$12.45$12.45
$3.99
delivery:
Friday, April 5
Ships from: everybodysbooks Sold by: everybodysbooks
$9.81
Other Sellers on Amazon
& FREE Shipping
95% positive over last 12 months
& FREE Shipping
94% positive over last 12 months
FREE Shipping
Download the free Kindle app and start reading Kindle books instantly on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required.
Read instantly on your browser with Kindle for Web.
Using your mobile phone camera - scan the code below and download the Kindle app.
Audible sample Sample
Follow the authors
OK
Sacred Cow: The Case for (Better) Meat: Why Well-Raised Meat Is Good for You and Good for the Planet Hardcover – July 14, 2020
Explore your book, then jump right back to where you left off with Page Flip.
View high quality images that let you zoom in to take a closer look.
Enjoy features only possible in digital – start reading right away, carry your library with you, adjust the font, create shareable notes and highlights, and more.
Discover additional details about the events, people, and places in your book, with Wikipedia integration.
Purchase options and add-ons
We're told that if we care about our health—or our planet—eliminating red meat from our diets is crucial. That beef is bad for us and cattle farming is horrible for the environment. But science says otherwise.
Beef is framed as the most environmentally destructive and least healthy of meats. We're often told that the only solution is to reduce or quit red meat entirely. But despite what anti-meat groups, vegan celebrities, and some health experts say, plant-based agriculture is far from a perfect solution. In Sacred Cow, registered dietitian Diana Rodgers and former research biochemist and New York Times bestselling author Robb Wolf explore the quandaries we face in raising and eating animals—focusing on the largest (and most maligned) of farmed animals, the cow.
Taking a critical look at the assumptions and misinformation about meat, Sacred Cow points out the flaws in our current food system and in the proposed "solutions." Inside, Rodgers and Wolf reveal contrarian but science-based findings, such as:
• Meat and animal fat are essential for our bodies.
• A sustainable food system cannot exist without animals.
• A vegan diet may destroy more life than sustainable cattle farming.
• Regenerative cattle ranching is one of our best tools at mitigating climate change.
You'll also find practical guidance on how to support sustainable farms and a 30-day challenge to help you transition to a healthful and conscientious diet. With scientific rigor, deep compassion, and wit, Rodgers and Wolf argue unequivocally that meat (done right) should have a place on the table.
It's not the cow, it's the how!
- Print length320 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherBenBella Books
- Publication dateJuly 14, 2020
- Dimensions6.25 x 1.13 x 9.31 inches
- ISBN-101948836912
- ISBN-13978-1948836913
Frequently bought together
Similar items that may deliver to you quickly
Editorial Reviews
Review
—Michelle Tam, New York Times bestselling author of Nom Nom Paleo
"All too often, the voices making the least scientifically accurate claims are the loudest, and it's hard not to be influenced by that sexy Netflix documentary on going vegan. But what if you could do both—eat the animal products that you believe help you feel your best, sourced via farming practices that support the environment and animal welfare? In Sacred Cow, dietitian Diana Rodgers and New York Times bestselling author Robb Wolf help you do just that, with scientific rigor, deep compassion, and wit. They examine the data on cattle and nutrient-density, the environment, and the ethics around eating meat across the globe, arriving at conclusions designed to help you feel good about the beef you are feeding your family."
—Melissa Urban, Whole30 cofounder and CEO
"Diana and Robb have answered the burning question about meat. Sacred Cow proves ‘It's not the COW, it's the HOW.' The answer to our broken food system is not no meat, it's better meat. If you are concerned about red meat's impact on your health and the planet, this book is for you."
—Mark Hyman, MD, Cleveland Clinic Center for Functional Medicine
"Diana and Robb have precisely and approachably laid out the science on how grazing animals are critical to the future of sustainable agriculture. They also definitively refute the claims that meat is unhealthy and make a convincing case that eating meat can be done in an ethical manner. I highly recommend Sacred Cow for anyone who eats."
—Mark Sisson, New York Times bestselling author of The Keto Reset Diet and founder of Primal Kitchen foods
"Humans have been eating meat for at least 2.6 million years, and it has played a critical role in our evolution. In this important book, Diana Rodgers and Robb Wolf use the most recent scientific evidence to make the nutritional, environmental, and ethical case for better meat—and to debunk increasingly common myths and misunderstandings about the role of animal products in our diet."
