GRASS FED OR PASTEURED BEEF
by Dr. Lawrence Wilson
© March 2019, LD Wilson Consultants,
Inc.
All information in
this article is solely the opinion of the author and for educational purposes
only. It is not for the diagnosis,
treatment, prescription or cure of any disease or health condition.
Contents
Feedlot Beef
Grass fed Beef
Lying About
Grass Fed Beef
Heirloom Cows
Benefits For
Cows
Benefits For
Those Who Eat The Products
Benefits For
The Planet
Benefits For
Farmers And Ranchers
Beware Of
Overcooking
Why Does
Cooking Matter?
Braising
Freezing Meat
Defrosting
Meat
Steak Versus
Ground Beef
Labeling Beef
And Beef Certifications In America
Finishing
_____________________________________
FEEDLOT BEEF
Ninety-nine percent
(99%) of the roughly 30 million cows in the world are raised in feedlots. They are crowded together, often in
unclean and infected pens, and forced to eat mainly grain.
Grain feeding. Grain is not the
natural food of cows, but it is used because it is cheaper than pasture or hay
(dried grass), which are the natural food of cows.
Hybrid cows. The cows are all
hybrids that have been bred to be able to survive in feedlot conditions and
able to live on a diet of mainly grains, and who can handle a lot of toxic
medical drugs.
Massive drug use. The hybrids are also bred to be able to
survive a large amount of antibiotics and other drugs, which are often fed to
them to keep them alive and to fatten them. Residues of these drugs remain in the meat and dairy
products the cows produce.
Unhealthy meat. For all the reasons
above, beef from hybrid, feedlot cows is irritating to the intestines and many
people are sensitive to it. We do
not recommend eating it, except only occasionally - once a week or less. It is not needed or very helpful for
development. It is very low in
omega-3 fatty acids, low in vitamin E and low in other vital nutrients.
GRASS FED OR PASTEURED BEEF
In contrast, beef from cows that are
allowed to roam in fields and eat grass, also called pasture or forage, is an excellent food for
development. We recommend eating 3-4 ounces or about 85-114 grams of it
about three times per week as part of a development program. Do not have larger portions than this
and please cook it properly. See
below for cooking instructions.
LYING ABOUT GRASS FED BEEF
You have to know and
trust your source of beef because it is easy to lie about the quality of the
beef and this definitely occurs.
This means that meat can be labeled Ôgrass fedÕ, ÔorganicÕ, or something
else, but it is not the truth.
This is a problem in the beef industry.
In particular,
supermarkets often cannot obtain 100% grass fed beef. Even if the meat is labeled Ôgrass fedÕ, this label only
means that the feed has been 75% grass.
It is very deceptive. We
donÕt even think a lot of meat labeled grass fed is from cows that have had
this much grass.
HEIRLOOM COWS
These are less
hybridized varieties of cows that are healthier. Heirlooms are slowly being reintroduced as more problems are
arising with the hybridized cows that are mainly used in the beef
industry. For details, read Heirloom Cows And Heirloom Vegetables.
Benefits for cows. Grass fed cows are
much healthier and much happier because they are eating their natural food and
are not confined in dirty, crowded, and often infected and sickening feedlots.
Benefits for those
who eat the products. Grass fed and
organic beef contains much less drug residues than regular beef. It also contains certain zinc and
selenium compounds that are most helpful for rapid development that are often
missing from feedlot beef.
Other good qualities
of natural, grass fed and organic beef include a very high-quality protein and
a yang nature that we all need. It
also contains many nutrients that are low or missing from regular beef today.
These include
omega-3 fatty acids, B-complex vitamins, vitamin E, carnitine,
taurine, and organic sulfur compounds that are vital
for liver detoxification. Grass fed beef is also lower in fat than
regular beef, although some fat is needed in the diet.
Benefits for the
planet. Grass feeding of
cows helps spread plant seeds, helps break up the soil so it will hold more
moisture, and helps with weed control.
It also fertilizes the fields and greatly reduces feedlot pollution due
to a concentration of animals in a small space and the use of lots of drugs
with feedlot animals. These are
important benefits.
Climate change. For those worried
about climate change (this author is not worried at all), grass feeding of beef
tends to sequester more carbon dioxide (also called reducing greenhouse grasses) because
grass fed cows are more healthy and have much less methane in their
stools. Also, fertilizing the
fields means more plant growth and more photosynthesis, which consumes or
sequesters carbon dioxide. For
details about climate change, read Global
Warming.
Benefits for farmers
and ranchers. Grass feeding of
cows is much healthier for ranching families because they are exposed to many
fewer chemicals and drugs that are used in feedlots. The food is also healthier and often more profitable for
them.
Beware of overcooking. The method of
preparing beef is most important in order to obtain the mineral compounds
needed for development. Most people overcook their meat. Most cookbooks and most
instruction books that come with cookware such as pressure cookers and others
also have errors in them. For cooking instructions, see the section below.
III. COOKING BEEF FOR RAPID DEVELOPMENT
Why does cooking matter? Most people overcook beef. This destroys many of the most beneficial chemicals in the
beef that we need for development.
Overcooking also denatures or damages the protein in the beef and
damages the fat in the beef.
AGES. Overcooking also
causes the production of AGES (advanced glycation end
products). These are very toxic chemicals
that damage the body. For details,
read AGES.
