Importance of Grass-fed Meats

Most of the following information was taken from a newsletter written by Ted Slanker.

Scientists have proven that all chronic diseases can be traced to the imbalances of essential Omega-6 fatty acids compared to Omega-3 fatty acids in the membranes of an animal body’s cells. For all of time the O6 to O3 ratio hovered around one to one because the foundation food of the Hunter Gatherer’s food supply was the green leafy plant. Man’s invention of grain farming changed all that. Today people skew their fatty acid balances by eating grains, grain-based foods, and grain-fed livestock products (grains are high in Omega-6 fatty acids and deficient in Omega-3 fatty acids). This skewing of the fatty acid balances in man away from God’s given plan for one to one, to what today the scientific community estimates to be between 20:1 to 30:1, is what causes cells in a body (bone cells, brain cells, muscle cells, skin cells, etc., etc.) to misfire in their function over time resulting in body failure. Body failures include obesity, diabetes, cancer, heart disease, allergies, autoimmune diseases, osteoporosis, Crohn’s disease, Parkinson's disease, and the list goes on and on.

Prior to his invention of grain farming, grain (the seed head of grasses, mostly annual grasses) was never an abundant and readily available food for man or beast. Grain was highly seasonal and most of what would have been grain was consumed by grazing livestock while it was in the green shoot stage. "So," you might ask, "if grain was not a food, what was?"

Since the very beginning of animal life, in the sea or on land, the foundation food has been the green leafy plant; not the cured seeds of grasses. Therefore, unless the people who are analyzed in nutritional studies eat properly, many of the observed markers for chronic diseases are associated events that indicate body failures are imminent rather than the actual root causes of the failure. For that reason, when scientists publish, invent, and prescribe cures for the associated events they have observed, in most cases they are grappling with a symptom instead of the cause.

Every anthropologist in the business will tell you that prior to man’s invention of grain farming he ate virtually everything he could catch; even grasshoppers, snakes, armadillos, and rats. (In some regions of the world people still regularly eat with relish what Americans arrogantly consider disgusting fare.) Killing bigger game meant he could feast for days and enjoy considerable leisure time. So, man really focused on big game. As a hunter-gatherer man also ate the leaves of green leafy plants, vegetables, some fruit, some nuts, some wild fish, and even some honey once and a while. But grains (the seed heads of annual grasses) were very rare since they were seasonal and, unless protected from grazing livestock who liked to graze grass fruit (grain) shoots when they were still green and before they had become dried out seeds, very difficult to gather in quantity. This was the diet of man for literally millions of years before he invented grain farming between 4,000 and 10,000 years ago depending on which region of the world he lived. Consequently, in God’s plan grain was never a primary food for man nor beast. It was man’s idea to change the plan.

In spite of scientific facts that are readily available to all who seek the truth, folks like John Robbins can spread their untruths and be praised like gurus. They get away with their shenanigans because their readers are poorly grounded in mathematics and the sciences which prevents them from realizing they are being scammed.

Here is a real life for instance.
Some people believe that if cattle are continuously grazed in large pastures, that means their meats will be inferior compared to cattle rotated through many pastures. Of course this is absolute nonsense, but the "beautiful people" don’t know that. But in order for you to know the real story, here are the scientific facts.

Continuous grazing versus rotational grazing has everything to do with a rancher’s economics (his ability to compete with New Zealand ranchers), very little to do with the eating experience of the meats produced. Unbeknownst to all except students of grazing management, continuous grazing studies usually result in greater daily gains per animal. This may actually produce a better eating experience! Rotational grazing studies result in greater total pounds of gain produced per acre.

Under continuous grazing pasture "management" is left up to the livestock. This lowers pasture utilization because livestock "cherry pick" the pastures. Consequently stocking rates are lower than with management intensive grazing practices. Ranchers who manage their pastures with rotational grazing practices have significantly greater stock densities. Their critters mow down a pasture and are moved frequently (often daily) and the "mowed" pastures have a rest period of 24 to 36 days on average. Which system is better for the livestock is debatable, especially since livestock gain better on continuously grazed systems. On the other hand, livestock love moving to fresh pastures when they get the hang of it.

As you may now imagine it is absolutely ridiculous for a consumer to be concerned about which grazing method is employed to raise his T-Bone steaks. Yet some folks have the notion that rotational grazing is mandatory for a good steak and a happy steer. For sure, if we are to compete in the production of grass-fed meats with countries like New Zealand, Argentina, Brazil, Australia, Costa Rica and scores of other counties large and small, then American ranchers must utilize rotational grazing methods.

