Go for the Grass-Fed Instead
Mar 31st, 2011
Meet Sam the steer. Sam is your average bred-for-consumption cow. He started life munching on heavily fertilized, weed killer soaked grass. He was then shipped off to a massive feed-lot where he was stuffed with a hearty diet of pesticide-treated corn and soy. While there, he was injected with synthetic hormones to help him grow big and fat. Not long after, Sam went to steer heaven and his remains were shrink-wrapped and shipped to your grocery store. While I feel bad for Sam, I feel worse for my family. Up until a year ago, my only deciding factor when selected beef was that I didn’t want it to be brown. Now, after much research on the matter, we only eat 100% grass-fed beef.
Traditionally, all beef was grass-fed. It seems obvious because, well, we all know that is what cows eat. But in the spirit of high profit, farmers switched to feeding their stock grain to make them fatter faster. This is a very unhealthy practice for both the cow and the consumer. In many cases, the cows digestive system reacts negatively to the unnatural diet and is regularly administered antibiotics. This type of consistent, heavy dosing can lead to the development of antibiotic-resistant bacteria. Not good. Luckily, for us and for Sam’s relatives, many farmers are switching back to the 100% grass-fed feeding method. Just make sure to have your butcher point you in the right direction next time you are picking up the beef for those burgers.
Benefits of Grass-Fed Beef
1. Less overall fat and calories: A six-ounce grass-fed loin has 92 fewer calories than grain-fed. This saves an average American 16,642 calories each year.
2. More Omega-3: Grass-fed beef has 2 to 10 times more omega-3s than grain-fed beef and a healthy ratio as little as 1:1. Grain-fed beef is as much as 14:1.
3. More CLA: Grass-fed beef has 2 to 5 times more CLA than grain-fed. CLA supports immune and cardiovascular growth and lean muscle mass.
4. More Vitamin E: Grass-fed beef contains 3 to 6 times more vitamin E than grain-fed beef.
5. More Carotenoids: Grass-fed beef has up to 4 times more beta-carotene than grain-fed beef. Carotenoids promote eye and macular health.
6. More B Vitamins, CoQ10, and Zinc: Grass-fed beef has more B vitamins, CoQ10, and zinc than grain-fed beef.
Sources: alsearsmd.com, Food & Nutrition Board, time.com
Related Posts
Written by Lea Barlow • 2 Comments
It’s amazingly delicious, very lean and makes me feel better about the red meat we enjoy.
Tanya Thu, Mar 31, 9:19am