Tuesday, August 25, 2009
Here's the Beef! Choose Your Meat Wisely
Dear Ryan,
I was in the organic store the other day and they were trumpeting how much better farm-raised organic stuff is compared to the meat we always get from the grocery store. It's slightly more expensive, why should I care?
A: You should care very much, but probably for slightly different reasons.
Ground beef in the grocery store inevitably comes from what we call feed lot farms. Click here to read a LA Times article about these feedlot farms." These places are basically factories, and they bear as much resemblance to the old country farms of our childhood as a cheap Casio keyboard does to a handmade Steinway grand piano.
Cows on these "farms" are production machines for meat and milk. They're fed grain, which isn't their natural diet, and which causes great acidity in their systems. This produces "meat product" that's very high in inflammatory omega-6's and woefully lacking in omega-3's. Here is a great place to get more information about better beef. Click here
They're kept in confined pens and fed antibiotics to prevent the sickness that inevitably arises from the close quarters. They're fed steroids and "bovine growth hormone" to help fatten them up. Then they're "processed." Whether the end product — the meat that winds up on your plate — has the DNA of 1,000 cows in it or not, it's not something you should be eating.
Grass-fed meat is a whole different ballgame. Cows were meant to graze on pasture —their natural diet is grass, and when they roam on pasture and graze on grass their meat is higher in omega-3's and CLA (conjugated linolenic acid), an important fat that has anti-cancer activity and may also help reduce abdominal fat. Since the cattle aren't in confined quarters and they're not eating primarily grains, they don't get sick as much and aren't fed massive quantities of antibiotics.
Now, "organic" meat is somewhere in between the two extremes. It usually means the cows were fed organic grain, which is only a minor improvement since cows shouldn't be eating a diet of grain in the first place. While the perception is that organically raised meat is better than non-organic meat, it's still not nearly as good as grass-fed (pasture raised). Sometimes grass-fed meat is also organic, but some very conscientious farmers who raise real, healthy, pasture-grazing cows don't meet some obscure government standard for organic so they're not able to say their meat is "organic."
I wouldn't worry about it. Given a choice, I'd go with grass-fed over organic every time, though in the best of all worlds, you'd get both. For what it's worth, every study you've ever seen that talks about the bad health consequences of meat eating is looking at people who eat highly processed meat from factory farms. It would be very interesting to see if there are the same negative consequences to eating a diet of grass-fed (organic) beef with plenty of vegetables to balance it out.
No study like that has ever been done, but my hunch is that if people ate that way, the so-called "negative" health effects ascribed to eating meat would disappear.
I was in the organic store the other day and they were trumpeting how much better farm-raised organic stuff is compared to the meat we always get from the grocery store. It's slightly more expensive, why should I care?
A: You should care very much, but probably for slightly different reasons.
Ground beef in the grocery store inevitably comes from what we call feed lot farms. Click here to read a LA Times article about these feedlot farms." These places are basically factories, and they bear as much resemblance to the old country farms of our childhood as a cheap Casio keyboard does to a handmade Steinway grand piano.
Cows on these "farms" are production machines for meat and milk. They're fed grain, which isn't their natural diet, and which causes great acidity in their systems. This produces "meat product" that's very high in inflammatory omega-6's and woefully lacking in omega-3's. Here is a great place to get more information about better beef. Click here
They're kept in confined pens and fed antibiotics to prevent the sickness that inevitably arises from the close quarters. They're fed steroids and "bovine growth hormone" to help fatten them up. Then they're "processed." Whether the end product — the meat that winds up on your plate — has the DNA of 1,000 cows in it or not, it's not something you should be eating.
Grass-fed meat is a whole different ballgame. Cows were meant to graze on pasture —their natural diet is grass, and when they roam on pasture and graze on grass their meat is higher in omega-3's and CLA (conjugated linolenic acid), an important fat that has anti-cancer activity and may also help reduce abdominal fat. Since the cattle aren't in confined quarters and they're not eating primarily grains, they don't get sick as much and aren't fed massive quantities of antibiotics.