How Could It Be?
Now you may wonder, how could it be that there is so much knowledge in the world yet so many people are so naive? The answer is people have become too specialized. They are so specialized that even the most sophisticated scientific types know next to nothing regarding anything outside their specialty. For instance a rocket scientist specializing in propulsion may know nothing about flight stability. The fellow who puts up sheet rock in a new house doesn’t know how to install plumbing, wiring, or kitchen cabinets. A fellow on the production line at General Motors who puts on fenders, can’t install headlights. I know for a fact that beef cattle specialists at Texas A&M can’t answer questions regarding forages! And I know that a few years ago most of the nutritional scientists working on fatty acids and real foods did not realize that the meats they had proven were best for our health were readily available in the form of domestic livestock that had only grazed pastures. As you can imagine this list of specialists who know everything there is to know about their particular fields of endeavor, yet are incredibly naive regarding virtually every other aspect of life, can go on forever.

Combine specialization, little interest in science and mathematics generally, and the average Americans disconnect with nature (especially the growing and harvesting of fruits, vegetables, and livestock) and you have a nation of people who know nothing about the world they live in. These people can easily starve to death in an environment their ancestors would have called bountiful. Of course most Americans never give all this a thought. Instead they trust in an artificial environment and believe it’s artificial foods will properly sustain their earthly bodies.
Amazingly, today most Americans are afraid to eat real foods! It would blow your mind if I were to list all the various reasons, phobias, concerns, religious taboos, and myths people have for not buying our meats. Yet the same people who can come up with all the excuses for not eating real food readily suck down concocted foods, fast foods, drugs, supplements, various drinks, grain and grain based foods, and what have you without a second thought. Is our country’s leadership to blame. Is it because of Big Business? Or are Americans too lazy, too arrogant, and too ignorant?

Every individual’s capacity to learn knows no limits unless he imposes those limits on himself by refusing to spend the time and energy required to ask good questions and seek good answers. We are all students of life and today there is far more to learn than ever before. Consequently we will never know it all. That means we must remain humble students until the day we die.

Big Nutritional Changes in Recent History
The domestication of livestock for food occurred very recently in time. In most regions of the world it coincided with grain and vegetable farming, which commenced, in most cases, anywhere from 10,000 to 4,000 years ago depending on the region of the world one studies. Yet as recently as the Twentieth Century there were still small isolated pockets of people here and there who were still Hunter Gatherers. But the Peace Corp, missionaries, and others driven to do good deeds have worked rapidly to eliminate these few remaining pockets of healthy people by teaching them "modern" grain farming methods to improve their food supplies. For these unfortunate late comers to modern civilization the changes in their foods have been abrupt to the extreme.

Here in the United States we have also experienced significant changes in our foods in a matter of a very few decades. For the most part the residents of the first permanent settlements (circa 1600) in what is now the United States had to live off the land. Sure they had brought with them their livestock and seeds for gardens, but hunting, fishing, and the gathering and cultivation of wild indigenous vegetables and fruits were vital and significant food sources. In 1800 about 95% of the U.S. population was still considered rural and farming (at a very minimum gardening) was nearly everyone’s business. By 1920 though the rural population of the country had dropped to about 50% and in the 1970s it had dropped to 25%, which is about where it is today.

In the 1960s, even though urban numbers had risen significantly, it was not uncommon for city dwellers to still have vegetable gardens and fruit trees. But now a garden in any town, much less a city, is a rarity. Shockingly farmers too are a rarity with only one percent of our nation’s population making a living off the land. But most shocking of all is the fact that most of the folks who make their living by ranching and farming do not raise their own food. They go to town and purchase most if not all of their foodstuffs!

Fast and Furious
The first major change in our country's foods commenced in the 1800s with the creation of the first modern and commercial cereal foods by the Seventh-day Adventists who were strict vegetarians. The Adventists formed the Western Health Reform Institute in the 1860s. The Institute was later renamed the Battle Creek Sanitarium after its location in Battle Creek, Michigan. The Adventists manufactured, promoted, and sold cereals. Common cereals are: wheat, rice, rye, oats, barley, corn (maize), and sorghum.

