In the past few years our household has been transitioning away from all sugars, all grains/starches and towards higher fat and protein consumption. In regards to meat consumption, it is best to keep an open mind – there are some amazing studies coming back with results that show ketogenic diets ( fat burning opposed to sugar burning ) can heal the body’s spectrum of ailments and dis-ease. And you don’t have to eat a lot of it!

My current body insights read is – Primal Body Primal Mind by Nora Gedgaudas. In her book she does discusses that meat should be eaten as rare as possible and makes a clear distinction between grass-fed meat and otherwise corn-gruel fed production animals – especially in consideration of fat which is where toxins are stored – I’m curious to see if she has addressed PhIP anywhere in her writings.

I guess to sum up my viewpoint – if indeed COOKING meat causes carcinogenic impacts, lets not throw the baby out with the bathwater – there might be equally destructive compounds in vegetables.

I’m also lucky to have the kind of body that conserves iron exceptionally well and had access to great knowledge about nutrition from a young age. It makes everything easier, I know a lot of people who struggle with cooking or enjoying healthy food and many more who struggle with iron levels.

My kids have never eaten meat and find the idea totally foreign. This means if I eat fish I do it out side the house which also keeps it to a minimum, usually work lunches. We are all very healthy and almost never get ill, so it feels like the balance is right for us.

Agreed, Merrydeath – I avoid soy products as well, and try to get my protein from eggs, dairy, legumes/seeds/nuts for the most part. Feels like it’s a bit of a “damned if you do, damned if you don’t” world out there sometimes when it comes to health choices and sustainability choices. (Speaking of which, I’m going to have to investigate the environmental impact of my daily almond milk smoothie…). You are lucky to have access to homegrown organic food!
I did review an article in my research for this post that suggested boiling meat would reduce a lot of the risks mentioned (even if it doesn’t sound terribly appetizing…)

Great point, Anna – we all have to make those choices for ourselves as far as what we’ll give up to reduce our risks, vs. do anyway because of quality of life! I know I have much more risk of a knee or wrist injury if I continue snowboarding, but I do it anyway because I love it!

I grew up on a dairy farm and my family raised our own animals to butcher for meat (and we still continue to today). I was vegetarian for about 8 years when I was younger (11-19), but my body was a mess because I decided it was easier to eat complete processed crap than healthy nonprocessed foods as I do today. My family has two days each week that are completely meatless, but growing up in the area we did (and my husband and I both on dairy farms), it is almost unrealistic to cut meat completely. We never buy meat from a store, everything is home grown and organic (plants included). There are plenty of ways to prepare meats without going to extremes (burnt or raw). From the articles I have read, even grilling vegeables at high temperatures cause the same effect as grilling meats.

At a certain point I have to look at my life style choices and say that NOT doing something I love is a 100% chance of being sad for a 40% chance of being healthier. I mean, playing derby is deliberately setting myself up for breaking a bone, tearing a tendon or knocking my spine drastically out of alignment and I am OK with that because I love derby so much. Is this dietary risk much different from that?