406: Are Chicken And Fish Really Healthier Than Red Meat?

Jarrod 0:00

So recently I heard somebody say, 'cause I was introducing lifestyle medicine and the whole food plant-based way of eating, and they say, "Well, I really don't eat that much meat." And then I ask them, "What do you eat?" Oh, I eat chicken. I eat a lot of chicken and some vegetables, and that's pretty much my, my breakfast, lunch, and dinner

Anita 1:20

Welcome to Power On Plants, the podcast where we harness the incredible power of whole plant foods and God's word to 10X your energy and productivity so you can maximize your revenue, reach, and your impact. I'm Anita Roussel, a nurse and certified integrative nutrition health coach

Jarrod 1:36

And I'm Jarrod Roussel, a physician assistant certified in lifestyle medicine

Anita 1:40

And in every episode, we show you how to fuel your body the way it was perfectly designed to thrive, so inflammation naturally fades away and your energy skyrockets you can finally have the body that fully backs you in living your God-given dreams without any exhausting dieting methods like keeping up with numbers or small portions or willpowering through your meals you don't even like in another attempt to get healthy. Jarrod and I get that there are so many confusing things out there about how to heal your body, and it can wear you out. So if you're thinking, "Look, I just wish someone would walk me through the exact steps so I can finally feel good in the way that is exciting and enjoyable," that's exactly what we do inside our Accelerator program. You can learn more about it at poweronplants.com/accelerator. And today, I want Jarrod to share something with you that he hears a lot from his patients

Jarrod 2:33

Yes, today's episode is inspired by my patients. So recently I heard somebody say, 'cause I was introducing lifestyle medicine and the whole food plant-based way of eating, and they say, "Well, I really don't eat that much meat." And then I ask them, "What do you eat?" Oh, I eat chicken. I eat a lot of chicken and some vegetables, and that's pretty much my, my breakfast, lunch, and dinner

Anita 2:53

Do they usually give you fish as well? Even though they've said they don't eat meat

Jarrod 2:56

I hear fish sometimes, yes, but it does seem to be very much leaning toward chicken

Anita 3:02

Yeah, and why do you think that is? I mean, do you think that people really don't understand that chicken is meat? Or do they think when you say meat, you're just asking about red meat because they've heard so much and been programmed that red meat is the unhealthy meat

Jarrod 3:15

I think it's yes. They've heard just from advertising, from even maybe medical providers that you need to avoid red meat. That's the problem. So for the most part, meat equates to beef. But I think if we were really drilling down a little bit, then they would see that pork, lamb, fish, all these others, chicken are meat, 'cause we're talking about muscle. But I think they don't really ever go deeper than just the surface, so they say meat, And they equate chicken and even fish as not being meat. And I, feel like if we're being honest, tough love here, that it's almost like we're doing some psychological gymnastics on ourself because we're wanting to j- because we're wanting to justify this because we still like meat, we still like the animal-based foods. Because

Anita 4:05

the fish,

Jarrod 4:06

fish, because there's so many dishes that we have that incorporate those in there, we can't conceive of eating in any way without them.

Anita 4:14

Now when you say we, you're not talking about me and you. You're not talking about our clients. You're talking about we in

Jarrod 4:20

as the US population, the general standard American diet, yes. So I, I guess it'd probably be more accurate to say they, but in general, people see that as not meat, so I'm avoiding it. I'm making healthier choices, but I get to still eat what I like, and it's just because they've never learned the power on plants way of eating

Anita 4:41

Isn't it amazing that you can still eat what you like and not have to eat what actually really is meat? All the different things that are meat, the beef, the chicken, the pork, and it's so crazy because you're listening to someone right now who grew up in a barbecue restaurant. Jarrod talks about that all the time with people and just laughs, saying, "This woman right here that's talking to you about eating healthy plant-based and telling you you're not gonna miss anything, she means it." We don't miss anything that we used to eat and love, and I even grew up in a barbecue restaurant, so we had a plethora of all the meats, beef, chicken, all of it, barbecue, and pretty much any way you can imagine it cooked. There wasn't hardly a meal I would eat without meat, definitely not a day without meat on my plate

Jarrod 5:24

consider meat the meal

Anita 5:26

Yeah, it was. It was like the meal and then your sides

Jarrod 5:29

piece of roast or whatever it was, a big chicken breast, and then some token side veggies

