FAT is an essential nutrient of the human diet. Some fats can provide numerous health benefits, while others can promote disease. Beef is loaded with high quality fats when the cow is raised on grass for its entire life.
What exactly do you mean by Grass-Fed?
Ruminant animals, such as cows, bison, and lamb have been naturally selected by evolution to consume grass as their primary food source. While humans are not capable of extracting energy from grass as they lack certain digestive enzymes, these animals are healthiest when they get to graze on lush pastures filled with green grass. Grass fed is a term that refers to the feeding practices established by the farmer. In essence, the animal gets to live and eat grass for the majority of its life. See grass fed vs. grass finished.
Is the beef I am buying at the grocery store grass-fed?
Chances are, probably not. It is easy to spot grass-fed beef as there is always a “grass-fed” label on the package. USDA prime cuts are not grass-fed.
If the meat I am buying is not grass-fed, then what is the animal being fed?
Most of the time it is grains, such barley, wheat, and corn, but factory farms have been known to feed their animals chicken feathers, city garbage, and even animal by-products. I believe a lot of people are aware of the disturbing nature of factory farms, so I will not go into that topic in this post. If you want to read more about the truths of factory farms, click here
Does it really make a difference if the animal is fed grass vs. grain?
To many people’s surprise, the answer is yes! Allowing ruminant animals to live on pastures and consume grass throughout their entire lives produces not only happier and healthier animals, but more nutritious meat. Grass-fed beef has been proven to have considerably higher levels of essential fats, fat-soluble vitamins, antioxidants, and minerals. Check out these two studies done by researchers that show the differences of beef based off how the cows were fed:
Effects of conventional and grass-feeding systems on the nutrient composition of beef.
Both studies concluded that grass-fed beef was higher in essential omega 3 fatty acids, CLA, fat-soluble vitamins, carotenoids, antioxidants, and minerals.
Moving away from SAD
One of the most important biomarkers for your health is your omega-6 to omega-3 fatty acid ratio. It is commonly recommended by nutritionists and doctors to be about 2:1, and 1:1 if you are experiencing inflammation. This is nowhere close to most American’s dietary intake. The majority of Americans have a ratio of 20:1 to 30:1! Why is that? Corn, corn oil, canola oil, and soy are common foods Americans eat everyday that contain high levels of omega 6 fatty acids. Consuming grass-fed beef will move you from this highly inflammatory state to a much healthier way of life.
Pricing
Grass-fed beef is almost always more expensive. However, there are simple tricks you can do to pay less for this higher quality beef. Pretty much every farm will apply a discount to each pound of beef if you buy it in bulk. My recommendation is to find another friend or two that eats beef and purchase a bulk order, then split it up evenly. This way you are putting highly nutritious food into your body at a reasonable price, while not supporting factory farms. Some of favorite my places to order grass fed beef from are:
Stay tuned for more biohacks and health optimization advice!
Cheers,
Charles and Oliver
INSTAGRAM: BioWealth
SNAPCHAT: BioWealth 👻
#nutrition #grassfed #grassfedbeef #health #biohacking #fitness #energy #wellness #animalwelfare
Man, that top picture could sell my wife anything. What a spectacular beast. CSA's seem to be the way to go for grass fed beef, at least where I live.
Haha, thanks. Yes, CSA's are great choice for people who live close to local farms or local farm deliveries.
Yes! Glad to have another real-food proponent here on Steemit. As my husband @lukestokes mentioned, we have been in a meat CSA for the last many years (6?) to get grass-fed/pastured meats, and we love it. I wrote a blogpost awhile back on healthy fats--a summary of a book I read called Eat Fat, Lose Fat. In case you're interested, I've also posted a few times here on Steemit about real food, including this post which talks about meat CSAs, among other things, being a way to save money on good healthy food. Welcome to Steemit!
"real food"
Come off your high horse man.
To clarify, when I say "real food," I mean a spectrum. In the most general sense, though, I mean fruits, vegetables, meat, fish, nuts, etc that do not have food additives, conditioners, colorings, flavorings, preservatives, anti-caking agents, MSG, high fructose corn syrup, partially hydrogenated oils, etc. Not trying to be snooty, so sorry if I came off that way.
HF corn syrup is just diabolical, fair enough!
Great post! My wife got us into a CSA (community supported agriculture) with grass fed and pastured meat. We love it. We also get "not for human consumption" raw milk (thanks, government) and grass fed butter, both of which are amazing. The whole "fat is bad!" movement, I think, did so much to lower human health. Bring on the healthy fats!
