|
Healthy beef means grassfed, organic beef, preferably raised on a local ranch.
Grassfed animals eat nothing but grass in a pasture. Unlike commercial livestock, they are not supplemented with grain, animal by-products, synthetic hormones, or feed antibiotics. They eat what wild animals eat. The result is meat that has real health benefits.
I didn't know this until Rebecca Routson, a local rancher and certified nutritionist, told me of the research facts she discovered about grassfed beef. Since I started eating grassfed beef raised on Yavapai County ranchlands, I'm convinced that this is better food than the mass-produced beef coming out of gigantic feedlots. I have visited their contented steers grazing on our Yavapai County pastures. I also took a nutrition class and did further research.
The short story is that beef raised entirely on pasture is much better for us. Grassfed beef has nearly the same fat content as boneless, skinless chicken breast and the same calories and fat as elk or venison. Commercial beef contains 4-6 times more fat and 2 times more saturated fat. Grassfed beef is a rich source of omega-3 fatty acids, the heart-healthy fatty acids. It has twice the amount of vitamin A (beta carotene) and four times the amount of vitamin E found in feedlot beef.
Another good fat is CLA (conjugated linoleic acid), the new darling fatty acid for nutritional science. Ongoing research shows that CLA helps prevent cancer and heart disease, improve immune function, and nudge body composition toward leanness. The CLA content of grassfed beef is 4 to 5 times higher than that of commercial beef.
Anthropologists have found that the predominant human diet for the past 2 million years was wild meat. Wild meat has 1/10th the fat, 1/2 the saturated fat, and 6 times more omega-3's than commercial beef. Wild meat is obviously grassfed, and it is nutritionally similar to grassfed beef.
Cattle on pasture are healthy because they are eating their natural diet. Feedlot operators, concerned with quantity not quality, cram cattle into corrals and feed them antibiotics, growth hormones, and grain. Cattle evolved to eat grass, not grain. Grain is high in omega-6 fatty acids, and a high ratio of omega-6 is linked to many diseases. Also, when fed a feedlot diet, dangerous acid resistant E. coli (remember the burger scares?) develop in cow's digestive tract. Cattle on a natural diet of grass carry virtually no dangerous strains of this bacteria. Plus, grassfed beef carries no pesticide residues because growing pasture takes little, if any pesticides compared to grain.
Grassfed beef is more than nutritional and healthy. It tastes like beef should, rich and lean. I'm delighted to have local grassfed beef as the basis for burgers and stews in the Crossroads Cafe at Prescott College. Why don't you stop by for a great burger?
|