In 1894, W.K. Kellogg was trying to improve the vegetarian diet of hospital patients. He was searching for a digestible bread substitute using the process of boiling wheat. Kellogg accidentally left a pot of boiled wheat to stand and the wheat became tempered (soften). When Kellogg rolled the tempered or softened wheat and let it dry, each grain of wheat emerged as a large thin flake. The flakes turned out to be a tasty cereal. In the years that followed cereal production and the varieties of cereals soared. Even Wall Street got into the act and there was a cereal stock mania in the early 1920s! By the time 1950 rolled around "breakfast" cereal was a mainstay of the American diet.

The changes in our foods really came fast and furious after WWII; so fast that by the late 1950s people were already speculating on how long it would be before everyone would simply suck down a paste squeezed from a tube (like an astronaut) that would contain all the ingredients for a healthy body. That kind of thinking is more prevalent today as can be noted by all the attention consumers give to concocted foods, preserved foods, convenience foods, snacks, drinks, fast foods, and supplements. Obviously folks don’t realize that the complexity of the nutrient makeup and mix required by all living animals goes well beyond the most sophisticated analysis to date. That means there is no such thing as a tube of gunk we can eat on the run that will provide exactly what our bodies require for optimal health. And there is no way to calculate what supplements one needs to make up for what he is or is not eating. Yet nearly everyone in America believes just the opposite.

Scientists have conclusively proven, and commonsense supports, that the foods all animals require for optimal health and vitality are the same foods they always ate before man started changing the natural way with modern agricultural concepts, mechanization, and chemical concoctions. As I have stated over and over again in previous letters and this one, the biggest change in man’s food was when he invented grain farming. And it makes sense too. No other form of agriculture, except maybe dairying, is more unnatural.

To grow grain, man plants grass seed and protect the grass plants from grazing critters. He allows the grasses to fully mature, flower, and produce the maximum number of cured seeds. Then after the grass dies he chops down the grass to collect its cured seeds, stores the seeds, and consumes them throughout the year. This never occurred in nature prior to man’s intervention.

Yes, whenever and wherever grain farming first commenced it caused a drastic change in man’s nutritional intake. But in most cases grain farming merely supplemented man’s other natural foodstuffs so its impact was minimized. Then in more modern times technological advances greatly increased grain production and its uses and consequently grain consumption. With the advent of modern machinery, superior fertilization, improved grass species, extensive storage facilities, and highly efficient transportation systems man has been able to greatly increase grain production to levels never before imagined by farmers of just three generations ago.

Grain-Feeding America’s Livestock
The first self-propelled grain combines (machines that harvest grain) were introduced during World War II and they enabled U.S. farmers to produce substantially more grain than the nation’s population could consume. So the farmers started feeding it to their livestock to add value to their livestock production, not as an exception, but as the rule. Feedlots were invented and that created a whole new form of livestock production. (The first commercial feedlot in Texas was started in 1950!) Consequently, the supply of grain-fed cattle soared. By 1955 it had shot up to 7.4 billion pounds. It reached 22.8 billion pounds in 2004 while the non-fed beef supply fell from 5.7 billion pounds in 1955 to 3.6 billion pounds today. (Today’s non-fed beef supply comes mainly from old cull cows and cull bulls that are made into ground beef mostly for the school lunch program and a whole host of processed meat products such as sausages, canned meats, etc.)

In the late 1950s the poultry industry started moving the chickens out of the pastures, where they had grazed while being fed grain, into huge buildings where they were fed only grain. Now instead of taking three months or more to raise a fryer, it takes seven weeks. During the 1960s the dairy industry evolved away from the small 25-cow, pastured-based dairies to huge operations with 1,000 or more cows housed in feedlot conditions being fed grain and alfalfa. Milk production per cow soared. By the 1970s the pork industry followed suit by moving sows indoors where they were fed grain and turned into living machines that mass produced more live pigs than ever before. The piglets are weaned at 30 days and are fed more grain so they grow exceptionally fast to produce more pork than ever before imagined from a sow.
If we step back 100 years we’d discover that nearly all of the beef sold in America was grass-fed. Folks let their chickens and pigs range freely and for the most part those critters had to fend for themselves like their wild counterparts. Consequently fried chicken and chicken and dumplings were considered luxurious cuisine in the good old days.

