What’s wrong with chicken?

Yep, that’s right, we are limiting our chicken intake. Well, let’s clarify that! Chicken soup does and will always have a special place at the table. For many of us, chicken soup is the cure for anything from a broken heart to the flu, so who could argue that? But, as part of the regular diet, not so much! And we encourage you to partake if you must, but here is the latest take on our feathered friends:

Limit Chicken because… John’s research has allowed him to more accurate assess inflammation as one of three possible scenarios:
1. chronic infections (this is why gum disease is so deadly for heart disease development and advancement, this is why brain disorders are accelerated by herpes virus, Lyme’s disease, and pneumonia)
2. problematic proteins such as gluten and casein from Holsteins, as well as the lectins found in many grains, beans, and nuts/seeds.
3. An elevated ratio of omega 6 fatty acids to omega 3 fats. Drum roll… enter a plump grain-fed chicken, in fact even an organic, pasture-raised bird of the highest quality.

It is impossible to produce chicken, or turkey for that matter – commercially – without the use of grains and/or legumes such as soybeans. These birds are in need of the energy/protein that requires supplemental feed rations. These grains, even the best grains like Vermont’s Green Mountain Organic Feeds, which test for aflatoxins and offer soy-free feeds, are all way high on their omega 6 content. The end result is a meat (and whatever fat you decide to eat from the bird) that will contribute to greater levels of inflammation because it has just too much omega 6 fat content.

I have had chickens since I was a kid and I know that whenever we would offer our chickens a “cleanse” (they complained less than most cleansers) by stopping grain feedings for awhile to give their GI and parasite levels a change, they would stop laying. In the past few years, I have repeated these experiments with both our meat birds and our layers. The same results, no eggs, no weight gain.  They became very resourceful after just a few days, eating more ticks and even acorns, but when we slaughtered the meat birds there wasn’t much meat there and you would never find a market for these emaciated little fellows in the US.

Therefore, as we look at the food-scape we have to work with, only wild fish and 100% grass-fed meat actually fit our criteria for the desirable omega 6 to omega 3 ratio of 2:1 or less.  This is also why we are in favor of eating less highly polyunsaturated fat-rich nuts and seeds like Brazil nuts, sunflower seeds, and walnuts. Some are ok, so long as they are mold free, but too many creates an enormous potential for inflammation and increased liver work load/detoxification.