The Most Compelling Reasons Why You Should Switch To Grass-Fed Beef

The health benefits of grass-fed beef cannot be ignored

I've traditionally been the kind of person who looked at food as a means for satisfying my hunger and giving me the energy to get through the day. Of course, I'm also a bargain-hunter and will tend to lean towards those foods that are on sale more often than not. Yes, I'm a part of the Wal-mart generation who looks for cheap food and I usually get what I pay for.

But ever since I started livin' la vida low-carb, I've found my frugality for food has evolved into a search for substance as it relates to nutrition. All food is not the same and the nutritional content of what I buy now compared to when I weighed 410 pounds four years ago is light years apart. Bye bye sugar! See ya starchy carbs! So long fast food and high-carb crap that used to dominate my pantry and refrigerator. Those things aren't in my cabinets anymore!

Today I make better choices about the foods I eat because I care more about my health now than I ever have. Living healthy is arguably the top priority for most of us who are livin' la vida low-carb. Sure, weight loss is a big reason, too, but I consider it merely a side effect of choosing to live healthier. And it doesn't really take willpower to decide to start living healthier right away as is often suggested by well-meaning people who haven't got a clue. You just gotta do it!

That said, there's even a subset of healthy food choices within the realm of low-carb living that you may not even know about. We all know most meats that have not been injected with sugars are acceptable on low-carb, but is it possible to get more nutritional bang for your proverbial buck when you are shopping for beef, chicken, and pork? Absolutely it is!

Up until recently, I've pretty much relied on the good old store-bought meats and the occasional cuts from the local meat market to stock up the Moore household refrigerator and freezer with healthy high-fat, low-carb meat selections. But what I didn't realize was how much extra nutrition I was missing from my diet because I failed to purchase what is known as "grass-fed" beef and other meats.

What the heck is "grass-fed" meat and what's the point, you ask? GOOD QUESTIONS!

Whether you realize it or not, most of the meat supply in the United States has been tainted with things like hormones, antibiotics, and even steroids to (pardon the pun!) "beef up" the cows so they'll weigh more and bring in more money for the cattlemen. It's BIG BUSINESS these days making meat and you and I suffer the consequences of that lack of quality with the end product. Plus, the mistreatment of animals on these factory farms is absolutely atrocious!

Why else are these cattle and other animals so unhealthy to eat? They are fed a diet heavy in processed grains which leads the meat to become LOADED with omega-6 fatty acids. This is the one the standard American diet has too much of and you want to offset it with omega-3s. The higher ratio of omega-6 to omega-3 fats you have, the more inflammation that is created in the body (as nutritionist Monica Reinagel recently shared in my podcast interview with her).

So what do you do? This is where grass-fed meat comes in. It can be extremely difficult to find, but well worth the effort. Why? Although it costs a little more money than standard meat, the nutritional difference is like upgrading from tin to gold! It's more like goldmine when you see all that you're getting from grass-fed meat which is what your low-carb lifestyle could use to kick it into high gear for both weight loss and health improvements.

The most compelling reasons why you should switch to grass-fed beef have everything to do with properly managing your health which everyone who is reading this right now I think takes a personal vested interest in. If you care about your health, then you cannot overlook these important arguments in favor of consuming grass-fed beef and other meats every chance you can get!

THEY ARE LOADED WITH OMEGA-3 FATTY ACIDS

Yep, unlike their factory farm counterparts, grass-fed meats only eat grass from a pasture rather than the forced diet of grains, grains, and more grains. There's a reason the big farms feed their cattle grains--IT MAKES 'EM GET REALLY FAT! You avoid the nasty side effect of all those omega-6s and instead reward your body with omega-3s when you choose grass-fed instead.

BETTER TREATMENT FOR THE ANIMALS

Again, the big factory farms just don't care about how the animals are treated. It's a business about making meat as quickly as possible so they can make a buck. But organic, grass-fed animals are treated very humanely and not subjected to the poor treatment that is part and parcel of what happens on those other farms.

THERE ARE NO ANTIBIOTICS USED

Grass-fed animals don't need any antibiotics in them like their grain-eating counterparts do because they don't deal with the health complications that high-carb diet brings on.

YOU GET LOTS OF CONJULATED LINOLENIC ACID

Conjugated linolenic acid, or CLA, is a powerful fat that is created in the stomach of a grass-fed animal which is extremely healthy as an anti-cancer agent.

