Chapter 13 The Meat Chapter

Chapter 13 — Eat Like We're Building a Brain

To talk about cooking with meat is to talk about a profound, ancient relationship—a cycle of life flowing from soil to pasture to plate, from which we emerge and to which we return. For too long, the conversation has been polarized: eating meat is cruel, not eating it the only ethical path. But the reality is both simpler and more essential: we need animals, and animals need us.

The land provides nutrients, but not always in forms we can use. We cannot digest the grasses that carpet the earth, yet those grasses contain the nutrients that sustain all life. This is where animals perform their unique, transformative magic.

Animals are the alchemists of the food chain, converting what we cannot digest into the most concentrated forms of nutrition available to us. Through meat, we access:

• Vitamin B12 – Critical for nerve function and blood formation, virtually impossible to obtain naturally outside of animal products.

• Heme Iron – The most bioavailable form of iron, essential for carrying oxygen in our blood—especially crucial during pregnancy and early childhood.

• Complete Proteins – The perfect amino acid profile required for building and repairing every cell in our bodies.

• Long-Chain Omega-3s – Crucial for brain development and inflammation regulation.

When you see it this way, bypassing these ancient, dependable sources seems like an unnecessary handicap. While meeting nutritional needs without animal foods is technically possible, it demands meticulous planning and supplements often derived from organisms that are, arguably, quite animal-like themselves. For many families, incorporating ethical meat doesn't just make nutrition manageable—it makes thriving easier.

Many choose vegetarianism to protest animal mistreatment. This is honorable, but it misses a critical truth: to truly care for animals is to ensure they exist at all. In our modern economy, the most powerful incentive for a farmer to dedicate land and resources to raising animals is profitability. When we support well-managed, regenerative farms, we create demand for the most important work—providing the real food we need while healing the land that sustains us all.

This matters beyond our plates. Thoughtful animal husbandry prevents the conversion of grasslands into barren wastelands or industrial monocrops. It protects forests from being cleared. It rebuilds topsoil—the same soil that bison created over millennia, six feet deep, which we're now depleting at alarming rates. The highest expression of care for domesticated animals is guaranteeing their continued, well-tended presence on Earth.

We should recognize the value of all life—the intelligence of an octopus, the communication networks of trees, the essential work of algae. But this is also true: for us to eat, something must die. Period. Every blade of spinach, every sprout. Mother trees send nutrients to saplings and relay warnings about threats. Plants respond to their world just as we do. We have the ability to move and choose what we eat, but like plants, we also need water, nutrients, and sunlight.

By choosing to eat thoughtfully and responsibly, we support a vital system that sustains the land, the animals, and ourselves—a system we are part of, not separate from.

The Middle Path (No Extremes Required)

Some people go all meat. Others do no meat at all. I like to be somewhere in the middle.

Just a little of the good stuff, and so much is taken care of. This doesn't have to be about counting calories or meticulous portions—just eat until full. The better the food, the less you need.

When you're eating nutrient-dense whole foods—pastured eggs, wild salmon, grass-fed beef, loads of colorful vegetables—your body gets what it needs and signals satisfaction naturally. You're not left searching the pantry an hour later because you're still nutritionally starved despite being calorically full.

The optimal template:

• About 75% plants (vegetables, fruits, some resistant starches)

• 15–20% animal foods (eggs, fish, poultry, red meat rotated)

• 5–10% fats (olive oil, avocado, nuts, seeds)

This covers micronutrients and protein without turning you into a full-time nutritionist.

The Nutrient Density Argument (Why Red Meat Simplifies Everything)

Here's the honest truth: you can get all essential nutrients without red meat, but it requires significantly more planning, combining, and often supplementation.

Red meat is a concentrated, bioavailable package of nutrients that are either absent from plants or present in forms that are much harder for our bodies to use.

What red meat gives you automatically:

• Heme Iron – Best absorbed form. Plant iron requires vitamin C pairing and still absorbs poorly.

• Vitamin B12 – Exclusively in animal foods. Without it, you must supplement. No debate.

• Creatine – Muscle energy, cognitive function. Not in plants.

• Carnosine – Antioxidant, anti-aging. Rich in meat, minimal in plants.

