Conventional wisdom says that red meat and saturated fat are the primary drivers of heart disease. So in order to avoid that, many people have chosen to eat chicken which is thought to be more lean. Problem is that the incidence of heart disease has not decreased and here is what is thought to be the issue.
Conventionally raised chicken is fed corn. That in itself is a problem since most corn grown in the US is genetically modified and farmed using the herbicide, glyphosate. While everyone is aware of the dangers of consuming too much sugar, trans fats and polyunsaturated fat from vegetable oils are much worse and are a greater contributor to chronic disease. The connection here is that when chickens are fed corn their flesh becomes high in omega 6 fat from the corn. Eating a lot of conventionally raised chicken is the same as consuming a lot of vegetable oil.
Vegegable oil is high in omega 6 fats. While we definitely need both omega 3 and 6, the standard American diet, typically high in processed foods and grains, provides too much omega 6 which becomes inflammatory and has been found to be a driver of chronic disease. The idea ratio of omega 6 to omega 3 is one to one. Unfortunately most Americans’ ratio is closer to 25 to1!
This dangerous myth has remained since the 1960s and even today changing this misinformation is difficult especially since there are no profits to be made from recommending people eat well-raised, real food as opposed to processed foods. Diabetes has become an epidemic in our country and besides the fact that overweight and obesity is a primary cause, there is a connection here too. The insulin sensitivity of your fat cells is opposite to that of the rest of your body. In other words, when your fat cells are insulin resistant, the rest of your body is insulin sensitive, which is what you want. And the factor that determines the insulin sensitivity of your fat cells is the fats you eat.
Omega 6 linoleic acid makes your cells more insulin sensitive which makes the rest of your body insulin resistant. Hence increase of diabetes. When you eat saturated fat from grass fed meat, for instance, your fat cells become insulin resistant and the rest of your body becomes insulin sensitive.
So eating less red meat and more chicken, processed foods, grains and vegetable oils not only causes weight gain but also insulin resistance and diabetes which trigger chronic illness including heart disease.
Have you substituted chicken for eating red meat in order to reduce saturated fats believing you are protecting your health?
Want to see more articles like this? Subscribe to this blog (just click on “Follow”) and get each new post delivered to your email or feed reader. To follow me and get even more tips on how to live your life in 3-D, including improving your diet, choosing cutting edge nutritional products and effective weight loss strategies be sure to like me on Facebook here and here, sign up for my FREE weekly No-Nonsense Nutrition Report (and get a free gift!), follow me on Pinterest and Twitter!
Make gradual changes. Boost health, vitality and energy. Become your best YOU
3-D Vitality 
The saddest part of this is that the medical nutritionists at cardiac rehab, doctors, etc. have never even mentioned Omega 6 in all these years. Instead it seems they’ve been Chick-fil-A commercials, encouraging us to “Eat More Chikin” and less red meat. As a rancher, I eat natural, grass-fed beef, but even my cattle get grains like corn in the winter time to augment the lack of protein in hay vs. grass. Am going to be looking for Omega 6 in the things I purchase and consume. Thank you for sharing truth ma’am.
It is truly sad J.D. that they do not explain all sides so people can make the healthiest decisions for themselves. It’s fairly easy to know the foods highest in Omega 6 – pretty much anything packaged or processed, especially grains, fast and junk foods. Grass fed beef is wonderful!! When my dad passed away we had to have some locks repaired on his house and the gentleman who did the work and I had a nice conversation. he had had heart issues and several bypasses. I mentioned avoiding sugar and grains and that butter, eggs and beef were not the problem. This precious man said “I know but I’m still going to do what my doctor said.” That says it all, doesn’t it?
Ann, there is so much misinformation out there on every subject. Thanks for setting us straight!
Thank you Debbie. New information comes out almost daily! But we can never go wrong sticking with common sense.