I'm a convert.
While the meat we buy is relatively inexpensive historically, it's not the stuff I ate as a kid.
The corn-fed beef living in manure-bog feedlots; corn-fed chicken cramed in airless barns full of dust and feces; pigs crammed into similarly cramped conditions and never exposed to sun or fresh air; and eggs from chickens crunched into one-foot square "battery cages" just don't taste like my brain and body tell me they should.
Two weeks ago I got some pork chops and bacon from grass fed pigs. They live in a big pasture 20 minutes north of us, eating and digging for the food they were designed to find. Their bodies are in the sun all day, making the Vitamin D that makes their immune systems work to keep them healthy. As a result they never need to be fed antibiotic-filled feed.
And my was that good meat! The taste wasn't wild or gamey, just a proper "pork" flavor I haven't had in decades actually. After boycotting super-market, factory-produced pork several years ago, it was a welcome addition to our diet!
Firm, I won't say "textured," because it wasn't fiberous or tough, but you could sink your teeth into it and feel like you were eating something significant.
Based on the numbers, you ARE eating something significant. The meat is denser, being filled with the minerals and vitamins that belong there and are sadly missing from the factory-farm meat. You can actually eat less of it and feel more satisfied, as the things your body needs are there, getting processed into healthy cells, bone and muscle.
We ordered up a half hog to be delivered in April. It cost me $3/pound versus $2 for the stuff I get in the store. When it's finished being butchered and sliced I'll be out about $4 per pound. The fifty pounds of pork I'll have in our freezer will keep twice as long as anything from a factory farm, partly because it hasn't been soaked in salt water to increase the weight. And because it is healthy meat.
Not interested yet? Good!
Read on to find out why the factory farm meat is killing us and the good old grass-fed stuff our grandparents savored keeps us healthy. It's not just taste you are paying for, it's nutrition.
When we add our own home-raised chickens to the freezer this fall, and pasture-based eggs later this summer, I like to think that now we're going to be feeding our bodies and not just filling our bellies.
CALORIESThe average North American eats 66.5 pounds of beef a year.
Grassfed beef is leaner and therefore lower in calories per pound. A 6-ounce grass-fed beef burger has 100
less calories than a feedlot-fed beef burger. That's 17,733 fewer calories a year for the same amount of beef. If you don't change anything else in your diet, other than eating grass-fed beef, you would lose six pounds without trying.
HEALTHY FATMeat from all grass-fed animals has two to four times more Omega 3 fatty acids than grain-fed animals. Each day an animal spends on a grass-free diet reduces the Omega 3acids in the meat.
People with good levels of Omega 3 in their diets are far less likely to have high blood pressure or suffer heart attacks. (1) They are also less likely to suffer depression, ADD, Ahlzeimer's, and schizophrenia. (2)
VITAMIN EThe meat from the pastured cattle is four times higher in vitamin E than the meat from the feedlot cattle and almost twice as high as the meat from the feedlot cattle given vitamin E supplements.
In humans, vitamin E is linked with a lower risk of heart disease and cancer. This potent antioxidant may also have anti-aging properties. Most Americans are deficient in vitamin E.
GRASS FED BEEF BEATS GRAIN FEDGrass-fed beef is better for human health than grain-fed beef in ten different ways, according to the most comprehensive analysis to date. The 2009 study was a joint effort between the USDA and researchers at Clemson University in South Carolina. Compared with grain-fed beef, grass-fed beef was:
Lower in total fat
Higher in beta-carotene
Higher in vitamin E (alpha-tocopherol)
Higher in the B-vitamins thiamin and riboflavin
Higher in the minerals calcium, magnesium, and potassium
Higher in total omega-3s
A healthier ratio of omega-6 to omega-3 fatty acids (1.65 vs 4.84)
Higher in CLA (cis-9 trans-11), a potential cancer fighter
Higher in vaccenic acid (which can be transformed into CLA)
Lower in the saturated fats linked with heart disease
ON TO EGGSEggs from hens raised outdoors on pasture have from three to six times more vitamin D than eggs from factory hens. Pastured hens are exposed to direct sunlight, which their bodies convert to vitamin D and then pass on to the eggs.
