Are you a health-conscious individual? What have you done lately to protect your health? Perhaps, like most health buffs do, you too are also following a very strict diet or are even spending more time in the gym to ensure good health. But even if you’re not on a diet or exercising that much, you definitely look for food that has no adverse effects on your health, right? If you’re fond of eating beef, have you ever wondered how the animal was fed? Is it grain-fed or grass-fed? Does it even matter? The answer is yes and you should definitely take this into consideration for it has great impact on your health.
A lot of consumers tend to believe that no matter what the animal has eaten, the nutritional value of its products is just the same. To tell you frankly, this is absolutely untrue. An animal’s diet is very essential and has a significant influence on the content of its product’s nutrients. Grass-fed animal products are actually far better than those that are mainly fed with grains. The health benefits of grass-fed beef are truly remarkable and once you discover its nutritional values, you will be more meticulous the next time you purchase beef.
Grass-fed beef has lower total fat compared to grain-fed beef. It is even comparable to a skinless chicken or wild deer. The leaner the meat, the lower your LDL cholesterol level is. In addition to that, grass-fed beef has also lower calories. Protein has only 4 calories per gram, much lower than the 9 calories per gram of fat. As you can see, the lower the fat content, the lower the number of calories.
If typically you have an annual beef consumption of 66.5 lbs and you switch to grass-fed beef, can you imagine the total amount of calories you save? A whopping 17,733 calories a year! Amazing, isn’t it? You don’t have to sweat it out and without even changing your eating habits you will be able to avoid such huge amount of calories. And if this continues, you will most probably lose 6 pounds a year. If only people will patronize grass-fed beef, obesity cases will most likely be prevented or even reduced!
While it’s good to have lower “bad” fat with grass-fed beef, on the other hand it also produces about two to six times more of omega-3 fatty acids which is considered a “good” type of fat. Omega-3 plays an important role in our cells and body systems. It is the most heart-friendly fatty acid. The more omega-3s we have, the lesser the probability of high blood pressure or experiencing irregular heartbeat. With this, a serious heart attack is 50% less likely to happen.
Omega-3 fatty acids are also essential for our brain. If you keep on eating grass-fed beef, you’ll have more omega-3s and you are less likely to experience depression, hyperactivity, schizophrenia, or Alzheimer’s disease. Just imagine the health benefits of eating grass-fed beef! Not only that, omega-3 may also reduce the risk of cancer. Studies show that it can slow or even reverse the excessive weight loss accompanying advance cancer. It may also speed up recovery from cancer surgery. Further studies revealed that cancer patients with greater intake of omega-3 may respond better to chemotherapy.
Aside from omega-3, grass-fed beef also contains more conjugated linoleic acid or CLA which is another type of good fat. It contains up to five times more CLA than grain-fed beef. CLA is one powerful defense against cancer. Researchers have found that CLA reduces the risk of cancer in humans as well. Studies showed that the higher level of CLA, the lower the risk of breast cancer in women.
Another health benefit of eating grass-fed beef is that it has more antioxidant vitamins; particularly vitamin E. Grass-fed beef has four times vitamin E than grain-fed beef. And the more vitamin E, the lower the risk of having heart diseases. What’s more, this effective antioxidant has also anti-aging properties. Don’t you just love it? Many Americans are known to have vitamin E deficiency and little do they know that eating grass-fed beef may just solve that problem.
Although these are the proposed benefits of grass-fed beef, it’s not really an absolute solution to all the above mentioned disorders. You need to consult first your doctor to determine whether eating more grass-fed beef is recommended to you. Otherwise, instead of enjoying its benefits, you might end up with negative side effects to your health.
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