Anita 5:34

But how different is it really today? I mean, you go out to eat a meal and you hear always, "Would you like a side of protein with that?" And they're not talking about tofu, beans, or even strawberries, which yes, they do have protein in them. They're not talking about that. They're talking about you're not gonna get your protein if you don't add a side of meat to that vegetable dish you just ordered, and it's ludicrous. It absolutely is ridiculous. We have to get beyond this, because we want you to understand these basic things. It kinda reminds me, like in Bible study, when you need to get beyond the milk and get to the, what do they say? The meat. Well, here we're trying to get you beyond the meat so that you can realize that there's a lot better things out there to eat when it comes to food than meat. but the basics here, the basics are just found in how we define it. So meat is not just red meat. Meat is any animal flesh that you are eating. The muscle, as

Jarrod 6:26

It's the muscle. That's what I was just thinking. Think meat equals muscle. Then any animal-based food, fish, chicken, pork, beef, lamb, any of it, where you're eating that animal's muscle, that is meat. I did wanna make a little side note here. In the Bible, where a lot of times when they're talking about getting to the meat of the matter, they're talking about solid food. They're not necessarily talking about animal flesh. So I just wanna throw that in there

Anita 6:53

No, I like that. That's actually a great point. So we need to ask why is eating whole food plant-based working so well for so many people? Why do we on the regular help our clients reverse high blood pressure, high cholesterol, digestive issues, autoimmune diseases, so many different things? I mean, we could go on and on, various types of cancer Memory problems, sleep issues, like all of these different things get affected by what we're eating. And what we see is the less meats, this category of foods, the less of these that we eat, the better that people do, the more these diseases reverse. And why is that? It's that beef isn't really that different from chicken and from fish, all of these things are animal flesh. And so they all have certain things in common. They all have cholesterol in them. They're filled with cholesterol. So how does that affect your body? Well, it affects blood flow. What area of your body does blood flow affect? It affects every area of your body. Okay, and then none of these meats have fiber in them. Well, what does have fiber? Whole plant foods. So when you're filling your plate with meat and you're eating these little sides of veggies, you're not getting enough fiber, and fiber is what your good gut bacteria thrive on. And so then you have a whole host of problems because that one cell wall thick of your intestines now will open up because the bacteria can't protect it, so now you have leaky gut. That happens because the good gut bacteria are not getting the fiber that they need. because your diet's filled with meat. Yes, chicken does this too. Yes, fish can do this too. All of these things. And so we want to try to justify some way to keep some of the meat because we think there's no way I can live without it. Well, I promise you, if this barbecue family girl who grew up with a plate full of meat and dairy can live without it, you can too. And not only can you live without it, you can thrive, feel better, cook way faster, way cleaner than you ever ate before, and you're going to like it as good or even better when you do it the Power On Plants way. It's just so much fun working with our clients and seeing them have results that they were not able to get before, having tried whole food plant-based before. I would say the majority of our clients have already tried whole food plant-based at one point, and it just didn't work for

Jarrod 9:11

They just didn't feel like they could make it stick because of what they were eating. But now that they're able to taste the foods that we present, show them how to do it step-by-step manner, it's super simple. I think way simpler than they even realize. Takes way less time. Now they're not just, they're not thriving because they're eating good foods. They're thriving because they eat good foods that they love.

Anita 9:32

Oh, right. So it's not just the good foods, it's the good foods they love cause they're quicker, simpler, they taste as good or better. So now you have this winning formula where you're getting all these foods that not only are great for your body, but that you love them too. So they love you, they love your body, and you love them back, and that makes such a huge difference when you have that key.

Jarrod 9:53

It's the perfect marriage.

Anita 9:54

It's the perfect

Jarrod 9:55

Both love each other. Absolutely.

Anita 9:57

Absolutely So we just wanted to clarify today, what is meat? And isn't it just so much better to eat chicken? You're still getting... No. The answer is no. Isn't it so much better to eat fish? No. Okay, we haven't even talked about the parasites. Now, Jarrod and I live in an oceanside community, and so we can go down to the docks. If you live or are anywhere near an oceanside community, I want you to go down the docks, watch them bringing in the fresh seafood, all that fresh fish you wanna eat when you come to an oceanside community. Go down there and watch them cut it open and how they slap it down and all the juices are running out, and we know that a large majority of these larger fish have parasites. Even some of the small ones have them. But let's say they're slapping down hundreds of different fish in that same juice all day long. What's the likelihood that the fish you're gonna eat has parasite or parasitic eggs in it? Okay? Look it up online. You can see some videos. I'm te- it, it will gross you out, and I, please don't hate us, but this is just the reality of the situation. Why do we think that is? Because of all the things that have happened to the Earth. This is the reality of what we're living with because of how we've sprayed pesticides on things,

