Where’s the Beef?

I ate beef yesterday! This may sound completely boring and normal but for me it was quite an awesome experience. I haven’t eaten any red meat for about 2 years now. Since starting the SCD diet and cutting out grains and potatoes, I’ve had some success adding some foods back into my diet. Beef and whole eggs so far, and I will be making some homemade yogurt soon (as soon as I get my yogurt maker).

I had been on the ‘bland’ diet to help digestion by eating plain rice, pasta, bread, light meats like chicken breast and fish. Well I ate beef stew yesterday and felt completely fine! And I’ve been enjoying eggs too, makes for a nice breakfast change 🙂

Thought I would take this opportunity to talk about the quality of meat. Now the beef I had was your regular grocery store bought beef, which is most likely from a cow who has been on a high grain diet, given antibiotics and hormones to help them grow, and kept in a pretty small enclosure. Not the healthiest of beef choices.

Nowadays we’re seeing more ‘organic’, ‘hormone free’, or ‘no antibiotics’ labels on beef. This is an improvement over regular beef, but no guarantee that what you’re eating is really that healthy. I would buy this over unlabelled meats, but there is something better.

‘Grass-fed’, ‘pasture-raised’, or ‘free-range’ are all terms used for meat from an animal which has been allowed to eat naturally it’s whole life and run around like it should. For someone wishing to make the humane decision, this is it. But also for someone who wants the healthiest meat possible, this is the best option. It has been proven that meat from animals who have been fed a grass diet (instead of grain, or worse grain and animal products), have a lower amount of fat overall and have a higher amount of Omega 3 fats. I used to think only fish could have Omega 3s, but actually most natural meat does. Also, grass-fed animals have meat with higher concentrations of vitamins and minerals. I will definitely be looking for a source near me for grass-fed or wild meat.

Now with fish, we assume all salmon has these good Omega 3s, but actually farmed fish who are fed grain or other mixed feeds have a lower amount of them than wild fish. So if you’re buying fish, wild is best. Canned tuna and salmon which say from a wild source are just as good too.

Choosing these types of meat can greatly benefit overall health. More vitamins, minerals, and good fats all contribute to a healthy body. Having a healthy ratio of Omega 3 to Omega 6 fats is also a big health topic. Maybe I’ll touch on that in a later post.

Get out there and find your (grass-fed) beef!