• Taurine – Heart function, brain development. Naturally present in meat, barely in plants.

• Zinc – Well absorbed from meat. Plant zinc is bound by compounds that block absorption.

• Complete Amino Acids – Perfectly balanced, immediately usable. Plants require combining.

With red meat two to three times per week, palm-sized portions, you automatically get optimal levels of these nutrients. No combining required. No supplementation needed for these specific nutrients. Your body can use them immediately in their most bioavailable forms.

Without red meat, you must supplement B12, carefully pair plant iron sources with vitamin C, possibly supplement creatine and taurine for optimal function, soak or sprout legumes and grains for zinc, and combine complementary plant proteins at most meals.

It's possible, but it's work. And for growing children, pregnant women, athletes, and anyone healing from illness or injury, the margin for error is much smaller.

When Red Meat Matters Most

Pregnancy and breastfeeding – Iron and B12 demands skyrocket. Heme iron prevents anemia without constipation.

Growing children – Brain development requires optimal zinc, B12, iron, complete amino acids. Deficiencies show up as developmental delays.

Teenagers – Rapid growth, hormonal changes, athletic demands. This is not the time to restrict bioavailable nutrition.

Athletes – Creatine and carnosine support performance. Taurine supports recovery. Complete amino acids build and repair tissue.

Aging adults – Absorption declines. Getting nutrients from food becomes harder. Concentrated sources matter more.

The Supplement Reality Check

Some people say, "Just supplement what's missing!" But here's the problem:

Supplements are isolated compounds, not whole foods. You miss the cofactors, the synergistic compounds, the matrix that makes nutrients work together.

Bioavailability varies wildly. B12 supplements work well. Iron supplements cause constipation and aren't absorbed as well as heme iron.

It adds up financially. Quality B12, iron, zinc, creatine, taurine supplements can cost fifty to a hundred dollars a month. A few servings of grass-fed beef per week costs about the same and comes with dozens of other beneficial compounds.

It requires perfect compliance. Miss your B12 for a few months? You can develop neurological symptoms. Kids won't reliably take multiple supplements daily.

For people who choose plant-based diets for ethical or environmental reasons, supplementation makes sense as a bridge. But pretending it's nutritionally equivalent to eating small amounts of well-raised animals is not accurate.

The Takeaway

You don't need red meat every day. But including it two to three times per week, from regenerative sources, in modest portions, alongside abundant plants, makes optimal nutrition effortless rather than effortful.

That's not propaganda. That's biochemistry.

Tools That Remove Stress (Our Real-Life Setup)

In our house, he gravitates to the meat; I load the vegetables. Stereotype or not, it works because we have a system:

• Instant-read thermometer (confidence > guessing)

• Air fryer (weeknight hero)

• Blackstone griddle or cast-iron (fast sear, easy cleanup)

• Good tongs + metal spatula

Meat Meets Color (Your Rainbow Pairing Map)

• Red: Beef + roasted red peppers/tomatoes/strawberries $\rightarrow$ lycopene + vitamin C for iron absorption

• Orange: Pork + squash or carrot-ginger mash $\rightarrow$ beta-carotene, gut-soothing

• Yellow: Chicken + lemony summer squash, turmeric onions

• Green: Lamb + minty peas/garlicky beans/arugula $\rightarrow$ bitters support digestion

• Blue/Purple: Salmon + purple cabbage slaw/blueberries + lime $\rightarrow$ polyphenols for brain health

• White/Tan: Trout + cauliflower mash/garlic mushrooms $\rightarrow$ sulfur compounds, immune support

Seasonal rule of thumb: What's gorgeous and affordable at the market is what your body wants now.

Iron, Energy & Kids' Menus (Real Talk)

Iron deficiency is common—menstruating folks, athletes, kids living on beige "kid menu" foods.

Your boringly effective fix:

• Include heme iron (beef, lamb, dark poultry, sardines, shellfish) a few times/week

• Add vitamin C at the same meal (strawberries, citrus, bell peppers, broccoli, tomatoes)

• Cook in cast-iron sometimes (it really does add iron to food)

• Keep portions modest—consistency > megadoses

The choline from eggs, the iron in meat for growing children's brains, the salmon roe that research shows is incredibly beneficial for baby brain development—these aren't luxuries. They're foundational.

