Meats on keto
First off, not all meats are created the same. I am not going to tell you to only eat meat X and not eat meat Y. I do want to try to educate you on how you should incorporate meats into your diet. Some meats naturally have more fat in them like a brisket (or bacon), where as some meats are naturally very lean like a chicken breast. I am not going to tell you that you should only eat brisket and you shouldn’t eat chicken breast. All types of meat can be part of your diet. Don’t get confused though, most processed meats should be avoided. I will also touch on the benefits of eating an organic meat vs non-organic and how much meat you should eat.
If you want to know more about eggs, check out my blog here.
Processed vs unprocessed
What do I mean by processed and unprocessed meats? Well if you are buying a meat in its natural form (after a butcher cuts it up) then it would be considered unprocessed. If it has anything added to it to preserve it or to enhance the flavor it would be considered processed (spam).
Everyone I think can identify a T-bone steak (unprocessed) no matter where you shop at. That is because we know exactly what it should look like, one may be thicker than another, but they are essentially the same. Assuming that you cooked two T-bone steaks the same way, they should taste the same. On the other hand, something that is processed like sausage will vary greatly in taste depending on the batch and whom made it. Hopefully this helps to clarify processed vs unprocessed.
Most of all sausages are also considered processed. All of them have a blend of spices that give them the flavor that we love. I am sure you have noticed that one brand of sausage does not taste like another brand of sausage. This is due to each company has their own blend of spices that they add to their sausage, and are usually pretty protective of the exact recipe. I mention sausage because it is one of those foods that is known to have hidden sugars. Spend an extra few seconds to look at the label on the sausage you buy, you may be surprised.
Unfortunately sugar is one ingredient that many manufacturers use when curing meats. For example a “honey baked ham”. That ham is coated in honey and usually other sugars and spices to get that wonderful flavor. You may be surprised to look at the label to discover just how much sugar can be added to one of these hams. Look for a smoked ham instead, some of them don’t have sugar added.
If you are in the market for a processed meat, pay attention to its label. Look for any added sugars that the manufacturer hid inside. If you want a more complete list of the different names of sugar manufacturers use to hide sugars, click here. You may also see some other ingredients that are not recommended on a ketogenic (or any) diet (for example Monosodium Glutamate – MSG). If you are not aware, MSG is used as a flavor enhancer. MSG is used in a lot of foods (including foods you buy from a restaurant). It is believed that MSG is linked to a plethora of health issues. There are plenty of options of processed meats that are ok on the ketogenic diet, just take your time to see if the brand you love is acceptable.
Organic Vs Non-Organic Vs. Pasture Raised
You may wander what the difference is between these types of meats. I will give a brief overview of each type, so that you can start making more informed choices.
Non-organic
The non-organic meats are the meats that you would typically buy in a grocery store or meat market. They are raised on large farms where they will treat the animals with antibiotics, sometimes hormones and are given foods that are designed to help the animal grow faster. On the surface, it doesn’t sound that bad. It would be logical to give an animal an antibiotic to help keep them from getting sick, right? If the animal is raised in a healthy clean environment, then it should not need to have an antibiotic. Animals naturally have a very good immune systems.
The farmer often will give their animals antibiotics when they get sick (they need them healthy to grow big, produce more eggs/milk, to harvest, etc.). Sometimes it is because the animals are living in conditions that are less than ideal and that makes them more susceptible to disease. The antibiotics are designed for the animal, but when you consume the animal you are getting a dose of that antibiotic as well. How much antibiotic (or steroid/medicine) you will consume is dependent on many factors, but the biggest one is the time the animal was injected to the time it was harvested. Since those antibiotics are not designed for human use, we are still not sure what they can do to our immune systems. There is a lot of controversy over the affects of consuming meat that was treated with antibiotics. Are they weakening our immune system?
Many animals are treated with a type of hormone (steriod) to either help them grow faster or produce more milk. The farmer is doing this simply because the faster they can get their meat to the market, or the more milk they can produce the more money they can make. We have all heard of the negative side affects that are caused when we take steroids, so why would you want to eat a meat or drink milk from an animal that has been given something that we know has negative side effects. Consuming meat (or milk/cheese) from an animal that was given a steroid will pass that steroid to you through the meat/milk/cheese. That can cause a hormone imbalance within our bodies. That can potentially cause all kinds of issues if our hormones stay out of wack for a long period of time.
There has been testing done that has shown that there is an association between milk consumption and early breast development in females. This association is not just for females either, it is believed that there is a link between males developing breasts and the estrogen given to cows to produce more milk. While there is a lot more testing that needs to be done, but there are definite indicators that the two are linked.
