Grain-fed Cattle vs Grain-fed People

August 5th, 2009, by

Fact:
Cattle are fed grains in the final stages of their lives to quickly fatten them for slaughter.

Fact:
The US government encourages people to eat grains in an effort to lose weight and become "healthy".

Now, I hope you can all see the problem here. If you can't, I am here to help.

Here is a picture of cattle being fed grains in an effort to fatten them:

Grain-fed Cattle

Here are a couple of people being fed grains:

Grain-fed Human

Grain-fed Guy

Now, I know there will be at least one of you out there who will argue that grains are metabolized differently by cows than they are by people. If you believe this, please explain to the rest of us how that is. Seriously, since the government started pushing grains on the American public, diseases of civilization have been on the rise and obesity has increased to such a level that it is being considered a pandemic! You are all smart enough to know the solution by now.

Long post short, grains are great for fattening both cattle AND people. Love yourself for a change and stay away from those damn dirty grains!

Category: Nutrition

13 Responses to "Grain-fed Cattle vs Grain-fed People"

  • Mark R.
    August 5, 2009, 10:49 am

    Riddle me this: I had the unfortunate nutritional experience this past weekend at my in-laws (whom I love), where I pretty much expected a nightmare of food options for the paleo-obedient, or even remotely health conscious individual of any kind. Meaning there aren't too many diets that advise cookies and brownies with every meal, not to mention tons of grains, and other poor carb choices. For example one meal was corn beef hash, with 5 eggs, french toast and sausage, all covered with maple syrup (if you've seen Wedding Crashers you know how much syrup I'm talking about) However upon weighing myself on return I'd somehow lost 3lbs. I normally put zero faith in the scale whatsoever, because it can be misleading due to a variety of factors, and I've always been a big believer in the occasional cheat to keep your metabolism from getting lazy, but my gorgefest added to the fact that I spent the four days inactive should have probably done something to the scale. I know that body is an amazing labyrinth to understand fully, and the fact that I nearly died on Monday's workout was plenty of payment for my folly, however why the disparity when it comes to the waistline?

  • Bill
    August 5, 2009, 12:14 pm

    Mark - 3 things based off what you riddled me:

    1. A few pounds up or down is very normal on a day to day basis and does not equate to fat loss or gain.

    2. You can not out work what you eat. The fact that you were inactive this weekend does not play into this scenario. In fact, taking a few days off may have actually freed up some internal resources, allowing your body to focus more of its efforts on properly disposing of that junk you fed it.

    3. Being you regularly workout and consistently eat a solid diet, a "cheat" meal, day, or weekend won't do much to you beyond making you feel like poop. This may very well have contributed to Monday's suck factor. We have to think big picture and realize that it is what we do day in and day out that will dictate our health, fitness, and physique. On that same note, someone who is lean will have a larger room for error when it comes to "cheats". Someone who is overweight has obviously damaged mechanisms in their body and is no longer equipped to be able to efficiently utilize garbage. The overweight person may very well gain some weight after a weekend like yours, but that same person probably eats like that most of the time. Think of it like this, if you are insulin sensitive, you will more than likely be pretty lean. At the same time, insulin sensitivity will allow you to effectively digest sugars in much larger quantities than someone who is insulin resistant.

  • Brian
    August 5, 2009, 6:12 pm

    Bill-

    I tried explaining the paleo diet to a few runners this weekend after our weekly softball game and they had the same dietary mantra that I had before I got brainwash...I mean, before I learned from you. "It doesn't matter what you eat, if you burn off more than you put in, you won't gain weight." I tried to explain to them about body composition and the role of carbohydrates, proteins, and fats, but I'm pretty sure they just didn't believe me.

    Is there a short, like no more than 2-3 paragraph answer to this common refrain that you have handy that we can all use?

    Thanks.

  • Mark R.
    August 6, 2009, 8:41 am

    Good answers Bill, what do you mean by damaged mechanisms? Are you saying that if I eat cookies and ice cream I'm more readily able to process it say than an inactive person? If so why? And, what in your opinion is the ideal cheat, 1 meal/day a week, none of us are walking on water here so we have to be realistic.

  • Bill
    August 6, 2009, 10:20 am

    Don't worry Sparky, you won't find any carnivorous cows out there; just good ol' fashioned grass-fed. My dad switched his dogs to a carnivorous diet though and frequent diarrhea and vomiting all but vanished.

  • Bill
    August 6, 2009, 10:42 am

    Mark - The hormone insulin is the key needed for glucose to enter your cells. Each cell has a receptor site and this is what insulin bonds to, allowing the glucose to enter. Continuous use of the receptor sites will begin to blunt them and they become less efficient. This results in the glucose hanging out in the blood longer, which in turn signals your pancreas to produce more insulin to clear the blood. This is known as insulin resistance. Think of the blunting of the receptor sites like looking at the sun. The longer you stare, the more damage it does to your eyes, and the longer it takes for your vision to return to normal. If you stare long enough, you will eventually go blind. Going blind in this example would be the equivalent of developing type II diabetes.

    Activity does play a role, in that it depletes the body of it's glycogen stores, so there is room for the sugars in your muscles, but if you are insulin resistant already, exercise can only help so much. It is impossible to out work what you eat. Dietary changes will have to be made if one wants success.

    Ideally, we would all eat right all the time :) Realistically, it will depend on the individual and his/her goal(s). My suggestion is to play with it and find what works for you. If you can let loose and have a food for all once or twice a week and still attain/maintain your goal(s), then you have found what works for you. On the other hand, if you are struggling to reach your goals, it is probably time to pull-up your boot straps and buckle down on your nutrition.

    • James
      June 10, 2010, 4:22 am

      There is a huge difference between the grain product fed to animals and the grain products that we as humans eat. Animals eat raw maize. Humans very seldom eat maize in its raw form as maize by itself is not very nutritious. Humans eat refined maize products such as corn syrup and high fructose corn syrup used in most forms of junk foods. These derivatives from maize are highly fattening.

      Corn syrups also help aggravate gout and other maladies in the human bodies. If you seriously want to lose weight then try and avoid products that contain (high fructose) corn syrup.

    • Bill
      June 10, 2010, 8:15 pm

      James, I think you missed the point of this post. Glad we can agree that grains are fattening to humans and that fructose in any form is a detriment to our health.