SAY BYE BYE TO E. COLI

When you select organic meats, the risk of consuming E. coli tainted meat is next to nil. E. coli generally exists inside of animals with a highly acidic environment which is typical of grain-fed cattle. The lack of acidity in grass-fed beef make it less likely that E. coli could even exist there.

NO NEED FOR STEROIDS OR GROWTH HORMONES

You want a cow to get bigger, you inject it with steroids or growth hormones. This has become so routine these days that nobody stops and thinks about the consequences of what happens when humans begin ingesting all that into their bodies. Again, it all comes down to trying to make a buck as quickly as possible instead of insuring the safety of the food supply.

NO ADDITIONAL ANIMAL BY-PRODUCTS FED TO THEM

An organic meat farmer does not risk contaminating his cattle with animal by-products which can subject the meat to things like Mad Cow Disease. Just the grass, man, just the grass.

(Special thanks to Dr. Jonny Bowden for sharing that great list of reasons for choosing grass-fed beef over store-bought beef!)

I gotta tell you about an great company I recently heard about that sells very high-quality, grass-fed meats. They are U.S. Wellness Meats and I encourage you to check them out if you want to take your low-carb lifestyle to the next level. There is a health benefits page on their web site you should check out for even more compelling reasons to choose grass-fed meats over the ones in your local grocery store. (NOTE: U.S. Wellness Meats is not a sponsor of my blog--I was just very impressed by what they have to offer consumers).

Do you have any comments to add about grass-fed beef, chicken, and pork? Have you seen the health benefits in your own life from switching to this kind of meat over conventional cuts? Share your comments below so we can hear how it has changed your life. Hopefully now everyone understands that all meat is not created equal. Make those better choices for your health starting TODAY!

Is Low-Carb Dead Or Not? Part II

On the same day we read a news story about a major supermarket chain losing money in sweet baked goods sales due to popularity of "the low-carb craze," along comes this story from CattleNetwork.com where the beef industry is now blaming "fading low-carb interest" in the decline of their sales.

The headline blares: "Beef Downturn Attributed To Fading Low-Carb Interest"

You know, I'm starting to feel like an observer in a tennis match turning my head back and forth, back and forth at these news stories about various food companies in essense blaming the low-carb lifestyle for why their products aren't selling as well as they used to. Even more amazing is that these food companies are on exact opposite ends of the low-carb food spectrum, with sweet baked goods full of carbs from the sugar and white flour and beef with no carbs at all.

So, which is it? Is low-carb dead as a doornail (causing the decline in beef sales) or staying alive in 2005 (responsible for the drop in sweet baked goods sales)?

This latest article states: "The downturn has been largely attributed to fading interesting in low-carb dieting."

Okay, as former U.S. Sen. Ernest "Fritz" Hollings from South Carolina used to say, "There's a whole lotta assuming going on out there!" I know, he used the word "consuming," but it still makes my point because there are a lot of assumptions being made about low-carb.

For example, why do people automatically ASSUME that people who are livin' la vida low-carb are primarily eating meat. This is probably the biggest misconception that people have about the low-carb lifestyle. While meat is certainly acceptable for people doing low-carb, it is not the ONLY thing we can or even want to eat.

HEY MEDIA! Repeat after me: Low-carb doesn't mean "all meat."

Repeat this phrase again and again until you finally start to believe it!

A Wall Street Journal article from October 19, 2004 might explain the real reason why beef sales are down when it states "beef…has benefited the most from the low-carbohydrate, high-protein diet" but there has been a "a decline in beef consumption after a sharp increase in beef prices."

Oh, so it's economics and not "fading interest" in low-carb responsible for the decline in beef sales. Don't you wish the media would be honest with its headlines? While it proclaimed low-carb as the culprit for slow beef sales, it's actually the higher prices causing people to stay away.

It makes sense to buy chicken, pork or other less expensive meats to enjoy on your low-carb lifestyle if beef costs too much. That's what people have to do when prices get too high on certain products. While we don't have much choice regarding gasoline for our cars, we certainly have lots of options when it comes to meat selection.

So, it's not really "fading low-carb interest" after all that beef is down. These dishonest headlines have got to stop or at the very least pointed out for their lack of integrity. That's what I'm here for and will shout it from the mountaintops every chance I can get!