I just bought 50lbs of grass fed beef. It really doesn’t look any different than any other type of meat, and, that’s what 50lbs looks like in our GYM’s freezer LOL (See below). Didn’t have room in the freezer at the house, so, the gym will have to work. I will just have to bring a few packages home every other day.
WHAT IS GRASS FED BEEF? WHY IS IT BETTER THAN REGULAR BEEF? WHY SHOULD ALL ATHLETES EAT GRASS FED BEEF?
Read this: http://www.marunde-muscle.com/articles/grassfed.html
That is from the late Jesse Marunde. He was a former Olympic Weightlifter (turned strongman) who placed 2nd in the 2005 Worlds Strongest Man contest. If you read his interview on that site- he also says he was coached “by the legendary Steve Gough.” Just had to throw that in there haha!
Pricing: Sure, it is more expensive. So are the fresh blueberries, strawberries, kiwi’s and free range eggs that I buy. But, how important is performance to you? If you stop eating out 1-2x per week that will pay for the extra $ it takes to buy all these fresh foods (AND grass fed meat)! This was $5.49/lb. I have gotten it for $4.99/lb before. If you look hard enough AND buy in bulk, you can get it around $4.25/lb.
If this is something you are dead set on…Which, if ANY of you are athletes, you should be, check out this link: http://eatwild.com/
Or, just google “Grass fed beef in (insert city, state here).”
Plus, doesn't this guy look happy? haha!!
From a nutritional standpoint let’s take a look at some of the differences. Grass-fed animals produce:
•500 % more CLA
•400% more Vitamin A
•300 % more Vitamin E
•75% more Omega 3s
All that, and we’re just getting warmed up!
So just what is CLA?
Conjugated linoleic acid, or CLA, is a good fat found almost exclusively in the meat and dairy products of ruminant animals. Notice it’s a “good fat” which means it’s found in “the fat” of animals that we’ve all been taught to avoid. Interestingly enough, in animal studies it has been shown repeatedly that the consumption of CLA can inhibit the growth of tumors. Scientists consider CLA to be one of the most potent of all naturally occurring anti-carcinogens. Some of you may have seen artificial forms of CLA available as a nutritional supplement in your local health food stores.
However, naturally occurring CLA from ruminant animals is 600% more effective at fighting cancer than anything in pill form. Animals fed small amounts of grain during their lifespan, then finished on pasture have less than half the CLA of animals raised exclusively on pasture. In addition, animals moved from a pasture operation to a grain fed one will lose almost all of their CLA in just five days of grain! This is vitally important! What this means is, if your animal is butchered at a slaughterhouse instead of in the pasture where it roams, it will have been fed grain. Not only do you want grass-fed beef and lamb, but you want to know that it wasn’t fed any grain prior to butchering.
Now for Vitamin A, E and the omega 3’s…
Vitamin A is a critical fat-soluable vitamin that is necessary for growth and tissue healing, healthy skin, normal vision, cancer prevention, anti-oxidation, cell division and cell differentiation, just to name a few. Supplementary Vitamin A is used in the treatment and prevention of both infectious and noninfectious diseases by supporting the production and function of white blood cells.
Vitamin E is a powerful antioxidant that helps to stabilize cell membranes and protect the tissues of the skin, eyes, liver, heart and lungs. In addition it is used to stabilize blood fats protecting the blood vessels, heart and entire body from free radical damage.
Our bodies cannot make omega 3s and they must be consumed regularly in our diet. The omega-3 fatty acids are formed in the green leaves of plants, algae and phytoplankton. Animals grazing on these “salad greens” store omega 3s in their body tissues, which are ultimately passed on to humans through the food chain. Omega-3 fatty acids reduce inflammation and play an important role in the reduction of chronic illnesses such as heart disease, arthritis, allergies, chronic fatigue syndrome, fibromyalgia and asthma.