Now, "organic" meat is somewhere in between the two extremes. It usually means the cows were fed organic grain, which is only a minor improvement since cows shouldn't be eating a diet of grain in the first place. While the perception is that organically raised meat is better than non-organic meat, it's still not nearly as good as grass-fed (pasture raised). Sometimes grass-fed meat is also organic, but some very conscientious farmers who raise real, healthy, pasture-grazing cows don't meet some obscure government standard for organic so they're not able to say their meat is "organic."
I wouldn't worry about it. Given a choice, I'd go with grass-fed over organic every time, though in the best of all worlds, you'd get both. For what it's worth, every study you've ever seen that talks about the bad health consequences of meat eating is looking at people who eat highly processed meat from factory farms. It would be very interesting to see if there are the same negative consequences to eating a diet of grass-fed (organic) beef with plenty of vegetables to balance it out.
No study like that has ever been done, but my hunch is that if people ate that way, the so-called "negative" health effects ascribed to eating meat would disappear.
Fear of fat is making us sick - and fat! Think back to our grandparents' day. Children did not have masses of allergies and learning problems or get fat when they were eating eggs and butter for breakfast instead of dry processed breakfast cereals, processed fruit juices and toast with margarine and jam! They also ate plenty of grass fed meat - chops with the fat on them and roasts with all the fat in the gravy. Nor did they eat foods cooked in unstable polyunsaturated vegetable oils and trans-fats.
We are becoming malnourished by over-eating the wrong foods. Generation after generation, we are depleting ourselves and reducing our ability to reproduce. Our reliance on synthetic substitutes is dangerous: foods labeled ‘health foods' - soy infant formula, highly processed breakfast cereals and health food bars for example are often nutrient-poor foods, high in sugar, additives, fillers, artificial sweeteners and trans-fats.
A huge amount of the food in our supermarkets is based on sugar, refined carbohydrates, refined vegetable oils, soy additives and trans fats - all produced for shelf life and profit. Next time you are in a supermarket, look at the relative shelf space of butter and margarines! When was the last time you saw a TV ad telling you how good butter is?
Modern science is confirming that butter from grass fed cows is one of the healthiest whole foods you can include in your diet. Despite unjustified warnings about saturated fat from well-meaning, but misinformed nutrition and health "experts", the list of butter's benefits is impressive indeed.
It is a rich source of easily-absorbed vitamin A - needed for a wide range of functions in the body from maintaining good vision to keeping the endocrine system in top shape. Butter also contains all the other fat-soluble vitamins (E, K, and D). It is rich in trace minerals and also contains butyric acid and conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) both of which are known to help protect against cancer. Only grass-fed cows produce good levels of CLA in their milk and tallow (meat fat) so avoid "grain fed"!
Butter from grass fed cows also has small, but equal, amounts of omega 3 and 6 fatty acids, the so-called essential fatty acids. Margarine on the other hand is an imitation food full of synthetic additives and colors and made from highly processed omega 6 rich vegetable oils which distort the omega 3/omega 6 balance and generate many health problems!
So enjoy your butter! We can be happier and healthier and maintain normal weight by eating the nutrient-rich foods we have avoided for so long!
Nutritional Advantages
Why meats and eggs raised on grass are nutritionally superior to those raised in modern confinement operations:
- Higher in antioxidants like Vitamin E, A, and C
- Free of hormones, antibiotics, steroids or other artificial substances
- Lower in fat overall, while nutritionally superior fats occur naturally
- Grassfed meats have 2 to 4 times more Omega-3 fatty acids, which are essential for heart, brain and nervous system function, and may reduce the risk of heart diseaseor cancer.
- Pastured eggs have 10 times more Omega-3 fatty acids, more folic acid, B-12 and lutein.
- Richest known source of CLA (conjugated linoleic acid), a potent defense against cancer- 3 to 5 times more than conventional meats. CLA also promotes muscle-building over fat-building in humans
- Significantly less disease-causing bacteria
- Free of GMO (genetically modified organisms) feed
- Free of synthetic vitamins which are poorly absorbed
- Individual grass farmers have a higher standard. Animals raised on grass are free of diseases which pass the mass-market inspection
- Free of formaldehyde rinses, injected salt solutions, preservatives and irradiation
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