When an animal does get sick, they will be given medicine to get them healthy again. The farmer cant afford for one sick animal to spread disease to the entire herd, so the farmer will do what they can to keep the animal healthy. What the potential side affects for humans consuming a meat with those animal medicines are hard to determine. It would depend on the type of medicine and how long the medicine was in their system before they were harvested. Most farmers will retain the animal for a few months after it was given medicine in order for it to get out of the animals systems, but not all will. Remember, meat harvested outside of the United States can’t be monitored like meat raised in the US. While there is no proof of how any of these medicines will affect us, it should be something that you should be aware of.
Another factor that you should consider is the type of food that these animals eat. Some farmers will feed Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO) grains. I am sure that you have noticed that more and more companies are putting “Non-GMO” onto their packaging. That is because many companies are realizing that there is a lot of bad press about GMO foods (and rightly so). GMO in a really simple definition is something that the scientists have changed the genetic makeup of an organism. For example they can make a corn that is more resistant to certain types of herbicides so that the farmer can spray weed killer that will not harm the corn. When something is genetically modified, there is no telling what the potential side affects can or will be. Some meat packages will state Non-GMO now, so you know the animal was not fed GMO foods and the animal was not genetically modified.
Something that many people are not aware of is that the US buys a lot of beef from Brazil (and some other countries). The meats raised in those countries are not restricted by the same guidelines that we have in the US. Be wary of meats from other countries. There is no way of knowing anything about the animal when it was harvested. Was it sick? Here in the US, the USDA is able to maintain basic standards, but other countries don’t have the USDA. I am not saying the meat from other countries is bad, just to use caution as you don’t know what you are getting.
Organic
Organic meats come from farms that are not trying to modify the animal. What I mean is the farmer will not give the animal any antibiotics, medicines, steroids or GMO foods. This eliminates many of the potential downfalls of non-organic meats. The animal may still be raised in a barn and given grain and/or hay, but it will be a natural food for the animal.
Organic meats tend to cost more for several reasons. The farmer may be paying more for a non-GMO feed. The farmer realizes that if they feed their animals better food, they will tend to be healthier. These animals will grow at a natural rate, and will not grow with the aid of steroids. So, the farmer has to keep the animals longer (feeding them more) and will not be able to replace the animals as quickly as others. If one of their animals get sick, they typically will separate the animal from the herd, but they will not be given any medicines. By doing this, they are more likely that the animal may perish, which is money down the drain.
The end product costs more because the animal will cost more to raise, feed and maintain. While they do cost more, by supporting farmers that choose the organic path, we are helping more and more farmers to make the change.
Organic meats are a great way to go if you are able to pay the extra for them.
Pasture Raised
Pasture raised animals are the choice for anyone on the ketogenic diet (for everyone really). These animals are literally raised in a pasture, as nature intended the animal to live. They will be eating a more natural diet because they are grazing and have a choice as to what they eat. Again, these animals are not given antibiotics, steroids, medicines or GMO foods.
I believe that pasture raised is the best choice for you and your family because the animal products are as natural as possible.
If you are not buying your meat in a pre-packaged container, labels will not be on the meat. For example, if you go to your butcher and pick out a steak, they will wrap it in freezer paper (or something similar) and hand it to you. There is no label (other than the cost). In this case, ask the person that is helping you out where the meat came from and if they know anything else about how it was raised. Sometimes they will know, and other times they wont have a clue. You will not know until you ask though.
Usually any store will make sure you know that the product was pasture raised if they know it was. If for nothing else, so they can charge you more.
Tips when buying meat
If you want to buy a meat to slow cook that will fall apart, look for a marbled meat. Marbling is the term for when you can see lines of fat (white) in the meat.
Buy your meat from a local butcher or farmers market when possible.
Buy larger cuts of meat, and cut them down yourself. You can often buy these larger cuts for a much cheaper price per pound. For example, I will often buy a whole pork loin. I will then cut the pork loin into pork chops. I save money and can have my perfect thickness for the chop.
If the meat you buy is wrapped with cellophane (clear plastic), keep in mind that it won’t last in the freezer much past 6 months. I would recommend that you re-wrap the meat using freezer paper or use a vacuum sealer. Both methods will help the meats to keep a bit longer.
Buy meat when its on sale. Re-wrap, throw in the freezer for the rainy day.
If you do re-wrap your meat, make sure you label it. Having the type of meat, cut, and when it was purchased/wrapped is very important. It will allow you to quickly grab what you want and to use the older meats first.
