Choosing Good Meat

If you're vegetarian, you may want to skip this post. If you're a meat eater, and you've been a client of mine, you'll know that I'm an advocate of most people cutting down their meat consumption. When people tell me they can't afford to buy good meat, my response is always "then you're eating too much". But that's a topic for another day.

This post is about choosing good meat.

If you read much from the 'paleo' community then you will soon realise that it's largely based in America and they have good reason to fear "CAFO's" (concentrated animal feeding operations) as not only being ethically abhorrent, but also damaging to health of the individuals who consume those products; but we don't have those in England, do we?

Does that mean that all meat raised in the UK is grass-fed or pastured?

Well, it depends a little on your definition and unfortunately supermarkets aren't super helpful with the labelling on these things.

The main reasons people want grass-fed meats are (aside from ethical issues) higher nutrient Omega-3 content (3-5 times as much, in fact!), better nutrient quality overall and a healthier Omega 3:6:9 ratio.

Red meat is also high in vitamins B12, B3 and B6, as well as the bioavailable forms of iron, zinc, selenium, sodium, phosphorus and potassium. When the animals raised for meat are allowed to live stress free lives, eating 100% grass then the concentration of these nutrients is much higher. We all know that we need to eat our greens - well the same is true of the animals we raise.

Grass fed animals have higher levels of vitamin E, glutathione, superoxide dismutase and catalase - all of which are really healthy antioxidants that help your body to process stress and toxins that it's exposed to. The higher vitamin E content also protects the meat whilst your cooking and means that even BBQ steaks and burgers blackened on a hot grill have lower levels of carcinogens.

They also contain large amounts of carotenoids, such as beta-carotene which is the precursor to vitamin A. This is a particularly helpful nutrient when we are looking at choosing meat, because it colours things yellow.

Ever noticed how the grass fed butter has a lovely golden colour compared to the cheap butter? That's beta-carotene, and the same is true of animal fats elsewhere. When you are choosing beef or lamb, whatever the source, look for a creamy yellow tinge to the fat, rather than the bright white stuff. If the fat is yellow, it's a good sign that the animal ate large amounts of grass and other green plant matter.

Pastured

Not pastured

You can see in the pictures above, that the animal on the right was fed grain. The fat is completely white, and so the meat, however nice the presentation, will have much less nutrition than the one on the left.

How else can I choose my meat?

The term 'grass fed' in the UK doesn't really mean anything, so farmers can stick the animals on grass/mud and feed them grain all day, and still sell it as grass fed. The absolute best choice you could make is to get to know some local farmers. Find out their practices and purchase from someone you like the practices of.

Failing that, I highly recommend companies like 'Primal Meats' who will deliver to your door, or checking out Pasture for Life's map of who sells good quality meats near you.

Remember, what's good for the animals is good for you. We were placed to live in harmony with the world around us, and when we take care of it, it nourishes and cares for us. When we accept abuse, it not only hurts creation, but our own bodies as well.