Meat… oh, the controversy. You love it or you hate it, but I’m not here for debates.
Whether you eat meat or not, I love you just the same. It’s all a personal choice for you to decide what makes you feel great and allows you to sleep at night.
Personally, I do eat meat, but I like vegetarian fare too (hey I’m in India right now, which has the world’s largest veggie population – 400 million of ’em! Lovin’ it!).
Despite what… well, about half the health gurus on the internet say, I don’t think meat is necessarily a health villain – I think it has many good, nutrient dense, health virtues when sourced from an animal that was raised kindly and fed its proper diet (sans all the hormones and antibiotics). But that’s just my opinion 😉
If you share this opinion and want to eat meat, but don’t want to eat unhappy animals from conventional farms (in which case I don’t blame you – it’s not so good for the welfare of animals, the environment, or your health), check out my tips on how to get meat that doesn’t suck:
1. If Possible, Get a Freezer!
If it is possible for you and your living situation, think about getting a chest freezer, even a little wee one. Having more space than your cramped fridge freezer makes the possibilities of you eating good meat WAY higher since you will actually have somewhere to store it. In many cases, getting good meat isn’t as easy as just popping over to the grocery store, so you may need to buy in bulk and freeze the back ups.
We got one a year or two ago, and it’s been so, so good. I got it for 80 bucks on Craigslist.
2. Get to the Farmer’s Market
If your area has a farmer’s market, you can often buy awesome, quality meat at a semi-convenience (hah you gotta make sure you actually get to the market each week!). I often buy whole chickens from a local farmer at the farmer’s market in town.
3. Buy in Bulk Direct from a Farmer
This is probably the most cost efficient way to get a lot of really good quality meat. But you may need that freezer, and you will also have to weather an upfront payment. If that sounds okay, try googling, or asking around in your local area to see if there are farms nearby that raise animals for sale in bulk. Or check out eatwild.com for recommendations.
Depending on what’s available to you, you might be able to find farmers who sell small bulk packages, and may even deliver it to your door. But you might not have that luxury, and may only find farmers that will sell half the animal, or a fourth.
Last year Luke and I bought a side of beef (aka half a cow) from an organic grass fed farm on Vancouver Island and it was so, so delicious and healthy, and lasted us more than a year (eating it very regularly). We just got another one from a local farm.
It really is a lot of meat though. You can always find other people to go in on the animal with you – everyone shares the cost and gets their share. It’s called cow-pooling. There might already be established buying clubs in your area doing this that you can get in on.
If you want to know more, I wrote an article some time ago about all the ins and outs of how to buy grass fed beef in bulk.
4. Local Butchers
Sometimes local butchers (either in their own shop or at a supermarket) have the good meat you want on hand, but it’s pretty rare. And it’s usually very expensive. However, they might be able to order it for you, but again, you probably have to buy in bulk and freeze the rest.
5. Online
US Wellness Meats seems to be the biggest supplier of good meat online, and definitely with the most diverse offerings. Just order whatever you want, and they’ll send it right to your door (and no need to order in bulk!). Sadly not available to us Non-Americans.
6. Hunting and Fishing
My Dad has always hunted and fished, and I grew up eating moose and deer. You can’t get any more free range and organic than that. So if you hunt or fish, or know a hunter or fisherman that you can get meat from, there you go.
As for whether I could go hunting myself – well, I know I’m hypocritical.. but I don’t know. I used to like to think that I was tough, and since I ate meat, that I should be able to do the deed.
Until, like, the one day in my life that I went fishing, and to my surprise, actually caught a fish and had to put it out of its misery. I did it but it totally freaked me out! … I suppose these things come with practice. At least he was delicious.
Me and my dinner, Swampy.
If you eat good quality, ethically raised meat, where do you get it from?
I get mine from a local butcher. He’s Argentinian and treats all the meats with so much passion. It’s truly his calling. 🙂 He always gives me beef bones for the bone broth free of charge as well.
That’s great Vita 🙂 Glad to hear you have a source you trust!
that fish looks like a big wet rat…
Haha, yep, pretty much!
We have been getting 1/2 a side of grass fed beef for a few years now. When I start to run out, I start to panic because I just can’t eat the beef from the grocery any more. I just know too much now, lol.
hah we feel that way too! If you run out it makes things complicated but you still don’t want to run to the store and buy the unhappy meat. We just eat more vegetarian food in that time.
Hi Tracy,
I know this isn’t really relevent to this post but this post is about meat which is part of Paleo which is what my question is about haha..
So i have been on the Paleo diet for just under 2 months now eating meat and veg and some fruit but i am still breaking out everyday. There is no way it could still be a purging/detox stage can it?