Fat Animals, Fat People
By looking at old photographs and movies we can see how people changed along with their foods. In the 1950s most actors, and even the people hired to play minor roles in the background, were thin. (They were also always nicely dressed.) Go back 100 years to old flicks and pictures, and you have to search hard and long to find obese people. But not today. Fat people are the norm.
We can really see glaring examples of this in the agricultural community. One-hundred-year-old pictures of farmers and ranchers nearly always showed skinny people. Today most of the farmers and ranchers are as fat, or fatter, than their show animals. Pick up an agricultural publication sometime. Many of the people in the pictures are grotesquely fat. Nearly all are overweight.

Lots of folks believe that the primary reason for these differences in "body styles" is that people did more physical labor back then. For a fact they were more physical, but by a long shot diet plays a larger role in obesity and chronic disease than does exercise. I’m proof positive. I’ve always worked physically. But before I learned about the differences between real food and concocted food I was always gaining weight a little each year. Every once and awhile I’d interrupt the upward spiral with a Sunday Supplement crash diet. But I kept gaining and eventually reached 193 pounds. After I changed my diet to real foods and started eating MORE FOOD my weight dropped. Now I’m 152 pounds. That’s not bad for being 5' 10.5" tall. I lost that weight not by working out but by eating different foods. I do not run, go to the gym, do calisthenics, etc. I just keep active working on the ranch like I’ve being doing for decades.
Why are the people who eat the Hunter Gatherer diet (Best and Worst Foods) fit and trim? Primarily it’s because their cell membranes have the same essential fat ratios as the green leafy plant. Their vitamin levels and other nutrients for optimal health and body function are perfect. Peer reviewed, professionally published reports of controlled studies of laboratory animals show that incidences of chronic disease (including obesity) accelerates dramatically as the ratio of Omega-6 fatty acids to Omega-3 fatty acids in the membranes of their bodies’ cells moves higher than 4:1. This is quite disturbing when we note that nutritional scientists estimate that the ratio for the average American is somewhere between 20:1 and 30:1 and the optimal ratio is 1:1.

Omega6 to Omega3 Ratio
When the ratio of Omega 6 to Omega3 fatty acids exceeds 4:1 in the membranes of a body’s cells, over time the cells start "misfiring." The misfiring cells result in body failure. All body failures are called Chronic Diseases and 70% of all deaths in our country are caused by Chronic Disease. Most other deaths are from various causes and virtually no one in America dies of natural causes. (See http://www.cdc.gov/ for more statistics regarding death and disease.)
Grains skew the fatty acid ratios of cell membranes away from the ideal balance of 1:1. The reason is grains are mostly Omega-6 sources. For instance wheat’s ratio is around 9:1, rice is around 30:1, and corn is around 59:1. Grain-fed beef is about 15:1. Grain-fed skinless chicken breasts are 18:1. Grain-fed chicken eggs are 20:1. Compare those ratios with grass-fed meats and grass-fed eggs that hover around 1:1.

Yes, even in modern times foods have changed dramatically within just a few years. Of course our body’s nutritional requirements can’t possibly change that fast. In fact it may take literally hundreds of thousands of years for our bodies to evolve and adapt to even a minor change in the nutrient stream that’s required for optimal body function.

For Grass-fed meat information, we recommend visiting Organic Grass Fed Beef.

Eat Like an American, Die Like an American!

Recently, there was an article discussing the fact that our friends the British are much healthier than us, even though we spend twice what they do on healthcare. Critics of America immediately jumped on the bandwagon and declared how unfair our healthcare system. They ranted and raved about the fact that there are millions without healthcare.

Let's not forget, that the poor in this country have all the "free" healthcare they want. Free is capitalized, because obviously, it's only free to them...Someone (us) is paying for it.

But all this aside, it is not the amount spent on health care that is creating the discrepancy. Health care is actually a misnomer, as it is really sick care. No, the problem is not dollars spent on "sick care", the problem simply boils down to America's choices.

We choose to eat and drink the way we do. It is our choices that is killing us. Simply put, our choices are making us sick.

Most of us consume huge amounts of beer, soda, fake juice, milk, etc., and rarely drink a full glass of water. Do you think our Paleolithic (cave man) ancestors drank soda? Of course not, they drank ONLY water.

Most of us rarely eat the proper amount of fruits and vegetables; we consume huge amounts of processed grain foods soaked cooked the wrong kind of oil or meat that has been raised on a grain diet.

We consume more food than we need and exercise less than we should. Most of us are nutrient deficient and toxic from all of the chemicals we breath, drink, put on our skin or eat.

Think about it and start making some healthy choices. Let's not blame our health on insurance or lack of it.