I’ve read in various places about the benefits of grass-fed products, specifically beef. Higher omega-3s, etc. But this is the most comprehensive discussion I’ve seen: http://www.eatwild.com/healthbenefits.htm
I appreciate that they actually cite their references, instead of just saying, “Grass-fed beef is better for you,” like most sites do.
So if cattle and chickens were allowed to graze on pasture like they would normally in nature, our meat and eggs would be much higher in omega-3s and other nutrients. And omega-3s are related to almost every health benefit you can imagine, but we know we don’t typically get enough. How much better would our collective health be if we allowed our animals to eat and live the way they would on their own?
We went to see Food Inc. last night at the Ragtag, our local indie film theatre. I was a little apprehensive going into it about what I was going to see, particularly regarding animal production. I had heard from the Urban Homsteaders that the animal production portion of it was particularly disturbing. And it was, but not as bad as I had imagined it could be.
It’s certainly not a kid’s movie and has a PG-13 rating for good reason. But I think what was probably the most graphic shot was actually of chicken slaughter being done humanely. It was blood and guts, but not the purposeless type of blood and guts you see in violent movies. This at least was real, and brought home the fact that if we’re going to eat meat, the animal does have to be killed somehow. We’re so far removed from our food source that seeing an animal get slaughtered seems graphic and horrendous instead of just a fact of life and a step in how that chicken gets on your plate. Maybe we should be more aware of how that happens so we don’t purposely put a veil over our eyes and allow the food production practices to occur that we are having to deal with now.
I had never seen a CAFO before, and it was interesting to see the parallel of corn fields as far as the eye can see and cattle lots as far as the eye can see. And the cattle are fed corn.
It wasn’t as revolutionary as I thought it might be, but that may also be because I’m fairly familiar with the topic and read about these things on a daily basis. It made me really happy that a) we don’t eat a lot of meat, b) almost all of the meat that I purchase now comes from local sources and c) I’m beginning to grow our own fruits and vegetables and d) I’ve been able to buy good local produce at the Wednesday farmer’s market. By the way, after the movie a panel discussion was held and a man who is involved with our local Columbia Farmer’s Market mentioned that our market has higher attendance in 4 hours on Saturday than the average Walmart does in an entire day. That’s pretty awesome.
People in Columbia are pumped about this type of thing. Last night’s show was almost completely sold out. It makes me feel like this is where I was meant to live.
Another aside: it was also brought up that Hy-Vee is going to be phasing out their Health Market section and integrating those products into the regular aisles. This could be good, I guess, because then they’re with all the other similar products, but it could also make them harder to find. When this was mentioned in the panel discussion, the ENTIRE audience let out a loud GASP OF HORROR. Like, every person there. (This was Charlie’s favourite part of the evening.) BUT, then the storyteller went on to say that the manager of our Columbia store, though, has said that because the Health Market in the Columbia store is so successful, Columbia Hy-Vee will be the ONLY store in the entire country to retain the Health Market. Yup, hippie town.
So, yes. Go see the movie. It’s a must-see. The point was also brought up, though, that this type of film is often preaching to the choir. Get someone to go to the movie who’s not interested in this type of thing or doesn’t know much about food production or why buying local is important. If you’re not aware of what’s going on, the movie probably will be revolutionary. I had already determined to grow as much of my own food as I can and buy local as much as I can. But the film just helps solidify why it’s worth it to make these changes.
“Eating Meat May Increase Risk of Early Death, Study Finds,” ran the headline in The New York Times in March. “Dying for some red meat? You may be,” quipped the Los Angeles Times.
The big news came from a study that tracked more than half a million Americans aged 50 to 71 for 10 years. Those who reported eating the most red meat were roughly 30 percent more likely to die – mostly of cancer or heart disease – than those who reported eating the least.
“You don’t have to be vegetarian to be healthy,” says Walter Willett, chair of the department of nutrition at the Harvard School of Public Health. “If you go from eating meat twice a day to once a week, you can eliminate most of the risk.”
Here’s the evidence that red meat is hazardous to your health.
Multivitamin supplementation during pregnancy may improve a baby’s birth weight more than iron-folic acid supplementation alone, a meta-analysis showed.
In an analysis of 13 studies, women who received a multivitamin had a 17% greater reduction in the risk of having a baby with low birth weight.
In a study published in Environmental Health Perspectives, Harvard School of Public Health researchers found that participants who drank for a week from polycarbonate bottles showed a two-thirds increase in their urine of the chemical bisphenol A (BPA).
The study, according to its authors, is the first to show that drinking from polycarbonate bottles increases the level of urinary BPA. The study participants—77 Harvard college students—began by drinking all cold beverages for seven days from stainless steel bottles in order to minimize BPA exposure. The participants provided urine samples during the seven-day period.
They were then given two polycarbonate bottles and asked to drink all cold beverages from the bottles during the next week. Urine samples also were provided during that time. The results showed that the participants’ urinary BPA concentrations increased 69% after drinking from the polycarbonate bottles. In this study, the students did not wash their bottles in dishwashers or put hot liquids in them.
The researchers noted that they would expect the levels to be even higher if the bottles were heated, as in the case of baby bottles.
“Our previous research study, published in March, showed that men who eat large amounts of meat and full fat dairy products have lower seminal quality than those who eat more fruit, vegetables and reduced fat dairy products. In this study, we have found that people who consume more fruits and vegetables are ingesting more antioxidants, and this is the important point”, Jaime Mendiola, lead author of the article and a researcher at the University of Murcia, tells SINC.
