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Raising the Steaks

For decades, nutritional orthodoxy has given us very clear instructions: Get your protein from lean meat, and get your "healthy fats" from nuts, seeds, and olive oil. We’ve been trained to trim the white stuff off our steaks as if it were toxic waste.


When I started looking into the biochemistry of my clean ketogenic lifestyle, I got confused. I knew there were only two "Essential Fatty Acids" (Omega-3 and Omega-6), and that plants and seeds are full of them.

So, if plants provide the "essentials," why eat fatty meat at all? Why not just eat chicken breast and a handful of walnuts?

The answer, as I found out, required understanding that not all fats have the same job description.

Fuel vs. Parts: The Construction Analogy

You need fat for two very different purposes in the human body. Think of it like building and running a car.

  1. Structural Fat ("The Parts"): You need specific fats to build cell walls, synthesize hormones, and support your brain. These are the Essential Fatty Acids. You only need a small, specific amount of these parts to keep the car repaired.

  2. Energy Fat ("The Fuel"): This is what you burn in the engine for movement and heat. You need a lot of this, every single day.

Nuts and seeds are great at providing "parts." But animal fat is premium "fuel."

The Stability Issue: Diesel vs. Nitroglycerin

When you are in ketosis, your body is running primarily on fat. You want a fuel source that is stable and burns clean.

  • Animal Fat (Saturated and Monounsaturated): The fat on a steak (tallow) or pork (lard) is chemically very stable. It handles heat well inside the body and doesn't easily oxidize (turn rancid). It is like diesel fuel - reliable, steady energy.

  • Plant Fats (PUFAs - PolyUnsaturated Fatty Acids): The fats in most nuts and seed oils are chemically fragile. They oxidize easily, which can create inflammation in the body. Burning huge amounts of PUFAs for fuel is like trying to run your car on nitroglycerin. It might work, but it’s volatile and damages the engine over time.


When I eat a fatty ribeye, I am feeding my mitochondria stable, clean-burning fuel.

The Omega-3 Trap: The Conversion Problem

This is the biggest misconception out there. People eat flaxseeds and walnuts thinking they are getting their heart-healthy Omega-3s. They are only getting half the story.

  • Plant Omega-3 (ALA - Alpha-Linolenic Acid): This is a "starter" fat. Your body has to do a complex chemical conversion to turn it into the usable forms (EPA - EicosaPentaenoic Acid and DHA - DocosaHexaenoic Acid) that actually help your brain and heart.

  • The Catch: Humans are terrible at this conversion. We convert less than 5% of plant Omega-3s into usable form.

Animal fat cuts out the middleman. Grass-fed beef and fatty fish contain the pre-formed, active versions (EPA/DHA). You don't have to convert anything. You just absorb it. A small piece of salmon delivers more usable Omega-3 than a giant bag of walnuts.

The Hidden Payload: K2 and CLA

Finally, animal fat isn't just empty calories. It is a solvent for critical vitamins you cannot get from plants.

As you will see in my next post about vitamin D3 (cholecalciferol), we need vitamin K2 (menaquinone) to keep calcium out of our arteries. K2 is found primarily in animal fats - fatty beef, liver, egg yolks, and high-quality cheese, and also in fermented food like sauerkraut or kimchi.


Then there is Conjugated Linoleic Acid (CLA). There is a deep irony here: health food stores sell CLA as an expensive weight-loss and body-composition supplement, yet most people slice it right off their dinner to "save calories."

  • The Good Trans Fat: Unlike industrial trans fats (which are toxic), CLA is a natural ruminant trans fat.

  • The Benefit: It has been linked to improved metabolic health, reduced adipose tissue, and even cancer prevention.

Or, y'know...just eat fatty meats?

If you trim the fat off your meat, you are throwing away the very nutrients that protect your heart.

My Clean Keto Philosophy

If you only eat lean meat and get all your fat from nuts and seeds, you are loading up on unstable fats and missing out on key vitamins.

Nuts and seeds are fine for garnish or variety. But animal fat is the daily driver. It’s the stable fuel, the pre-formed nutrients, and the delivery system for vitamins.

Don't trim the steak. That's the battery.

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Location: Halifax Regional Municipality, NS, Canada

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