Shopping at the supermarket now a days can be really confusing. There are so many different labels and people are thinking they are buying healthy food when in reality they may not be.
Something to take in consideration is that food is not just energy but food is information – when you add chemicals or feed grains to a cow you are bringing information into the body that confuses the system, making the animals sick. The same applies for humans, the food we eat provides information that our cells, organs, tissues use to recreate themselves, so if the information is confused it cannot properly regenerate and therefore ends up creating health problems, disease, and inflammation in the body.
This fact was quite alarming to me- "The average new born is born with 200 trace amounts of chemicals in their bloodstream due to the mother’s diet."
First lets talk about beef! (Same applies for Lamb)
Ideally you want to buy beef that has been eating grass (that is not sprayed with chemicals) and roaming of grass their entire life, but in the USA this only happens 3% of the time and then the rest of the cattle is usually on a supplement feed and instead of roaming freely they are all jammed up in a pen and on a cocktail of antibiotics and drugs.
Lowest quality
1. Factory Farmed beef: Grain Fed, with hormones, steroid, and antibiotics.
-Raised on hormones, antibiotics
- Fed GMO corn and soy (which have been sprayed with pesticides, herbicides, etc)
- Some of the allowable foods for cattle stated by the USDA is engine oil, plastic chips, cement dust, sawdust. Yep these are being added to their feed!
All of these factors affect the nutritional profile of meat. It ruins the balance of Omega 3’s and 6s which causes inflammation in the body of the animal, making them sick. This directly affects your body as well once you eat it because all of those chemicals are stored in the meat fibers and fat of the piece of steak you are eating!
Bottom line- don’t buy this type of meat which is the majority meat you find in a normal supermarket.
Cleaner source is:
2. Grass Fed, Grain Finshed. No hormones or antibiotics Free. This you can find in places like Whole Foods.
- This means that the cattle has been fed pasture for a portion of their lives but then the last few months they are moved into a feedlot and fed grains. Again this changes the nutritional profile of the meat.
Ideal source:
3. 100% pasture raised, 100% organic grass fed. This is going to be your best option.
There are a few things to keep in mind with this label as sometimes there can be deceitful marketing.
- If its labeled grass fed, grass finished. Sometimes this label means that they start of grass, fed grains for a few months and finished with grass the last 2 weeks. Always ask the butcher for more info!
-If its just labeled 100% grass-fed- Farmer can finish on grass pellets on a feed lot and we do not know the quality of the grass pellets.
Bottom line- you want to find beef that has been fed on organic grass all its life- no grains at all and has been free to roam. Organic grass because you don’t want them eating any grass that has been sprayed.
Let’s move on to Chicken (this also applies for eggs)
1. Cage Free- They are all jammed in a coop. They do not have exposure to daylight and have no room to move. They are covered in their feces. They are given antibiotics, ammonia, arsenic, hormones, GMO feed, and are basically sick chickens. Please please avoid this at all cost!
2. Free Range- You see this label a lot at the supermarket and people think they are buying good quality. It is definitely better than cage free, but not your ideal. These chickens are still jam-packed in a coop but they get to go outside for a few hours a day. I even heard that in the UK by having a window and them receiving some light they can label as free- range! I am not 100% of this info but it wouldn’t shock me if its true.
3. Organic Pasture Raised- this is the best quality you can buy. They are NOT fed any soy or GMO corn. Never given hormones, antibiotics or drugs. No arsenic is given. They are free to roam on the farm land. They eat their natural diet of grass, insects, worms. They are healthier, happier, and nutritionally superior.
Start looking for suppliers and farmers who you can ask about their farming practices:
- Local farms that sell organic
- Fish markets that sell wild fish and seafood and sustainable
- Farmer’s markets
- Visit organic Farms
- Grow your own food
- Co-op (For miami www.myhealthyfoodclub.com)