by Jess
19. April 2011 11:35
How many of you have heard this phrase before? Everyone I am sure. This is a really important and true statement. Not only are YOU what you eat, THEY are what they eat. When I say "they," I am meaning your animals...the ones you put in your mouth every day. Would you rather have a cow that was fed fattening grains, hormones, and other animal by-products to increase his size? Or a cow that freely grazed on grass in a nice pretty green field? Everything the animal eats gets passed along to us. I would rather have my cows eating grass.
"On the health front, grass-fed beef is higher in beta carotene, vitamin E, conjugated linoleic acid (CLA), omega fats and iron and has less fat and cholesterol than corn-fed."
"Essentially, grass-fed means the cattle are born, raised and harvested to meet USDA Approved Grass-fed Protocol. This edict forbids the use of artificial hormones, confinement feeding, animal by-products and antibiotics." Buying "organic" grass-fed beef is the best. While a cow eating grass is better than one on a corn-based diet, buying organic ensures the grass they graze does not have added pesticides. Grass-fed beef can be found at Whole Foods, Kroger in their organic foods section, and Publix as a Greenwise product. It is typically more expensive, but worth it.
One last thought... I focused on beef in this blog, but chicken follows the same rules. They go through the same
fattening process and can be just as bad. Look for the keywords "free-range or cage-free, no artificial additives, hormones, etc., and fed a vegetarian diet"on the package. Also, a lot of products are now being labeled as "All Natural" which DOES NOT mean they are necessarily good for you. Make sure to read the fine print - know the ingredients. We still have a long way to go in getting quality/healthy food in our groceries and restaurants, but the tables are turning. These products are showing up more and more.
Quotes from Creative Loafing - The Daily Loaf
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