When I ask clients to provide me with a diet history, it typically includes beef, poultry, pork or fish. Rarely is lamb on the list. Why? Lamb is affordable. The shoulder is about $6.00 a pound at the grocery store or you may find owning your own livestock share more enticing; Over the grass farm, a 420 acre preserve for native plants and animals and a farm producing grass-fed and finished beef, lamb, and dairy cows, offers livestock sharing so you can buy your own right off the farm, http://www.overthegrassfarm.net/grass-fed-finished-beef-lamb-and-poultry.
Lamb can be grilled, broiled, sautéed or stewed in a slow cooker. Here are some recipes:
- Martina has a complete keto website, her recipes are only one part of living a keto lifestyle, http://ketodietapp.com/Blog/post/2013/08/29/Spiced-Slow-cooked-Lamb-and-3-Simple-Meal-Ideas
- Primal Palate is another great recipe resource, http://www.primalpalate.com/paleo-recipe/slow-cooked-lamb-shoulder/.
Truth is, it does not matter how you eat lamb, just EAT IT.
Lamb tastes delicious and provides:
- Healthy fats: Healthy fats help to lower body fat, regulate blood sugar, reduce inflammation and boost the immune system like monounsaturated, omega-3 and CLA (conjugated linoleic acid, may also have anti-cancer) fatty acids; and saturated fat supporting the heart, brain, lungs and body cells.
- Minerals: Zinc (healthy immune system, hair, nails skim) and iron (helps form red blood cells) from lamb is more easily absorbed by the body than from other sources. Copper (helps form collagen, an important nutrient for anti-aging supports nerve function), manganese (brain, bone and nerve support, blood, sex hormones, fat and carbohydrate metabolism, calcium absorption, and blood sugar regulation), selenium (antioxidant and thyroid function), thiamine( helps metabolize fats and protein), niacin (helps control cholesterol and supports good heart health.
- Vitamins: B vitamins, but mostly B12 (red blood cells, essential for metabolic reactions in the body. Choline (vital to the liver, nerve and muscle function, https://valeriegoldstein.wordpress.com/2014/08/05/3-anti-aging-nutrients-missing-from-low-fat-foods/, https://valeriegoldstein.wordpress.com/2013/06/11/eggs-are-not-evil/, https://valeriegoldstein.wordpress.com/2012/06/11/you-are-what-your-mother-eats-higher-choline-means-lower-cortisol-for-baby/), vitamin K (bone health, blood clotting).
With all the health benefits of lamb, there are situations where one should avoid it because it contains purines. If you are having an acute gout attack or have kidney stones, you may want to avoid it.
Otherwise, enjoy the added bonus of knowing that lamb is raised without using antibiotics in the United States, http://www.americanlamb.com/lamb-101/nutrition/. So you at least know you are safe when it comes to that “poison”.
Despite the fact that Americans are not eating enough lamb, it has been a delicacy consumed by the Romans, Greeks and Chinese for thousands of years. According to Chinese medicine (TCM), lamb is a “warm” food. Warm referring to heat in the body not the actual temperature of the food. Lamb is considered a yang food that helps promote wellness by supporting memory, the immune system, hormone balance, low sex drive and fertility (sperm count too), warming the blood and body (i.e. cold hands and feet) especially in the winter, pain in the lower back, knee and pain and increasing energy.
Build good health by adding lamb to your weekly nutrition plan. Eat it! Bring in new and exotic flavors and even more nutrients to your typical eating regimen.
Ah the old purine nonsense. Gout is caused by alcohol and fructose consumption, which both affect the level of purines your body produces. Your body produces 2/3rds of all purines, while only 1/3rd enters through diet, irrespective of how much you eat. Your body knows how to healthily regulate meat. What we were never prepared for is regulating massive alcohol consumption and concentrated fruit bred to have 3,000x the amount of fructose.
Think about it.