by Lorette C. Luzajic
Zinc is associated with red meat and masculine virility, and for good reason. Red meats (and oysters, widely known as aphrodisiacs) are by far the best sources of zinc, and sperm and muscles are full of it.
The luckier you get, the more zinc you’ll need to replenish the fountain, as it were.
But zinc should also be associated with female sexuality, as it’s important to keep her piping in ship shape, her skin perfect, and her hair and nails strong. Zinc is lost in menstrual fluids, and men aren’t the only humans with muscles. We have some, too. Some of us would like more muscles and less flab, and zinc plays a huge role in the metabolism of carbs. It’s implicated in hormone regulation. For all these reasons, a nice slab should symbolize my feminine wiles, even as it alludes to your ripped and ready bod.
Our bones are made with zinc, not just calcium. You need zinc to fight infections. It’s a huge player in your immune system, in cancer prevention, hair growth, anti-inflammation, DNA synthesis, energy, mental clarity, cell replacement (great muscles, great skin, great intestinal walls and lung lining), wound healing, enzyme production, and sense of taste and smell.
Your body does not stockpile the stuff, so you need to eat lots of it each and every single day. Unless your doctor says otherwise, don’t take supplements of zinc. It requires all the other amazing nutrients in your beef for ideal balance and best results. We absorb less than half the zinc we eat, so our body is always anticipating replenishment. From plant foods, absorption rates are much lower still.
There is zinc found in plants, no doubt about it. Nuts and seeds, particularly almonds, pumpkin seeds, and cashews have lots of zinc. You can eat ten ounces of cashews to get about 10 mg of zinc- that’s 1 500 calories, nearly your day’s allotment. You can eat 30 oranges. In contrast, 3 oz of beef has your daily zinc requirement. A nine oz steak measures in at 250-500 calories, depending on the cut. Oysters are far and away the highest source- one of these little fellas packs the day’s zinc in one sensational slurp.
Not only is the zinc in animal foods far higher than plant foods, but it is far more bioavailable. Experts say animal zinc is about four times more absorbed than plant zinc. Does this mean you need to eat 120 oranges to get a few oyster’s worth? Or 5000 calories worth of nuts?
The very worst sources are grains, which contain phytic acid, an antinutrients that binds to minerals, taking them out of the body unused. These phytates also remove calcium, selenium, magnesium and more, veritably nullifying grain’s nutritional profile. Wheat germ is very high in zinc- about 16 mgs in 100 g serving. Wheat germ is also high in these pesky phytic acids, and gluten, and carbs, which rules it out as a regular zinc source for many.
Old fashioned fermenting of grains was a traditional way of neutralizing phytates. Plus, whole grain has more enzymes that naturally fight off the plant’s own phytic acid. So bread made the old-fashioned way is way better than refined breads. But you’ll still be eating a lot of bread- 20 to 80 slices a day!
I’m starting to see a pattern here. It keeps coming back to the same thing, over and over. Just eat lots of fish and meat and fresh vegetables, and not much of anything else, and you’ll find yourself in fine form.
To browse the archive of Lorette’s writings on The Paleo Garden, click here.
