I never dreamed it would be so easy and enjoyable

Just by switching to grass fed

Together, Mike and I have lost over 100 pounds, and we attribute it mostly to switching from eating grain fed beef to eating grass fed. We also made a conscious decision to eat what we consider to be a healthy diet.

Our research and experience has shown that eating a diet of clean, high quality animal protein, ideally from local sources, along with an abundance of clean fruits and vegetables, once again, ideally from local sources, helps maintain robust vitality.

Of course it never works to be fanatic about food, so we follow the 80/20 rule which states that if 80% of the food you eat is healthy and regenerative, the 20% that you eat that is not so great won't be too detrimental.

Our robust health is no accident

We've always been very healthy and robust, and attribute that to eating our own beef as the main staple of our diet. I am certain that having a loving family, spending lots of time outdoors - in the sun, eating a clean and balanced diet, with lots of healthy grass fed beef, and regular movement in our day to day lives contribute to our good health.

By eating healthy, wholesome protein, free of added hormones, and a variety of wholesome foods, many of them from local sources, we are able to maintain glowing, vibrant health.

We never deprive ourselves, and don't pound our bodies with relentless exercise. We eat according to what we have coined the "Pro-Pro" principles (protein and produce), and move constantly in our every day lives, even if it's sitting at the computer on a therapy ball.

Our HMO rates were discounted by 11% because of the health of our group

Everyone in our immediate family feels great most of the time, and none of us has any conditions or prescriptions. In fact, in 2005 our HMO gave us an 11% discount in rates because of the health of our entire group (our family and employee's family), when Colorado Insurance law changed to allow health based rates.

I have kept the weight off for nearly 5 years, and Mike has kept his off for over a year, yet we eat to our heart's content and thoroughly enjoy wholesome food and dining.

We enjoy our evening meal ritual so much that we hate to have to go out at night

Both Mike and I look really good now, even if I do say so myself! Yet almost every evening our meal time ritual provides the most enjoyable part of our day. We prepare dinner, eat, and clean up together as a couple, have fabulous meals, and drink great wine.

During the summer dinner consists of grilling most every night, both meat and vegetables, and in the winter we have lots of slow cooked roasts, birds, soups, and stews.

Now when we have events, activities, or invitations for the evening it is always a little disappointing that we can't partake in our own fun ritual for that night.

I never thought weight loss could be so easy or enjoyable!

I attribute most of our weight loss to simply switching from eating grain fed beef to eating grass fed, but we also made a conscious choice to eat what we consider to be a very healthy diet that gives us abundant enjoyment and satisfaction.

Much of Mike's weight loss can also be attributed to his replacing his daily Coke at lunch with antioxidant juice like Bilberry or Pomegranate, free of high fructose corn syrup.

The Pro-Pro Principles

Our wholesome dining and Pro-Pro principles are simple; we eat mostly protein and produce. That doesn't mean we fear carbs; to the contrary, we love good squash and eat it all the time. Now and then a good baked potato or even a white flour baguette are hard to beat, and don't hurt if they're not eaten in large quantities.

Primarily though, we eat some kind of meat or protein dish; beef, pork, chicken, turkey, salmon, walleye, lamb, rabbit, tamales, burritos, sausage, or cheese dish as our main entrée and have several different kinds of vegetables for side dishes.

If you buy into what the mainstream media tells you, then you're not going to want to hear what we have to say

We definitely have our own opinions on diet and nutrition, and they generally contradict mainstream health and diet so-called experts.

You don't have to be afraid of fat!

The fear of fat that has permeated American culture the last few decades has spawned generations of sick, fat, diabetics. I am convinced! In fact, many studies have shown that getting good fat in adequate quantities is one of the most important things you can do for your health.

You need only look around the world to see that people eating very high fat and high protein diets are healthier in general than Americans. Just look at the French! Their whole culture revolves around food and eating, not to mention butter and cream, and the majority of their citizens are very thin.

In the book; How to Fight Cancer and Win, William L Fischer states: "When the diet is lacking in essential fatty acids, serious health problems develop. The killers (cancer, heart disease, and more) are fostered by an excessive intake of saturated fats (and chemically altered fats). Without the presence of the essential fatty acids, the killer diseases are given a very favorable environment. They thrive and grow, but we sicken and eventually die."

Of course grass-fed animal products are chock full of essential fatty acids like Omega 3 and CLA, providing the good fat that our bodies require and thrive on.

Eating fat doesn't make you fat

We've always known that the "low-fat" hype was just that, hype, and we never bought into it. Eating fat doesn't make you fat, eating high fructose corn syrup and empty calorie carbs make you fat.

Without being a statistician, you can look at the last few decades where the mainstream medical and diet gurus have preached the low fat mantra relentlessly. During that same time our society has developed an obesity problem the likes of which we have never seen. It doesn't take a math whiz to make the correlation.

Margarine Free

I'm proud to say that we have never had a tub or a stick of margarine in our refrigerator throughout those decades, and that was a very deliberate and conscious choice. It took a lot to defy that kind of indoctrination, but we always researched for ourselves, and even though the mainstream was pushing fake fat beyond all reason, we were always certain that butter had to be better for you than the liquefied plastic with some added milk solids for flavor that they pass off as food.

As ranchers beef has always been the main staple of our diet

Of course we eat a lot of beef, as it is what we raise and always have available. While we have always been strong and healthy, we both started putting on weight as we reached middle age. Neither of us was obese, but we were definitely on our way.

I attribute our weight gain to two things; eating grain fed beef and high fructose corn syrup!

For years we believed the so-called "industry experts" who said that in order for beef to be good the cattle must be confined and finished on grain. So every year we would choose the calves to fatten up for our own consumption, then pen them up and pour the grain to them.

The good news is it was clean beef, free of added growth hormones, or antibiotics. However, because the grain feeding changes the tissue so much, and reduces the amount of good fats, we weren't getting the essential fatty acids that we needed.

I am convinced that eating the grain fed beef, caused me to develop sugar cravings the likes of which I had never seen until entering menopause. For a few years they were out of control, which is why I put on most of my excess weight.

We began to explore grass feeding and finishing

In the late 1990's we began learning more about the health benefits of eating grass fed animal products over grain finished, and in the early 2000's we tried our first beef that we had exclusively grass fed and finished. It was so flavorful and juicy, we were dumbfounded! We had no idea it would be that good.

Once we started eating grass finished beef, I just didn't seem to have the sugar cravings like before, and the weight started to automatically just drop off.

You can read about the details of my weight loss in my article at Squidoo.com.