Seafood on keto
Seafood can be a great addition to your diet. Most seafoods are filled with omega fatty acids, vitamins and are high in protein. While most seafood is low in fat, it certainly should be part of your keto diet. But like the meats that are from the land, there are things you should look for when buying seafood.
Use caution when buying farm raised seafood. While some seafood that is raise in farms is good for you, much of what you buy in a grocery store is not. You may notice that a lot of the farm raised seafood is not from the U.S. If the food is from another country, you need to know that some of those farms are basically sewers. Yes, you read that right. The fish are raised in waters that serve as a sewer for that city or village so the fish are living and eating from sewer water. I think that explains well enough you should use caution when buying farm raised seafood from other countries.
When possible, buy seafood that is wild caught. That should mean that it was caught in the open oceans where the fish is living in its natural environment. If you can buy your seafood from a local farm, where you know they were raised in a healthy environment, they should be ok as well.
You also want to use caution when catching your own fish from ponds and streams. Some of our ponds and streams have become polluted by farm runoff and the chemicals used on the farms. Some of those forms of pollution can be feces from the animals, fertilizers, fungicides, herbicides and pesticides. If you plan to eat fish that you caught, use caution about where you fish at. I have seen fish that were diseased in the local fishing hole that I used to fish at. I don’t know for sure that farm runoff was the cause, but there is a good chance. The fish were sent in for testing at a local university.
Some seafood will have different nutrient profiles. While I don’t have room in this blog, you should know to do some research about the pros and cons of seafood. Some seafood will have higher amounts (potentially) of mercury. Others will have more Omega-3 or Omega 6. For example, sardines are high in Omega 3 and low in mercury. Typically speaking, the smaller fish will have less mercury than the longer lived species. Some tuna (tuna are large fish with a long lifespan) are high in mercury. So you may want to steer away from some fish, and try to incorporate more of another in your diet.
One additional thing I would like to add about seafood that I just recently learned has to do with scallops. I did not realize that there are “dry” scallops and “wet or treated” scallops. The dry scallops are not treated with a preservative, where as the wet scallops are. The wet scallops are treated in a bath of phosphates. The treatment also causes the scallops to absorb more water, meaning that you are paying for the extra water since you buy them by the pound. You can discern treated scallops because they will usually appear very white in color. When the wet scallops are cooked, they will loose the extra water, so they will shrink and will tend to be tougher and less flavorful. So when you want to buy scallops, look for dry scallops. They will be usually a slight tan or a vanilla color. They will cook up better, sear better (caramelize), have a sweeter taste, are very tender, and cost less because you are not paying for extra water.
How much meat should I eat on keto?
Well, since you have an idea of what to look for in meats, now you should know just how much you should eat. There are a lot of different opinions on this. The general consensus for the ketogenic diet is a range of 3-8 oz. Some doctors may say a bit more is ok, and others will say less is preferred. I think that as long as you stay close to 3-8 oz you should be pretty safe. I think that is is important to understand that I am talking about 3-8 oz of protein (lean meat, not including the fat in the meat).
There are others that suggest that the amount of protein should be based upon your body weight, body mass index, activity level, age etc. I don’t know which method is the best, but both will work for you. I am not strict on keto, so I don’t weigh out each meal. I just approximate and move on. On the other hand, if you are trying to gain muscle mass or are really trying to lose weight then calculating each meal may be a great idea. I know some people will get out a scale to weigh their protein, fats and other things so that they are positive what each meal contains and they stay on track for each meal. If you are one of those people that want exact measurements, awesome.
There are several different formulas that you can use to get a better idea of how much protein you need. One common recommendation is .36-.7g of protein per 1 lb of body weight in one day. So if you are eating 3 meals, you would want to divide that number by 3 so that you would know how much protein you would want per meal. You would also need to keep in mind that you are not looking at the total grams of the meat, you want only the protein grams.
If you are wandering how much protein or fat is in your meat, here is a pretty good chart by the website monkeymatters.com.
Example: Let say that I weigh 200 lbs. and I am pretty active where I need more protein (the high end of the scale). So in this example, we will take .7 (g protein) X 200 (lbs body weight) which equals 140 (grams of protein in one day). I typically eat 2 meals a day, so I would divide the 140 in half for my two meals. So I could eat 70 grams of protein per meal.
