Tag Archives: health benefits

grass-finished-beef

What does grass-finished beef even mean and why does it matter

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The term “grass-fed,” as it applies to beef, has been in use for quite a while. For most, it elicits the idea of an idyllic cow on the range eating natural grass. It is an image that has been connected to the beef purveyors and ranchers well before the current era of grass-fed being a term of differentiation between pasture-raised cattle and those coming out of the U.S. factory farming system in which the animals are fed grains, corn, and other foods not natural to their diet.

And while grass-fed beef has arisen as a healthier, leaner, and more humane alternative to the standard beef you can find at the grocery store, there is not really a clear understanding — or regulatory oversight — as to what exactly qualifies as 100 percent grass-fed beef. 

Which is why beef that is “grass-finished” importantly comes into play.

We’ve written before about some of the misleading marketing that occurs in the beef industry with the mislabelling of beef as grass-fed, even when it may have been “grain-finished” in a factory-farm.

To us, the only real grass-fed beef is that which has grazed its entire life on pasture, was never fed grain or corn to be fattened up, and which ate real, natural grass its entire life. This is why, at ButcherBox, we emphasize that our meat is grass-fed AND grass-finished. 

The distinction is important. When a consumer buys grass-fed beef, the belief is that the product they are purchasing comes from cattle raised on a pure grass and forage diet. The best way for that to happen is for cattle to graze on pasture. This is a challenge for most areas of North America, and, we worry that we are heading for a future in which cattle are “finished” — fattened — with a grass-based feed, in a similar manner as a factory farm, that is a majority grass in pellet form with the potential for the inclusion of grain, corn, and soy.

For us, we believe that true grass-finishing through grazing not only makes the best tasting, tender beef, but also the most delicious. Grass-fed cattle that eat a diet as nature intended, grazing on bluegrass, orchardgrass, bromegrass, tall fescue and, in some situations, alfalfa, and other forage is the only true grass-fed beef. 

Grass-fed and grass-finished beef comes from animals that have eaten a natural diet, to eat grass and graze on open pastures, and live the majority of their lives out of doors. To us, this is the most humane approach to raising cattle for food. 

Grass-fed beef is also leaner beef, and it keeps the same protein profile as beef with more fat content. The “grain-finishing” that occurs on feedlots adds fatty marbling to beef and is done primarily to “fatten” the cattle for the market quicker than cows eating on pasture can gain weight.

 For all these reasons — the melt-in-your-mouth taste being included — grass-fed AND grass-finished beef has no equal. There is nothing better or more delicious than grilling and then eating a tender, grass-fed and grass-finished New York strip steak

With a renewed focus on high-protein foods, what are the actual rules of eating protein?

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Protein has become a hot topic of debate these days. With conflicting information being shared from an array of reliable sources, it is a challenge to make sense out of how much protein we should consume, the best ways to get protein from our diets, and whether or not there is such a thing as too much protein.

Earlier this year, the Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition published a paper entitled, “How much protein can the body use in a single meal for muscle-building? Implications for daily protein distribution.”

While the title is a bit wordy, the key takeaways are important to get a better understanding of the best ways and amount of protein we should get each day to build muscle. Although consuming protein has long been portrayed as an objective distinct to gym rats and bodybuilders, more and more athletes across sports are finding that protein can have benefits for both building and healing muscle.

More importantly for the general American public, it has been found that muscle mass decreases over the age of 40 and that added protein can be highly beneficial to keeping a healthy weight and muscle mass.

The Society of Sports Nutrition paper, authored by Brad Jon Schoenfeld of CUNY Lehman College’s Department of Health Sciences and Alan Albert Aragon of California State-Northridge, concludes that, “the total daily protein intake for the goal of maximizing resistance training-induced gains in muscle mass and strength is approximately 1.6 g/kg, at least in non-dieting (eucaloric or hypercaloric) conditions.” That number, 1.6 grams per kilogram of body weight, is the amount of protein that should be consumed per day based on weight.

That means that a woman weighing 120 lbs should eat close to 88 grams of protein per day, according to the study, which breaks down to 22 grams of protein per meal spaced out over four meals. While a typical 175 lbs man should eat 127 grams of protein, about 32 grams of protein in four meals.

