Meat Recipes

We love meat recipes. In fact, many of us crave it and often eat too much meat. But it's not all our fault--we were programmed that way.

Meat Scarcity Breeds Craving

When we were all hunter-gatherers, the hardest food type to obtain was meat. And it contains, ounce for ounce, more food energy than other types of food. Sure, you can get protein in legumes and fat in nuts, but the protein and fat in meat recipes is instantly accessible and there's more of it per bite.

Oh, sure, now we get too much fat in our diets. But when meat was something you had to hunt to obtain, fat was important. A layer of fat on your body might mean you would survive a particularly hard winter when leaner people might not. In fact, in many 'less civilized' societies, a heavier person is considered more attractive than today's model-thin types because it is a sign of wealth.

Enjoy

So now that we're all, by hunter-gatherer standards, immeasurably wealthy, many of us over-indulge in our craving for this high energy protein source.

How can we enjoy it without ruining our health? For one, follow the example of societies where the people are predominantly lean. Enjoy meat recipes for the flavor but use rice, vegetables, and fruits to create the bulk of your consumption. Study Asian cuisines-- Vietnamese dishes, for instance, are very yummy and provide enough meat to satisfy your paleolithic cravings, yet you fill up on the rice noodles and slivered veggies.

Also, try highly spiced cuisines, such as Thai and Korean. There has been recent evidence proving that certain ingredients found in hot peppers can cause a small increase in your metabolism, and if you are a sedentary office worker, any increase in metabolism is bound to help you with weight control.