Grass fed organic beef vs. regular beef?

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  • victoria4321
    victoria4321 Posts: 1,719 Member
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    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"

    But we can chew them and get the vitamins/minerals out of it. No animal digests 100% of all its food. Why do you think everyone and every animal poops.
  • Dave198lbs
    Dave198lbs Posts: 8,810 Member
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    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.

    ya...I LOVE that store...I could live in there...but I cant afford to go in there very often without torturing myself
    their buffet/steam table is awesome
  • amann1976
    amann1976 Posts: 742 Member
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    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"

    But we can chew them and get the vitamins/minerals out of it. No animal digests 100% of all its food. Why do you think everyone and every animal poops.

    does poop from 10 dollar a pound ground beef smell better than poop from 2 dollar a pound beef???? nope well then it aint all that important. plenty of studies out there saying organic products are no better for you


    I think the most important think to consider when buying meats or produce is where is it sourced from. some countries have regulations about their meats and produce and some dont so being aware where the stuff you put into your mouth comes from is more important than whether it is certified organic or not in my opinion
  • karrlove1020
    karrlove1020 Posts: 47
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    I did watch Food Inc and thats what made me nervous originally... Did anybody else watch it. I'm not super fanatical about eating organic but if I can make some small changes as in eating grass feed/finishd beef I will. Can I get it at Sprouts or Whole Foods? Colorado sadly does not have Trader Joes, I miss it frm when I lived in Cali!
  • BlackTimber
    BlackTimber Posts: 230 Member
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    Grass fed beef has a balance on Omega 3 and Omega 6. Grain fed beef is more like 20/1 Omega 6 / Omega 3. This place has reasonable prices: http://vermontgrassfedbeef.weebly.com/.
  • karrlove1020
    karrlove1020 Posts: 47
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    and yes I know Whole Foods is crazy expensive! But i'm not eating beef everyday either..
  • victoria4321
    victoria4321 Posts: 1,719 Member
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    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"

    But we can chew them and get the vitamins/minerals out of it. No animal digests 100% of all its food. Why do you think everyone and every animal poops.

    does poop from 10 dollar a pound ground beef smell better than poop from 2 dollar a pound beef???? nope well then it aint all that important. plenty of studies out there saying organic products are no better for you


    I think the most important think to consider when buying meats or produce is where is it sourced from. some countries have regulations about their meats and produce and some dont so being aware where the stuff you put into your mouth comes from is more important than whether it is certified organic or not in my opinion

    Of course its your own opinion to eat as you choose. I'd rather spend more money on good food than on future healthcare costs. I like spending $10/lb on my beef because it tastes better to me. I also like knowing that my cow wasn't grown on a feedlot eating garbage its whole life. Oh yeah, and its also not certified usda organic because that term doesn't mean much. The usda uses that organic branding for profit only.
  • karrlove1020
    karrlove1020 Posts: 47
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    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.
  • CRody44
    CRody44 Posts: 776 Member
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    I like USDA Choice or Prime.
  • vsetter
    vsetter Posts: 558 Member
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    I try my best to stick with hormone-free beef and dairy. My cancer cells were hormone fed. I'm not taking any chances, and i was never able to find any literature suggesting otherwise.
  • FredDoyle
    FredDoyle Posts: 2,273 Member
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    Grass fed beef has a balance on Omega 3 and Omega 6. Grain fed beef is more like 20/1 Omega 6 / Omega 3. This place has reasonable prices: .
    Good thing my body decides on the balance of what it keeps and (r)ejects. :smile:
  • bodyrollin
    bodyrollin Posts: 215 Member
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    Grass finished is leaner, grain finished is fatter (since flavor comes from rendered fat, most people prefer the taste of grain finished...same as people prefer the flavor of Kobe over regular...more fat, more flavor...that said, grass finished is certainly healthier, and a bit more responsible.
  • SToast
    SToast Posts: 255 Member
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    We raise our own most of the time. They are on pasture all spring/summer then grain/hay fed in the fall before they feed us;) I know what goes into my meat and how it was raised. Clear down to the spring water they drink out of the creek. You really can taste the difference. Even "Organic grass fed" from the store tastes blah to me now.

