It is important to understand that there is no one healing diet that is going to work for everyone. Each individual person is going to react differently to certain foods and there are several different dietary approaches that can bring about healing success. With the vegans and the keto eaters at each other’s throats as they attempt to validate their respective outlooks, I think that we should all take a step back from the bickering and seek to gain a better collective understanding of the impact that eating meat can have on our health.

So, does meat trigger psoriasis? Although my simple answer would be “no”, the answer to this question depends on a few different factors such as meat quality and how the meat fits into your personal dietary approach. At the end of the day, this is a matter of eating high quality food and utilizing a macronutrient conscious approach that demonstrates an understanding of the principles of food combining. Well-sourced animal products can prove to be extremely nutritious whole foods. This blog post is intended to assist you in learning how to best incorporate meat into your personal diet to ensure healing success.

Meat quality

The first thing you should consider when it comes to meat consumption, is the quality of the meat. Making the extra effort to buy well sourced organic foods is an important aspect of nutrition in general and meat is no different. In this world that we live in, much of the food that is made available to us has been tampered with to the point that the nutritional value has been greatly compromised. By making the decision to purchase and consume well sourced meat products, you are making a powerful decision in terms of nourishing your body and giving it what it needs in order to heal and thrive.

One of the biggest issues with the meat farming industry is the use of added hormones and antibiotics. Fortunately, there has recently been an incline in demand for meat raised without any added hormones or antibiotics. This trend is likely to continue as people are becoming more conscious about meat quality and the impact that it has on their health.

Another thing to consider is what the animals are being fed. Although chickens and turkeys are typically fed a wider range of foods, beef is healthiest when they strictly consume grass or veg. One is example of the importance of this the omega 3 content in grass fed vs. grain fed beef. While grass fed products are high in the ever-important omega 3 fats and low in the inflammatory omega 6 fats, grain fed beef is just the opposite as they are higher in omega 6 than omega 3.

If you’re looking for high quality animal products, opt for grass fed beef or chicken or turkey that has been raised without added hormones or antibiotics (ideally pasture raised). This information will likely be in plain site. Well-sourced products are typically very “vocal” about their quality. These options may be a little pricier than your typical farmed animals. With that in mind, you really are getting what you pay for.

Your dietary approach

This is where it gets rather tricky for some people. Although meat is an extremely nutritious food source that is an important part of a healthy diet, the type and quantity of meat that you can successfully include in your psoriasis healing diet depends on the overall picture of your diet. I wish the key to skin healing was to simply eat only whole unrefined foods and avoid everything else. Although this is an important aspect of healing, it will likely not get you very far unless you compliment this principle with a macronutrient conscious plan.

There are two general dietary approaches that work well for people in terms of healing their skin issues. These two approaches are high fat/low carb and high carb/low fat. If you want to heal, the last thing you want to do is eat a diet that is high in fats and carbs at the same time. This combination was likely a contributing factor to your skin problems developing in the first place.

The key is to 1. Choose whether you want to follow a fat based approach or a carb based approach 2. Develop a formula around that approach and 3. Execute your approach. Click here to download my free skin healing formula that will help you develop your macronutrient conscious healing plan. This document will give you an in-depth understanding of what foods to eat on both a fat based or a carb based healing plan and how to formulate an effective skin healing approach around those foods.

In short, if you are following a fat based approach, you will be able to tolerate eating much more meat than you would on a carb based approach. While meat may account for the bulk of calories on a fat based diet, people eating a carb based diet may be better off making more minor additions of foods such as fatty fish, eggs, or lean meats keeping their total fat consumption fairly low.

It is also important to take the principles of food combining into consideration. For optimal digestion, it is best that you separate your animals proteins from your carbs and choose to eat them separately. Some people are more capable of digesting proteins and carbs at the same time than others. But if you are looking to heal your gut and make life easy on your digestive system, you might want to consider eating your proteins and carbs as separate meals.

Is fish a better option?

For many people, wild caught fish may be a better nutritional option than muscle meat. Fatty fish such as salmon, mackerel, and sardines are just flat out superior to beef, chicken, or turkey in terms of the nutrition that they provide. They have a very high vitamin and mineral content and are naturally less inflammatory than most meat options.

I don’t want to make it sound as if you might as well not eat meat considering my statement that I believe fish is more nutritionally valuable. Well-sourced meat products are also extremely nutrient dense food options that can have a great positive impact on your health. All I am saying is that you really should consider making fish a big part of your diet if you are looking to get the most out of the food you’re eating.

If you are following a carb based diet, fatty fish is probably your best bet when it comes to incorporating some animal products into your diet. This way you can get your omega 3 fat boost while avoiding complications that may occur when you mix too much saturated fat with all of those carbs in your diet.

I also want to make the point that getting quality fish is just as important as getting quality meats. Pass up on the conventionally farmed products and opt for wild caught fish. As with meat, these well-sourced options are a bit more pricey but their superior nutritional value makes it worth it.

What about dairy?

Daily is a food group that I typically do not recommend for anyone trying to heal their skin. Dairy is notorious for causing digestive distress in many people and it simply is not a necessary part of the human diet. When healing your skin, one key principle that I find myself repeating quite often to people is that you should identify what food is essential to your health and only eat those foods.

Although this may seem a little strict to some people who are new to the idea of healthy eating, I strongly believe in the effectiveness of this principle. One of the biggest keys to natural healing is to keep things simple. The idea is to break your diet down all the way to its foundation and then build it back up and re-learn what foods you react well to and support your health.

If you are following a fat based approach and you really want to include some dairy in your diet, I’d recommend you stick to things like organic greek yogurt or maybe some limited grass fed butter. Although this may not be ideal for everyone, some people may do fine with including small amounts of dairy. But as with everything else, quality is key. Make sure to opt for well-sourced products.

Conclusion

The answer to whether or not meat can trigger a psoriasis breakout is not black and white. Although I don’t believe that people have anything to worry about when it comes to meat itself, mixing too much meat with too many carbs is going to cause digestive issues for almost everyone.

Human beings have been eating meat since the very beginning of our existence. If you asked me, I would say that it is in our DNA to eat meat. The bioavailability of certain vitamins and nutrients in meat is something that is missed when people choose to avoid it for long periods of times. My advice: Take a step back and ask yourself what you want your diet to look like as a whole. From there you can determine how you should go about incorporating meat into your diet.