Light Up the Grill for Men’s Health Month

The sun is beginning to set and you’re staring into a fire, a hot coal bed glowing beneath the flames. Around you, you can hear the laughter of friends and family—camaraderie woven into the evening. Atop the fire, a couple of steaks are cooking, the smell of smoke and meat mingling in the June air.

It’s a scene that could have been plucked from 10,000 years ago—or it could be happening in your backyard this weekend.

Around the grill—and on it—are ingredients not just for a great meal, but for a healthy life. June is Men’s Health Month, and here at Force of Nature, we believe meat has the potential to reconnect us with the kind of food and ritual that nourishes real strength: not just the ability to lift heavy things, but to move through the world with purpose, clarity, and longevity–to be a force of nature. 

The State of Men’s Health

Let’s start here—men’s health isn’t always front and center—but maybe it should be.

Life expectancy for men has been falling, and the gender gap is growing. In 2022, men were living six years less than women on average—a striking jump from a two-year difference just decades ago. As Richard Reeves, author of Of Boys and Men, points out, “Men have a higher mortality rate than women in 13 of the 15 leading causes of death.” And when it comes to suicide–this affects men at four times the rate compared to women. At Force of Nature, we believe both men and women can be a force of nature—but it isn't just about one hormone, one workout, or one metric. It’s about the ecosystem of a man’s life. Health is about community as much as it is about food. It’s about nervous systems that regulate through social connection. It’s about hormones, muscle, and also gut health. 

So we want to invite you to sit around our campfire while we talk about men’s health.

Food is Information for Your Body

Health is the result of countless interactions between your genes, your environment, and your inputs—everything from the toxins you’re exposed to, to the love you give and receive, to the food on your plate. Food is one of those inputs, and it speaks directly to your biology.

Meat has a remarkable nutrient profile—containing all essential amino acids, and a broad range of micronutrients in highly bioavailable form—meaning they’re easy for your body to recognize and absorb. These compounds are not just about fueling the body. They are the raw materials for repair, recovery, resilience, and even longevity. 

Muscle: Build, Support, Sustain with Nutrient-Density

Ever since Arnold Schwarzenegger showed up with bulging muscles and a cut physique in Pumping Iron (and really, before that), men have been chasing gains. But beneath the surface lies a deeply functional tissue, one that’s metabolically active, hormonally responsive, and structurally protective. In men, muscle mass doesn’t just correlate with vitality—it predicts it. And meat can be a part of building muscle, supporting muscle function, and keeping muscle as you age. 

1. Function & Recovery

Let’s start with the day-to-day. Whether you’re throwing hay bales, chasing toddlers, or just trying to stay mobile and pain-free, your muscles are doing the heavy lifting. And meat supports them every step of the way.

Red meat is rich in nutrients like creatine, carnosine, taurine, and iron—each one playing a specific role in muscle function. Creatine recycles ATP-–your body’s main form of energy—so you have the energy to push through that last rep—or the uphill stretch of your hike. Carnosine buffers the acid that builds up during intense effort, helping you recover faster. Taurine supports hydration and cardiac function (Qaradakhi et al, 2020). And iron delivers oxygen where it’s needed most (Wu et al., 2022).

These aren’t exotic supplements. They’re embedded in the muscle meat of well-raised animals, ready to rebuild yours.

2. Growth and Strength 

But muscle isn’t just about biceps—it’s about metabolism, immunity, and longevity. Your muscle mass acts like a health savings account, buffering you against illness, stress, and aging. But to grow and maintain it, your body needs a consistent supply of high-quality protein—and meat delivers a high-protein diet.

A 2015 review in The Journal of Nutrition found that animal protein stimulates muscle protein synthesis more effectively than plant-based options (van Vliet et al., 2015). Why? Because it’s more bioavailable, meaning it’s easily recognized and digested by your body, higher in essential amino acids that form the building blocks of muscle, and comes with a complement of other nutrients. In other words: it gives your body exactly what it needs to build muscle, no guesswork required.

Whether you’re lifting in the gym or just living a strong, active life, protein is a part of what it means to build towards the life you want. 