I am also doing the caveman regimen without water which i started at the same time as the Paleo diet… So about 2 months and my skin is also still a little oily.
Before i started the Paleo and caveman my acne had really calmed and i was only getting maybe 1 pimple everyweek ( i had severe acne since 14, i’m now 20)
Do you have any idea what it could be?
Cheers
Tim
Hi Tim, so you’re saying that you are getting more acne now that you’re on the paleo diet than before you started it? Well, I don’t know which diet is best for you, but the paleo diet isn’t a miracle for everyone. For some people it works fantastically and other people it doesn’t and may cause more problems if it’s simply not suited well for your body. Two months is a while for a detox purge, yeah. Do you feel better in other ways on the paleo, or is everything worse?
Thanks for the reply Tracy. Yh i do feel much better on Paleo, i have more energy and fitness and also it has helped my sleep alot (i used to go to sleep around 3am and now i’ve cut it back to 12ish so far) the only problem is the breakouts.
Yes 2 months is a long time. Some people on the internet though say it can happen but i refuse to believe it, it must be something else!
Also do you have any idea why my skin would still be oily after 2 months of the caveman regimen? I haven’t used water or anything on my face for that time, except once on day 38.
Cheers
Tim
There could be any number of factors involved as to why you’re breaking out, I can’t really say. I suggest slowly adding back in some more starchy foods and non gluten grains (while still sticking with paleo principles of the food being whole and real), and see if your skin does any better.
As for oily skin on the caveman – it may be an internal factor causing the oily skin if the caveman didn’t fix it. Has it improved at all from the caveman? Also, are you doing water caveman, or not water caveman? Water itself can be very drying, so you could still be signalling your skin to overproduce oil if you’re washing your face with water. If not, you could also try maybe using a little bit of jojoba oil on your skin (still caveman style with not washing, but just rub a little bit into your skin once a day or so), might help with the oil
Hmm.. I had sort of the same thinking, maybe my body needs more starchy foods and less protein. I did speak to Dr Loren Cordain and he suggested adding some foods like sweet patoto. I’ll try this from today and let you know how it goes.
As for the caveman, yes i am doing it without water, the oilyness has decreased about 60% overall, in some areas completely subsided (outer cheeks, chin and too a degree my forhead) the only problem areas are my nose and inner cheeks by my nose?.
Doing the caveman has cleared 99% of the old PIH and my skin does look healthier but it started to breakout on the lower half of my face (the top half is completely clear) around 3 1/2 weeks into the caveman and paleo and hasn’t stopped since.
I would try jojoba oil but unfortunately my skin is too resistant to any oils and topicals
I feel like shouting at the squirrels in my garden LOL
Hi there I just wanted to add my two cents about Tim’s question. In my opinion, you really should only implement one lifestyle change at a time otherwise it’s hard to know how it affects you. By the way, I am also paleo and my skin is very clear now 1 1/2 months in. That being said, I am also washing my face with oil at night and with honey in the morning so I am getting rid of those toxins once they come up. If you are starting the caveman regimen, I wouldn’t be surprised if you’re now breaking out even more. At the very least, it will take you quite a while for your body to recover from the change.
Just my two cents.
This is a very good point, since he started both paleo and the caveman at the same time, it’s hard to know which one may be the problem!
Thanks for the input Christie and Tracey, you both make a good point about implementing both lifestyle changes at the same time. However i’m 100% the problem is internal now because the red marks etc that i used to get when i washed my face i don’t get anymore and the clear parts of my skin are brighter. I am thinking of doing the candida cleanse because reading the symtoms of candida i can pretty much check them all lol but i would like to know what i can eat during the cleanse, what supplements i should take and how long to do the cleanse for. If anyone could help i’ll appreciate it.
Hi Tim – ah yes candida could definitely be a factor here! You can find instructions for candida cleansing from many websites on the internet, or if you want, I’ve made my own candida cleanse program with all the info and instructions in one place since I have found candida cleansing such an effective practice for treating acne. Check it out –> https://thelovevitamin.com/ebooks-products/candida-cleanse/
I read that beef has zinc in it which helps to heal acne.
Yes it does 🙂
Yes beef is a great source for zinc and it’s de-lish 🙂 . I do eat beef every now and then but i don’t really trust the beef in the supermarkets here in the UK because most of the time they come from cow’s that are packed full of antibiotic and such. And who know’s it might be horse meat haha. I am however going to go to the local farmers market near me ( which is hard to find living in a city like London) next week to get some quality meat and veg. Maybe do some good ole english haggling 🙂