Starting Keto? Meet the Meats!

The starring food in the Keto * Low-Carb way of life has been a staple food of the human diet like since FOREVER. When humans were hunter-gatherers, they hunted. And meat, poultry & fish are the perfect low-carb foods, because nearly all of them (except scallops and the like) are zero-carb foods. See, we low-carbers DO SO have ‘free foods,’ and they are not lettuce.

You can eat the following types of meat-poultry-fish: beef, bison, venison, pork, lamb, mutton, veal, chicken, duck, goose, turkey, pheasant, guinea fowl, Cornish game hen, cod, salmon, tuna, tilapia, crab, lobster, shrimp, trout, perch…. any kind of meat from an animal, bird or fish.

You can eat any cuts of meat— steaks, chops, roasts, ground meat, chicken legs, wings or thighs, ribs, neckbones, or any other cut of meat you can get from your local farmer, fisherman or grocery store. 

FAKE MEATS, as manufactured for the vegetarian population, do not count as meats because they contain carbs. They may also be heavily processed foods. The carbs in fake meat count as carbs. Some fake meats probably should not be eaten by any ketonian. 

PROCESSED MEATS are not a major part of our eating plan. Lunchmeats of various sorts may have carb-containing fillers and even sugar added. We do not eat that stuff. Read the labels on purchased meatballs and meatloaf— these foods usually have carb-containing additives we should not have. Bacon and ham, however, though processed, are generally considered a permissible food. Meat in little cans, often found next to the canned tuna in the store, may have carbs— even budget brands of canned tuna may have a carb or two, because they add a bit of ‘vegetable broth’ or even ‘modified food starch.’ Boycott those foods wherever possible. If you are very low-income, and you get given some of these canned meats, or Spam, the carbs are low enough that you can eat them, but it is better to stick to the zero-carb meats from the meat department when you can. (The advantage of the canned meats and Spam is that they don’t need refrigeration or, in many cases, cooking. Compare the labels when you buy to get the lowest carbs you can get, though.)

KOSHER and HALAL MEATS are fully permitted on Keto * Low-Carb. It’s not a dietary sin to keep kosher!  If you are Jewish but haven’t been religious before, it is perfectly ‘kosher’ to start keeping kosher when doing Keto * Low-Carb. If it makes you more aware of what kinds of things you are putting in your body, that’s a good thing. However, if you are not even Jewish or Muslim, and are considering going kosher just because you know other people from your church who are doing it, consider whether you can actually obtain the kosher foods you need. If there is a pastured-pork producer living in your county, and you have always loved pork, maybe you need to reconsider the kosher thing.

AFRAID OF SCARY-UNHEALTHY MEAT?

Read Good Calories, Bad Calories by Gary Taubes. This author reviews a lot of scientific research on diet, and shows how the low-fat theory got going in spite of the lack of evidence. You may find that a lot of what you have been told about meat is not true.

If you have been vegetarian, especially if you are in poor health as a result, read Ketotarian by Dr. Will Cole. It is full of meat-free Keto * Low-Carb recipes, along with a few fish recipes (for pescatarians.) 

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