To clarify....The raw (grass-fed) milk we buy here has to be labeled "not for human consumption" because it is illegal to sell raw milk for human consumption here in Tennessee.
@lukestokes thank you. I couldn't agree more with you. My family and I consume grass fed beef, lamb, bison, and raw grass fed milk quite regularly. These foods are not only super nutritious, but so tasty.
Is there really a "fat is bad" movement? There's a high-carb/low-fat movement (the 80-10-10 diet, Doug Graham, Freelee the banana girl, etc.), but none of these people say fat is bad, just that it should be a lower ratio of your diet than what people usually eat today.
It's kind of like you can say the US should cut down on military spending without saying it doesn't need defense. It just doesn't need THAT much.
And the other part of the equation is they advocate eating a bunch more calories than most people usually eat. So even if they're advocating a low proportion of fat, it doesn't mean the total amount of fat is necessarily that low. And they're certainly not denying that there are healthy fats or advocating that you don't get any.
Perhaps there is a different movement actually saying fat is bad, I'm not sure :p
It was more of an advertising thing, from what little I understand. Products sold better if they had "0% Fat!" on the label because some people we're confused about healthy fats. I'd have to ask @corinnestokes for more details, but from what I remember reading, the cultural idea that fats were unhealthy did spread to a number of people (which is why advertisers responded as they did, to get that purchasing power) which, ultimately, hurt people's health. It also relates to the cholesterol discussion which pushed out healthly fats as well. This isn't my area of understanding, so I'm worse than an armchair quarter back here.
Gotcha. Ya, I'm pretty sure whole milk is better for you than skim (I don't drink either anymore), but through marketing people have it in their head that skim is better.
I'm always skeptical of like "reduced fat" potato chips. I just won't eat potato chips if I'm concerned about fat today, lol. It seems like there has to be some tradeoff of making things more artificial.. I'd rather take the fat and keep it closer to the whole food.
Well....generally speaking, fat has been demonized here in the US. People/government have pointed the finger at fat for causing heart disease and obesity....hence the marketing push to label things as low-fat/no-fat. But fat is not bad, and not all fats are equal. There are healthy fats and non-healthy fats. Partially hydrogenated fats and canola oil, for example, are not so great for you. But butter (especially made from milk from cows that are grass-fed) and coconut oil have lots of health benefits. For some great nutritional reading, check out a book called Nourishing Traditions.
Mmmm grass fed beeeef....
You can definitely taste a difference. Happy cows just taste better!
Grass-Fed Biltong is one step up, money wise, but certainly worth it to your health.
While I get that this might be hot and 'trendy' to talk about, please give people the important quotes before having them run off to buy the next fad in the meat industry.
"Although the fatty acid composition of grass-fed and conventionally fed beef was different, conclusions on the possible effects of these differences on human health cannot be made without further investigation."
From the study you link: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18641180
Layman terms: It might be beneficial, but we're not sure and haven't researched it enough. But it sure as heck is a lot more expensive in the grocery stores.
This study was completed in 2008. There have been hundreds of studies done since then that show omega 3 fatty acid and fat-soluble vitamin consumption is directly correlated with better human health. In terms of pricing, you can purchase grass-fed beef in bulk that will save you quite a bit of money.
I wish I could afford some grass fed beef. Do you have a recommendation of the next best thing?
You can get grass-fed beef at a cheaper price by buying in bulk as mentioned in the post. This might mean buying a 1/4 of a cow to put in your freezer. (You'd need an extra freezer for that.) You can also do a meat CSA (community-supported agriculture) program through a local farm. We are part of a meat CSA and we get 20-22 pounds of grass-fed/pastured meat per month at a discounted price. Ours is beef and chicken, but there are lots of variations on these kinds of programs. Google "CSA" for your city and see what you can find. You can also get good healthy fats from grass-fed butter (like Kerrygold butter) and coconut oil. Wild-caught fish is also really good for you.
Thats exactly what i said in my blog biowealth but in much greater detail . without fat you will die and you become a 2nd hand vegetarian by eating grass fed beef just leave the fat on don't over cook it medium rare max the fat should still be white.
https://steemit.com/weightloss/@ultramari0/how-to-lose-1-5-lbs-of-pure-fat-a-day-just-for-steemit-users-only
nice!
Hi Charles, great article. I just took a look at your Instagram account and noticed that you drink Bulletproof Coffee. What are your thoughts on this? A friend recommended it, but it's always nice to hear from another source. Thanks!
It's a quick way to clog up your arteries.