The study further states that that 1.6 g/kg/day is flexible and that it shouldn’t be viewed as  “an ironclad or universal limit beyond which protein intake will be either wasted or used for physiological demands aside from muscle growth.” The study also found that 2.2g/kg/day is an upper limit of protein consumption that has also shown to help build muscle.

All these numbers are for active people. The amount of protein you need per day decreases if you are not running or working out or trying to build muscle. But it is not significantly less than the 88 grams of protein recommended for a 120 lbs woman. 

“protein-foods”

Outside Magazine took this research and created a chart of how and when to get your protein sources throughout the day. It is a good quick guide. Their protein-packed eating guide includes plenty of high-protein foods offered by ButcherBox including chicken breast and wild salmon. They also suggest a midday smoothie like those that you can get from SmoothieBox, can be a good source to achieve your daily value of protein. You can also get your healthy fats — like a better omega-6 and omega-3 fatty acid balance — and high-protein by using grass-fed beef as a protein source. 

On the other side of the equation are the points that have been made recently that there is such a thing as too much protein, or at least that we are currently pushing more protein into our system than we need. 

This idea of too much protein has is being discussed more often these days. The Mayo Clinic, for one, came out with a study that there are some people who get twice the amount of protein that they need and that overloading protein can lead to some health problems. The reality has to do with being active. If you are eating the recommended amounts of protein and you are active, you are doing the right thing.

According to a story in MEL Magazine, an overwhelmingly high-protein diet could turn excess protein into fat, likening the over-consumption of protein to overeating any food.

“protein-foods”

 

While decades ago, the idea of consuming protein might bring up images of Rocky Balboa eating uncooked large eggs, these days we have protein bars, shakes, protein powders, supplements, and more. Also, we are inundated with a never-ending stream of experts sharing their newest beliefs on the best protein sources. 

Because of all the misdirection and confusion, the core message seems to be lost. And that is that protein is good and the health benefits of maintaining a good body weight and muscle structure become more important as you age.

“protein-foods”

grass-finished

Grass-fed and grass-finished beef: How not to be fooled by beef industry tricks

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One of the more fascinating aspects of the meat industry in the United States is the use and misuse of product naming and labeling by various purveyors. We’ve covered this topic a fair amount, quite honestly, because it is an area where we see so much manipulation and, sometimes, purposeful deception of consumers. This is most striking when it comes to grass-fed cattle and the designation “grass-fed beef” in particular.

Grass-fed AND grass-finished

One of the first things we discovered about quality grass-fed beef is how little customers know about the products they buy and eat.

There’s not that much to know, but, crazily, it’s still very confusing for the consumer. Grass-fed beef is expected to come from cattle that eat grass — or other green forage — while grazing in open pastures for their entire life. Seems pretty cut and dried.

However, transparency hasn’t always been the beef industry standard.

The fine print – Grain-fed beef

Confusion arrives with the use of labels such as “grass-fed, grain-finished beef,” which could trick consumers into thinking the meat they are eating is something it is not. Basically, “grass-fed, grain-finished” is conventional beef, the same thing as every cow raised.

Currently, 98 percent of beef consumed in the United States is grain-fed beef. However, every cow starts out the same way: It is raised the first six months on its mother’s milk and continues for about a year just grazing on grass (and hay or other “forage” as it is impossible to grow cattle on grass year-round in most regions of the country). After half a year, the majority of cows move to the feedlot where they are fattened on grains for the last 90 to 160 days before slaughter.

But some cattle continue to graze and feed on grass after those first six months. This is what people think of when they seek out truly grass-fed, grass-finished beef.

When a label says “grass-fed, grain-finished,” that’s just the same thing as every other steak or roast at any supermarket. They were taken to a feedlot, just like other cattle. Although, that’s not what the labeling is trying to imply.

You can even have grass-fed and grain-fed cattle on the same ranch.

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An example of grass-fed grain-finished marketing (with the branding removed). This is what they want consumers to imagine the cattle’s life entailed.

Why aren’t all cows both grass-fed and grass-finished?

