What's in Your Meat?

This Image was taken from google images.

I think when a most people look at meat, their opinion is based on meat as a whole. They think that meat is either good for you or bad for you, or maybe they think chicken is okay but beef is not, or maybe vice versa. Unfortunately, when it comes to meat, it's not that black and white. Conventional meat is very different from organic meat in terms of not only the animals health but your health as well.

Conventional Meat

I found a wonderful article from www.wellnesstips.ca that defines conventional meat by the following terms: Conventional meat and poultry are fed conventional food, that usually being grain (such as GMO soy), as carbohydrates are just as affective at fattening animals as humans. The pesticides, herbicides, fungicides and fertilizers in the grain are then stored as toxins in the fat of the animals. Because conventionally raised animals and poultry are often cruelly kept in very confined quarters day and night, and are not given space to roam, they do not get the exercise needed to keep them healthy. Between the poor quality food, the lack of exercise and the close quarters between animals, sickness is very common and spreads like wildfire through the barns. Consequently, antibiotics and other drugs are used on an ongoing basis in an attempt to keep the animals healthy. In the United States, recombinant bovine somatrotropin (rbst) under the drug name "Prosilac" is used in dairy cattle in order to increase milk production. This drug often results in very large, infected udders and consequently pus gets into the milk. Prosilac is banned in Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the EU and in Japan. In meat cattle, five growth promoting hormones are used in Canada and the US, three of which occur naturally (estradiol, testosterone and progesterone) and two of which are synthetic (zeranol and trenbolone acetate). These hormones were banned in the European Union in 1989.

Image Taken from Google Images.

Now, some of you may be thinking "Yuck, how disgusting!" While, others of you may be saying "So, what? I cook my meat and it doesn't affect me." Unfortunately, those hormones, antiobiotics and GMO feed are perminately in your meat, no matter what you do. You are what you eat. If you are eating a cow that eats GMO and pesticide laced feed and is pumped full of hormones and antiobiotics, It goes into your body. You are poisoning your body and eating all of that garbage the cow was exposed to. It has been scientifically proven that the hormones that are given to pigs, cows and chickens affect the hormones of people who eat them.

Phytoestrogens and xenoestrogens are essentially "fake" hormones that mimic your bodies naturally occuring hormones. What happens when these get into your body, is that they attach to hormone receptors in place of your natural hormones and start to create a series of problems throughout your body. They can wreak havoc on your endocrine system and even encourage cancer growth. Phytoestrogens and xenoestrogens are found everywhere from pollution to plastics to meat. That's right, your conventional meat has those phony estrogens due to all of the hormones they have been given.

The problems with hormones and antiobiotics don't just stop with cows either, chickens and pigs are subjected to the same type of treatment. Now, the USDA has stated that they do not give growth hormones to poultry, however I am not buying it. First of all, what are they giving the chickens to double their breast size and second of all, the USDA lies about all sorts of stuff, so why should I believe anything they say (I know I sound slightly conspiracy therory crazy, but I stand by my statement).

One of the most prevalent issues with consuming meat that has been injected with growth hormones is that it is really starting to take a toll on our children, more specifically girls. Eating conventional meat has been found to be a contributing factor in early puberty among girls. In the 19th century, puberty among girls typically started around age 15, now the average age of puberty is 12 with some girls starting to show signs of secondary sex characteristics as early as age 7!

Aside from the growth hormones, antibiotics is another issue to be aware of. Eating meat that has been pumped full of antibiotics has been shown to severly disrupt the natural gut flora that occurs in our own guts which can severly interfer with digestion and our overall well being. Plus, regularly consuming meat that has been given antibiotics has been linked to people becoming antibiotic resistant, in cases when they might really need it.

Man, as if all of this information wasn't enough, one of the problems I have with conventional meat is with how they are treated. Now, this is just my opinion but I don't want to consume an animal that was tortured its whole life. I do believe in the food chain and I do feel that there is a big difference between consuming an animal who lived a good life, grazing in open pastures or running around eating grubs off the ground and was killed humanely versus an animal who was crammed into a cage with no room to move, covered in it's own feces or crammed in a pen with 50 other animals with no room to move and even possible suffeing from injuries or just feeling like crap because of all the garbage its being injected with. It makes me pretty darn sad. However, this is not an anti-meat article and there are always two sides to every coin. The flipside being organic meat, which does mean a couple different things, and does make a big difference.