About Grains & "Fillers"

As Lily Nichols argues in Real Food for Pregnancy (which I recommend to EVERY SINGLE HUMAN), many refined grains/pastas act like volume without value.

Not "bad," just unnecessary if you're chasing nutrient density. In fact, many of the carbs that made up the biggest bottom rung of the food pyramid I grew up on can actually interfere with absorption of certain nutrients rather than providing any boost. They displace the foods that actually matter.

Use them as occasional vessels, not the base layer of every meal. If you follow Lily's advice and just had meat (small portions) and vegetables (big portions), our bodies would be so happy.

Processed vs. Unprocessed (Keep It Simple)

Processed meats (most deli, bacon, hot dogs, pepperoni): Limit or skip entirely. Curing/smoking can form compounds you don't want often.

It has even been studied that lunch meats—those stable at room temperature especially, but any of those deli meats pumped with salt and preservatives—may be one of the triggers for immune issues like celiac disease to develop.

Celiac disease, an autoimmune reaction to gluten, is said to require a specific genetic predisposition. However, it has exploded in recent decades—whether through better diagnosis or because our modern diets have created a perfect storm that triggers genetic expression that makes some bodies reject gluten entirely.

Nitrates and nitrites in processed meats seem to be particularly problematic. These preservatives have been linked not just to cancer risk but to disrupting gut barrier function and triggering autoimmune responses. When you eat processed meats regularly, especially the heavily preserved shelf-stable varieties, you're exposing your gut lining to compounds that can:

• Damage the intestinal barrier (contributing to "leaky gut")

• Trigger inflammatory cascades

• Potentially activate autoimmune processes in genetically susceptible people

• Alter the gut microbiome in ways that promote inflammation

For children—whose immune systems and gut barriers are still developing—this is even more concerning. Their bodies are forming the patterns that will last a lifetime.

Skip processed meats if you can. Especially not for your kids.

Instead of:

• Deli turkey or ham sandwiches

• Pepperoni pizza

• Hot dogs

• Breakfast sausage links

• Pre-packaged lunch meat

Choose:

• Leftover roasted chicken (slice it yourself)

• Hard-boiled eggs (portable protein)

• Canned wild salmon or sardines

• Homemade meatballs (freeze in batches)

• Rotisserie chicken (real, whole chicken—not processed)

Unprocessed meats: Fit them into a plant-rich pattern. Dr. Rhonda Patrick's research shows that pairing red meat with vegetables, fiber, and even resistant starch from cooled potatoes/rice/beans supports a healthier overall picture. One study showed that eating red meat increased a biomarker linked to cancer development—but consuming 40g of resistant starch with the red meat completely negated this effect.

Road-Trip Protein (Our Family Hack)

Everyone in our family loves wild-caught salmon. Best deli-counter grab when you're traveling: wild-caught smoked salmon + good crackers/vegetables.

Skip it totally if it's farm-raised—due to those dramatic omega-3 differences. Wild-caught salmon has an omega-3 to omega-6 ratio that's anti-inflammatory and brain-supporting. Farm-raised salmon, fed soy and corn, has the opposite ratio—they go from helpful to harmful.

It's minimally processed, packs brain-fats and protein, and kids actually like it. Even my boys eat it straight up.

Pro tip: Keep a camping knife or pocket knife in your car. Those packages are incredibly hard to open, and you'll be wrestling with thick plastic in a parking lot otherwise.

Fish Roe & Cod-Liver Oil (The Concentrated Corner)

My Pregnancy Protocol (And Why Everyone Should Steal It)

For every day while my children were in my tummy, I ate wild-caught salmon roe on avocado toast.

The studies show children whose mothers consumed high-DHA foods during pregnancy tend to be happier, healthier, more resilient across so many developmental markers—better cognitive function, improved emotional regulation, stronger immune systems, better vision.

I happen to love the flavor—that salty, oceanic pop is genuinely delicious to me. But I understand if someone doesn't like fish.

If so, I also would take a gulp of cod liver oil—something we should all be doing, pregnant or not. Some companies make versions with cinnamon butter flavor that masks the fishy smell fully (Carlson's is a good one).