—Chris Kresser, New York Times bestselling author of The Paleo Cure and Unconventional Medicine
"Sacred Cow: The Case for Better Meat is a comprehensive, well documented treatise that provides us with all the scientific data we need to make informed choices about how to eat that will benefit BOTH ourselves and our planet!"
—Frederick Kirschenmann, PhD, Distinguished Fellow at the Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture at Iowa State University
"Abandoning animal agriculture might well be the greatest mistake humanity could ever make. Today's science cannot give definitive answers to the complex questions of human nutrition and ecological integrity. However, the scientific evidence indicting animal agriculture is weak, and evidence defending animal-based foods and farm animals as essential for human health and agricultural sustainability is strong—as clearly documented in Sacred Cow."
—John Ikerd, PhD, professor emeritus of agricultural economics at the University of Missouri
"The current war against meat eaters and livestock farmers promises ethical, ecological, and health benefits from fake lab meat and plant-only diets. Sacred Cow debunks every utopian promise with precision missiles from science and a deep understanding of how life and the planet actually work."
—Joel Salatin, owner of Polyface Farm and editor of The Stockman Grass Farmer
"The shift in agriculture, from one based on biology to one based on chemistry, and the resulting shift in our diets from whole foods to highly processed foods have resulted in nutrition-related disease, obesity, and environmental destruction. Diana and Robb fully understand the problem and the solution: we must change our diets and regenerate our soils, and well-managed grazing animals are critical to this transition."
—Allan Savory, president of Savory Institute and chairman of the Africa Center for Holistic Management
"So much of the confusion about creating a sustainable future is based on a misunderstanding of ecology, evolution, and our place within the natural world. Much of our confusion has to do with our increasing separation from nature, especially how our food is produced. This book clearly explains how it all fits together, and how the interwoven evolution of ruminants, grasslands, and homo sapiens is not something to be left in the past, but to be celebrated and reclaimed."
—Mark A. Ritchie, PhD, executive director of the International Sustainable Development Studies Institute
"Diana and Robb have written a tour de force making the case that meat can be good for our bodies, the animals, and the earth. Sacred Cow is the antidote to miserably meatless mondays and impossibly impotent impossible burgers. The cure is an ethical approach to eating animals, giving them their rightful place in our ecology."
—Chris Masterjohn, PhD, former assistant professor of Health and Nutrition Sciences at Brooklyn College
Review
"Sacred Cow proposes a new way to look at sustainable diets. The book takes a deep dive into the nutritional claims against meat, why cattle raised well are actually good for the environment, and address the ethical considerations surrounding killing animals for food. The truth is, you cannot have life without death, and eliminating animals from our food system could cause more harm than good."
—Michelle Tam, New York Times bestselling author of Nom Nom Paleo
"All too often, the voices making the least scientifically accurate claims are the loudest, and it’s hard not to be influenced by that sexy Netflix documentary on going vegan. But what if you could do both—eat the animal products that you believe help you feel your best, sourced via farming practices that support the environment and animal welfare? In Sacred Cow, dietitian Diana Rodgers and New York Times bestselling author Robb Wolf help you do just that, with scientific rigor, deep compassion, and wit. They examine the data on cattle and nutrient-density, the environment, and the ethics around eating meat across the globe, arriving at conclusions designed to help you feel good about the beef you are feeding your family."
—Melissa Urban, Whole30 cofounder and CEO
“Diana and Robb have answered the burning question about meat. Sacred Cow proves ‘It’s not the COW, it’s the HOW.’ The answer to our broken food system is not no meat, it's better meat. If you are concerned about red meat’s impact on your health and the planet, this book is for you.”
—Mark Hyman, MD, Cleveland Clinic Center for Functional Medicine
“Diana and Robb have precisely and approachably laid out the science on how grazing animals are critical to the future of sustainable agriculture. They also definitively refute the claims that meat is unhealthy and make a convincing case that eating meat can be done in an ethical manner. I highly recommend Sacred Cow for anyone who eats.”
