Grass fed organic beef vs. regular beef?

karrlove1020

I'm not a huge meat eater but I do like it once in a while. I usually eat tofu, fish, or chicken/turkey. Once in a great while I have a taste for steak/pot roast etc. Sometimes I get nervous buying beef from the regular grocery store from all the stories of corn fed, hormones, etc. Does anybody have any personal preference? Would love to know...

tommygirl15

I always get organic if I can find it. Regular stuff is hard to avoid if you choose to eat out at restaurants or fast food places.

drmerc

They both taste the same

jofjltncb6

They both taste the same

Lies...assuming you are talking about grass-FINISHED and not just grass-FED. *All* beef is grass-fed through most of its life. The difference is (at least in the US) that conventional beef is finished on grain for X months whereas grass-finished beef is finished on, well, yeah, grass.

There is a definite difference in the finished product...and many people actually prefer the grain-finished (although I believe that grass-finished is healthier if for no other reason than it avoids the commercial feedlot environment for the last few months of the cattle's life.)

ETA: Oh, and IMHO, organic means almost nothing when it comes to beef.

1ConcreteGirl

Perhaps rephrasing the question will make this more simple: more expensive beef or less expensive beef?

Hmm.

FredDoyle

They both taste the same

Lies...assuming you are talking about grass-FINISHED and not just grass-FED. *All* beef is grass-fed through most of its life. The difference is (at least in the US) that conventional beef is finished on grain for X months whereas grass-finished beef is finished on, well, yeah, grass.

There is a definite difference in the finished product...and many people actually prefer the grain-finished (although I believe that grass-finished is healthier if for no other reason than it avoids the commercial feedlot environment for the last few months of the cattle's life.)

ETA: Oh, and IMHO, organic means almost nothing when it comes to beef.

What about the grain-finished gluten intolerant beef? Does that taste differently?

jofjltncb6

They both taste the same

Lies...assuming you are talking about grass-FINISHED and not just grass-FED. *All* beef is grass-fed through most of its life. The difference is (at least in the US) that conventional beef is finished on grain for X months whereas grass-finished beef is finished on, well, yeah, grass.

There is a definite difference in the finished product...and many people actually prefer the grain-finished (although I believe that grass-finished is healthier if for no other reason than it avoids the commercial feedlot environment for the last few months of the cattle's life.)

ETA: Oh, and IMHO, organic means almost nothing when it comes to beef.

What about the grain-finished gluten intolerant beef? Does that taste differently?

I....


Uh....


Um....


That depends. Are we talking about full celiac beef or just gluten intolerant beef?

BeachGingerOnTheRocks

They both taste the same

There's a difference in taste. Not that noticeable until you don't eat the grain fed kind for a few years. A mouthwatering, grain fed steak is so dang tasty in comparison.

But to get to the heart of it, the Omega-3 to Omega-6 ratio is different between the meats. Grass fed generally has a 2:1 ratio of Omega 3 over Omega 6, and Grain fed has a 2:1 Omega 6 over Omega 3. Both are essential fats, but too much Omega 6 can lead to all sorts of health problems.

It isn't really a big issue unless you eat a lot of other foods high in Omega 6, like cooking oils, fatty commercial salad dressings, processed fatty foods, or fried foods.

Don't worry about the differences in beef because it won't have that much of an impact. As for the hormones, negligible in the overall scheme of things. You might have a greater impact with the naturally occurring estrogen-like chemicals in soy.

Dave198lbs

if I had a choice and the cash, I would get the best, whatever that is.

Wal Mart has one kind of beef and thats what I get.

Occasionally I go to Trader Joes and splurge on their beef but I dont think it is grass fed.

AnvilHead

I'm not a huge meat eater but I do like it once in a while. I usually eat tofu, fish, or chicken/turkey. Once in a great while I have a taste for steak/pot roast etc. Sometimes I get nervous buying beef from the regular grocery store from all the stories of corn fed, hormones, etc. Does anybody have any personal preference? Would love to know...

My .02 - I eat a LOT of meat (beef, pork, chicken, turkey, fish, you name it). I have absolutely no preference and don't go out of my way to look for organic, grass-fed, etc. My personal opinion (and I'm not presenting it as fact) is that a lot of it is marketing hoopla. If I want expensive beef, I'll open the wallet WIDE and order some Wagyu beef - but even as much of a delicacy as that's supposed to be, I doubt it would be worth the extra money.

victoria4321

I only eat grass fed and finished beef. Same with dairy I stick to raw milk from grassfed cows. I have a good source so its easy to stick to but if I couldn't get it grassfed then I wouldn't eat beef or dairy.


