Eating healthy is a very important topic in everyone’s
life. With heart disease at an all time
high it might be time to take a look at our diets rather than our genetics. I’ve picked a subject that I feel is very
crucial to this – meat.
I’m going to attempt to not gross you out as much as
possible, but it’s kind of a gross subject.
First of all, I eat meat. I have no problem with vegetarians and vegans,
if that’s your conviction. I support
responsibly killing animals, but I don’t find a problem with killing animals so
that I can grow big and strong. Do I
think that big business is to blame for this? No. You are.
Population grew. Demand grew. How
can we make twice the amount of meat in half the amount of time for half the
price? Corn and Soy. Both of these two
ingredients were fed to cattle to fatten them up in half the amount of
time. Antibiotics and drugs (including
growth hormone) were also pumped in them to make sure the process went
smoother. Steers that were killed at
ages 4-5 are now killed at 16 months.
Grain fed cows are fatter and fat tastes good, right? On top of all this, businesses plop them in
feedlots where they sit in their own piss, poo, farts, and disease. They have no room to graze and live. That’s why they need antibiotics. Oh and just in case you didn’t know – Corn –
isn’t a vegetable. It’s a grain. And you know what else? You ever notice when
you eat corn and then poo? Whole kernels- I’m talking undigested, whole kernels
show up. We don’t digest corn properly,
and neither do cows. Last thing, giving
cows an “organically grain fed diet” gives cows indigestible, unnatural feed
“organically”. Giving cows a corn based diet gives the big companies exactly
what they want and what you don’t need – weight gain, and fat accumulation.
Cows eat grass. Cows
eat flowers. Cows eat shrubs. Cows eat vegetation, naturally. They walk around pastures and use their
muscles. They rest in the shade of
trees. They’re happy. Happy cows that
eat a natural diet don’t have as much fat stored. They produce more omega-3 fats (those are
good), vitamin E, and CLA. They contain
less omega 6’s than grain fed cows and don’t contain the half the amount of
saturated fat or cholesterol. Red Meat
can actually be good for you, but like anything don’t over do it. If they situation arises, chose lean cuts of
grain fed beef like filets. From
personal experience, because grass fed beef is leaner be careful not to
overcook it. Yes, it’s more expensive –
but with all the money you’re saving by not buying bottled water anymore you’ll
be set. Lastly, the same rule applies
for dairy products too.
I’ll hit on it briefly but the same situation applies for
chickens and eggs. Chickens don’t just
eat grass. They like bugs, worms,
grains, fruits, and compost piles. They
need to be outdoors too. The conditions
that “normal” chickens live in are more disgusting than the cows. Some literally can’t even walk. There is no sun, no exercise, and certainly
no cleanliness. So What did companies
start to do? They started throwing out words like “cage free” and “free
range”. When you see these labels take
them literally. Cage free means the
chickens don’t live in a cage, nothing more.
Free range means chickens have the availability to go out doors if they
want to. The feed stations are indoors
though and they aren’t allowed to go out doors until much later on in their
short life. The doors to go outside are
usually small and often unused. They key
word to look for when buying chickens and eggs is “pasture”. This is the only true version of chickens
living in their natural environment.
Natural means healthier chickens with better sources of omega 3’s and
vitamins. They also contain less
cholesterol. Oh, and Just in case you didn’t know – egg yolks are supposed to
be orange, not yellow.
These two subjects
have tons of more information on the benefits of each. Google is a good starting point.