—Mark Sisson, New York Times bestselling author of The Keto Reset Diet and founder of Primal Kitchen foods
“Humans have been eating meat for at least 2.6 million years, and it has played a critical role in our evolution. In this important book, Diana Rodgers and Robb Wolf use the most recent scientific evidence to make the nutritional, environmental, and ethical case for better meat—and to debunk increasingly common myths and misunderstandings about the role of animal products in our diet.”
—Chris Kresser, New York Times bestselling author of The Paleo Cure and Unconventional Medicine
“Sacred Cow: The Case for Better Meat is a comprehensive, well documented treatise that provides us with all the scientific data we need to make informed choices about how to eat that will benefit BOTH ourselves and our planet!”
—Frederick Kirschenmann, PhD, Distinguished Fellow at the Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture at Iowa State University
“Abandoning animal agriculture might well be the greatest mistake humanity could ever make. Today’s science cannot give definitive answers to the complex questions of human nutrition and ecological integrity. However, the scientific evidence indicting animal agriculture is weak, and evidence defending animal-based foods and farm animals as essential for human health and agricultural sustainability is strong—as clearly documented in Sacred Cow.”
—John Ikerd, PhD, professor emeritus of agricultural economics at the University of Missouri
“The current war against meat eaters and livestock farmers promises ethical, ecological, and health benefits from fake lab meat and plant-only diets. Sacred Cow debunks every utopian promise with precision missiles from science and a deep understanding of how life and the planet actually work.”
—Joel Salatin, owner of Polyface Farm and editor of The Stockman Grass Farmer
"The shift in agriculture, from one based on biology to one based on chemistry, and the resulting shift in our diets from whole foods to highly processed foods have resulted in nutrition-related disease, obesity, and environmental destruction. Diana and Robb fully understand the problem and the solution: we must change our diets and regenerate our soils, and well-managed grazing animals are critical to this transition.”
—Allan Savory, president of Savory Institute and chairman of the Africa Center for Holistic Management
“So much of the confusion about creating a sustainable future is based on a misunderstanding of ecology, evolution, and our place within the natural world. Much of our confusion has to do with our increasing separation from nature, especially how our food is produced. This book clearly explains how it all fits together, and how the interwoven evolution of ruminants, grasslands, and homo sapiens is not something to be left in the past, but to be celebrated and reclaimed.”
—Mark A. Ritchie, PhD, executive director of the International Sustainable Development Studies Institute
“Diana and Robb have written a tour de force making the case that meat can be good for our bodies, the animals, and the earth. Sacred Cow is the antidote to miserably meatless mondays and impossibly impotent impossible burgers. The cure is an ethical approach to eating animals, giving them their rightful place in our ecology.”
—Chris Masterjohn, PhD, former assistant professor of Health and Nutrition Sciences at Brooklyn College
About the Author
Robb Wolf, a former research biochemist is the two-time New York Times/Wall Street Journal bestselling author of The Paleo Solution and Wired To Eat. Robb has transformed the lives of hundreds of thousands of people around the world via his top ranked iTunes podcast, books and seminars. Robb has functioned as a review editor for the Journal of Nutrition and Metabolism (Biomed Central) and as a consultant for the Naval Special Warfare Resiliency program. He serves on the board of Directors/Advisors for: Specialty Health Inc, The Chickasaw Nation's "Unconquered Life" initiative and a number of innovative start ups with a focus on health and sustainability.
Product details
- Publisher : BenBella Books (July 14, 2020)
- Language : English
- Hardcover : 320 pages
- ISBN-10 : 1948836912
- ISBN-13 : 978-1948836913
- Item Weight : 1.15 pounds
- Dimensions : 6.25 x 1.13 x 9.31 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #79,294 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #54 in Vegetarian Diets (Books)
- #62 in Meat Cooking
- Customer Reviews:
About the authors
Robb Wolf is a former research biochemist, is the two-time New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestselling author of The Paleo Solution and Wired to Eat. Robb has functioned as a review editor for the Journal of Nutrition and Metabolism (BioMed Central) and as a consultant for the Naval Special Warfare Resiliency Program. He serves on the board of directors/advisers for SpecialtyHealth Inc., the Chickasaw Nation’s “Unconquered Life” initiative, and a number of innovative start-ups with a focus on health and sustainability. Robb is the co-founder of The Healthy Rebellion, a social movement with the goal of liberating 1 million people from the sick-care system. Robb is the executive producer of the film Sacred Cow
Wolf is a former California State Powerlifting Champion (565Lb Squat, 345lb Bench, 565lb Dead Lift) and a 6-0 amateur kickboxer. He holds the rank of brown belt in Brazilian Jiu-jitsu and lives in New Braunfels, TX with his wife Nicki and daughters Zoe and Sagan.
