week I was talking about nutrition with one of my | | | | organic food is gaining in popularity and seems to fit |
| workout buddies and when I mentioned grass fed beef | | | | this bill. |
| and "organic food" he asked, "Do you mean like what | | | | Food grown on certified organic farms does not |
| you get at Whole Foods Market?" | | | | contain: |
| I said, "Yes, exactly... that's a natural food and organic | | | | Pesticides, Herbicides, Fungicides, Hormones, Antibiotics |
| supermarket." He said, "Yeah well, that place costs so | | | | or Chemical fertilizers |
| much, I call it Whole Paycheck!" | | | | It is also not: |
| I was rolling on the floor laughing, but the truth is, | | | | Irradiated or Genetically modified |
| organic food really is expensive and so is grass fed | | | | Beyond the "certified organic" label, grass fed beef and |
| beef and free range chicken, so it's a valid question to | | | | free range chicken (and eggs), have other advantages. |
| ask, "Is it worth it?" | | | | Not only can there be tons of antibiotics, hormones, |
| After researching the subject and doing some | | | | and other chemicals in our meat, but also commercially |
| personal experiments with my own diet, let me offer | | | | raised beef is fed grain or corn and yet that is not |
| you my take on it from a bodybuilder's viewpoint. This | | | | what the animals were meant to eat. |
| is a perspective on organics you may not have heard | | | | The result - aside from sick, drugged animals - is a |
| before. | | | | higher overall fat, higher saturated fat and a screwed |
| First, look at it this way - if you put the cheapest fuel in | | | | up ratio of omega three to omega six fats, which is a |
| your luxury car, how well is it going to run and how | | | | very big problem today - even when you think you're |
| many miles are you going to get out of it? | | | | eating "clean." Most people accept the idea that "you |
| While I'm on car analogies, health and fitness author | | | | are what you eat," but they forget that the animals we |
| and educator Paul Chek once wrote about how | | | | eat are what they ate! |
| ridiculous it is to watch how many $75,000 + cars pull | | | | Last but not least, proponents of organic food suggest |
| up to the Mcdonald's or Burger King drive through | | | | that the vitamin, mineral and phytonutrient content of |
| window to buy $1.99 hamburgers. | | | | commercially grown foods can be anywhere from a |
| I would say that's a serious case of screwed up | | | | little bit low to virtually absent. |
| priorities, wouldn't you? The driver has no problem | | | | So... if organic and or grass fed beef and free range |
| shelling out the $1,100 monthly car payment, but it's too | | | | chicken can help us avoid some of these problems |
| much to ask him to put premium fuel into his own | | | | and dangers, then I'm all for it and the extra investment. |
| "bodily vehicle." | | | | I started eating grass fed beef almost exclusively |
| How can you put ANY price tag on your body and | | | | (except for my occasional restaurant steak), quite a |
| your health? You can buy another car, but you've only | | | | few years ago and started eating more and more |
| got one body. | | | | organic food. I can't say I eat entirely organic. I eat a lot |
| Now, as for the grass fed beef and organic foods | | | | of it, but not 100%. If I'm eating an apple or some |
| question.... | | | | blueberries, and it doesn't happen to be organic, I don't |
| For best results in body composition improvement, | | | | freak out over it. |
| which I define as burning fat and or building muscle, | | | | When you really study deeply into the subject of food |
| (and I'll even go as far as to say for optimal health as | | | | processing, industrial pollution and commercial farming, it |
| well), I am a believer in including animal proteins, including | | | | can almost scare you half to death, but I don't |
| lean meats. | | | | recommend getting "alarmist" about it. |
| I have no wish to take up the vegetarian debate in this | | | | Sometimes it's the people who live in fear of a disease |
| article. I respect vegetarians and acknowledge that a | | | | who are most likely to get it. I for one, am not going to |
| healthy and lean body can be developed with a | | | | live in a plastic bubble to isolate myself from a "toxic |
| vegetarian diet if it is done properly, although it may be | | | | world"... oh, wait... make that a ceramic bubble, plastics |
| more challenging for strict vegans to gain muscle for | | | | are really bad for you. |
| various reasons. | | | | All joking aside, the fear of toxins can be taken to the |
| However, in recommending animal protein as part of a | | | | point where the fear itself is unhealthy, but the more I |
| healthy fat loss and muscle building nutrition program, I | | | | study this subject - from a variety of sources and |
| do agree that we all need to give some serious | | | | perspectives - the more the organic argument does |
