Being a Registered Nurse, I’ve had the opportunity
to educate hundreds of people on good eating habits. Eating healthy is one of the toughest challenges we have to overcome living in the United States. Unhealthy, processed foods are so easily accessible to us every day. In today’s post, I want to talk about why wild game meat is the best meat for us to consume, and why I recommend it.
Let me start by saying that I don’t eat perfectly all of the time. I try to do my best, and I feel I’ve been successful eating a balanced diet and staying physically strong throughout my life. One of the things that I try to do is eat good healthy meats. Being a hunter, that is somewhat easy to do because my freezer is always full of what my brother-in-law calls, “good, clean, healthy protein”, also known as wild game meat. In today’s #FridayFavorites, I want to give you three reasons why I feel that wild game meat is the best meat for a healthy diet.
1. Protein
Protein is one of the most popular supplements purchased today, and for good reason. It is the building block for our muscles, along with branch chain amino acids and other nutrients, but protein is the big one. If you’re a guy or girl, wanting to build muscle, you must be taking in the right amount of protein. I use a protein supplement frequently. My supplement brand of choice is Redy Nutrients. The reason I use their products is that I know they are natural products that aren’t full of other random junk. Which leads me to the point I want to make about wild game meat, and why it is one of the best sources of protein.
The amount of protein in an elk steak can vary by different cuts of meat or the animal, but there is an average of 30.6 grams of protein per every 3.5 servings. This is a little more than chicken has, and it is significantly higher than beef. So why not get more bang for your buck? If you’re trying to eat a high protein diet, and you’re not a fan of taking lots of supplements, look for a food that is extremely high in the nutrients you want. I’m not a big supplement guy, and I like to get my nutrients from my food, so elk meat fits perfectly into my diet.
2. Heart Health
Eating too much red meat is not good. All of our moms have told us that at one time or another. I probably eat way too much red meat, but it’s just so dang good! The problem with eating too much red meat is it can cause heart disease. Some red meats are high in saturated fat, which can raise the cholesterol in your blood. High cholesterol in your blood and increased LDL cholesterol can put you at risk of having heart disease as you get older.
I had a scare recently related to this. I’ll give you the cliff-notes version. On my Colorado deer hunt last year, I was having some serious chest pressure and pain. After the hunt, I went and saw my PCP, and he did an ECG on me to
see if anything was wrong. On his ECG, it showed elevated Q waves, which are indicative of a past MI (heart attack). This blew me away because I’m a pretty hardcore runner, and I run marathons frequently. He sent me to a cardiologist to do a stress test the following day. Luckily, I performed the stress test without any concerns, and the cardiologist told me I had the heart of a runner.
The chest pain ended up being pleurisy, and it was an easy fix with some anti-inflammatory medications. This whole experience scared me though because I do eat a lot of red meat.
If you eat a lot of red meat like me, and you want to do your best at avoiding heart disease, I encourage you to eat meat that is lean. Chicken is a great alternative, but it doesn’t taste near as good as wild game meat. If you’ve ever had the chance to process your own wild animal, you’ll know how lean that mean really is, and how much fat you can take out in the process. When I hand a steak to my wife for packaging, it has very little fat on it. She likes to eat it better that way, and it is healthier for your heart.
3. Organic
Boy, isn’t that a “hot topic” word nowadays? Everyone is trying to go organic and avoid all the pesticides and junk they put in our food. I grew up working on an alfalfa farm and raising cattle, and I know the pesticides that go into the fields and the hormones that are injected into the cattle. It is honestly, unbelievable! It’s hard to avoid though, right? If farmers didn’t use pesticides on their fields, insects would overrun them, and their crops would be destroyed. Without hormones, cattle wouldn’t grow to the size and weight they need to be to get fair market value. I completely understand the process and don’t blame anyone for the things they do, I just do my best to avoid those things.
How do I avoid them? You’re right, wild game meat. Elk and deer live on the land in which they inhabit. The grasses that they eat are natural grasses that aren’t sprayed with any kind of chemical or harmful substance. They also grow to enormous size, without ever being injected with any type of hormone. Their meat is truly, organic! To quote my brother-in-law again, it is good, clean, healthy protein.
Venison and elk meat are definitely some of my #FridayFavorites. It’s actually the second time I’ve used them as a #FridayFavorite if you count the Venison Street Tacos. Like I said above, it’s just so dang good! If you’re looking to eat a high protein diet, eat organically, and still be as healthy as possible. I encourage you to add wild game meat to your diet. It honestly is the best meat out there.
Happy Huntin! As always, check out my website xtremehuntin.com for more articles.