    What kind of an area are you in? Are you in or close to a rural area where you could get fresh hand raised beef? Grow your own is the way to go but obviously not everyone can do that. The next best thing IMO is to find someone who raises beef and sells it by the cow (whole or half). Sure it sounds like a lot but it sure is nice to have it in the freezer instead of running to the store. Also, the taste is a lot better and the fat content typically lower. You can ask them how they "finish" their beefs and what exactly they feed them. The reputable guys will tell you no problem. See if you can find a local beef grower close to you and you'll be glad you did :)
  • GiddyupTim
    GiddyupTim Posts: 2,819 Member
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    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

    In Northern California, we can get Niman Ranch beef. Yeah, it seems somewhat better to me than the standard Safeway beef.
  • Dave198lbs
    Dave198lbs Posts: 8,810 Member
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    sometimes I wish I could be Jeramiah Johnson. like now.
  • neanderthin
    neanderthin Posts: 9,974 Member
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    Grass fed beef has a balance on Omega 3 and Omega 6. Grain fed beef is more like 20/1 Omega 6 / Omega 3. This place has reasonable prices: http://vermontgrassfedbeef.weebly.com/.


    Why people go on about the omega balance of beef is a moot point at best, and grain fed isn't 20:1. it's around 5:1 to 2:1.

    For example, Beef, brisket, flat half, separable lean and fat, trimmed to 0" fat, choice, cooked, braised is just over 2:1 and 1/4 lb (100g's) of this beef has a total of 231mg's of omega 6 and 92mg's of omega 3

    The same amount of cheerios (100g's) has 1880 mg's of omega 6's and 89 mg's of omega 3's, that's your 20:1 with 8 times the amount of omega 6's.

    Animal products are always fairly low in omega 6's and generally a decent omega balance comparatively speaking and if we really want to ***** about omega 6's then we should quite consuming vegetable oils like soy, which is the number 1 oil in all processed foods with an omega balance of 7:1 and a total of 7000mg's in a tbsp. The amount of omega 6 in a big mack would shock most people and it isn't from the beef.

    I'll take grass fed beef, finished on grain any day and not worry about the omega 6's I'm getting.
  • AlabasterVerve
    AlabasterVerve Posts: 3,171 Member
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    Grassfed. It's healthier and more humane. Feedlots and the like are absolutely revolting -- how it's even legal to torture animals that way just because they're grown for food I'll never understand -- so whenever possible we avoid the crap in the grocery store no matter what the labels say.

    In fact, we're probably going to have to relocate in a year and one of the major considerations when/if we do is going to be the availability of locally grown food.
  • ahallen83
    ahallen83 Posts: 25 Member
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    I recently purchased a bunch of grass-fed and finished angus beef, lamb and berkshire pork from a local farmer and I am loving it. The meat all tastes really great to me. I grew up eating locally sourced meat, my aunt&uncle and mom&dad would go in on a half cow together every year or so (I'm from the Canadian prairies so there's lots of grassy land for cows to be raised on around here). Factory meat is a bit juicier because of the amounts of fat in it, but to me it tastes kinda bland and I don't like thinking about the conditions the meat was prepared in, not to mention how the animals were treated.

    I made the choice for health and the taste of the meat, but also because I find the factory farm system pretty gross. BUT I didn't stress out about it before I came into a position where I could afford to drop the money on it, and buying direct from a farmer cuts your costs significantly. I have a freezer full of grass-fed angus beef, lamb, and berkshire pork that I paid $5/lb for in a bulk pack - and it stays delicious for 6 months in the freezer.

    If you're really interested I would suggest doing an internet search for "local meat 'name of hometown'", or "local organic meat 'name of hometown'" etc, to see if you can find a local source that raises the animals themselves, that's how I found my supplier (he even deilvers, and encourages people to come out to the farm to pick up their orders and see how the animals live/are treated). Or if you have any good local butchers or specialty gourmet shops that sell this kind of meat, try calling them and seeing if you can get the name of their supplier.
  • ladyfingers73
    ladyfingers73 Posts: 80 Member
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    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.

    Thank you.
  • Joluru
    Joluru Posts: 89 Member
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    I buy a quarter of a cow directly from a rancher once a year and that's our beef for the year. It's grass fed and finished, humanely raised, not fed hormones (of course, cows have natural hormones), not given antibiotics unless ill. It's not certified organic but I trust the rancher, who I've had a 6 year relationship with, and whose farm I've visited.

    I pay $3.75/lb for beef, butchered and packaged for us, and that goes from ground beef to Porterhouse steaks. It's leaner than corn finished and does have a little learning curve to cooking without overdrying it, in my experience, but we love it. Reminds me that it's almost time to put in our order. :)

    Our farmer says they had their beef tested and the Omega's weren't significantly different from corn finished; that's not really a big factor for me. I like that he cares about his cows and they live a natural cow life and are slaughtered humanely.

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