THE SKINNY ON GRASS-FED MEATS
Eat Lean to Get Lean
It is not a secret that you are what you eat. If you want to be a lean body, you need to eat plenty of lean bodies. Protein intake is critical to your success, whether the goal is size and strength, or just a leaner improved aesthetic.
When we begin to work with our client’s diets at Physiqology, we always stress the importance of increasing protein intake, some of which should come in the form of red meat. If, like many of my clients in the past, you believe that red meat is unhealthy, this article is for you. Like so many things in life, you have to look a little deeper than the local public disservice message to get the entire story.
Grass-fed Meats: What’s Old is New
Grass-fed meat is the way meat was originally grown and produced way back in the day before the advent of major meat production companies. It is some of the most important food to eat, because meats are higher on the food chain than other foods, and so if they are free-range, organic, and grass-fed, you’ll know that everything they ate was natural, and unprocessed.
A grass-fed meat, simply stated, is an animal that was fed its natural diet, rather than the mystery diet that many mass-produced animals are fed today. From www.eatwild.com:
Animals raised in factory farms are given diets designed to boost their productivity and lower costs. The main ingredients are genetically modified grain and soy that are kept at artificially low prices by government subsidies.
To further cut costs, the feed may also contain “by-product feedstuff” such as municipal garbage, stale pastry, chicken feathers, and candy.
Until 1997, U.S. cattle were also being fed meat that had been trimmed from other cattle, in effect turning herbivores into carnivores. This unnatural practice is believed to be the underlying cause of BSE, or “mad cow disease”.
Grass-fed animals are fed their natural diet and are not pumped with hormones or drugs. They have a good blood profile when they pass on into the hereafter, and if you eat them, they pass that gift on to you.
Grass-fed Meat: Good for Your Heart and Cholesterol
The typical grass-fed meat has less fat, cholesterol and calories than the mass-produced meat. It also has more vitamin E, beta-carotene, vitamin C, and a higher omega-3 fatty acid (EFA) and conjugated linoleic acid (CLA). All of these nutrients have research backing their ability to combat obesity and coronary artery disease (CAD). The short story: eat grass-fed if your goal is to be leaner, healthier, and happier.
A Great Grass-fed Purveyor of Unique Meats
One of the best places I’ve found to get grass-fed products is from Broken Arrow Ranch. They produce the finest (and only, as far as I know) truly wild, grass-fed axis venison, South Texas (Nilgai) antelope, and wild boar in the grass-fed food industry. Their website is simple to navigate, easy to buy from, and full of information. Plus, if you order through the Physiqology portal, you can get 5% off your order.
Their products are also unique within the industry. Axis deer and South Texas (Nilgai) antelope are tropical species native to India. They have developed genetic characteristics very different from red deer and other animals native to colder climates. Due to evolving in a tropical environment, they do not have the genetic disposition to develop body fat – regardless of sex, age, or time of year. Wouldn’t that be convenient?
A Texas A&M study, “Carcass and Meat Characteristics of Nilgai Antelope,”1 details the extreme leanness of these animals: “Fat trim on all nilgai is slight… Nilgai have very low amounts of intramuscular fat deposits, even on carcasses of animals in excellent condition.” Table 2 - Fat Trim % of Nilgai: Adult Female = 1.44%, Sub-adult Male = 0.02%, Adult Male = 0.21%.
Independent lab tests from AMSI Meat Testing Laboratories provided the following data: latissimus dorsi tests: Axis 1.5% fat, Nilgai 1.3% fat; Nilgai top round (leg) untrimmed: 0.5% fat; Nilgai, ground, raw: 2.0% fat.
These animals, in a word, are ripped. They might even make one of my best friends trade in his white meat chicken diet for something leaner.
I typically send my clients to this site by way of fixing their breakfast. When I get the invariable response that, “I don’t have time to cook,” I tell them the truth: breakfast from this site is a cinch – five minutes – and it’s just as easy for a host of other meals. There simply is no reason not to rotate foods or avoid red meats because they are not healthy. They are; IF you go grass-fed.
(1) “Carcass and Meat Characteristics of Nilgai Antelope”. E. Ables, Z Carpenter. L. Auarrier. W. Sheffield. Texas A&M University. 1973.
Shopping Recommendation
One of the best places I’ve found to get grass-fed products is from Broken Arrow Ranch. Plus, if you order here, through Physiqology, you will get 5% off your order.
