Is It Healthy? Dairy, Butter, Eggs, Red Meat, And Chocolate.
“Tell me what you eat, and I will tell you what you are.”
Are these foods really unhealthy?
I’m freaking out. I have nothing left to eat.
Let’s not get ahead ourselves. Here’s how I got into this mess.
13 years old. I’m hardly sure where babies come from, let alone how to eat healthy. I start with the obvious, calories. Lower’s gotta be better, right? The fewer calories I eat, the healthier I’ll be?
Nope. Turns out I was way off. Calories are just a small part of the equation, and less is never more. Back to the drawing board.
18, I gain my first few chest hairs and hopefully a few nuggets of wisdom. I just learned that fruits and vegetables are carbs, and also that carbs are bad. Carbs make you gain fat because of insulin and blood sugar and belly fat and, of course, because bread is a temptation concocted by the devil to lure you into the depths of Hell.
Wrong again! Carbs are vital for energy and performance. They don’t cause fat gain and gluten isn’t harmful unless you’re allergic. Let’s try this again.
26, my hair is turning gray from the stress. I’ve tried it all to no avail.
Keto
Carnivore*
Paleo
Vegan*
Vegetarian
Pescatarian
Mediterranean
Fasting
Every time I try to eat healthy, I’m told I’m doing it all wrong. Books, research papers, the news, instagram, fake doctors, real doctors.
One by one - sugar, eggs, meat, fats, carbs, protein, fruit, even vegetables - are knocked off the “healthy list” for one reason or another. If you trust enough of these sources for enough time - like I once did - you’ll have no healthy foods left.
Everywhere you look, conflicting information smacks you in the face like a wrench from Patches O’Houlihan.
Too much protein, too little protein, too much sugar, too little fat, too many animal products, too little vegetables, and far too many “too littles” and “too manys.”
I’ve got to be honest, I have no idea. Nobody does. That’s why I’m never going to tell you how to eat. I know it’ll just make you agitated, and I like you. Agitated is the last thing I want you to be.
Instead, I’m going to give you the power. I want to make nutrition as simple as possible so you can enjoy your food and - perhaps more importantly - your life.
Here’s my plan, step by step:
Step 1 - You kick your feet up and finish the first season of House of Dragon.
Step 2 - I put in work, spending hours to research what foods are healthy and why.
Step 3 - I type it up in an article that’s as easy to digest as possible (and flirts with the threshold of too many dumb jokes).
Step 4 - You read and apply what you’ve learned. You live a healthy, fulfilling life.
Step 5 - We high five and you let me know what you think of that season finale.
I’m going to tell you everything you need to know about 5 polarizing foods:
Dairy (excluding butter)
Butter (including butter)
Eggs
Red meat
Chocolate
I chose these 5 because they’re hotly debated. Some promise they’re healthy while others threaten they’re worse than that satanic slice of bread.
Fun spoiler alert - I’m going to tell you why four out of five of these foods are perfectly healthy.
*(Okay, I’ll admit it. I’ve never tried carnivore or vegan, but I can imagine it, and they’re both horrible).
Is dairy bad for you?
Dairy gets a bad rap. Gurus claim that it increases inflammation, causes acne, and “it’s just not natural to consume the milk of another animal, you sick freak.”
Despite what you’ve heard, dairy has consistently been linked with positive health outcomes. This 26-study meta analysis by O’Sullivan et al. found that high consumption of full fat dairy products - milk, cheese, yogurt, and butter - was not linked with an increased risk of death (1).
Even though they’re both high in saturated fat, full fat yogurt and cheese do not seem to negatively affect cholesterol levels or blood pressure. Plus, yogurt, cheese, and other fermented dairy products have been shown to have a protective effect against cardiovascular disease and diabetes (2).
This excerpt sums it up nicely. After assessing high-level meta-analyses (a study that evaluates other studies), Hirahatake et al. concluded:
“Emerging evidence shows that the consumption of full-fat dairy foods has a neutral or inverse association with adverse cardiometabolic health outcomes, including atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, and associated risk factors. Thus, although low-fat dairy is a practical, practice-based recommendation, its superiority compared with full-fat dairy is not obviously supported by results from recent prospective cohort studies or intervention trials.” (3)
Consuming a substance that came out of an utter is a bit weird when you really think about, but that doesn’t change the facts. Plus, a little weird never hurt anybody, right?
All in all, the majority of research supports that full fat dairy - despite its saturated fat content and utter origin - is a healthy choice.
Is butter bad for you?
Yes, I know butter is technically considered dairy. Yet it appears to have different health effects than milk, yogurt, cheese, or other dairy products, so it gets its own category.
The evidence is clear and you butter be sitting down for this. All signs point to the fact that butter is not a health food.
The reason that too much butter is not good for you boils down to its effect on LDL (“bad”) cholesterol. Although cheese and even cream have neutral effects on your cholesterol levels, butter has been shown time and time again to increase LDL levels.
Even worse, butter appears to (WARNING, technical jargon in-coming) increase the ratio of apolipoprotein B to apolipoprotein A1. All you need to know is that raising LDL and raising this Apo B/Apo A1 ratio increases risk of heart disease.
If you’re thinking, “Aren’t cream and butter basically the same thing? Why don’t they have similar effects?”, you’re not alone.
Dr. Rosqvist wondered the same thing and devoted an entire study to find out the answer (4). He theorized that cream has less of a negative effect on cholesterol than butter because it contains a higher amount of “milk fat globule membrane.” Milk fat globule membrane has been shown to have protective health effects that may prevent the increase in LDL seen with high butter consumption.
The churning process, which converts cream into butter, actually removes the protective milk fat globule membrane in butter and renders it more detrimental to heart health.
