I have been extolling the virtues of grass fed beef and getting products such as milk, cream, cottage cheese, ricotta cheese, etc form grass-fed beef (Natural by Nature is expanding its organic line of these products regularly.)

Apart form the fact that studies are now indicating that corn-fed beef is not that healthy for people and may be one factor in the cause of obesity in this country as well as other health problem. ("Corn-fed beef only came into existence post WWII because it was cheaper. Meat producers went on a mass campaign to convince the consumer that it was a superior product to save on costs. But it was not.)

Now there is evidence that Grass-fed beef is a superior source of CLA compared with corn-fed beef.

The following is a Mercola article (http://v.mercola.com/blogs/public_blog/Fat-From-Grass-Fed-Cows-Helps-You-Lose-Weight-18477.aspx) but I find most of his scientific research and analysis pretty accurate and reliable, even though he hawks a lot of his products pretty heavily. He does make the occasional boo-boo (as he did with Krill oil and OD'ing on Vitamin D a year or so back -- but he retracted his error within a few weeks.)

Anyway, I get my grass fed everything at Whole Foods...

It's also higher in Omega 3's from what I've read. Bison has similar positives.

If it wasn't so expensive...

I've found a farm that raises grass fed beef near me (an hour+ away, but close enough) and that sells directly. I just need to buy me a freezer for the garage to make buying from them more cost effective. They even have a monthly delivery run to Nashville that I could meet up with for a small fee.

:tucool:

Tastes better too.

I usually opt for small snakes, subway rats, and roadkill myself.

The "other" white meat. :)

I usually opt for small snakes, subway rats, and roadkill myself.

The "other" white meat. :)

:lol: You're such a card, Mast....

Do you feel like checking my thread here (http://v.mercola.com/blogs/public_blog/Fat-From-Grass-Fed-Cows-Helps-You-Lose-Weight-18477.aspx) I would love your input... :nod:

I would kill for a Whole Foods near me :(

'However, there is one major caveat here, and that’s the source of the CLA. If you buy CLA supplements you are likely to get the side effects discussed in the article -- increases in blood levels of C-reactive protein (http://www.mercola.com/2005/jan/26/crp_testing.htm), lipoprotein and leptin (signs of heart disease) and even an increase in insulin resistance (a sign of type 2 diabetes).'

'The meta-analysis found that people who took 3.2 grams of CLA a day had a drop in fat mass of about 0.2 pounds a week (that’s about one pound a month) compared to those given a placebo. '

Did anyone else catch how the study was performed by using a supplement, then in the same article, advice AGAINST using the exact same supplement was given, despite implying the results of the study were desirable?

Maybe I'm nuts?

grass fed beef is tasty, but I have a very, very hard time finding it here in Vancouver...

I love grass-fed beef for all the reasons Justitia listed. Moreover, because it's much easier on the cow's digestive system they don't develop ulcers like they do with corn, which require antibiotics when they get infected. Many people seek out grass-fed beef solely for this reason, as they want to minimize the amount of antibiotics in their food. Granted, if you buy your meat at an all natural market, such as Whole Foods, you're guaranteed that everything is antibiotic free.

I've also known many people who buy grass-fed beef because they consider a corn diet to be inhumane, for the reasons listed above.

Most any Whole Foods should carry grass fed beef, although many just carry it ground due to lack of demand for other cuts such as steaks. Their grass-fed beef is imported from New Zealand, and is therefore a bit more expensive than what you may find locally. If you have the luxury of being able to buy directly from a local rancher, and assuming you're comfortable with their ranching practices (preferably no use of antibiotics or hormones, sanitary and humane housing, preferably free-range, etc.), then I highly suggest doing so. If this isn't an option for you, and there's no Whole Foods near you, then you might check online and see if there's a larger grass-fed beef vendor that will ship direct (frozen, of course).

It's also higher in Omega 3's from what I've read. Bison has similar positives.

If it wasn't so expensive...

I've found a farm that raises grass fed beef near me (an hour+ away, but close enough) and that sells directly. I just need to buy me a freezer for the garage to make buying from them more cost effective. They even have a monthly delivery run to Nashville that I could meet up with for a small fee.

