Animal Eating for Lower Cholesterol

Recently, we’ve been talking a lot about the concept of internal vs. external health. Because what you see on the outside doesn’t always reflect what is happening on the inside. How does animal based eating tie into this concept?

I personally started to look closely at my internal health a number of years back by teaming up with various healthcare providers. I’ve done blood panels, genetic testing, and taken regular readings of HRV, sleep, and glucose. This all helps me see how my behaviors, habits, training, and nutrition all impact my health.

I showed you how 6 months of animal based eating left me with unfavorable cholesterol numbers. I’ve always had borderline high LDL cholesterol, but my numbers shot way up.

I still believed deeply in what I was doing nutritionally. But my doctors and health coaches – and I – were concerned that these numbers were just too high.

WHAT'S WRONG WITH LOSING WEIGHT?

Over the past year, I’ve changed my diet considerably in a number of ways. As a result, my blood lipids have not only normalized, but they have dropped into ranges I’ve never seen before. All of this was very encouraging to me and my doctor.

A number of you have emailed with similar stories and questions. Some of you have said that I need to get out on social media and speak out about this.

People are fed up with fear-based tactics that many animal-based community leaders use to promote their way of eating. They say repeatedly that plant foods are toxic, and oatmeal is the devil. If you aren’t eating pasture raised, organic, raw, etc you may as well write your own death certificate.

Well, I’m not here to bash the animal based community. I don’t agree with fear-mongering. But I want to steer you away from making blanket judgments about one style of eating over another.

If you want to look good, move well, and stay healthy, stay open-minded. Look behind the polarizing posts on social media. And make educated decisions based on your own individual goals.

So here are 4 things animal based eating gets right. I’ll show you a full day of eating from then and now. And I’ll break down how to put together an eating plan based on your own goals – no matter what it’s called.

4 Things Animal Eating Gets Right

  1. Focus on whole foods and less packaged foods

  2. Protein is the central macronutrient

  3. Focus on increasing micronutrients in our diet and raising the nutritional value of our food

  4. Focus on gut health and foods that are less irritating to the gut

There is a ton of overlap here with the same things that work in almost any eating style.

animal eating

What I Got Wrong

Remember the PALEO craze? Everyone was doing Paleo – but nobody seemed to be eating the same diet. Paleo was simply eating meat, nuts, seeds, vegetables, some fruit, and no grains or dairy. But everyone’s plate looked different. 

Some people were eating a pound of bacon every morning and snacking on nuts all day. Dinner was ribeye and a couple sprigs of asparagus. They were eating a ton of calories and complaining of not losing weight.

Meanwhile, their friend cut out all grains and dairy from their diet. They’d have a couple of salads each day with some chicken and two eggs. Their Paleo diet helped them cut a bunch of calories and also weight at the same time.

Any diet can be interpreted differently by different people. You can eat HIGH FAT and LOW CARB on an animal based diet. You can also eat LOW FAT and HIGH CARB on an animal based diet too. 

I chose the former, and my body didn’t respond well to higher fat intake from mostly animal sources. Would that happen to everyone? Likely not. We all have unique ways we respond to food.

I didn’t DO IT WRONG, I just did it in a way that didn’t agree with my body well. 

Furthermore, I spent a considerable amount of time and energy focused on getting the highest quality ingredients. These were more expensive, and in some cases time consuming. I was driving to a farm to get raw milk, then fermenting it at home. I ordered meats from farms out of state to have it shipped to me. I butchered whole organs every week, and took weekly trips to the farmer’s market to get the right raw butter and cheese. 

In the end, it didn’t match my lifestyle – and my blood work didn’t agree either with my approach.

Two Days of Eating: Then and Now

Here’s a typical day when I was eating high fat, low carb, animal based about a year and a half ago.