Organic Meat

Now, I want to clarify that there is a difference between organic, cage free, free range and pasture-raised. Some of these terms may not always mean what you think, but they are absolutely, without a doubt better than conventional meat. Here are a few key requirments for organic poultry, cattle and pigs:

• Must be raised organically on certified organic land.

• Must be fed certified organic feed (This means feed that is gmo free and has not been sprayed with pesticides or herbacides).

• No antibiotics or growth hormones are allowed.

• Must have outdoor access.

So, these definitions mean that you don't have to worry about the toxins, hormones and antibiotics in these meats like you would with conventional meat. When you are buying organic, two key phrases you want to keep in mind are "Grass Fed" and "Pasture Raised". Just because you are buying USDA Organic, it doesn't necessarily mean that your cows are grass fed or that your chickens are Paisture-Raised. You have to look for for it on your packaging.

Cows for example, naturally eat grass or hay (if they live in colder climates, grass is not available year round, so they will eat hay in the winter, even if it says grass fed) not corn or soy. Cows that are on a grass fed diet are going to naturally be higher in omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids, they will be lower in fat, they are higher in CLA's or conjugated linoleic acid (CLA's can help fight against cancer, heart disease and promote weight loss) and higher in vitamin E. So, when you purchase dairy products of beef, you want to make sure it says certified organic and grass fed.

Chickens naturally eat bugs, grass or whatever they can scrounge up, they do not naturally eat corn or soy. In order for the chickens to eat this way, they need to be "Pasture-Raised". This is better for them, because they get to live a little more naturally than chickens who spend their whole life cooped up in cages. Chicken or eggs can still be USDA Organic but that does not guarantee that they are "Pasture-Raised", so you have to look for both. Chickens or eggs that are "Pasture-Raised" will have less cholesterol, less saturated fat, more vitamins A and E, as well as more omega-3 fatty acids than their conventional counterparts.

One thing to keep in mind about the definitions of "Cage Free" or "Free Range", is that it doesn't necessarily mean that all of these chickens are running freely on a farm somewhere where they can do what they please. By definition, "Cage Free" simply means that they are uncaged inside barns, but they usually do not have access to the outdoors. They can engage in many of their natural behaviors such as walking, nesting and spreading their wings but many times they are still very over crowded in these barns.

"Free Range" means the same as "Cage Free" with the added benefit that they get some access to the outdoors.

Image taken from Google Images.

The term "Pasture-Raised" chickens takes it to a whole nother level. "Pasture-Raised" eggs are from chickens who get to spend their days outside in fresh pastures with plenty of space to run around and forage for food, whereas "Cage Free" and "Free Range" do not offer nearly as much space for their chickens, it just means they are not cooped up in a cage.

My stance on pork and fish a pretty simple. I limit pork consumption to once maybe twice a week because of toxin content, regardless if it is organic or not. Pigs can not sweat, which is why they roll around in the mud to stay cool. What this means is that they have a harder time eliminating any toxins that may accumulate in their body and toxins are something every creature will encounter naturally. These toxins get stored in their fat, which is the tasty part of pork that we then go on to eat.

Fish is to be avoided like the plague if it is not wild caught. Farm raised fish is similar to conventional cattle. Their are way too many fish, crammed into a space thats too small where they are fed gmo feed, they swim around in their own feces and are given hefty rounds of antibiotics due to the fact that they are living in their own poo. Yuck! Wild caught fish has lived out in the wild, they way nature has intended.

My two cents: Meat is not so black&white or good vs bad. It all depends on where your meat comes from that makes all the differenc in how it affects your body. When I buy my meat and eggs I like to go right out to the farm and buy them. Years before I started working at my local food co-op, I researched local organic farms in the area because I wanted to know where my meat came from. I ended up finding this awesome farm called Seven Sons outside of the Fort Wayne area. It's awesome because they are very open about how they raise their livestock, it is organic and you get to drive out to the farm where you see everything and pick up your meat. I am a huge supporter of local buisness' for many reasons but especially because it is easier to find out where your food is really coming from. I think if people really knew the truth about their food, it would make all the difference in how they chose to eat.