99: Plants vs Animals: Why Meat Beats Plants for Nutrition

MK: You just heard a spare through a charging mammoth instant complete meal. Now imagine downing a bright green kale smoothie that leaves your stomach and nuts. Hey guys, welcome back to the Primer Shift Podcast, where ancestral wisdom meets modern science. I'm your host, Michael Kummer, healthy Living Enthusiast, CrossFitter and Homesteader.

You know, my family and I have been growing our own plants and raising animals for years, so I know firsthand what farm to table really takes, and after 30 years of struggling with IBS or irritable bowel syndrome. I fixed it through precise dietary changes. Now, I'm a lifelong student of human nutrition and I'm excited to share these insights with you.

If you've ever heard red meat clocks your arteries and causes heart disease, one raw bean will w wreck your gut. Ailey is a perfect superfood with zero downsides or all animal fat is toxic. You're in good company. We'll tackle every one of those ideas today. No jargon. Just plain facts and stories. So in the next 10 to 12 minutes, we'll cover why learning to hunt changed human diet forever and why it still matters, which hidden plant chemicals can actually harm you, and how serious the effects can be, which simple kitchen tricks really make plant foods safer.

And which don't. And weather meat truly beats plants for nutrition, or if a balanced approach maybe wins. So stick around until the end. You learn the single healthiest foods on both sides of defense. And if you're enjoying this so far, hit subscribe. Ring the bell and comment below. What do you think is the healthiest food on earth be specific like kale, spinach, or maybe even liver?

That helps us bring you more deep dives every single week? Let's start with animals. You know, animals have only two defenses. I. They fight or they flee. And over thousands of years, humans got really good at hunting from spares to bows to chasing prey on foot flowers. Why? Because once the animal is down, everything you need, protein, fat vitamins.

Minerals was right there with no extra work. In fact, Greenland hunters who ate predominantly whale and seal have some of the healthiest hearts. Ever recorded despite eating a high fat diet, you know, that goes right in the face of fat clocks or animal fat clocks, arteries and causes heart disease. And there's a reason for that because game meat gives you all of the building blocks for muscles, meaning they have a complete proteins, complete amino acid profile.

They fat soluble vitamins like a d and K informs your body can use instantly without having to convert anything. They contain critically nutrients like B12, creatine, torin, and healthy fats like omega threes. And don't forget organ meats, the liver, heart, kidney, they're off the charts rich in absorbable and bioavailable micronutrients.

A single serving can give you the daily dose of vitamin E and iron and everything in between that you would otherwise struggle to get. So the bottom line here really is that consuming animals, you know, you get a perfect ready-made meal. With Sero toxins to worry about. And here's a quick cheap plug for MA supplements, a company my wife and I founded a couple of years ago.

You know, we turn fresh organs from regeneratively raised cows and bison into tasteless gelatin capsules, and only four to five capsules a day provided with all of the micronutrients you need to thrive. So check out mca subs.com and use Code Primal Shift for 15% of your next purchase. Let's switch gears and talk about plants.

You know, since plants. Can run. They've evolved chemicals to stop animals, including us from eating them, and these chemicals can affect your health in real ways. For example, lectins found in beans and grains among others. Some of these proteins, lectins or proteins stick to your gut wars causing irritation.

Bloating or long-term gut leaks and lab animals fed raw lectins often end up with upset stomachs and inflammation. So it's been shown both in humans as well as in animal studies that lectins are terrible for our health. Number two is phytates. They're found in seeds. And whole grains. And these find important minerals like iron and sink, so your body cannot absorb them.

And in one human study, people who soaked and fermented their whole grain of bread, saw their iron absorption jump from nearly zero to almost a quarter of their meals iron content. Now that's still not a whole lot, but it's significantly better of consuming those grains without soaking them and preparing them first.

Number three, and there are. Maybe dozen. There are dozens of those antinutrients, but I'm gonna just cover the few important ones. Number three is nitrogens. They're found in broccoli and cauliflower and kale among others. And these interfere with how your thyroid uses iodine in low iodine areas. Heavy consumption of raw cruciferous veggies have been linked to.

An enlarged thyroid gland not a good thing. So if you suffer from thyroid issues, I would highly recommend avoiding any plants that are rich in those cogens. Number four, and that's really one of the worst antinutrients are oxalates. They're found in spinach and Swiss char and rhubarb, and some other vegetables, and these form crystals with calcium, which can lead to painful.

Kidney stones and one large study actually found that people who ate spinach more than eight times a month had a one third higher risk of developing those kidney stones. That's a significant risk. Now here's the thing. You know, plants have different parts, obviously, and some of those parts are more protected by those chemicals than others.

For example, the skins, peels, seeds, and leaves and stems are where those chemicals concentrate. So you have to either avoid those. Parts or learn how to mitigate them. But the bottom line here really is that plants aren't harmless. They come with hidden risks. The good news is there are ways to prepare some plant foods so they are much safer or at least a little bit safer.

And we'll talk about that next. Now, here's the thing, you know, harvesting plant is easy. You know it just bend over, pick something up, and, and you are done. Not quite, because turning them into safe, nutritious foods. Takes a bit of an effort. So let me walk you through some of those little tricks that you can use to mitigate at least some of the issues in plant foods.