Again, this doesn’t mean you need to make butterfly and throw your Land Lakes out of the window.
The researchers have spoken, though. They agree that you should moderate your butter intake because eating too much will likely increase your risk of heart disease.
Are eggs bad for you?
Eggs are high in saturated fat and cholesterol, they must be an artery clogging menace, right? Not so fast.
The primary form of fat in eggs is monounsaturated, not saturated. Specifically, eggs contain a high amount of oleic acid, the same heart healthy fat found in olive oil.
And even though a single egg contains about 100% of the daily recommended amount of cholesterol, the concept that the cholesterol you eat has a significant effect on the cholesterol levels in your body has been debunked. If you don’t believe me, refer to the USDA and its list of “nutrients of concern for overconsumption”, from which it has recently removed dietary cholesterol.
Multiple meta-analyses, including this one by Mah et al., have found that high egg consumption is not linked with an increased risk of cardiovascular disease (although the link was not clear in those with Type 2 diabetes) (5).
Even more eggcellant, this controlled study by Fuller et al. found that - at 3 months, 6 months, and 1 year follow ups - there was no difference in cardiovascular risk factors, including cholesterol levels, between those that ate more than 12 eggs/week and those that ate less than 2 eggs/week (6).
If you have diabetes or are a “hyper-responder”, i.e. someone that has a more significant negative cholesterol level response to eggs, you may need to take more caution than the average Joe. For most, eggs are safe and a healthy source of protein, fat, and “super” micronutrients like zinc, vitamin d, lutein, and zeaxanthin.
Is red meat bad for you?
It is clear that eating high amounts of highly processed red meat - sausage, bacon, hot dogs, etc. - does not have beneficial health effects. That said, the jury is out on less processed meats like steak or lean ground beef.
Here’s the short answer. The experts aren’t sure how much of an impact high consumption of minimally processed red meat has on your health.
Here’s the long answer. In the context of an overall healthy diet high in fruits and vegetables, it appears that moderate red meat consumption has a neutral to positive effect on health.
Although red meat has been indirectly linked to increased cancer risk, specifically colorectal cancer, the reason is unclear.
Red meat is high in N-nitroso compounds, heterocyclic aromatic amines, and heme iron. Until, recently, the thought was these compounds were responsible for the link between red meat and cancer.
We now know the evidence behind that link is weak, according to Kruger and Zhou, who found that these compounds do not “contribute to an increased risk of promotion of preneoplasia or colon cancer at usual dietary intakes of red meat in the context of a normal diet.” (7)
Plus, this study from Maxmimova et al. found that a high intake of fruits and vegetables largely negated any increased cancer risk from a high intake of red meat (8).
Finally (and most eye-poppingly!), this meta analysis of randomized controlled trials (the pinnacle on the hierarchy of evidence) from O’Connor et al. found no negative differences between those that consumed 1-1.9, 2-2,9, or >3 servings of red meat per day (9).
The meat and potatoes of it all - the majority of evidence supports the health benefits of eating lean, minimally processed red meat in the context of an overall healthy diet.
Is chocolate bad for you?
Chocolate - dark, not the Reese’s or Hershey’s variety - has consistently been shown to have a number of positive health effects. Dark chocolate consumption lowers “bad” LDL cholesterol and reduces blood pressure. It also lowers risk of diabetes, stroke, and heart disease.
Just like eggs, it contains heart-healthy oleic acid and also contains a ton of health promoting compounds. Dark chocolate is high in:
Polyphenols (antioxidants), including catechins, anthocyanins, and proanthocyanidins
Magnesium
Potassium
Copper
Zinc
These compounds have been shown to improve endothelial function, an integral component of vascular health. This meta analysis from Ebaditabar et al. found that dark chocolate increases “flow mediated dilation”, improving cardiovascular health (10).
Overall, dark chocolate consumption has been shown to:
Lower “bad” LDL cholesterol
Reduce blood pressure
Decrease risk of heart disease and stroke
Improve blood sugar control
Boost brain health
Reduce inflammation
Improve mood
How can a food that offers all of those benefits not be considered healthy?
What should you eat?
Am I the first fitness professional to tell you that dairy, eggs, red meat, and chocolate might actually be good for you?
I hope not. But if I am, let this article be a refreshing reminder of two things:
1. You can’t believe everything you see. - Especially if it pertains to fitness and nutrition. There is way too much nonsense out there. Curate your sources of information and choose trusted, reputable sources.
If you don’t know where to look, here are a few of my favorites:
2. “Good” and “bad” foods don’t exist. - Even though butter, for example, seems to have negative health effects when eaten in excess, there’s no need to cut it out. If butter - or any other “unhealthy” food - is the sole reason you get out of bed in the morning, don’t fret. You can enjoy in moderation and still reach your health goals.
While we’re on the topic of you reaching your health goals, this article is a perfect encapsulation of my coaching philosophy.
Through helping hundreds of people get in the best shape of their lives, I’ve teased out what works (and what doesn’t) Here’s a hint - my approach focuses on sustainable, enjoyable habit change without unnecessary restriction or misery. For most, once they learn the system, making progress becomes effortless.
Don’t take it from me - the results speak for themselves! My clients get results, fast, and they’d love to tell you about it.
To learn more working with me, take 3 minutes to fill out this form. What are you waiting for? You can start your transformation today.
*A lot of the research cited and takeaways were first presented by Alan Aragon in the dietary fat chapter of his book, Flexible Dieting: A Science-Based, Reality-Tested Method for Achieving and Maintaining Your Optimal Physique, Performance & Health. The book (and all of Alan Aragon’s work) is a terrific resource for evidence-based nutrition information.
Sources:
GIF Sources (giphy.com): Patches Utter Andy Paula Frank Kevin Chocolate