| thought to what is in our meat (and in the rest of our | | | | make sense to me. I've built my career in fitness |
| food). | | | | based on being a natural bodybuilder, which means no |
| Some people say that meat is part of our | | | | steroids or performance enhancing drugs, so why |
| "evolutionary" diet and it's the way we were intended | | | | would I expose myself to other chemicals if I can avoid |
| to eat and I wouldn't argue with that. But is the meat | | | | them? |
| we're eating in today's modern society the same as | | | | Honestly, I can't say I noticed any dramatic change in |
| what was hunted and eaten many thousands of | | | | my physique or in the way I feel - at least not yet. I |
| years ago, or has some "toxic stuff" found its way into | | | | have always eaten clean and I was a successful |
| our beef, poultry and fish that wasn't there before? | | | | bodybuilder for many years before I started eating |
| I also think we should consider what is *missing* from | | | | more organic food and grass fed beef. |
| our commercially grown food, that is supposed to be in | | | | However, I feel confident about my decision to spend |
| there, that probably used to be there in the past, but | | | | the extra money on grass fed beef, free range |
| may not be today. | | | | chicken (and eggs), and an increasing amount of |
| A lot of people are not paying any attention to this... | | | | organic food, knowing that I am avoiding toxins and |
| even people who should know better. I admit it - I was | | | | getting more of the nutritional value I need to support |
| oblivious to this for a long time myself. Here's why: | | | | my training and my health long term. |
| I am not your typical "health and wellness" or "weight | | | | I'm certain this is the type of nutritional lifestyle change |
| loss" expert. I am also competitive bodybuilder. We | | | | that can accrue benefits over time, even if you don't |
| bodybuilders are well know for eating very clean diets | | | | see an immediate "transformation." |
| with lots of lean protein and natural carbs, as well as | | | | One thing I would suggest before you run out for |
| for looking like "the picture of health" with our ripped | | | | organic fruits and vegetables or grass fed beef and |
| abs and impressive muscularity. | | | | so on, is to consider what kind of shape your diet and |
| We eat our oatmeal and egg whites for breakfast, | | | | your lifestyle are in right now. If your diet is currently |
| and proudly walk around with our chicken breast, rice | | | | such a total mess that you're drinking a lot of alcohol, |
| and broccoli or our flank steak, yams and asparagus, | | | | smoking, abusing coffee and stimulants, not even |
| and boast about how perfect and clean our meals are | | | | eating ANY fruits and vegetables to begin with... |
| and how our diets are already "clean" and could not be | | | | And if your idea of lean protein is the processed lunch |
| improved. | | | | meat you get in your foot long sub, then I think it might |
| But how many bodybuilders or fitness enthusiasts are | | | | be a little moot to worry about whether your fruits and |
| there - even serious, dedicated and educated ones - | | | | veggies are 100% certified organic or whether your |
| who don't give a single thought to the poisonous | | | | beef is grass fed. Just start cleaning up your diet and |
| chemicals that might be lurking in our supposedly | | | | establishing new healthy habits, one step at a time. |
| "clean" food? | | | | Focus on nutrition and lifestyle improvement, not |
| The Food and Drug Administration lists more than | | | | perfection. |
| 3,000 chemicals that can be added to our food supply. | | | | There are some very strong opinions on this subject. I |
| One billion pounds of pesticides and farming chemicals | | | | am aware of that, and I'm not going to stand up on a |
| are used on our crops every year. | | | | pulpit and preach either way. What I have done here is |
| Depending on what source you quote, the average | | | | simply share what I have found from my own |
| American consumes as much as 150 pounds of | | | | research and what I decided to do in my own personal |
| chemicals and food additives per year. | | | | health and bodybuilding regimen. |
| Does ANYBODY out there think that this is good for | | | | My advice to everyone else is to become as |
| you? | | | | educated as possible about what is really in your food, |
| Didn't think so. | | | | including how it is raised or grown, and to continuously |
| If you had a way to avoid all these chemicals and | | | | seek ways to improve your nutrition above the level it |
| toxins, would you at least explore it, even if it cost a | | | | is at now. Whether the next step in improving your |
| little more? | | | | nutrition is to go organic will be up to you to decide. |
| Although this topic is controversial and hotly debated, | | | | |