I will be up front and say that it sure is hard to know who to believe these days when trying to get information. The government says one thing, your friend says another, and your spouse disagrees with both. How can there be so much conflict on one simple topic. I have covered this idea in the majority of my articles because I feel it is one of the major problems preventing people from truly achieving their goals.

For the most part, people in the fitness industry are beginning to agree on the major aspects of exercise. It is now common knowledge that freeweight training is better than machine based training. Hopefully the majority of people now realize that long bouts of steady-state cardio are a complete waste of time. Nutrition information is a completely different story. Dieticians will disagree amongst themselves. Then you will have scientists producing studies that are extremely conflicting. Add to that the diet gurus who make all sorts of ridiculous claims. To this day there are still too many misconceptions on the basics of nutrition. Hopefully after reading this you may have a little better idea of what to believe and what to ignore.

When trying to determine the facts you generally have two choices, spend tons of time reading over every scientific study on each topic of concern and then creating your own opinion or you can find some highly respected sources of information to study and cross-reference off of that. Personally I prefer to get most of my information from people and organizations that I respect and do further research off of that. The important aspect of that choice is to find a respected source of information.

One such source of information is The Westin A. Price Foundation, www.westinaprice.org, a non-profit organization that is continuing the work and legacy of its name sake to provide accurate, unbiased information on nutrition and its impact on our lives. Unfortunately, a lot of other sources of information are tainted by contributions from large agricultural organizations.

To this day I will still get questions on things as simple as whether or not red meat is bad for them or whether saturated fat will lead to heart disease. Through personal research and cross-referencing with The Westin A. Price Foundation I want to try to ease some of your concerns and provide trustworthy information.

The number one debate that I come across is the health status of saturated fat. Some claim it will kill you almost immediately while others believe it isn’t that big of a deal. I for one am a member of the second group. Saturated fat is an important component of a healthy diet. Saturated fat provides integrity to the cell membrane, helps strengthen the immune system, protects the liver, contributes to strong bones, and even helps your body metabolize essential fatty acids.

I also believe that saturated fat has received unnecessary criticism for causing heart disease. The Westin A. Price Foundation is bold enough to completely deny saturated fats correlation to heart disease. Studies are now starting to show that trans fats play a much larger role in the onset of heart disease, much greater than saturated fat. Looking into the past at various cultures, which was the foundation of Dr. Price’s work, shows that some cultures eat an extremely high amount of saturated fat without any cases of heart disease. It isn’t until you introduce industrialized foods full of chemicals and trans fat that people begin to suffer from heart disease.

A common recommendation is to limit fat consumption to 30% of your daily calories. However, considering the above information, this too is an unnecessary and ill-founded recommendation. Native cultures consume anywhere from 40% to 80% of their daily calories from fat, with native Inuit people consuming whale blubber as one of their major food sources. That’s not to say that I recommend going out and trimming all of the fat off a prime rib and just eating the fat. My point is that there have been some questionable recommendations made that could be negatively affecting your health.

Another argument that I have with people is the negative affects cholesterol has on your body. The majority of people claim and believe that high cholesterol is a guaranteed cause of death. It is interesting to point out that 80% of cholesterol is produced within our own bodies. Cholesterol is the precursor for all the hormones in our bodies. Cholesterol is important in helping infants and children develop a healthy brain and nervous system. As with saturated fat, it seems as though cholesterol has become the scapegoat for other issues in our nutrition.

The Westin A. Price Foundation states that only oxidized forms of cholesterol, found in powdered milk and eggs contribute to heart disease. But they are also quick to point out that eggs are nature’s perfect protein, providing lots of essential nutrients. The Foundation even claims that Americans had less heart disease when they ate more eggs. This should also lead one to believe that cholesterol isn’t really that big of a health concern.

These same arguments are what lead people to believe that red meat is bad for you. It should be fairly clear that if neither saturated fat nor cholesterol is as bad as believed that red meat isn’t bad for you either. Red meat contains nutrients that are vital to our health including vitamins B12 and B6, carnitine, Coenzyme Q10, phosphorous, and zinc. For women the iron content is extremely important to help reduce the negative affects of monthly menstruation.

I actually had a client finally take my advice and begin eating red meat after almost 20 years of avoiding it. She was amazed to find that she felt considerably better within a day of first eating the meat. She also says that she feels as though she has lost inches in her waste and the rest of her body. All of this took place over a few days while on vacation, so exercise wasn’t a factor. My point is that red meat is an extremely important part of our diets and it has numerous health benefits.

I know I have made these claims in other articles that I have written but I still come across people who disagree with these viewpoints. It is imperative for your health and well-being to obtain the correct information and apply it to your life. When you believe you are helping your health by following certain practices you may actually be harming yourself and potentially taking years off your life. I highly recommend going to www.westinaprice.org and reading some of the information on the site, hopefully opening your eyes to the truth. If you are going to try to eat “healthy” you should at least apply the best information you can find. Good luck.

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