Compositions of Foods
The Eating Experience
So the health story is great, but what about the eating experience? Grass-fed beef is famous for being "chewy." Yes, grass-fed beef is leaner than grain-fed beef. But is that good? What about tenderness? Government grading specifications indicate that intramuscular fat and tenderness go hand in hand. Is that true? For the answer, check this out: The Meat Tenderness Debate.
CLA is Another Advantage
"CLA is a fatty acid found in beef and dairy fats. Scientific interest in CLA was stimulated in the late 1980s when a University of Wisconsin researcher discovered its cancer-fighting properties in a study of rats fed fried hamburger. CLA cannot be produced by the human body, but it can be obtained through foods such as whole milk, butter, beef, and lamb." So check out "Amazing Graze" an article on the USDA's Web site that was published in the Agricultural Research magazine.
Purdue University News -- Eat Meat
Eat meat. That's the dietary advice given by a team of scientists who examined the dietary role of fat in a study that combined nutritional analysis with anthropologic research about the diets of ancient hunter-gatherer societies. The article is titled Cavemen Diets Offer Insights to Today's Health Problems.
Low-Carb Diet Proven Best for Weight Control
Even though this study used grain-fed meats, it proves that even a little of the low-grain approach works best. The Atkins Diet doesn't emphasize grass-fed meats. If it had, the meat eaters in this study would have lost considerably more weight. But just the same, this study provides some guidance about how one should eat. The link takes you to an article summarizing the research. In that research you'll see that the low-fat, restricted-calorie diet based on the American Heart Association's guidelines was worse than the Mediterranean Diet. The Mediterranean iet came in second to the Atkins Diet. The Skinny on Fat
The story on fat from grass-fed livestock is just the opposite of the story regarding the fat from grain-fed livestock. For years you've been told to avoid fat. But when it comes to grass-fed meats, the fat is good for you! We ran across a really good article covering the Big Picture on Fats. For sure it debunks a lot of myths and old wives' tales. If you are concerned about saturated fats and/or fats in your food, don't miss this article.
Myths and Facts about Meat Production
The American Meat Institute put together a guide for consumers confused about recent claims made by some activists and media reports. It does explain many basic questions, yet in terms of addressing nutrition it misses the mark just like everyone else who recommends whole grains as a food. To understand more than what the mob is being taught by the foodies, click here.
Everything You Think You Know about Food Is Wrong
This is not a scientific article, but a synopsis of a book. "We think we know what to eat: less red meat and more fibre, less saturated fat and more fruit and veg, right? Wrong, according to a controversial new book by obesity researcher and nutritionist Zoe Harcombe. In 'The Obesity Epidemic: What Caused It? How Can We Stop It?' Harcombe charts her meticulous journey of research into studies that underpin dietary advice - and her myth-busting conclusions are startling."
No Bull: The Basic Science of Why Grass Fed Beef is Better
Grass-fed beef, because they are not finished on corn full of omega-6 fatty acids, will be better for you than conventionally produced beef. Grass-fed beef actually contains omega-3 fats from the grass, though not in as much quantity as you would get in a cold-water fish. This is a short but informative article about the benefits of grass-fed beef by Carolyn M. Matthews, M.D.
The Late Role of Grains and Legumes in the Human Diet, by Loren Cordain, Ph.D
The foods that humanity originally evolved to eat and those we now eat in modern civilization are in many cases significantly different--yet our basic underlying genetic inheritance remains basically the same as it was before, and has evolved only very slightly since then. Thus, many of the foods we now eat are discordant with our genetic inheritance. The principle of evolutionary discordance. Nutritional Composition of Red Meat
Raw red muscle meat contains around 20-25 g protein/100 g. Cooked red meat contains 28-36 g/100 g, because the water content decreases and nutrients become more concentrated during cooking. The protein is highly digestible, around 94% compared with the digestibility of 78% in beans and 86% in whole wheat. (9) Protein from meat provides all essential amino acids (lysine, threonine, methionine, phenylalanine, tryptophan, leucine, isoleucine, valine) and has no limiting amino acids. Protein Digestibility Corrected Amino Acid Score is a method of evaluating the protein qualty, with a maximum possible score of 1. 300+ Health/Nutrition Essays
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