Conventionally raised beef comes from cows who spend their lives in crowded conditions, stressed-out and hopped up on medicine. Grass-fed cows offer a safer, healthier alternative that tastes amazing. There are many benefits to switching to meat from grass-fed animals.
1.) Lower in Fat and Calories
Grass-fed beef is up to 2/3 lower in fat and calories than feedlot-raised beef. For example, a 6-ounce steak from a grass-finished cow will have 100 fewer calories than the same steak from an animal that has been grain-fed.
If you eat a typical amount of beef (66.5 pounds a year), switching to grass-fed beef will save you over 17,000 calories over the course of a full year.
Even if everything else in your diet remains the same you will still, on average, lose about six pounds a year from switching to grass-fed beef.
2.) Antibiotic and Hormone Free
To keep illness at a minimum, feedlot cows have to take massive doses of antibiotics.
When you eat grain fed beef you are consuming these antibiotics.
In addition to antibiotics, conventional meat is also laced with hormones. Hormones, such as RBST, make CAFO cows grow faster. This leads to more profit for factory farmers.
Cows raised in this manner reach full-size up to a year faster than grass-fed cows. Studies show that humans can experience early puberty after consuming animals fed growth hormone for a long period of time.
Of course, our grass-fed animals are always hormone and antibiotic-free!
3.) Tastes Better
Another undeniable benefit of grass-fed meat is that it tastes better. Grass-fed meat has a subtle, earthy flavor, attributable to the varied diet of the cows. The cow’s clean diet allows spices to come through clearer. The addition of a little butter makes a grass-fed steak taste amazing!
The HuffPost conducted a blind taste test and 100% of the tasters could tell the difference between the grass-fed and grain-fed beef. All but one preferred the flavor of the grass-fed beef.
4.) Higher in Healthy Fats
One of the most notable benefits of grass-fed beef is that it has an ideal ratio of omegas. Meat from grass-fed animals has 2 to 4 times more omega-3 fatty acid then meat from grain fed animals.
Grass-fed beef has an omega 6:3 ratio of 0.16 to 1, while grain-fed beef can often have an omega 6:3 ratio higher than 20:1.
5.) Decreased Risk of Heart Disease
Omega-3’s are good fat because they play a vital role in every cell in every system in your body. Of all the fats, omega-3’s are the most heart-friendly.
People who have enough omega-3’s in their diet are less likely to have high blood pressure or heart problems. They’re also 50% less likely to suffer a heart attack.
Omega-3’s are essential for your brain to operate at optimal levels as well. People with a diet rich in omega-3’s are less likely to suffer from depression schizophrenia, ADD and Alzheimer’s disease.
6.) Helps Fight Cancer
Meat and dairy products from grass-fed ruminants are the richest known source of another type of good fat called Conjugated Linoleic Acid or CLA. Beef products raised on grass and forage alone, contain from 3 to 5 times more CLA than those raised conventionally.
CLA may be one of our most potent defenses against cancer. In laboratory animals, a very small percentage of CLA reduced tumor growth.
7.) Less Contamination By Staph and Other Bacteria
It’s said that almost half of the US is meat and poultry contains the staph bacteria.
The constant feeding of antibiotics to feedlot cattle plays a large role in the spreading of staph, e-Coli and other antibiotic-resistant bacteria.
In one study, 47% of meat and poultry examined contained S. aureus. More than half of those bacteria, 52%, were resistant to at least three classes of antibiotics.
This was the first national assessment of antibiotic resistant S. aureus in the U.S. food supply. DNA testing suggested that the major source of contamination were the food animals themselves.
8.) More Vitamins and Minerals
Grass fed beef is one of the most nutrient dense proteins on earth. It has a high micronutrient profile, much higher than grain fed beef.
It is higher in B vitamins, vitamin D, and iron because of the varied diets of grass-fed cows.
If you have ever eaten grass-fed beef, you may have noticed the yellowish tint of the fat from grass-fed meat after it cooks. This indicates the presence of Carotenoids which are abundant in grass, especially quick growing green grass.
9.) Better for the Environment
In addition to the health benefits of grass-fed meat, it is also easier on the environment.
Cows raised in pastures use fewer fossil fuels than cows packed into feedlots. When they are grass fed, cows maintain and fertilize the land they graze on themselves. This leads to the increased biodiversity of pasture ecosystems and improved quality of run-off water.
10.) Peace of Mind
Knowing that the food you are putting in yours and your children’s bodies is free from antibiotics, hormones and other harmful substances is priceless.
