TIP#3.6 - 5 Fundamental Reasons Eating Animals Is Vital For Health

Like it or not, your body needs a lot of specific nutrients to grow, maintain and thrive. Not consuming relevant amounts of what the body needs leads to many problems; chronic fatigue, digestive issues, muscle loss, poor skin, reduced labido, headaches, joint pains, fat gain, poor sleep, increased stress, bad moods, poor brain function - and much, much more.

If you want to function optimally, learn, move, run, lift, jump and have all the energy you could ever want then start focusing your diet around animals. Here are 5 reasons to consider eating animals to improve your health:

1. Saturated Fat and Cholesterol

Your body is made from saturated fat and cholesterol. They form over 50% of a muscle cell. You can't build muscle without fat, period. The more muscle mass you have the more potential you have for quality living. Muscle burns energy even at rest, helping you maintain optimal body composition (burn fat). Fats influence hormones in a postive way, helping control them and run optimally. Increasing saturated fat consumption increases testosterone levels in men, the hormone predominantly involved in muscle building and maintenance. Conversely, Vegetarian diets decrease testosterone levels (due to their lack of adequate saturated fat and cholesterol) which can result in strength and muscle loss.

2. Whole Proteins

There are 22 amino acids (protein types). We need all of them to function, but we can only synthesise some of them, the rest we need from our diet. Animal proteins; meat, fish, eggs, dairy - are the only food sources that contain the full spectrum of amino acids in high enough ratios for the human body, these are called 'whole proteins'. A plant based diet does not provide enough whole proteins for your body, especially if you are very active and participate in fitness related activites like sports and weight training. These whole proteins are the building blocks of cells in your body and are extremely vital for cell regeneration, repair and maintenance. A diet high in protein is needed for optimal body composition and health (lean and muscular).

3. Vitamin D3

Vitamin D3 is a variant of Vitamin D that is only found in animal food sources. Its counterpart Vitamin D2 is much less active in the body and can be found predominantly in plant foods. Vitamin D is vital for DNA protection and gene expression, in other words it turns genes on and off - pretty vital right? It also directly correlates with muscle mass and strength and healthy testosterone levels (in Men). Good sources are animal foods high in Omega 3 Fatty acid like fish and Cod Liver oils. Sunlight also induces production of Vitamin D, so if you live in a country with poor sunlight then supplementation is vital for optimal health.

4. Carnosine

Carnosine is a dipetide (active double amino-acid molecule) and is made from one essential amino acid (must be obtained from diet) and one non-essential amino acid (can be synthesised in the body). Carnosine is an extremely active and effective anti-ageing molecule in the human body, reducing development of atherosclerotic plaque build-up in arteries and reducing the onset of wrinkling skin. A vegetarian diet has been proven to be deficient in adequate carnosine levels. Eating animal protein and increasing carnosine levels in the body is vital for maintenance of youth and optimal function of the body as we age.

5. Insulin Control

You should know by now that poor Insulin sensitivity and constant high insulin spikes are the sworn enemy of fitness enthusiasts, and people in search of their dream physique. This is because when sensitivity is poor (constant high insulin levels) fat is more likely to be stored. Ideally we want to have good Insulin sensitivity so levels remain stable. The only nutrient that does not spike Insulin levels is Fat - a nutrient in high amounts in animal food sources. Protein, another abundant nutrient found in animals does effect Insulin levels marginally, but as it is metabolised slowly and recognised as a vital nutrient, it is rarely stored as fat, but used for building and repairing cells or turned into glucose when the body is depleted. The only 'macro' nutrient that has the highest effect on Insulin is Carbohydrates - a nutrient that is non-essential to human diet and body health but found in abundance in plant based foods like grains, rice and starch, BUT only at extremely low levels in animal based foods.