Sport Down with chicken, yeay for beef...all day. Your thoughts?

Sport Fitness
So..I've been primarily eating chicken breast and different types of lean beef for about 2 months now. I do mix it up with various kinds of seafood, the occasional lamb, and I eat eggs+whites on a daily basis, but it's generally chicken and beef for 2 meals each a day.

Now, I've tried loads of different combinations and ways to prepare chicken breast..but the fact is, I don't like the stuff. I'm talking poultry of any kind, so that rules out turkey as well. I find that fish and other seafoods are expensive and more work to measure, prepare, and cleanup after. I require meat I can grill in 4 minutes or less.

Lean beef, on the other hand, round, 97% lean ground, flank, chuck..whatever is easily marinated and grilled to delicious perfection. In fact, I find I prefer the "inferior" lean cuts of meat, for flavor and texture, but only with my super secret special marination and tenderizing techniques. :p

Clearly, I'm some sort of neanderthal, but the fact is..there's nothing I'd enjoy more than eating a proportionally-appropriate round steak 4 times a day. In terms of cost and ease of shopping, this would be fantastic. I'd also be thoroughly enjoying my healthy diet, instead of dreading the chicken constantly. Also, round has like 5mg of zinc a serving, which is good..that'd put me up to about 30mg/day from natural sources.

My question: Is it a bad idea for a healthy (if not fit) male to be eating 4 (3.5 oz) servings of lean red meat a day?

I've done some preliminary research, but I haven't really been able to come to a conclusion. Your opinions please? Good, bad, indifferent..all welcome. A reason would help, but honestly, I'm just hoping to hear that it's okay, so I can indulge my primeval tendencies. :D

Update: Just for reference, milk and its products are not an option. Neither is supplementing with whey more than a meal a day (which meal #6 already covers).
 
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Nothing wrong at all with lean ground beef or steaks. The primary reason it has gotten such a bad wrap is because most meats have such a high saturated fat content and it is more sensitive to outward bacterial properties.

If you have the money to invest into natural and organic meats in general that is the way to go, however if not just cook well and buy lean.
 
Only two things i can think of and both are highly unlikely but here they are anyway.

possibly of having to much Phosphorus which alone is not a sever thing. But if your Phosphorus to Calcium ratio is to high (to much PH and not enough CAL) can lead to HyperTension.

And its possible to get to much Iron something called IronOverload but i do not remember what the symptoms are.
 
@theleip: Hmmm. I'm not too worried about the bacteria. I've never had food poisoning or been sick in my life (except for chicken pox), and I've eaten some strange things. I'm talking make-other-people-who-are-watching-throw-up strange. :D My concern was regarding the reported health effects...which are based on its saturated fat content, you say?

If that's the case, I'm not worried. The meat I eat isn't organic, but tends to be extremely lean. As I understand it, it's the poor quality of the fats in factory-produced meats that are the real culprit. I figure if I'm trimming prettywell all of the fat (including the stuff in the middle..I don't care how many pieces it's in), my intake is low enough to render it insignificant. I guess we're in agreement. Thanks for the input. I always enjoy reading your responses. :)

@(Silent): I'm aware of iron overload. It should not be a concern for me. I have blood work done every 6 months to check for anything unusual. Though I've been living an extremely unhealthy lifestyle for the last 8 years or so, I'm somehow very healthy. I had a slightly low platelet count at one point...that's it. I don't want to press my luck, either..but given what my body's already been through, I don't think my P:Ca ratio will become an issue, either. My diet is quite high in calcium, despite being nearly devoid of milk products.

I hadn't seen any mention of such a ratio, though, so I will look into it as a consideration. Thanks. :)
 
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Not particularly. On occasion I would binge drink amounts of alcohol that would put most people in the hospital..but very inconsistently (maybe 15 times total, in my life?), and I never drank when I didn't intend to become very inebriated.

Never been a big wine or beer drinker, no. More of a "When you known Jack Daniels as well as I do, you call him John" type. :p

These days, I don't drink at all. My experience has been that I have way more fun when I don't. :D
 
Alright i was going to say if you were a constant and bad drinker i highly doubt your kidneys could take that much protein.

Hows your Cholesterol Levels?
 
Very low. My doctor told me I was at less than 100mg/dL..and that was about 4 months ago when I was eating terribly and exercising very infrequently or not at all. Please don't hate me, high-cholesterol-having people. :p
 
The way they say it, it seems to be linked more to an unbalanced diet (a large part of which is the saturated fat often found in red meat), than the red meat itself. I'd like to see a study done utilizing lean red meat as part of a balanced healthy diet.
 
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They are not talking about the fat. Did you read the article? they are talking about a compound known as N-nitrosocompounds,
Their suggesting these compounds combine with DNA, and alter it so that it is more likely to undergo mutations that increase the likelihood of cancer. Interesting study though again The idea behind it is as usual Moderation is key.
 
I did..twice. I didn't see them make any distinction between fatty and red meats or processed (another way of saying fatty, really, in this context), and red meats alone. Is this compound found specifically in red meat, or merely in meats high in low quality fats, is what I'm wondering. I like the direction it's taking...implying a balanced diet that's high in fiber and low in crap meat is the key, but I'd like to see some more detail as to what the compound is, and whether its formation is specific to eating red meat (which is implied, but not stated outright).

As well, what cuts (lean or fatty) of meat were used, and what was the cooking method employed? (I understand this makes a big difference).
 
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Nitrates converts to Nitrites and then interacts with amines in the digestive juices and or tissues to form nitrosamines which are HIGHLY and undoubtedly carcinogenic. Now im guessing that N-nitrosocompounds is simply another form of Nitrosamines. Although i have never read anything about this specific compound So I could be wrong here. Of course i highly doubt im wrong, I never am ;).
 
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I need to know, DW. :p

I don't want to be 50 and have cancer in my anus. :D


Yeah it doesn't seem very fun, My gramps has lived off a near all red meat diet for most of his life. the only reason he has lived this long is because hes always been physically active. Back to the point He now is quickly dieing of Colon Cancer. And he does not quite seem to be enjoying it. Of course the red meat is not the only reason however the type of red meat he ate is the worst possibly, So undoubtedly a contributor.
 
I just think if you google enough you can find somethign wrong with absolutely anything and sometimes you guys go a little overboard. But that's just my opinion, and definantly not stated with any bad intent.

Very true. I don't mind your kicking in to say I'm over-analyzing the crap out of the issue, haha. I clearly am. I'm already "just eating it", by the way..I'm hoping to see if anyone can throw some info my way that would change my mind. :)
 
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