Vitamin D is best known for its role in building strong bones. New research shows that it can also enhance the immune system, improve mood, reduce blood pressure, combat cancer, and reduce the risk of some autoimmune disorders.
This latest good news about eggs comes from a study just released by
Mother Earth News, a magazine that plays a leading role in promoting health-enhancing, natural foods. The editors found that eating just two eggs will give you from 63-126% of the recommended daily intake of vitamin D.
Note that this benefit comes only from hens that are free to graze fresh greens, eat bugs, and bask in the sun. Most of the eggs sold in the supermarket do not meet this criterion. Even though the label says that the eggs are “certified organic” or come from “uncaged” or “free-range” hens or from hens fed an “all-vegetarian” diet, this is no guarantee that the hens had access to the outdoors or pasture.
Look for eggs from “pastured” hens. You are most likely to find these superior eggs at farmer’s markets or natural food stores. Better yet, purchase them directly from your local farmer.
BUTTER VERSUS MARJARINEI am guilty. I still refust to change over to a vegetable-based butter spread. Give me butter or, well, I guess butter is death eh?
But wait! No idea where you're going to find it, but butter from grass-fed cows is good for you! And you can evaluate it by how your butter spreads.
Take a cube of butter from your refrigerator, slice it with a knife, and spread it on a slice of bread. Did it coat the bread evenly or did it remain in hard lumps? Researchers have determined that the easier butter spreads, the better it is for your health.
Why? The firmness of butter depends on its ratio of saturated and unsaturated fat. At refrigerator temperatures, saturated fat is hard and unsaturated fat is soft, or even liquid. Therefore, butter that is relatively easy to spread has less saturated, artery-clogging fat and more (healthier) unsaturated fat.
In addition, a 2006 study shows that the softer the butter, the more fresh pasture in the cow’s diet. Cows that get all their nutrients from grass have the softest butterfat of all. Butter from grass-fed cows also has more cancer-fighting CLA, vitamin E, beta-carotene, and omega-3 fatty acids than butter from cows raised in factory farms or that have limited access to pasture.
SUPER NATURAL MILKIf the butter's better, how about the milk?
85-95% of the cows in the US are raised in confinement, not pasture. Their grass comes from hay. Cows in feedlots on hay and grain produce more milk. On average, they produce more than three times as much milk as the family cow of days gone by.
With emphasis on quantity, the nutritional content of milk has suffered. CLA has been the biggest loss, as grass fed cows have up to five times more in the milk.
Milk from pastured cows also contains an idea ratio fo essential fatty acids, Omega-6 and omega-3. Studies show that if your diet has fairly equal amounts of each, you will have lower risk of cancer, cardiovascular disease, autoimmune disorders, allergies, obesity, diabetes, dementia, and various mental disorders.
I grew up around dairy farmers. They confine their cows and feed the way they do to try and maintain their family farm. Pay a fair price for grass-fed milk and give them a reason to turn those cows back out on grass and they will, gladly I'd say!
The best part of grass-fed? TASTE! Milk, cheese and butter from grass-fed cows has a rich, yellow color that is a visible proof of their bonus supply of carotenes and teste delicious. Don't even think of what it will do for your favorite baking recipes!
1-Siscovick, D. S., T. E. Raghunathan, et al. (1995). "Dietary Intake and Cell Membrane Levels of Long-Chain n-3 Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids and the Risk of Primary Cardiac Arrest." JAMA 274(17): 1363-1367.
2-Simopolous, A. P. and Jo Robinson (1999). The Omega Diet. New York, HarperCollins. My previous book, a collaboration with Dr. Artemis P. Simopoulos, devotes an entire chapter to the vital role that omega-3s play in brain function.
3-Data from: Smith, G.C. "Dietary supplementation of vitamin E to cattle to improve shelf life and case life of beef for domestic and international markets." Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colorado 80523-1171
