Here I am with my Masai warrior guide in Eastern Africa. He wears red to show bravery and carries his hand-carved Rungu, Swahili for “walking stick,” wherever he goes.
I always wanted to meet the Masai tribe in Kenya.
During my first trip to Africa – when I climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro – I wasn’t able to spend as much time with them as I would have liked.
So when I traveled there a second time, I made sure to meet with them again. This way I could have enough time to really experience their culture first hand.
I heard stories from warriors and met with some of the most respected herbalists in their villages. In fact, I’m currently working on a project with some Masai herbalists… but I’ll share more about that next time…
Today I wanted to share with you something about the Masai that I found most impressive…
I didn’t see one overweight person the entire time I was there. Everyone I came across in every single village was lean and strong.
The Masai eat very few vegetables and almost no grains. They love to eat red meat and drink raw milk.
Yet their rate of heart disease is almost zero. There’s a complete absence of dental cavities, obesity and they don’t suffer from chronic aging problems like our culture does.
It doesn’t prove cause and effect… but I believe the reason is because of red meat. And you can experience the same thing if you eat the right kind.
Today’s inferior cattle – raised on grains instead of grasses – don’t get enough natural compounds in their diet to keep them healthy. Plus the cattle are pumped up with hormones and antibiotics that get transferred into your system when you eat it for dinner.
The meat today is a far cry from the meat our ancestors enjoyed just a few generations ago. Back then it was full of nutrients that not only nourished their bodies, but literally burned fat off their bodies.
The reason is one of red meat’s most hard-to-come-by nutrients, the amino acid l-carnitine.
L-carnitine plays an essential role in maintaining a lean, well-functioning body. Here are just a few examples of what it can do:
- Slows aging. L-carnitine shuttles fatty acids into the energy centers of the cells, where the fat can be burned to produce energy. When the body has sufficient carnitine reserves, the cells can burn more fat and generate more energy. Every cell in your body works better when it has optimal energy available to it.
- Helps you lose weight. L-carnitine is important in weight loss because it helps convert body fat into fuel. It also raises levels of certain enzymes needed to metabolize sugars, starches and other carbohydrates. Plus 95 percent of all cells in your body rely on l-carnitine to melt fat away.
- Increases mental alertness. L-carnitine converts to acetyl-l-carnitine (ALC). ALC enhances brain activity. It also prevents brain-cell death and protects nerve cells from degeneration due to aging or disease.
- Protects your heart. L-carnitine reduces arterial plaque, lowers LDL (bad) cholesterol, and increases HDL (good) levels. These benefits appear in healthy people as well as in patients with heart disease.
- Boosts potency in men. Sperm count, motility, and maturation are related to carnitine concentrations. Supplementation with L-carnitine improves sperm quality.
- Enhances exercise. L-carnitine improves performance in sports and endurance. It also reduces the damage caused to the body that can occur during exercise.
- Improves diabetes. Test data suggest that supplementing with l-carnitine can improve insulin sensitivity in individuals with type 2 diabetes.
The problem is your body can’t make enough l-carnitine on its own. The research on this is solid: you’re losing it with each passing year.
A groundbreaking study out of Spain spelled it out. Scientists looked at levels of this vital nutrient in muscle tissue across a range of age groups.1 They found “a drastic reduction” in older people.
Why? Because you can’t get enough of it from nature’s richest source… red meat.
That’s why I started using it as a critical component of anti-aging therapy in my medical practice years ago. After testing scores of patients, I realized that most people just weren’t getting enough through the food they ate alone.
After I started some of my patients on l-carnitine, they felt a difference in a matter of days. More energy and motivation. Clearer thinking. Greater confidence. Their health markers improved across the board.
To start increasing your l-carnitine levels, here’s what you can do:
Instead of nutrient-depleted grain-fed beef, switch to grass-fed beef. I like to get my grass-fed beef from a local farm, but you can also find it at your local farmer’s market or specialty grocery store such as Whole Foods or Fresh Market.
Make sure that it is labeled grass fed. Don’t be fooled by meat labeled organic. Most organic cattle eat grains. Plus, the organic label only means that the cattle do not have detectable levels of antibiotics or hormones in their body at the time of slaughter. It does not mean that ranchers have never subjected cattle to antibiotics or hormones.
Here’s a short list of healthy meats and how much l-carnitine they contain:
|
Food |
Amount |
Carnitine |
||
|
Beef Steak |
3.5 |
95 |
||
|
Ground Beef |
3.5 |
94 |
||
|
Pork |
3.5 |
27.7 |
||
|
Bacon |
3.5 |
23.3 |
||
You can also supplement with l-carnitine. I recommend 1000 mg a day in the liquid form. It’s more absorbable compared to the powders and capsules. Make sure you choose a supplement that uses naturally occurring l-carnitine. Just one tablespoon a day is all you need.
1. Costell et al. “Age-dependent decrease of carnitine content in muscle of mice and humans.” Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications. 1989. 161(3):1135-43.