I am assuming you are referring to the idea that saturated fats are bad for human health as this is still a common myth believed by most of society. Humans have been eating meat for millions of years. Animal meat naturally contains saturated fats. The idea that these fats are bad for our health makes no sense from a evolutionary biology perspective. In addition, new science has emerged that shows there is no evidence that consuming saturated fat contributes to heart disease: http://ajcn.nutrition.org/content/early/2010/01/13/ajcn.2009.27725.abstract
The real causes of clogged arteries and cardiovascular disease is high carbohydrate consumption (sugar), excess omega 6 intake, and trans fats (hydrogenated vegetable oils).
Bulletproof Coffee is a great way to practice intermittent fasting, while also obtaining vitamins and minerals. The key is the type of butter you use. It really should come from grass fed cows.
I don't eat beef at all, but I prefer grass fed butter and give my sons and husband grass fed beef when they want it. It was neat to read what you had to say on the issue! Thanks for sharing your educated insights!
It's nice that you give the cows a happier life before you slaughter them to death and eat their flesh :)
As far as health goes, I'm sure you might be right that it's an improvement over regular beef. But is it really sustainable? How many people in the world can eat grass fed beef before you just run out of space? If it's not a food we (everyone) can enjoy in abundance, it's probably not a food.
Arguments about what's healthy and what isn't are really tedious. But if you just trust your heart, and we know cows are sentient beings with many emotions that are similar to our own, does it really seem right that nature would design it so that this is healthy for us to eat? That's just installing a loop of suffering into the world.
I realize you're mostly just saying it's healthier than the alternative of corn fed beef. But I just want to implore you to think about whether beef is something you even want in your diet at all.
To me, this seems like the future of how to eat meat: https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/lab-grown-meat-is-in-your-future-and-it-may-be-healthier-than-the-real-stuff/2016/05/02/aa893f34-e630-11e5-a6f3-21ccdbc5f74e_story.html
Lab grown meat. That's the only way to eat meat with the animal's happiness in mind, and for that matter the only way that's sustainable for the planet. And it would seem you can tinker with it to produce the right ratio of Omega-3s. Presumably as time goes on and techniques improve, you could keep making it better and eventually safer than regular meat.
The article says they aren't there yet, but that was in May. Seems there's a crowd-funded startup who will be making lab-created chicken: http://supermeat.com
Nicely written article @biowealth. I do probably agree that grass-fed is an improvement over conventional, but I think it's important not to trap yourself in that dichotomy, just like being better than Trump doesn't mean there's actually something good about Hillary Clinton.
Thanks for your thoughts. I believe there is actually a lot land that is currently being used to grow grains (corn, wheat, soy, etc.) that could be turned into pastures to raise healthy animals. Regarding the idea of eating animals, evolution shaped that one. Look at where eyes on a human being sit... on the front of the head, not the side, such as in the case of a zebra or cow. Humans are predators, not prey animals. However, I believe in the future we will be able to bypass these innate processes with cultured meat. I am part of an organization that is carrying out research on stem cells and their applications to growing meat in a lab. It is only a matter of time before this science goes mainstream.
That's great.. I don't even care to be right about what's healthy and whatnot.. lab creation seems like a win-win that will do so much good for the planet and the animals, good luck with it.
I think the problem with the evolution argument is that we can always we evolve things that later on we don't need anymore. (The appendix would be a lame example.) In certain environments it was an advantage to hunt animals, but that doesn't mean it's best for us now in this environment.
If nothing else I'd try to keep the meat to a lower amount. My feeling is that through evolution we never ate it in abundance, cause food is scarce. Nowadays with everything at our fingertips we're only recently consuming animals products in abundance, and I think it has a lot to do with all the disease.
Without government subsidies to the meat and dairy industry the price would be much higher and people would naturally not eat meat so often .. so I mean, if they want you to do it I feel like it's a good rule of thumb not to do it lol.
Jijijiji hi dog! :)
Hey I have an idea. Why Steemians should not eat meat. Because you don't need to kill animals to live.
You are right. Human do not need to eat meat to survive. However, in order for the human mind and body to function optimally it needs healthy fats, high quality protein, and small amounts of carbohydrates that come from plants and animals. My mom is a vegetarian so I understand your stance, but as I said in a comment above, we are part of nature and evolution. Eating plants and animals is rooted in our genes.
I am a big believer in healthy fats, but so far have not really tested eating grass fed beef as opposed to other kinds, but I think it is time to start adding it to my diet.
The brain is mostly made up of fat. We need fat to help our nerves and development of brain health. In addition, fat helps in hormone regulation and production.
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