Totals:

  • 4000 Calories

  • 200g Carb (23 grams of Fiber)

  • 237g Fat (100 grams of Saturated Fat)

  • 270g Protein

Breakfast

3.5 ounce Whole Milk Grass Fed Yogurt
1 Cup Raw Milk
2 Small Mandarin Oranges
1 Tbsp Honey
6 ounces Grass Fed Ground Sirloin
4 Tbsp Super Butter (homemade collagen/almond butter mix)

Lunch

1 Can Sardines
1 Can Smoked Oysters
1/2 Avocado
2 Small Madarin Oranges
2 Ounces Blue Cheese
2 Tbsp Honey
2 Ounces Pecorino Romano Raw Cheese

Dinner

3 Medjool Dates
1 Tbsp Honey
1 Whole Avocado
3 Baby Carrots
1 pound Ground Bison Meat w/ Liver and Heart
3 Ounces Raw Gruyere Cheese
4 Tbsp Fermented Ketchup

And here’s how I’m eating now –  nothing too crazy, and definitely something I can stick to.

Totals:

  • 3900 Calories

  • 600 Carbs (89 grams of Fiber)

  • 90g Fat (19 grams of Saturated Fat)

  • 215g Protein

Breakfast

Overnight Oats + Fruit:
– 100 grams Gluten Free Oatmeal
– 10 g fiber supplement
– Daily Greens Powder
– 250 grams Blueberries
– 2 whole Pink lady apples
– 22 grams whey protein powder
– 1 Cup Reduced Fat Fairlife Milk

Post Workout

Protein Pancakes:
– 100 Grams Cottage Cheese
– 100 Grams Gluten Free Oats
– 2 Large Eggs
– 50ml Fat Free Milk
Blake’s Bar Rice Crispy Treat

Lunch

150 grams Basmati Rice
400 Grams Brussel Sprouts
1 Tsp Avocado Oil
100 Grams Chicken Breast

Afternoon Snack

200 grams Non Fat Greek Yogurt
370 grams frozen berries

Dinner

Big ass salad:
– Romaine Lettuce
– Cucumber
– Carrots
– Purple Cabbage
– Nutritional yeast flakes
– Avocado

Evening Snack

200 ml Whole Milk
30 grams Whey Protein
7 Thin Rice Cakes

Animal Style, Lower Cholesterol

While looking at these two diets side by side you will notice a lot of differences. But I still see a tremendous value in focusing on the 4 THINGS that Animal based is doing well. Since then, I’ve made tweaks to my current macros and still stay within the guard rails of animal-based eating. 

HOW TO EAT ANIMAL-BASED WITH MY CURRENT NUTRITIONAL GOALS

What are my current nutritional targets and goals?

  1. Approximately 3500 calories each day on average. Some days are higher and others are lower, but by week’s end this is my average.

  2. Get approximately 15-20 grams of fiber for every 1000 calories I consume each day. This is about 60-75 grams a day

  3. Keep my total daily Saturated fat intake below 35 grams

  4. Increase my Carbohydrate intake to 400 grams or above

  5. Reduce my Protein intake down to 200-210 grams a day

In order to hit these targets I focus on the following food groups to get all my nutritional needs and hit these macros.

  1. Protein – chicken breast, chicken thighs, 93-96% ground beef, beef heart, beef liver, Reduced Fat or Non Fat Greek Yogurt, Whole Eggs, Whey Protein, Egg Whites. These are mainly what I eat currently and remain in alignment with animal based eating.

  2. Fats – avocados, high-quality extra virgin olive oil. These also remain consistent with animal based eating. Since my fat requirements are lower these days (less than 90 grams per day) I don’t need to add much beyond the meat that I eat.

  3. Carbs – apples, berries, pears, bananas, oranges, sweet potatoes

  4. Veggies – zucchini, cucumbers, butternut squash

  5. Supplement – I take a prebiotic (fiber) to help me hit my daily targets if I am unable to reach 60-75grams each day.

Look Past the Hype

Just like with fitness, nutrition is not one size fits all. So look past trendy approaches and think about the underlying principles at work. Start with your own goals, not someone else’s. Then track your progress. Think about how you’re feeling, and how you look and perform. And consider your internal health markers too.

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