Monday, January 11, 2010

All vegetarian diet is not the same as grass-fed beef

Don't let the label fool you! If you have gone shopping lately from those giant health food markets to purchase grass-fed beef products, you've probably noticed the label that says "100% Vegetarian Diet." I'm sorry, but I got to say, this is one of those trickery that these supermarket and affiliated marketers employ to trick "grass-fed beef" consumers into purchasing something that they think is an equivalent of the real grass-fed beef product.

Semantics are very powerful! Just listen to our politicians. Claiming 100% vegetarian diet does not constitute healthy beef from healthy cattle. You see, the word "vegetarian" alone rings a positive spin to whatever you attach it with. In this case "diet." You put these two words together plus "100%", you got yourself a customer who thinks that "100% Vegetarian Diet" is as healthy as natural grass-fed beef. Heck, it even sounds better!

Here's the sad part. Vegetarian diet, without the mention of grass feeding, means they're feeding these cattle with something else. Most people don't realize that cattle are ruminants, which means these animals are meant to eat "grass" or similar species of grass. So if it's not grass, what other vegetarian diet that the beef industry is known to feed these cattle? The answer is grain or corn; which still is within the vegetarian food group. So, technically, they are not lying.

And technically, nothing has changed. Because, feeding cattle with grain (or corn) still increases the amount of acid in their digestive system. Over production of acid promotes higher rate of bacteria, the e.coli family in general. Therefore, beef manufacturers are forced to use antibiotics to reduce the amount of infection which spreads amongst the herd. Though not all e.coli are bad, that notorious strain known as e.coli 0157:H7 is the one that we need to watch out for. Most of the beef recall you've heard on the news is most likely related to 0157:H7.

So, the next time you're in one of those overpriced health food stores to pick up a healthy beef, you may want to ask someone in the meat department if those beef products are as healthy as the "real' 100% natural grass-fed beef.

Please support your local ranchers and farmers. Buy grass-fed beef from a source you know.


Saturday, January 9, 2010

Grass-fed Beef: Is it worth the buy?

I have been buying and eating grass-fed beef for some time now. I have a lot to say but since this is a blog... I will only share some of the most important issues that I think must be shared.

I first bought and have been buying my grass-fed beef from a friend of a friend of mine, a longtime cowboy rancher named Dave Reynolds from South Dakota. It was my first time in many years eating 100% natural grass-fed beef with no trace of antibiotics, no additives, no hormones, and from cattle not fed with corn or grain, which probably one of the many things that the beef industry should really stop doing. They are ruminants, for beef's sake!

Dave Reynolds wants nothing from anyone but to share his honest principle in life, and that is, "...food should be as natural as we can possibly make it." That's one important thing I know and will probably believe for the rest of my life.

How about the taste, texture, and over all flavor? I couldn't even begin to describe it. When I opened up the package and looked at the beef, it seemed as if the meat was just cut a minute ago (though it took 4 days to ship, it was sealed air tight that not an air molecule could get in). It was as fresh as if I had just picked it up from the meat processing house. And don't even think about additives or preservatives. Dave does not even know much a about preservative chemicals let alone use it. Therefore, I did feel content and satisfied that I'm not about to be a victim of an e.coli outbreak. And, one less chemical load I'm putting into my system. So, my body should not deteriorate as fast as other beef eaters :)

Price you ask? Well, I paid about $7.40 per pound including the four steaks (by the way, grass-fed beef steaks go as high as $25.00 to $34.00 per pound, just so you know) that came with the package; the price did include shipping. And when I did my research on price comparison, as I already mentioned, the going price for grass-fed beef is $12.00/lb for low end meat cuts and as high as $34.00/lb on the high end (e.g. NY steak, fillet minion, etc.). So, think about it. Just think about this for a moment. I don't get why people have to pay so much for grass-fed beef. I mean, I understand why they are so valuable to our healthy and sustainable lifestyle, but when I inquired about how much do they really cost, based on the rancher's overhead cost to raise them, Dave said it is true that ranchers do spend some of their own money upfront to raise the cattle for a year or two before they are sold. But the real price of the grass-fed beef is not anywhere close to what other online companies are asking for. They really aren't. However, small family owned ranchers do struggle to keep their operation going because of the lack of support and funding from the government.

Anyways, that's it for my comment and hope for you to start supporting our natural ways of producing our food. Let's keep us all healthy.

Here's Dave Reynolds' website: Buy Grass-fed Beef






Monday, January 4, 2010

Buying Grass Fed Beef Can Affect Your Health

Most of us, perhaps including you, do not know much about the importance of eating healthy beef. I guess we've got so accustomed to what we've been told over 3 decades that eating too much red meat is bad for you. Well, there's a lot of truth to that. Eating red meat from industrial feedlot beef producers will eventually make you sick! You probably heard of e.coli contamination and the harmful side effects of synthetic hormones and antibiotic residue on cow's beef. Well, they are all true.

Many don't realize the impact that this type of beef production will eventually catch up and bite us in the rear. Mainly because of the fact that there has almost no adequate testing done on the the possible health effects of this practice. It is a sad fact that most of us do not value the authentic natural grass fed beef that are being offered by local and sustainable ranchers.

Buy Grass Fed Beef - Support Local Ranchers!

Grass Fed Beef, I'm predicting will be a scarce commodity once the rate of chronic illnesses sky rocket. Because sustainable organic farmers and ranchers are disappearing every day. We will not have enough natural beef to go around even if you want it. The demand will be so high that only a few can attain them. But if we start now, supporting grass fed beef from local ranchers will possibly save the future from big Ag businesses who are trying to take over the entire supply of beef.