Number one is soaking, you know, it takes about eight to 12 hours. We typically soak stuff overnight, like rice, for example. But when you do this, some of the, uh, the heart to the chest bits, um, are reduced and also. The mineral blockers are reduced by up to 70%. So some of those antinutrients that bind minerals and or prevent the absorption from the minerals found in those, in those plants, um, are significantly reduced.

So we always soak rice overnight and we discard the water. You know, soaking beans is also a great idea. You don't want to eat beans that have not been soaked, you know, overnight for or for at least eight to 12 hours. And how do you know it's working? You're soaking, you know, just look at the water if it turns cloudy.

Rinse until it's clear and you're probably good to go. Number two is sprouting. That can take a couple of days, usually two to three days, and sprouting sparks natural enzymes inside the seed to break down some of those Antinutrients. Fermenting is another great way to reduce some of the antinutrients in certain plants, especially seeds, that's typically a process that takes one to five days depending on what you're trying to ferment.

But what it does is you leverage friendly bacteria that eat up lectins. Sugars. So for example, with sauerkraut with kimchi, or even sourdough, I know my wife likes to bake sourdough, uh, bread every so often and fermenting, especially if you have long fermentation periods. So double fermentation can really help to reduce the anti nutrient load.

Number four, fairly straightforward cooking, like boiling, steaming pressure, cooking, whatever. And that can also destroy many lectins and enzyme inhibitors. But here's the thing, none of none of those mitigation techniques. Do anything with oxalates, there is no way known to men, or at least known, known to me to reduce oxalates and even gns are very difficult to mitigate.

So it's much better to avoid foods that contain oxalates or GNS altogether, or only have them very sparingly. So you don't overload your detoxification system and then deal with the consequences. So what are some of the best plans? You know, that you can, some of the least. Toxic plants, well ripe and uh, sweet fruits.

Think berries, melons, apples, et cetera. Because if you think about it, the fruit is the part of the plant that the plant wants you to eat. So you, you know, poop out those seeds if you're an animal or don't have a toilet and make another apple tree, let's say grow. And so again, sweet fruits are the least, some of the least toxic plants.

Another good category of plants is peeled and de seeded cucumbers and squashes. Again, you remove the the peel or the skin because that packs a lot of the antinutrients. You remove the seeds of those plants because they're also heavily protected, and then they are fairly safe to eat. Avocados are also not only packed with a lot of good fats, but with virtually sero toxins or maybe even olives.

They're also very low in antinutrients. On the other hand of the spectrum, what are some of the most toxic plants? And I don't necessarily mean the ones where you eat them and you die like certain, you know, types of beans if you eat them raw or even a potato. If you eat a potato raw, you are in really serious trouble.

But what are some of those plants that you likely eat on a more regular basis? Kale, you know, called a superfood. It's anything but it's packed with Goran and oxalates. Two of those antinutrients that you cannot mitigate or remove spinach. Next one, leafy greens. In general, most dark leafy greens are the most protected plants.

On this planet that you absolutely wanna avoid consuming. And so next time you think about having a green smoothie with raw spinach and raw kale, think twice. Because you're literally consuming a chemical cocktail of oxalates and nitrogens potato skins. It's another thing that you absolutely should avoid because it contains a natural pesticide called glyco alkaloids.

If you think about it, you know any tuber, the skin is really what protects the tube. From its environment, you know, from insects, from the soil, and so that skin is heavily protected with those chemicals. And as well, always recommend peeling potatoes. There is no reason to eat the potato with a peel.

Better yet, if you enjoy potatoes, ferment them. You know, we affirm in sweet potatoes that reduces the glycemic index. That removes a lot of, removes a lot of the toxins. And obviously, you know, we, we peel the potato before raw broccoli and cauliflower, uh, leaves. In particular, the leaves are very high in nitrogen, something that you wanna avoid.

So yes, you can make some plant food safe, but it takes time. The right methods. You know, your work with plants starts once you have harvested or purchased a plant. With animals, it's the exact opposite. Once the animal is down, good to eat with plants, it's the exact opposite. So here is what I recommend you, you know, make animal foods your foundation, grass fed meats, wild fish, and yes.

Organ meats. Of course, if you don't like the taste of organs, you look at something like MK supplements. Just gelatin, capsules don't taste like anything, don't smell like anything, and you get all of the benefits of fresh organ meats without the taste or the hassle. If you do eat plants, focus on the safest ones.

You know, rip fruits, peeled cucumbers, and squashes Avocados. Olives, then soak sprout, ferment and cook. Learn how to prepare that stuff so you can reduce their toxic load as much as possible. And then it depends on the individual, on your health, on your sensitivities, on your individual circumstances that determine how much of a given plant you can get away with without suffering the consequences either immediately, like bloating, stomach issues, or.

Over time, like kidney stones and some of the other inflammatory conditions that you get by over-consuming many of those antinutrients. And remember, some toxins like oxalates and gerans can't be fully removed, if at all. So use them very sparingly. And last but not least, embrace your omnivore heritage.

Humans are meat leaning omnivores, you know, meat for your main calories, plants for flavor. Variety. Did anything you heard today make you rethink your diet? If so, what will you change first? You know, drop your thoughts below, and if you haven't yet, subscribe to the Primitive podcast for more ancestral science and modern hacks.

Until next time, stay primal.