It's one of those things worth tolerating for 9 months if you're pregnant, but honestly, if you can add it to your regular routine, these are the pregnancy hacks we should all be taking advantage of every single day—whether you're building a baby or just maintaining your own brain.

Why Salmon Roe is Extraordinary

Dr. Rhonda Patrick, a biochemist who researches nutrition and aging, recommends wild salmon roe during pregnancy for a fascinating reason: its DHA (docosahexaenoic acid) is in a phospholipid form that is absorbed 10 times more efficiently by the developing fetal brain than other forms.

• Phospholipid DHA: Salmon roe contains DHA in the exact form that builds brain cell membranes—making it immediately usable for the developing brain and eyes.

• Critical timing: During the third trimester, a baby's brain triples in weight. This rapid growth demands concentrated DHA to fuel neuron development and synapse formation.

• Structural building block: DHA is a major component of brain tissue itself—not just helpful, but structurally essential.

Why Cod Liver Oil Specifically

Unlike regular fish oil, cod liver oil provides:

• EPA and DHA (omega-3s for brain)

• Vitamin A (true retinol, essential for fetal development and vision)

• Vitamin D (crucial for immune function and bone development)

All three nutrients are commonly deficient in modern diets, and all three are critical during pregnancy—but also during childhood, adolescence, and throughout life.

The Middle Path (No Extremes Required)

Some people go kind of crazy and eat all meat. Others do no meat at all. I like to be somewhere in the middle.

Just a little of the good stuff, and so much is taken care of. This doesn't have to be about counting calories or meticulous portions—just eat until full. The better the food, the less you need.

When you're eating nutrient-dense whole foods—pastured eggs, wild salmon, grass-fed beef, loads of colorful vegetables—your body gets what it needs and signals satisfaction naturally. You're not left searching the pantry an hour later because you're still nutritionally starved despite being calorically full.

The optimal template:

• ~75% plants (vegetables, fruits, some resistant starches)

• 15–20% animal foods (eggs, fish, poultry, red meat rotated)

• 5–10% fats (olive oil, avocado, nuts, seeds)

This covers micronutrients and protein without turning you into a full-time nutritionist.

The Bottom Line

We believe in eating meat. We think it's essential—especially for growing brains. We also believe in giving animals good lives, supporting regenerative farms, and buying as local as possible.

That's the whole point: let's eat as if we're building a brain—because, in every body at your table, we are. Every brain has cells turning every minute of the day. Even if we are not physically GROWING anymore, we are all regenerating new cells at every single moment.

We believe in eating meat. We think it's essential—especially for growing brains. We also believe in giving animals good lives, supporting regenerative farms, and buying as local as possible.

That's the whole point: let's eat as if we're building a brain—because, in every body at your table, we are. Every brain has cells turning every minute of the day. Even if we are not physically GROWING anymore, we are all regenerating new cells at every single moment.

Do what your body wants you to do. If that means not to eat meat, for WHATEVER reason, then don’t!

Air Fyer Chicken

Pre-marinated from a Local butcher.

I am very picky when it comes to chicken. I just thought I didn’t like it, until I finally started getting pasture raised boogey chickens. It is surprisingly hard to find a butcher who treats their chickens well- but if you can find them, like Olivier’s in San Francisco, I just get their pre-marinated kind, and throw in the air fryer for 20 minutes. I check with a meat thermometer, and ensure it is cooked to 165F. I LOVE chicken now. Since I moved to the east bay, I sometimes need to order frozen to get the kind I like. Marinate chicken for at least 20–30 minutes, or up to 4 hours.

Here are just a few options:

• Green goddess marinade for chicken, blend fresh herbs (parsley, chives, basil, mint, and/or tarragon), Greek yogurt (or mayonnaise/buttermilk), lemon juice, garlic, and anchovy fillets into a smooth mixture

  • 1/4 cup fresh EACH: parsley, chives, basil, dill, 1 large garlic clove

  • 1/4 cup distilled white vinegar, 1 1/2 tablespoons lemon juice, 1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil

  • 1/2 cup mayonnaise (or Greek yogurt), 1 1/2 teaspoons honey (optional)

• Chipotle orange marinade combines chipotle peppers in adobo sauce, orange juice, garlic, olive oil, and honey. Cumin, salt, and pepper are also common. Here is a sample recipe:

  • 4 chipotle chiles in adobo sauce, roughly chopped, ¼ cup orange juice (fresh)

  • 2 Tbsp olive oil, 2 cloves garlic, roughly chopped, 1 Tbsp honey (or brown sugar),

  • ¼ tsp ground cumin, 1 Tbsp adobo sauce (from the can of chipotles)

  • Optional: 1 Tbsp fresh lime juice or 1 tsp orange zest for extra citrus flavor

• Herbs de Provence chicken marinade: olive oil, lemon juice, and any herbs de Provence blend. You can also add minced garlic, Dijon mustard, or balsamic vinegar.

Steak

Ingredients:

• 2 large steaks

• 3 tablespoons butter

• 1 Tbs 21 Seasoning Solute

• a pinch of salt

• frozen potato cubes

• green beans or brocolini

My husband should get a referral for blacktop grills. He and his guy friends have a text thread of all their recipes. For a fraction of the cost of a real grill, the cast iron top can be such a fun place to spruce up your meat and veggie dishes.

steak, per my husband’s instructions:

Take the steak out of the fridge, and place in a glass bowl. Pat dry, and douse with oil and salt and an herb blend. I like the Trader Joe's 21 seasoning salute.

• Let it sit like this long enough, 45 minutes or so, so it can come closer to room temp.

• Cook it with a two-part process. I like doing what’s called the “Reverse sear”. A slow roast, then a sear.

  • Roast it at 200 degrees F in the air fryer for 10-20 minutes, until the meat comes to about 100 degrees F. This is a good temperature to reach if you are going to sear it after.

  • Then transfer them to a grill or stove top. I like a cast iron base, searing them a couple minutes on each side. This usually brings them up to about 125 to 130 degrees F.

• Take the steaks off off the heat. Let them sit for 10 minutes. This lets the juices absorb into the meat. It is important NOT to cut into them before that 10 minutes is up, or you lose all your juices.

• While the meat is cooking, and the cast iron is hot, use the time to sear some vegetables and potatoes. We like to always have something green. And we all like potatoes.

  • We like the organic chopped frozen sweet potato cubes, the ones without any seed oils. Same for sliced potatoes to make our own fries.

  • Sometimes we like to do green beans, or brocollini, or even brocolli cut into long, skinny strips. For the green beans, I slow sauté them in a large pan with a lid. Add little oil, butter, some seasoning, same stuff. I give them a sear, then add in a some bone broth and cover the pan and simmer it until they get really soft.

Blackstone Burgers

We love ground bison as our ground meat of choice. But go with the best sourced version you can find.

Burgers can be covered by Greens too! Not just surrounded by plates of #yellowfood.

Ingredients":

• 1 lb ground bison

• 1 Tbs 21 Herbs blend

• Butter

• Large Lettuce Leaves

• Many veggies for grill, like potatoes and sliced brocollini

• lots of oil and butter, ready to spread onto the burgers

• Helpful: flat iron or heavy thing to smash the burgers down.

• lettuce for the wrap

• ketchup

• sliced onions, grilled

Directions

Take the meat out, and separated them onto separate burger sized balls, divided onto individual wax paper sheets so you don't have to touch them while you're cooking. Cover them with butter and avocado oil and salt and pepper and the same 21 seasoning salute.

• When the black top's heating up, heat the potatoes on the side.

• One the stove top or griddle is hot, then take the balls of meat back out and throw it on the flat top. It can still be in the shape of a ball.

• I pat it a little bit down with the spatula so that it starts squishing a little bit, and then I cover it with oil again and start to smash it, squish it down. And even if you go, like, you think you've gone too hard, it's usually still okay.

• After super flat, I cook them for about two minutes each side.

• Then you make a little conveyor belt order. Once you flip the first one to its second side, you throw the second one down on its first side, and then you kind of keep them going. I keep the butter and oil handy so you can keep adding it with every flip.

• For the bun, we like to make them “protein style” like In N Out calls them- wrapped in lettuce. Get a big crunchy leaf, or a bunch of them, and layer with all your favorite burger condiments. Here we placed it on a bed of cooked down spinach, onion, and sweet potato fries.