Eating Too Much Meat Can Be Inflammatory (But Gelatin Can Help)

Meat is incredibly nutrient dense and packed with protein, vitamins, and minerals that our bodies need. It is one of the best foods out there for building strength, staying nourished and overall vitality.
But, if you are only eating the muscle meat and skipping the other parts of the animal like skin, cartilage, and bones, you could actually be doing yourself a disservice. Over time, focusing only on muscle meat can create imbalances in your body that might lead to inflammation and put extra strain on your joints, gut, and connective tissue.
That is why eating nose-to-tail or adding collagen rich foods like Goose Goods Beef Gelatin is so important. It helps balance out your amino acids and gives your body the nutrients it needs.
Why Muscle Meat Alone Isn't Enough
Muscle meat is packed with amino acids like methionine, tryptophan, and cysteine. They are important, but too much of them without enough glycine (the star amino acid in collagen and gelatin) can:
- Raise homocysteine levels, which is linked to inflammation
- Make your liver work harder
- Create more of a pro-inflammatory environment in your body
Our grandparents and great-grandparents did not have this problem. They ate skin-on chicken, simmered soup bones for hours, and made use of every part of the animal. That meant they got plenty of glycine, proline, and other collagen-building amino acids that kept their bodies balanced.
Glycine: Why You Need It
Glycine is one of the main amino acids in Goose Goods gelatin, and your body loves it.
Here’s why:
- Builds strong skin, joints, and connective tissue
- Helps make glutathione, your body’s main antioxidant
- Supports a healthy gut lining
- Keeps inflammation in check
Your body can make some glycine on its own, but if you are eating a lot of muscle meat you probably need more than you are producing. That is where adding a scoop of gelatin to your day can make a big difference.
Proline: Another Collagen Superstar
Along with glycine, proline is one of the key amino acids that makes collagen so powerful. It helps your body build and maintain strong connective tissue, which means healthy skin, flexible joints, and resilient tendons.
Proline also plays a role in healing wounds and repairing tissue: basically helping your body bounce back from everyday wear and tear.
Proline is mostly found in the collagen-rich parts of the animal like skin, cartilage, and bones. So if your diet leans heavily on muscle meat alone, you’re probably missing out on this essential building block.
How Modern Eating Threw Us Off
Traditional diets naturally prioritized balance. People ate roasts with skin and cartilage still on, slow cooked stews full of rich broth and nothing went to waste.
Now the grocery store is full of boneless, skinless chicken breast and extra-lean ground beef. Convenient, sure, but it means most of us are not getting the collagen-rich cuts our bodies are built to thrive on.
Simple Ways to Restore the Balance
Here are easy ways to add more of these amino acids into your routine:
- Sip bone broth: make it at home or buy a high-quality one that is thick when refrigerated (which means more gelatin)
- Add Goose Goods Gelatin: blend it into into coffee and hot chocolate or make healthy gummies and desserts
- Cook collagen-rich cuts: short ribs, ox tail, bone-in chicken with the skin and lamb shanks cooked low and slow are perfect
The Bottom Line
Too much muscle meat without collagen-rich foods can throw your amino acids out of balance and contribute to inflammation. By eating more nose-to-tail or adding Goose Goods Beef Gelatin, you can bring things back into harmony and support your skin, joints, gut and overall vitality.
Your body is not just built from protein. It is built from the right balance of proteins. Incorporating Goose Goods Gelatin into your routine is an easy (and fun) way to get there.
For ideas on how to use it, check out our Gelatin Gummy Recipe or try it in a frothy latte for a cozy and nourishing treat.