I had such a wonderful time teaching Whole Foods Cooking with Grass Fed Meats & Tons of Seasonal Veggies at New Frontiers, SLO back in November, I just had to list for you the most important personal and planetary reasons to choose grass fed meats vs. commercial red meats.

If you have the type of bodily constitution (example: type O blood) in which you experience a high level of energy from eating good quality meats in moderation, I recommend grass fed beef, buffalo, venison or lamb. These types of quality meats (preferably from small, local farms) are a great food for building strength and warmth, especially in the colder months. Eating just 4-6 oz. once or twice a week is all most people need. When you do choose to eat meat, include tons of leafy green veggies, both to aid digestion and to maintain your body’s alkaline balance.

Choose grass fed beef from small, local farms where you can be sure the animals were humanely raised and kept on pasture all spring & summer. Ideally, the label will say “grass finished”, meaning the cows were kept on pasture as long as possible, and fed grasses or hay their entire life. Another good label is: “USDA grass fed process verified”.

12 Reasons To Choose Grass Fed Meats

•  humane, high-quality of life for cows
•  creates a harmonious energetic between animals, humans and the food humans take into their bodies
•  way less impact on the planet - pasture farming lets cows do all the work feeding themselves & fertilizing the soil, so it uses way less pesticide & fertilizer & fuel growing feed, so it leads to way less air & water pollution & soil erosion
•  grass fed meats have a very high omega 3 fatty acid content (don’t over-cook grass fed meats, or these precious fatty acids get lost)
•  vital, fat-soluble activators for the body are found exclusively in naturally-raised animal fats (grass fed meats have 3x the amount of conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) vs commercial meats)
•  higher in vitamin E and vitamin A
•  promotes healthy thyroid function
•  fights cancer
•  delays onset of diabetes
•  normalizes cholesterol levels
•  enhances immune system
•  promotes fat loss / increases metabolism

Beware USDA “organic beef” and “grass fed beef” labels
Huge commercial producers of beef (and nearly all other products) are jumping onto the money-making, organic bandwagon, seeking to adhere to as few organic guidelines as possible to qualify their product as organic, while exercising little concern for the welfare of the animals OR the actual quality of the beef. The USDA organic beef is fed “organic” corn. Not only does nearly all corn now contain the genetic markers of Monsanto’s toxic BT corn, corn is an unnatural food for cows. In their natural environment, they’d be grazing on grasses and weeds. Grain feed in a cow’s gut sets up an acidic condition in which e-coli thrive. This is not good, especially knowing the way cattle are kept in commercial “organic” feed lots; in crowded, filthy conditions.