Is Grass Fed Beef Worth the Price
When it comes to your diet, quality counts. Mayhap yous already purchase organic vegetables, local fruit from the farmers' market place, and choose unprocessed foods, but one identify where many of my clients skimp is meat.
Meat is already expensive and choosing the fancy kind just for kicks doesn't make sense.
And then today I'thou breaking down vii reasons grass-fed beef is worth the money and I take a shmancy infographic for you to share on social media to inform your skeptical friends.
i. Grass-fed beef has healthy fats
We typically think of omega-3s coming from salmon, but information technology turns out grass-fed beef is a bang-up source as well, providing 2-4x more omega-three and a more favorable (anti-inflammatory) ratio of omega-3 to omega-6 fats than grain-fed beef. Grass-fed beef also has 2-3x more than CLA, a type of fatty that may protect confronting cancer, center disease, and diabetes.
2. More vitamins
Meat from grass-fed cows has 7x more beta-carotene (a cousin of vitamin A) and 2x more than vitamin Eastward than grain-fed. Fresh grasses are more than concentrated in vitamins than grains or dried hay, so it makes sense that the cows eating the fresh stuff are improve nourished.
3. It's safer
Cows are obligate herbivores who are meant to consume grass. When they eat the right food, their bodies are healthy. When they don't? Well, all sorts of problems develop. (Sound familiar to the man dietary dilemma?) Cows that feed on grain develop severe digestive issues, including imbalanced bacteria levels that brand them more susceptible to infections from bacteria like East.coli. Confined animal feeding operations (CAFOs) know this, and that's why almost commercially bachelor cattle feed is laced with low dose antibiotics.
But does that make information technology prophylactic? No!
Modest levels of antibiotic residues make it into the meat we eat and damage our normal gut leaner. Plus, leaner consistently exposed to antibiotics mutate into antibiotic resistant strains that are fifty-fifty MORE likely to make the cows and us sick. I of the worst offenders is the deadly strain East.coli 0157:H7 (think Burger King in the '90s).
4. Grass-fed beefiness is more humane
Cows that are costless to graze in open spaces are pretty much guaranteed to have a better life. Animals need space to thrive! As I hinted at in a higher place, cows kept in confinement have more health problems. Not only does a diet of antibiotic-laced feed and lack of exercise create a problem, just the confined spaces these cows are raised in perpetuates the spread of infection from i cow to some other leading to additional utilize of antibiotics.
More than 80% of all antibiotics used in the US are given to animals destined for our plate, which is an bloodcurdling statistic that every meat purchase you brand in the grocery store has the power to modify. Grass-fed ranchers use significantly less antibiotics than CAFOs because the cows simply don't demand them. Healthy cows are happy cows.
5. No GMOs, fewer pesticide residues
Near cattle raised in confinement are fed corn and soy byproducts, which is not the natural diet for cows. Simply that's not fifty-fifty my biggest beef (lame pun, go with it)… Over xc% of soy and corn grown in the US are genetically modified to withstand awarding of pesticides (everything dies but the corn and soy. Lovely, right?). Since about pesticide residues accumulate in fatty tissues, you can expect conventional beef to have much college pesticide residues than grass-fed beef.
6. Grass-fed beefiness is easier to digest
Many people complain that beef upsets their stomach, but neglect to call back nigh the quality of their meat. In my experience working with clients who have nutrient sensitivities to corn and soy, eating grain-fed beef can flare up symptoms like heartburn, bloating, and other digestive troubles. Too, antibody residues in conventional beef tin can upset your body's healthy bacteria levels. Switch to grass-fed and voila, trouble solved. (Also pre-marinating and using a boring cooker tin can ease digestion of meat. I have many more tips to heal your digestion in my free ebook: xxx Days To a Happy Breadbasket.)
vii. Meliorate for the surround
You've probably read most how eating as well much meat will destroy the environment. And when you look at commercially raised meat, that is true. First off, there'due south a heavy input of water, fertilizers, and pesticides to grow the grain, so it needs to exist transported for processing into feed, then shipped again to the farm. All of this requires fossil fuels.
Plus, when many animals are kept in a small area, you have to deal with the poop. (Aye, it's fourth dimension to talk poop!) Beast waste can create an environmental hazard, simply grazing animals don't lead to the same negative impact. Grazing animals spread their poop over a large area of land where information technology tin can decompose naturally and fertilize the soil, whereas when animals are raised in solitude and particularly when they're eating the wrong foods (corn and soy), their poop becomes an environmental risk, seeping into groundwater, poisoning rivers, and carrying antibiotic residues far and wide.
And for those who take heard of "over-grazing", consider this. Introducing grazing animals to land actually decreases desertification and restores grasslands, which is opposite of what scientists believed for years (Await up Allan Savory'south Ted talk.).
Now that you know some of the benefits of grass-fed beef, it'south time to get some.
What y'all should know well-nigh ownership grass-fed beef:
All cows are raised on grass for the first half dozen-12 months of their life, but many producers switch them to grains to fatten upwards before slaughter. This is called finishing. This unfortunately un-does the health benefits of grass-fed beef, so y'all should wait for labels that state "100% grass-fed beefiness", "grass-finished beef" or "pastured beef".
Also, "organic beefiness" does not mean the cows ate grass, rather that they were fed organic grain (and maybe some grass). That'south a step upwards from GMO feed that most cattle get, but does not confer the benefits of a 100% grass nutrition.
A characterization from the American Grassfed Association is a proficient way to guarantee the meat your buying is from grass-fed animals raised on pasture their unabridged lives, non given antibiotics or hormones, and sourced from Us family farms.
This year, I'm buying beef from the Alaska Meat Company, where the cows are raised on a remote, grassy island. In the past, I was able to locate 100% grass-fed beef at my famers' market place and health food stores. Of form, you can too purchase it online. You might need to wait beyond your local grocery store for the best quality meat and your efforts are absolutely worth it, for you, the cows, and the planet.
Before you go, I'd dearest to hear from you.
Do you buy grass-fed beef? If so, why?
Did I miss any benefits of grass-fed beef? If so, tell me nigh it!
Until next calendar week,
PS – Bonus points if you express mirth at my lame pun hidden in today'due south article. I couldn't resist.
Actress reading for my young man science nerds:
South. K. Duckett, et al. "Furnishings of wintertime stocker growth charge per unit and finishing system on: III. Tissue proximate, fat acrid, vitamin, and cholesterol content." Journal of Beast Scientific discipline. June 5, 2009.
C.A. Daley, et al. "A review of fatty acid profiles and antioxidant content in grass-fed and grain-fed beef." Nutrition Periodical 2010, nine:10
Source: https://lilynicholsrdn.com/7-reasons-grass-fed-beef-is-worth-the-money/
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