Visit the authors website at robbwolf.com
Diana Rodgers, RD, is a “real food” nutritionist and sustainability advocate living near Boston, Massachusetts. She’s an author, runs a clinical nutrition practice, hosts the Sustainable Dish Podcast, and has been an advisory board member of Animal Welfare Approved and Savory Institute. She speaks internationally about the intersection of optimal human nutrition, regenerative agriculture and ethical food systems. More about her documentary film and book project, Sacred Cow: The Case For Better Meat can be found at www.sacredcow.info and she practices nutrition and offer consulting through www.sustainabledish.com
Customer reviews
Customer Reviews, including Product Star Ratings help customers to learn more about the product and decide whether it is the right product for them.
To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average. Instead, our system considers things like how recent a review is and if the reviewer bought the item on Amazon. It also analyzed reviews to verify trustworthiness.
Learn more how customers reviews work on AmazonReviews with images
-
Top reviews
Top reviews from the United States
There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.
And i have not been able to put it down.
This is not just a "must read", it's a "must-own" and here's why.
If you're like me, you lament the extreme partisanship that's taken over the nutrition world. Vegans and carnivores have become like red states and blue states, and discussion and exchange about these wildly emotionally charged issues (i.e. to eat or not eat meat, the care and feeding of the planet) is becoming more and more difficult.
You either take your team's tribal talking points, or you go to "the other side".
Robb and Diana have done neither. They present the reasonable, rational and often surprising truth about meat eating, NOT in an agenda-driven agitprop way, but as interested parties open-mindedly seeking to get as close to "the truth" as you can in a field so highly influenced (and understandably so) by emotion.
I happen to support that position. As a dyed-in-the-wool animal lover it pains me to say this but i believe that the human genus-- which has been on the planet for between 2.4 and 2.6 million years-- simply does better with some animal products in our diet.
But that is a hard case to make at the dinner table-- even when you're a published author and nutritionist-- in the face of angry arguments about what meat does to the planet and how it causes cancer and heart disease.
Robb and Diana explore every one of those arguments and they do so fairly, cogently, thoroughly....and without raising their collective "voice".
That's why I say this is a "must own". If you're ever called upon to refute some of the arguments against eating meat-- as I am constantly-- you will want this book handy as a reference. I know I will!
Finally, one more bunch o' kudos: Robb and Diana come to some conclusions that neither "side" of the meat debate are going to love. But they sincerely want to get to the facts about stuff-- even when those facts may throw doubt on some of their own previous conclusions. That makes them remarkably reliable and trustworthy, at least to me.
I'm truly going to recommend this book to everyone.
Jonny Bowden, PhD, CNS
author, "Living Low Carb", "The Great Cholesterol Myth"
If I had to summarize the book in one sentence, I would say that in addition to clarifying many misconceptions regarding nutrition and sustainability around eating meat and raising large grazing animals, Diana and Robb also offer compelling arguments from an ethics standpoint.
The book is divided into 4 main parts. Each part is then broken down into a handful of chapters. Let me share a brief overview of each part.
The first part is where Diana and Robb genuinely unpack myths about meat-eating. They dive deep into the details to explain why meat—in special from large grazing animals—is key for our overall health. They cover many topics, from evolutionary data, showing what we are designed to eat, all the way to the weak and potentially biased arguments against meat proposed by nutritional research and dietary guidelines.
The second part of the book is dedicated to explaining how and why raising pasture-based animals play a crucial role in our planet. In fact, it’s the most comprehensible piece I’ve ever read regarding the synergistic benefits between raising animals properly and environmental long-term benefits. Each of the following topics is explained in greater detail in the second part: the role of animals in our planet, efficiency of land usage, contribution to climate stability, the role of animals in our food system, and a rational explanation of water usage by animals.
The third part, which was a novelty to me, deals with the ethical case in favor of better meat. Diana and Robb walk us through delicate arguments about this subjective topic. The chapter that shows the reasons why meat became taboo is thought-provoking because we learn in detail how biased arguments against meat-eating have been around from powerful institutions for centuries.
