The Meat Mafia Newsletter #21
How to find local beef in your area, Why we shouldn't just "Trust the Science", and the decrease of Sperm in Western Society
Welcome to Episode #21 of the Meat Mafia Newsletter - buon appetito!
ICYMI: Healing Ulcerative Colitis With a Carnivore Diet
Here is a quick 2 minute video detailing Brett’s (Sollozzo) journey of healing Ulcerative Colitis with a carnivore diet. This was recorded at the Beef Initiative Summit Hosted at White oak Pastures! 🥩
ICYMI: Why the Carnivore Diet is Healthy - Elite Performance Podcast
The Meat Mafia boys just appeared on the Elite Performance Podcast hosted by Oliver Anwar! We shared our separate nutritional journeys, discussed the efficacy of carnivore diets, what has gone wrong with our food system, and many other engaging topics!
Quick Hitters:
This graph is depicting male sperm count over the last 50 years (the graph unfortunately ends in 2010). As you can see, there has been a significant reduction in sperm, in addition to a significant rise in global plastics production.
While we do not want to singularly blame plastics, we found this visual to be quite interesting. What else do you think could be causing the decrease in sperm?
Earlier this week, Our buddy Morgan posted a picture of the “breakfast” he was served while on Southwest Airlines. After taking a few minutes to read the ingredients list and collect my thoughts, here was my response:
“I don't mean to sound doom & gloom, but we are legitimately being poisoned by our food system. Refined grains, seed oils, and sugars in nearly every product, always at an arm's length. This isn't Food, it's a Food-like Substance.”
Do you agree?
Is it Sugar or Beef that is contributing to the health crisis we are currently in? Both Consumption numbers shown below over time:
🥩Recipe of the Week: Smelly’s Kitchen - Carnivore Edition!
This video has become one of our go-to’s when I am looking for inspiration to mix-up my meals in the kitchen. If you don’t know Mark & Chris Bell, you should. Mark is well known in the fitness community for a number of amazing things: He’s an entrepreneur(that created Slingshot), owner of Supertraining Gym, Host of the Power Project Podcast, a powerlifter, and amateur bodybuilder. His brother Chris is an incredible filmmaker, who notably created Bigger, Stronger, Faster. This documentary helped change the way we view performance-enhancing drugs in this country.
The cool thing about the Bell brothers is that they have battled with their weight their entire lives. Carnivore has been an unbelievable tool for both of them to lose weight and get in the best shape of their lives.
In this 15-minute youtube video, they create a few different carnivore recipes that any chef can replicate to add some variety to the carnivore diet. They prepare steak, ground beef, and use various seasonings and flavoring techniques. This video will be very helpful for you if you are experiencing palette fatigue from the carnivore diet, which some people do.
It’s all about experimentation and new recipe creation! Please enjoy this one!
🧠Thought of the Week: Should You “Trust the Science?”
Whether it’s nutrition, vaccinations, or combating climate change, we are often told by leading experts to “trust the science.”
In school, we are taught subjects like physics, chemistry, and biology. We are told that science is fundamental truth & law.
But what if the science doesn’t actually make sense? What if “science” is actually a collection of epidemiological surveys intended to support the demonization of red meat? What if “science” is a collection of cherry-picked mortality data with the intention of pushing an experimental vaccine on the populace?
This is an incredibly important mental model for you to think through.
This morning, we explored the dubious origins of SinoChem, the largest global agrochemical company.
Their motto? “In Science We Trust.”
Please enjoy.
🍗 Our (Permanent) Snack of the Week: The Carnivore Bar
This week’s newsletter would not be possible without the support of our good friends over at The Carnivore Bar!
The Carnivore Bar is exactly as it sounds. It is pure, ancestral nutrition with minimal ingredients: Ground Beef, Salt, and Tallow. It is also absolutely delicious. Philip Meece (Carnivore Bar Founder) has made a way to make the product creamy yet crunchy at the same time.
They currently offer three flavors: Salted, Not Salted, and Honey. Each bar contains 400 calories, 27g fat, 17g protein, and 410mg of sodium. 2 of these bars make a legitimate meal replacement, which will keep you "on the path" when traveling. The bars are grass-fed, grass-finished and are directly sourced from Joyce Farms.
The Carnivore Bar is also veteran-owned and operated with the highest integrity. We are hosted Philip on episode #86 of the podcast and were very excited to learn more about his story & inspiration for creating this product.
If you want to get your hands on these delicious Real Food Bars, use this link and enter in MAFIA to get 10% off your first order!
🥩How to Find Local Beef, Eggs, and Dairy in your Area
We constantly get asked the question: “How can I find a local rancher?”
Here are a few things we recommend:
Use the website Eat Wild. It will allow you to filter for your exact state & city and give you the list of farms within a close radius. It will even list the exact products the farms sell on their website.
Go to your local farmer’s market. Don’t know where that is? Literally google: “Farmer’s markets in my area.” We would be shocked if there aren’t at least a few (probably more) within a 30 minute radius. Go there and network. Check out the egg vendors and the ranchers selling beef. Once you build a relationship you can start buying from them directly.
For strictly raw dairy, we highly recommend Real Milk. This gives an amazing database of local raw dairies in your area. It was also built by the Weston A Price Foundation, who has done some amazing work promoting the proper role of Raw Dairy in the human diet.
If you still cannot find anyone in your area but want some amazing grass-fed, grass-finished Beef, we highly recommend checking out our friend Jake’s Steaks. Jake’s mission is to provide the community with the best quality beef in bulk. No matter where you live, Jake will drive to your front door and deliver for you. We just used Jake to deliver our 1/2 beef in Austin Texas and his product is truly remarkable. Give him a shot and tell him the Meat Mafia sent you!
Jake Ryan
Thank you for reading The Meat Mafia Newsletter, and if you found the information in here valuable, please let us know in the comment section below!
Sollozzo & Clemenza
BRAND AFFILIATES
LMNT Electrolyte Drink Mix: LMNT is loaded with the necessary electrolytes without the sugar. We personally used LMNT during our Ironman training and performance and also during everyday training to provide us with the sodium we need on a low-carb diet.
✅LINK: DrinkLMNT.com/MEATMAFIA✅
Kettle & Fire Bone Broth: Kettle & Fire Bone Broth is a simple yet important part of our days. The healthy protein and amino acids in the broth has been a critical part of our morning routines.
✅LINK: Kettleandfire.com/MeatMafia CODE: MEATMAFIA (15%)✅
Farrow Skincare: Farrow is a product we recently started using for skincare and we love it. It’s animal-based, using pig lard and tallow and leaves your skin beaming with essential vitamins and minerals without the added fillers.
✅LINK: https://farrow.life/ CODE: ‘MAFIA’ for 20% off✅
Equip Foods: Use the code “MEATMAFIA” at check out to save 15% on your order.
The protein powder & supplement industry is riddled with products that aren’t sourced from high-quality sources or contain ingredients and fillers that you don’t want in your protein powder or body. Equip provides a clean, beef-sourced protein and even has a product that’s a single ingredient, beef protein. If you’re a purist like us, eating real foods is the only way to maximize your health. Equip ensures that if you don’t have access to freshly cooked food after a workout, you can at least opt for a high-quality protein powder.