This problem is much worse if you fry, bake, broil or roast meat. Unfortunately, these are common ways
people prepare hamburgers, meat loaf and many other meat dishes.
Braising. To avoid AGES and to
get the most benefit from beef and other meats, we recommend braising beef.
This is a fast cooking method that uses water. Here are the instructions:
1. Put about
¼ to ½ inch or about ½ centimeter of water in the bottom
of a pan or pot. Tap water will work because we donÕt recommend drinking
the water in which meat is cooked. The water in which meat is cooked does
not contain many nutrients.
2. Bring the water
to a boil.
3. Place a 3-4 ounce
or 85-114 gram beef patty in the water. The patty should be about
½ inch or 1 centimeter in thickness.
4. Cook for about
10-15 seconds. Then turn it over and cook on the other side for about
10-15 seconds.
5. Then
remove, put some sea salt on it and eat.
We recommend Hawaiian Bamboo Jade Sea salt.
6. Cooking
time may vary slightly depending upon your altitude above sea
level. The meat is done properly when it is warm on the inside, but
not really cooked. If it is grey
and hard, it is overcooked.
AVOID baking, frying, roasting, or broiling meats of all kinds. This produces lots of AGES and almost
always overcooks the meat. Also do
not put beef in a pressure cooker.
Pressure-cooking beef will always overcook it.
FREEZING MEAT
Meat may come fresh
or frozen. We do not recommend
re-freezing beef. This is a common practice. If your beef comes
fresh, just buy what you can eat in a week or until its expiration date. If your beef comes frozen, as is often
the case with grass fed beef, just defrost that which you will eat in the next
few days. Always check the label for the expiration date on fresh meats.
DEFROSTING MEAT
Ways to defrost meat
are:
1. Move it to the
refrigerator. It will take two
days or so using this method. This
is safer in that you are not leaving meat out without refrigeration.
2. Leave the meat
unwrapped on the kitche counter. Cover it if you wish, although this is
not necessary and will slow the defrosting. It will defrost in a few hours using this method.
3. For fast
defrosting, either put the beef in the sink and run hot water over it or place
it on a plate in front of a red heat lamp. With either of these methods, turn the beef frequently. You can often defrost beef in under an
hour with this method.
STEAK VERSUS GROUND BEEF
Grass fed beef is
often quite tough. For this reason, at this time we believe it is best to
eat it ground. It is often sold
this way.
Ground beef is a
little more yin than steak.
However, it is easier to measure out properly, easier to cook and easier
to eat, especially if one does not have good teeth.
LABELING BEEF AND BEEF CERTIFICATIONS IN AMERICA
There are a number
of certifications available for beef. Some come from the government, while
others are from private certifying organizations. They have meaning but cheating can occur. They may include:
No Hormones. This means the cows are not given female hormone injections
to fatten them.
No Antibiotics. This means the cows are not given antibiotics for
prevention of disease. Some antibiotic-free certification may allow
farmers to use antibiotics if a cow is ill, but only short-term.
Natural. This means no added
antibiotics, at least to fatten the animals. Antibiotics can often be used if the animals become ill,
which is common. Natural also
means the meat contains no added hormones.
No animal byproducts.
This means the cows have not been fed parts of other cows, usually, or
parts of other animals.
Mad cow disease. Eating body parts of
other animals is unnatural for cows and may have to do with outbreaks of mad
cow disease. However, the likely
cause for this disease is a pesticide that is sprayed on the cowÕs back, along
the spinal column.
Grass fed. This label often only means the cow has been grass fed 75%
or more of its life. It does not mean 100% grass fed!
Organic. This means that all the feed used for the cow is certified to be organically grown.
Some smaller farms and ranchers in the USA
cannot afford the organic certification process. However, their beef is quite
organic if their cows live on grass or pasture.
Other labels include GMO-free and humanely processed.
Problems. Problems with all of these certifications are:
1. Watered down standards such as the grass fed standard and the organic standard, as well.
2. Lying, as explained earlier in this article.
3. These standards are always difficult to enforce. This is why knowing your supplier is often the best way to know if you are getting real grass fed beef and other healthful meats.
FINISHING
Finishing is the feeding of beef cows near the time of slaughter. It is a method of altering the taste of
the meat to make it sweeter and less ÔgameyÕ. The meat will contain more fat and is also more tender for this reason.
Finishing also fattens the cows so the farmers will make more money
when the cow is slaughtered due to the extra weight of meat. It works, but is not kind to the cows. It is done routinely in commercial
ranching operations, including with heirloom cows.
Finishing
methods. Feedlot cows may not need finishing because they may be fed
grain most of their life and become fattened early on.
To finish grass fed cows, the rancher can move them to fields where
they must eat more high-carbohydrate grasses and less high-protein
grasses. This will add weight and can
reduce the gamey grass fed taste of their meat.
Another method is to confine grass fed cows in pens near the end of
their lives and force them to eat grain.
Another method in cold climates is to leave the cows outside in the
cold weather. They will naturally
eat more high-carbohydrate grass in order to gain fat and stay warm. This method only works if one
slaughters in springtime. It doesnÕt
work well on large farms where cows are slaughtered all year round.
We do not recommend finishing.
It harms the animals and reduces the quality of the meat, even if it
tastes sweeter. However, people
have been conditioned to want sweet-tasting and more tender
beef by the feedlot beef industry.
Until this changes, the practice will likely continue.
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