The last part is where Diana and Robb put all the pieces together, sharing a roadmap for better practices. They share pragmatic solutions needed to develop a more regenerative food system. Last but not least, they also include eating habits recommendations replete with details.
In terms of recommendation, I can’t think of anyone who wouldn’t benefit from this masterpiece. It doesn’t matter much where in the spectrum we fall in terms of food preferences as long as we keep an unbiased outlook to acknowledge different perspectives.
To finish up, I just wanted to say that this book has been my favorite piece of the year so far. The Carnivore Code, from Paul Saladino, is a close second due to its comprehensibility arguments. In third place, I would choose the engaging book called Breath, by James Nestor. These 3 books could, indeed, be read in harmony.
Take care,
Haical
Top reviews from other countries
- les aliments gras, et surtout saturées, d'origine animale, ainsi que le cholestérol ont été diabolisés au tournant des années 50
- le slogan Manger Bouger martelé par les pubs (sur obligation légale) tient de la dystopie maternaliste
- Manger 5 Fruits ou Légumes par jour est une approximation grossière et même pas juste du travail de diététicien...et sans doute contreproductive
- où les gens se pâment pour les Zones Bleues où soit disant les peuples qui mangent plus de viande ont plus de centenaires
- où le slogan "on mange trop de viande" semble couler de source, sans réel consensus dessus
- où la viande de bœuf est devenue l'ennemi public numéro 1 de la planète (le fameux bœuf émissaire), sans réelle prise en compte (ou alors en le minimisant) du potentiel de capture de carbone des prairies, terres non cultivables en l'état
- où seule la B12 serait la seule carence vegane admise
Alors ce livre remet les pendules à zéro, et ce que l'on vous a vendu comme étant le consensus scientifique n'est qu'approximations, bruits de couloirs amplifiés et déformés ou même faussés (le fameux gag sur les 15 000 L d'eau repris ad nauseam sans réelle réflexion ou fact-checking sérieux, cf la vidéo de 2016 de Data Gueule "Quand la boucherie, le monde pleure")
Salutaire et réellement zététique, même si le mouvement zététique français est en retard sur la question (Fainéantise ? Besoin de bien se placer sur le marché de la vertu pour ne pas heurter les tendances des lecteurs ? Nécessité de plaire à des faiseuses de fiches ?)
Dommage qu'il n'existe pas en français.
Dans le même esprit, lire le blog de Aleph2020 (sur la plateforme blogspot)
Reviewed in France on March 18, 2021
- les aliments gras, et surtout saturées, d'origine animale, ainsi que le cholestérol ont été diabolisés au tournant des années 50
- le slogan Manger Bouger martelé par les pubs (sur obligation légale) tient de la dystopie maternaliste
- Manger 5 Fruits ou Légumes par jour est une approximation grossière et même pas juste du travail de diététicien...et sans doute contreproductive
- où les gens se pâment pour les Zones Bleues où soit disant les peuples qui mangent plus de viande ont plus de centenaires
- où le slogan "on mange trop de viande" semble couler de source, sans réel consensus dessus
- où la viande de bœuf est devenue l'ennemi public numéro 1 de la planète (le fameux bœuf émissaire), sans réelle prise en compte (ou alors en le minimisant) du potentiel de capture de carbone des prairies, terres non cultivables en l'état
- où seule la B12 serait la seule carence vegane admise
Alors ce livre remet les pendules à zéro, et ce que l'on vous a vendu comme étant le consensus scientifique n'est qu'approximations, bruits de couloirs amplifiés et déformés ou même faussés (le fameux gag sur les 15 000 L d'eau repris ad nauseam sans réelle réflexion ou fact-checking sérieux, cf la vidéo de 2016 de Data Gueule "Quand la boucherie, le monde pleure")
Salutaire et réellement zététique, même si le mouvement zététique français est en retard sur la question (Fainéantise ? Besoin de bien se placer sur le marché de la vertu pour ne pas heurter les tendances des lecteurs ? Nécessité de plaire à des faiseuses de fiches ?)
Dommage qu'il n'existe pas en français.
Dans le même esprit, lire le blog de Aleph2020 (sur la plateforme blogspot)