By Brian St. Pierre
• Meat, eggs and dairy should mostly be from pasture-raised, grass-fed animals
• Eat mostly full-fat versions of these foods for the greatest nutrient profile and absorption
• Produce would ideally be from local, seasonal and sustainably grown sources, as is possible
Dairy is a perfect example of context in my mind. On one hand consuming dairy from pasture-raised grass-fed cows is a good thing. On the other hand, consuming dairy from conventionally-raised corn-fed cows, not so much.
The difference is, that traditional dairy was from cows who ate grass, got exercise, fresh air and sunshine. Their quality of life, and therefore quality of milk, was excellent.
Fast forward to today and things have changed. Milk demand has increased greatly in the last hundred years, and so the industry responded. Cows moved off family farms and onto Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations; basically huge conglomerate farms where they are fed tons of corn, stand in their own shit, are given antiobiotics to prevent the illnesses from that corn consumption and the unsanitary living conditions, as well as given copious amounts of growth hormones to speed their growth and increase their milk production. Appetizing I know.
Grass-fed pasture-raised dairy also contains far more omega-3’s, CLA, and fat-soluble vitamins (A, D, K2-MK4). While they are both “dairy”, one is much closer to its natural/traditional state than the other. Is a little conventional dairy going to be a problem? No probably not. Is 3 servings a day a good idea? I would say it is certainly doubtful. Stick with dairy from grass-fed cows for the greatest benefits.
As for the full-fat reasoning well all of those compounds mentioned above, the omega-3’s, CLA and fat-soluble vitamins are all either fats themselves or are bound to the fat in the food. Getting low-fat or fat-free versions you lose out on all of these beneficial compounds, as well as the fats themselves! A recent study actually just linked trans-palmitoleic acid, a fatty found almost exclusively in milk and meat, with a decreased risk for diabetes. Here is a direct quote from the study:
“Greater whole-fat dairy consumption was associated with a lower risk for diabetes.”
While many people also mistakenly believe that saturated fat is linked with heart disease, it has never been conclusively so, and in fact most recent research has come to the same conclusion as Dr. Krauss and his fellow researchers who performed a massive meta-analysis and found this:
“A meta-analysis of prospective epidemiological studies showed that there is no significant evidence concluding that dietary saturated fat is associated with an increased risk of coronary heart disease or cardiovascular disease.”
At the end of the day the point is that eat foods that are as close to their natural state, even if that means they are full-fat.