When I ask my university students if they’re vegetarian or meat eaters at least two-thirds of the class claims to be vegetarian. But most of them admit to eating fish, poultry and dairy products. This wishful thinking is common to vegetarians. Even nutrition students are misinformed as avoiding red meat doesn’t make you a vegetarian… and it doesn’t make you any healthier either. Here’s the bottom line: If you follow a true “vegetarian” no-meat diet, you may be robbing your-self of three critical nutrients you need to stay healthy. Today I’ll show you how this happens and how you can avoid it.

I’ll also give you easy-to-follow guidelines for safely enjoying the kind of red meat your ancestors thrived on. On a Vegetarian Diet there’s a 93% Chance you’re Not Getting Enough Zinc By avoiding beef, you are over 7 times more likely to suffer a zinc deficiency and that’s bad news. As a mineral, zinc is second only to iron in concentration in the body as it helps in the production of hundreds of enzymes that are responsible for regulating your bodily functions. The prostate has the highest concentration of zinc in the body and a deficiency has been linked to inflammation of the prostate known as prostatitis.

Zinc also has many anti-aging benefits as it is essential for making superoxide dismutase (SOD), the most potent antioxidant that your body has. It also gives your skin a more youthful look and is essential for your body to use collagen which makes your skin more resilient and elastic – to fight off wrinkles and saggy skin. Zinc also keeps your vision sharp by transporting vitamin A to the retina, improving night vision and it protects retinal cells from free radical damage while helping to slow down the progression of age-related macular degeneration (AMD). Maintenance of both vitamin E and vitamin A in the blood, and Decrease the amount of copper absorbed Zinc deficiency is just the start of “veggie-only” dangers. There are two other critical nutrients you only get from red meat… Avoiding Beef Robs You of Energy … You’ve heard me talk about CoQ10 as this is vital to your heart’s survival. Every cell in your body uses CoQ10 for high-octane energy. And your heart needs massive amounts of energy to pump blood… around the clock…every day. I hope you’re paying attention, vegetarians, because red meat is the ONLY dietary source of heart-critical CoQ10.

In my own practice I see it all the time… vegetarians with critically low levels of this vital nutrient. CoQ10 is not only vital to your heart’s ability to pump blood, it’s essential to life itself. That’s because every single organ in your body uses CoQ10 to get the energy they need to function and if you don’t eat red meat, you’re not getting enough from your food. Period. …And Weakens Your Mind Here’s the third critical nutrient missing from vegetarian diets: Vitamin B12. The body uses B12 to create red blood cells. It also helps maintain the nervous system, and is critical for brain health. B12 forms a protective layer around the nerve cells in your brain. Without that protective layer your brain can’t function properly.

Deficiency can cause memory loss, “brain fog” or worse… not to mention anaemia and neuropathy where the degeneration of nerve fibres causes irreversible neurological damage. Even vegetarians admit that you can’t get reliable dietary sources of B12 from anything but animal sources like liver, fish, eggs and meat. Urban Legend versus Real Science Vegetarian ideas are not backed by real science. Many are simply myths or urban legends and some of them are dangerous. Here are a few examples: Animal fats cause heart disease – Studies have shown that the plaque in arteries that causes heart disease is mostly made of unsaturated fats, especially polyunsaturated ones (in vegetable oil), not the saturated fat of animals like vegetarians believe. In fact, the body needs saturated fats to be able to use other key nutrients, like fatty-acids and fat-soluble vitamins. Here’s another vegetarian slip-up: Vegetarians live longer and have more energy – This one is misleading… The reports of vegetarians living longer are likely due to the fact that most of them also choose to exercise, eat less junk food, and not smoke.

One massive study on heart disease by Russell Smith, PhD. showed that when the consumption of animal products increased, mortality rates decreased! Moreover, a study by Burr and Sweetnam in 1982, revealed that, although vegetarians did have a slightly lower (0.11%) rate of heart disease than meat eaters (again, probably due to other healthy choices), the overall death rate was much higher for vegetarians! In spite of the evidence, religious and politically correct groups continue to perpetuate the myth that meat-eating peoples have shorter life spans. Here’s a common vegetarian misconception I would find laughable if it weren’t for how tragic the results can be: You can get what you need by substituting meat and dairy with soy – Hello? Has anyone preaching the “vegetarian gospel” even read the facts? The fermented soy foods like miso, tamari, tempeh and natto are definitely healthful in certain amounts, but the superprocessed soy products that most vegetarians consume are not. This is because unfermented soy is high in phytic acid.

That’s an anti-nutrient that actually binds to minerals and carries them out of your body! Vegetarians are known for their tendency to be mineral deficient and the high grain and legume-based diet, which are full of phytates, is to blame. Just look at the nutrition of soy. Like all legumes it’s low in cysteine, methionine, and tryptophan, all vital amino acids. Worse, soybeans contain no vitamin A or D, both of which are needed by the body to absorb the beans’ proteins! Check this out. Here are three key nutrients the body needs for optimal health. This chart shows beef versus vegetarian sources. You be the judge. Vegetarian Foods Contain ZERO B12 and CoQ10 Vitamin B12 CoQ10Zinc Source: U.S. Department of Agriculture; Iowa State University