If I didn't live in apartment, that's the way I would go -- freezer and by in bulk. There are several farms around the DC area and in Maryland that raise grass-fed every thing: pigs, sheep, cows etc. Organic free-range chicken and eggs....

Glaive -- that is really interesting info. How did they raise cow antibiotic-free before grass-fed came back?

I would kill for a Whole Foods near me :( I told PGC ) my SO) if he wanted us to be a couple and live together, he had to move up here... There was no way I was going down to where he leived -- with no WHole Foods and barely able to get organic anything. And PGC has a Beeautiful house on a beautiful large lake with palm trees and a dock and it is so romantinc..... But what good is romance if you got to eat cr*p.... :nope:

never heard of it until now. thnx.

I just discovered the benefits of grass fed beef--it's visibly less marbled and the taste is great. A bit more expensive than other cuts but then again, i think the extra few dollars are worth it in the long run. Makes for a great meal when im fed up with chicken or turkey.

I am thinking about a bulk order of meat online. This place, www.marxfoods.com , looks promising and has great prices. I would like to have a good supply of grass-fed beef, but I am even more tempted by the buffalo, wild boar, free-range veal (osso buco meat only $6.45 a lb?!?), venison, and elk. They don't have goat, but I have seen several farms that will ship online.

I think i'll need to invest in a new freezer before I do this, however, or maybe i'll pool some friends together.

Can't wait for the industry at large to do some maneuvering. Eventually we'll get it sorted out to where this stuff is reasonably priced, I hope. Where I live the really nice local brand of fresh, never frozen chicken breast is 2.99 a lb on sale.

Organic is 11.99. On sale.
:eek:

I think I have found where I am going to place my first meat order: www.brokenarrowranch.com . This Texas ranch has free-range venison, elk, and wild boar for reasonable prices. It doesn't get much more 'natural' than that - and free-range means a substantially better protein:fat ratio than domesticated animals, not to mention superior flavor. But first I think i'll invest in a quality vacuum sealer - don't want to order a bunch of great meat and ruin it in the freezer.

I think I have found where I am going to place my first meat order: www.brokenarrowranch.com (http://www.brokenarrowranch.com) . This Texas ranch has free-range venison, elk, and wild boar for reasonable prices. It doesn't get much more 'natural' than that - and free-range means a substantially better protein:fat ratio than domesticated animals, not to mention superior flavor. But first I think i'll invest in a quality vacuum sealer - don't want to order a bunch of great meat and ruin it in the freezer.
Unfortunately, free range is a marketing term that doesn't mean anything, which is why the meat on that site is so cheap.

"The U.S. Department of Agriculture (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Department_of_Agriculture) Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) requires that chickens (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chickens) raised for their meat have access to the outside in order to receive the free-range certification. There is no requirement for access to pasture, and there may be access to only dirt or gravel . Free-range chicken eggs, however, have no legal definition in the United States. Likewise, free-range egg producers have no common standard on what the term means. Many egg farmers sell their eggs as free range merely because their cages are two or three inches above average size, or because there is a window in the shed.
The USDA (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Department_of_Agriculture) has no specific definition for "free-range" beef (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beef), pork (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pork), and other non-poultry products. All USDA definitions of "free-range" refer specifically to poultry.[6] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_range#cite_note-5) No other criteria-such as the size of the range or the amount of space given to each animal-are required before beef, lamb, and pork can be called "free-range". Claims and labeling using "free range" are therefore unregulated. The USDA relies "upon producer testimonials to support the accuracy of these claims."

That's good to know about "free-range", but I don't think that criticism applies to the ranch I linked. Take a look at the site. They have a 1,000,000 acres of game ranches where the animals roam free, are hunted, and processed in a mobile processing unit. It appears to be "free-range" in every sense of the term.

About 85% of the venison sold in America is imported from deer farms in New Zealand. Farmers there and elsewhere are raising red deer and fallow deer in huge numbers on intensively grazed pastures. Subsisting on a diet of almost exclusively grass, these deer produce venison which is of good quality but which chefs often describe as bland-tasting. The free-ranging deer and antelope harvested by Broken Arrow Ranch are truly wild and free-ranging, living on 1,000,000 combined acres in Texas. The wide variety of natural vegetation in their diet gives the meat a more complex flavor profile.