I used the chart that I have a link to above and looked up beef brisket. For 3 oz of brisket, it has 25.3 grams of protein. I am allowed 70 grams per meal, so lets figure out how many ounces of brisket I can eat to get my 70 grams of protein. 70 (grams of protein per meal) / 25.3 (grams of protein in 1 serving of brisket) = 2.77 (servings). So, I now know that I can have 2.77 servings of brisket. Since the chart used 3 oz as a serving, we will multiply by the 2.77 servings. 3 (oz brisket serving size) X 2.77 (servings) = 8.3 oz. So, if I ate a 8.3 oz piece of brisket, I would be getting my meal requirement of protein of 70 grams. To put that into perspective, 70 grams is about 2.47 oz of protein.
So, I figured out how much brisket I need for my protein requirement. Now I need to figure out how much fat I am getting with that serving. Am I getting too much fat? Too much fat can stall fat loss and can actually cause you to gain weight. When you are eating, you want to keep an eye on your caloric intake also. Too many calories can defeat the purpose. So in the example above, my 2.77 servings of brisket has 30.19 grams of fat and 570.62 calories. Depending on your caloric needs, you may need to make adjustments to your meal prep in order to maintain your numbers. You may be able to cut off excess fat in order to reduce the calories also.
Maybe you can see why I don’t get exact with my meals. Too much math just to eat. But, for those of you who are willing to put the extra effort in, more power to you. You will see changes faster.
Why only 3-8 oz of protein? That comes down to how your body works. While everyone is different, for the average person if you eat more than 8 oz of protein your body will actually convert the excess protein into sugars. That is exactly what we do not want to happen if you are in ketosis, as it can potentially kick you out. Too much protein can cause a strain on your liver and kidneys and could lead to kidney stones. (There is some new research that may contradict this belief, which is the basis for the carnivore diet*.)
The more active you are, the higher your protein needs will be. So if you work a desk job, you can most likely get by with the low end of the spectrum. On the other hand if you are an athlete or are very active, you will need the higher end of the range. If you are very active and are not getting enough protein, you can actually break down your muscles which is not something anyone wants. The key is to get enough protein with out getting too much. It is a fine line, but with some trial and error you will find what works best for you and your lifestyle.
How many meals you eat a day will also affect how much protein you will need in a day. If you are eating 3 meals a day, your requirement for protein will be higher than if you are eating 1 meal a day. In my example above, my daily protein requirement was 140 grams for the day. I then divided that between my two meals. But lets say for example that I only ate one meal a day. I would need to eat a pound piece of brisket to get my 140 grams. I wouldn’t be able to eat any vegetables or much of anything else. So if you are eating 1 meal a day, your protein requirement may go from 140 grams to closer to 100 grams because your body will actually recycle some proteins. I don’t know how much the requirement goes down, but I am just trying to give you an example of how it could change.
Other factors that will affect how much protein that we need are: age, digestion, stress and your metabolism. The younger you are, the more protein you will need as compared to someone that is older. Depending on the current health of your digestive system, you may not be able to break down protein as well, so you may need more to get your daily requirement. The acid levels in your stomach will also affect how well the proteins are broken down. If you have low acid levels, you may not have enough acid to break down the protein molecules so that they can be used. If you are under a lot of stress, you may also need more protein. Everyones metabolism is different, but if you have an issue with your metabolism, you may need more or less depending on your condition.
I think that it is also important to note that our bodies will use glucose first if it is available, then protein (which is why it is important to get some everyday), and if we have eaten our protein we will then burn fats. So eating our protein is important in several different areas in regard to our health.
While there is no set formula or rule that will determine how much protein you need, the formulas and rules that I put above should get you on the right path to figuring out what you need. It may take some time to get things figured out, but once you do it will be easy to make small adjustments as needed. As a general rule though, you will want to stay below .8 grams of protein per pound of body weight. If you go over that, you will most likely be converting some of the protein to sugars, increasing your insulin and kicking yourself out of ketosis. Remember that you want to consider all protein you are consuming, not just the protein in meats. Nuts, milk, cheese and a whole slew of other foods have protein that need to be taken into account when you are calculating your protein intake.
*The carnivore diet has become more popular. The carnivore diet is similar to the ketogenic diet in many facets. The main differences is that the carnivore diet you don’t eat vegetables, and your main food is meats. I am looking for research to see if by cutting out vegetables, does our digestive process change, such that we don’t convert proteins to sugars? So, I will keep trying to find more information on this topic. The current information I have about how much protein you should consume is above, but if I can find more information showing benefits of the carnivore diet (eating more meat), I will update this post. I do know many people have been happy with the results of the carnivore diet, so it may be worthwhile for you to look into the diet also.