Jarrod 11:08

Pollution in the waters

Anita 11:11

People have great ideas about dumping bacteria that were never meant to be in the oceans into the ocean to clean up oil spills. Now we end up with red tide and all of these other things that are going on. There are so many things that have happened to the water. The, just the runoff of the things that we use as fertilizers, as treatments on our yards

Jarrod 11:29

Pesticides, herbicides, weed treatment

Anita 11:32

so things like parasites flourish. It's just the reality of what it is. So we know that we know that a lot of people have parasites, and this is one of the main reasons why. So you have the parasites going on, and then this causes a host of problems with health. Then you have bacteria growing on the meat. I mean, we're talking about this today, how much you really don't have to worry in general as much about the bacteria when you're eating plants as when you're eating meat. Did you know that even touching chicken, touching chicken, can cause you to have a much higher risk of urinary tract infections? I used to get urinary tract infections all the time when I was growing up. You know what else I did? Ate a lot of chicken. Okay? And never knowing that there is a link that has been found in research, a solid link between touching chicken, raw chicken, and developing urinary tract infections. We're not gonna go into all the depth of it here, but we want you to understand these things. This is crucial for your health. And what we know about you is you love God. You have a dream that he's put on your heart. You want to be able to accomplish that dream fully and completely before your time here on Earth is complete. And you cannot do that with a body that is sick, that doesn't feel good, that you have to push every day to try to survive your days. You end up like I was at the end of the day, where you have to pull up a stool to cook your dinner and you're trying to keep your eyes open at the end of the day 'cause you're so tired, and all you really wanna do is go out with your friends and enjoy a nice night. But you can't do it. There's so many things you're kept from doing just because you don't feel good or you don't like how you look, all these different things that happen as a result of not having optimal health. And one of the first things you need to understand is what is meat? I know it sounds basic, but really, all of these different meats have things about them that are inherent in meat that our body was not created to process them. Again, look at Genesis 1:29. Get back to the garden. What were you originally created to eat? What we see time and again with our clients, in the research, is that people thrive when they have what they were created to originally thrive on, and that is whole plant foods. Animals were never originally meant to die to have to feed you. Nothing was meant to die. When did death come into the world? It came into the world when sin entered the world. So these are things we need to think about and consider. Okay, well, if this wasn't how it was originally meant to be, yes, there are things God has allowed us to do over time. He allows us to have kings. He didn't want us to have kings. He allowed us to do things with our food, but this wasn't his best and original design. And this is why the research shows and backs up time and again that when you eat more and more and more whole plant foods, and I will add in even more raw plant foods, that is when things will start to change for you in amazing ways. The problem is you don't know really what to eat, how to eat it, how to make it simple, how to make it quick, how to make it enjoyable, as enjoyable as the foods you used to like, and we know how to do that. And so that is what we have spent years and years figuring out for ourselves, helping our clients walk through, and now we have developed a system. One, two, three, four, five, this is what you do, and then you have that foundation and groundwork laid. If you think, "You know what? I just don't even know where to start," go right now to poweronplants.com/cookbook and grab the cookbook so you can have what we love calling the taste and see experience. We love to see you have this, where you start trying new things and realizing, Hey, this is simple. It's not difficult. It tastes great." Get into Peak Performance Network at poweronplants.com/ppn. There, you can search over 400 podcast episodes and counting words that you're looking for, like protein or like meat or like Calories. All of these things that you're wondering about, you can start laying that foundation. We don't want you to wait until you're inside Accelerator to start learning and getting results. The majority of our clients come in having been listening to us for just a little while and already started making improvements, already started finding your new favorites. It doesn't require meat. We literally just made a huge pot of chili the other day. It took me minutes. It didn't take long at all, and everybody was talking about how meaty, how incredible it was. You would never have known if I served it to you that it didn't have meat in it. How do you do that? You start learning by getting the cookbooks at powerandplants.com/cookbook, and then get into Peak Performance Network and start asking your questions as you try the recipes. That's a great first start. And then when Accelerator opens up for application, you can apply and see if you're a right fit for the program. If you are, we're off and running with it, and you are going to feel absolutely amazing. One thing you can do to help us today, if you have learned a lot from this episode or gained some inspiration, go to your favorite podcast listening app right now and rate and review us. This will help you to keep having more incredible podcasts coming your way so that you'll know how to start feeling your best, So that we can band together and bring his kingdom come to this earth through each one of us. This isn't just about helping one person get healthy. It's about us all linking arms together, learning how to feel our absolute best so that we can thrive, so that our body finally fully backs us up 100% in living our calling. No one should finish their life with their life unfinished. When we join together, that will not be your story, and we are so thankful to be able to share these things with you. We pray that you have a blessed week, and we look forward to spending time with you again very soon