3. Longevity & Maintenance

Muscle loss with age—called sarcopenia—is common, but not inevitable. It starts earlier than most people think, around your 30s, and accelerates with every decade if you’re not actively maintaining muscle through diet and exercise. Here’s the part that should make everyone breathe easier though: it’s never too late (Laurent et al., 2018).

A 2019 study in Frontiers in Physiology looked at men in their 70s and 80s—some lifelong athletes, others just getting started. After a single bout of strength training, both groups showed comparable rates of muscle protein synthesis. Translation? Even decades later, your body is still ready to respond. It just needs the stimulus and the fuel (Paddon-Jones and Rasmussen).

You don’t “age out” of muscle. You stop challenging it and feeding. So keep challenging it. And keep feeding it. Let that steak on the grill be more than dinner—let it be a reminder that strength is still on the table.

Hormones: Testosterone and Beyond

Talk about men’s hormones and the first thing that comes to mind is testosterone. Yes, testosterone matters. But so do insulin, thyroid hormones, melatonin, and the delicate balance of the endocrine system. These hormones are signals as much as indicators—responsive to our food, environment, stress, and sleep. And in the modern world, those signals and indicators are increasingly distressed. 

Testosterone, in particular, has been declining across generations. Since the late 1980s, average testosterone levels in men have dropped by about 1% per year, independent of age, weight, or lifestyle factors (Travison et al., 2007).

To make testosterone, your body requires raw materials. Meat–especially organ meats like in Force of Nature’s Ancestral Blends delivers many of those in ideal ratios:

• Zinc, essential for testosterone production and sperm health (Te et al., 2023)

• Vitamin A (retinol) supports testosterone production (Yang et al., 2018)

• Choline, supporting methylation and estrogen metabolism (Wallace et al., 2018)

• Vitamin B12, for DNA synthesis and red blood cell formation (Terrier & Isidori, 2016)

When testosterone declines, it doesn’t just affect libido. It impacts motivation, focus, mood, muscle maintenance, and even cardiovascular health. A steak isn’t just a source of calories or even protein. It delivers what your cells need to build the hormones that shape how you feel, how you recover, and how you relate to the world.

Mood: The Mind-Body-Community Connection

Mood isn’t just in your head, it’s built out of a confluence of factors—from your food, your gut, your cells, and your relationships. Ultimately, these work together to inform the clarity of your thinking, the steadiness of your emotional life, your resilience in the face of stress—all shaped by the chemical soup your brain swims in—from the neurotransmitters that act like signals and messengers in your brain to your nervous system. And that soup is, in large part, built out of food–think of it as more of a stew.

The brain needs nutrients to build neurotransmitters—the stuff mood is made of. Meat provides:

• Vitamin B12 for neurotransmitter synthesis and myelin formation (Coppen et al., 2005)

• Choline, the precursor to acetylcholine which helps with muscle function, learning, and memory (Wallace et al., 2018)

• Iron for dopamine, a neurotransmitter responsible for motivation and pleasure, synthesis and brain oxygenation (Erikson et al., 2001)

• Creatine, which supports neural energy metabolism and may reduce depression symptoms (Roschel et al., 2021)

Beyond nutrients, cooking meat over fire with friends and family can shift something deeper. It’s not just that meat supports your nervous system. The act of preparing it, sharing it with friends and family, grounding into ritual—that supports something about what it means to be human. In a study that looked at how men create supportive social systems, social bonds were important to many men’s mental health (McKenzie et al., 2018).

Ritual: A Return to the Fire

What happens around the fire is more than cooking. It’s about finding a coherent state between biology, our human nature, and the ecosystems that our food comes from. 

Grilling is a return—a place to slow down and return to a time when shared nourishment was the center of every meal. Every culture has known this. From asado to backyard ribs, fire and meat have always lived at the center of community. So, grab a Force of Nature Grass Fed Beef Flank Steak today and make meat a part of your ritual. 

Make it a ritual:

• Light the fire

• Invite your people

• Cook with intention

• Eat with reverence

• Be a Force of Nature

This Men’s Health Month, make that choice. Grill with purpose. Choose meat that gives back to your body, your land, and your life.

Meet the author – Kate Kavanaugh

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