Exception: I do eat dry aged steaks at steak houses and they taste okay to me. I doubt those meats are grassfed because they don't have that taste to them.

shanmackie

If you have to eat beef, go with organic grass fed always. Hormones and antibiotics are no good. And cows aren't meant to be eating corn.

Dave198lbs

If you have to eat beef, go with organic grass fed always. Hormones and antibiotics are no good. And cows aren't meant to be eating corn.

ya...but where do you get it? i cant find it anywhere without ordering it online at outrageous prices and I aint gonna quit eating it

sunsnstatheart

They both taste the same

There's a difference in taste. Not that noticeable until you don't eat the grain fed kind for a few years. A mouthwatering, grain fed steak is so dang tasty in comparison.

But to get to the heart of it, the Omega-3 to Omega-6 ratio is different between the meats. Grass fed generally has a 2:1 ratio of Omega 3 over Omega 6, and Grain fed has a 2:1 Omega 6 over Omega 3. Both are essential fats, but too much Omega 6 can lead to all sorts of health problems.

It isn't really a big issue unless you eat a lot of other foods high in Omega 6, like cooking oils, fatty commercial salad dressings, processed fatty foods, or fried foods.

Don't worry about the differences in beef because it won't have that much of an impact. As for the hormones, negligible in the overall scheme of things. You might have a greater impact with the naturally occurring estrogen-like chemicals in soy.

^This. Eat what you like.

MemphisKitten

You should watch Food Inc. :flowerforyou:

BeachGingerOnTheRocks

I'm not a huge meat eater but I do like it once in a while. I usually eat tofu, fish, or chicken/turkey. Once in a great while I have a taste for steak/pot roast etc. Sometimes I get nervous buying beef from the regular grocery store from all the stories of corn fed, hormones, etc. Does anybody have any personal preference? Would love to know...

My .02 - I eat a LOT of meat (beef, pork, chicken, turkey, fish, you name it). I have absolutely no preference and don't go out of my way to look for organic, grass-fed, etc. My personal opinion (and I'm not presenting it as fact) is that a lot of it is marketing hoopla. If I want expensive beef, I'll open the wallet WIDE and order some Wagyu beef - but even as much of a delicacy as that's supposed to be, I doubt it would be worth the extra money.

Don't like Wagyu at all. It's pretty nasty unless you really like to eat the fatty ring around a good piece of beef. I just don't get the fascination with it. It isn't aged, It's a thinner steak, it's mostly fat, and it is a little slimy when you chew it.

BeachGingerOnTheRocks

If you have to eat beef, go with organic grass fed always. Hormones and antibiotics are no good. And cows aren't meant to be eating corn.

ya...but where do you get it? i cant find it anywhere without ordering it online at outrageous prices and I aint gonna quit eating it

Whole Foods Market. Just make sure you rob a bank on the way to pay for it.

thisisiamj

If you can afford it, grass-fed beef for sure. I personally think it tastes better.

amann1976

If you have to eat beef, go with organic grass fed always. Hormones and antibiotics are no good. And cows aren't meant to be eating corn.

humans are not meant to eat green leaf vegetables because we can not digest the cellulose but we still eat them and they are considered "good for us"

AuntieMC

I would definitely go with the organic, grass fed meats, and much less of them!

I spent the past year battling cancer, and one of the books I read to get information to help me in recovery was a book called "Anti-Cancer: A New Way of Life", by David Servan-Schreiber. The author had a medical degree and two PhD's, and was himself struck with Brain Cancer when he was only 30 years old. He did extensive research in the medical databases to find things that might help him recover, and his book is loaded with dietary information, as certain foods tend to promote cancer, and certain foods tend to fight cancer.

He found that commercially raised meat has changed dramatically since World War II, and the current methods of raising beef cattle and poultry create an imbalance in Omega 6's and Omega 3's, which tends to promote the development of cancer, according to the studies he reported on. He recommends using only small quantities of meat, and that they should be organic AND grass-fed, or in the case of chicken, organic AND free-range, or in the case of fish, wild-caught, not farmed.

On the other hand, these organic products are MUCH more expensive than regular commercially raised meats. And that matters to most people, because we only have so many dollars to spend on food. But most people probably eat too much meat, and could cut back without any nutritional harm, and save money that way. He felt that the way the Oriental and Indian people eat is more healthful, with meats as a condiment in very small quantities, rather than the main event of the meal.

victoria4321

If you have to eat beef, go with organic grass fed always. Hormones and antibiotics are no good. And cows aren't meant to be eating corn.

ya...but where do you get it? i cant find it anywhere without ordering it online at outrageous prices and I aint gonna quit eating it

Whole Foods Market. Just make sure you rob a bank on the way to pay for it.

I thought whole foods was selling grain finished beef? They might have changed that maybe.

I get my meats from a farm coop that delivers meats and dairy around NYC.