The entire system is built for grain-fed, not grass-fed production. Grain-finishing is more efficient and cheaper, and it adds weight a lot quicker to get the cattle primed for slaughter. It also gives the cattle the type of marbling and fat content that Americans have grown accustomed to in their beef. If you think about it, even the “quality” ratings we use to talk about our beef — choice, select and prime — are based on marbling and rapid weight gain.

Feedlots and grain-finishing

Beef sales have been on the decline for a number of years, and a big reason for that is because people think that steaks are unhealthy. The reality of what makes beef potentially unhealthy has to do with the artificial fattening of the cow. Not only do grain-finished cattle eat food that has not been a traditional part of their diet, but feedlot cows also have more antibiotics and hormones than those that grazed for their entire lives (that is until some stricter FDA rules were put in place in 2017 tried to limit this practice).

Studies have discovered that grain-fed, corn-fed, or grain-finished cattle do not have the same nutrition profile as grass-fed. Studies show that cattle fed grain lack as many good omega-3 fatty acids and CLA (conjugated linoleic acid) as grass-fed cows. Both of these essential fatty acids have pretty great health benefits.

And yet, the system is structured in a way where grass-fed is just not an option for most cattle ranchers and beef producers. They have limited resources and must focus on making their cattle operations as efficient as possible. Letting cattle graze for their entire lives does not work for many beef producers.

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An example of grass-fed grass-finished marketing.

Purposeful misrepresentation

Some nefarious producers still want the financial benefits of shipping grass-fed, natural beef. This led to the creation and use of the grass-fed, grain-finished label.

Mislabeling isn’t the only tactic that has confused consumers. We’ve heard a lot from people who’ve tried grass-fed beef before and didn’t like it, even saying that it tastes like shoe-leather. We cannot imagine how someone could think that tender grass-fed, grass-finished beef tastes anything other than delicious.

We discovered that at one point producers trying to get into the grass-fed market would sell dairy cows.  While most dairy cows are just fed grass, they are often old by the time they stop producing milk. In these instances, the product being sold was not beef raised with the intention of being high-quality meat, but that it was raised for dairy and got used for meat, under the implication that it was “grass-fed.” But as the market has grown, more and more companies have decided to raise grass-fed cows specifically for meat instead of dairy cows.

And so most of the beef on the market tastes a lot better than what people who remember eating grass-fed meat — but were actually eating dairy cow — have experienced.

This issues of misrepresentation and mislabeling have been a persistent problem for consumers who may have been unknowingly ignorant to the realities. When someone buys grass-fed beef, they think they are getting an idyllic cow grazing in a field. Too often that hasn’t been the case.

Finding real grass-fed beef

One of the challenges for the customer is that they have good intentions, they want to eat a quality product, and they want the benefit of eating a steak that’s better for them. But they can easily be led astray.

The key is for consumers to look for labels and brands that offer either 100 percent grass-fed meat or the grass-fed, grass-finished labeling. There are also a lot of organizations that offer to certify that products are indeed fully grass-fed. This includes the American Grassfed Association. However, the USDA, which only monitors certified organic beef, does not concern itself with grass-fed regulation. The story of how certified organic/grass-fed beef is labeled and regulated is the topic of another post entirely.

ButcherBox is a brand that stands against all this confusion. We partner only with the farmers whose interests are aligned with our own. We want to bring the customers the best quality meats without any surprises.

And, we are willing to scour the globe to do that.

We want to end the confusion about grass-fed, grass-finished beef. It’s time to be able to access high-quality, trusted meat.

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organic grass fed beef

The mystery of ‘organic grass-fed beef': Why organic and grass-fed aren’t the same thing

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Here at ButcherBox, we are proud to be able to deliver nutrient-rich, thoughtfully-sourced grass-fed beef to our subscribers’ doors each month.

We get many questions about what the differences between grass-fed and organic, and, for that matter, why grass-fed is better than supermarket meat. It comes down to a few critical issues: Feed, certification, and, at least for us, treatment.

Grass-fed beef

We’ve written about grass-fed beef on numerous occasions. Our passion for healthy grass-fed meat is the reason why we started ButcherBox.

Grass-fed beef is, by definition, meat from cattle that have grazed on grass — and sometimes forage — in their lives. This is in opposition to grain feeding, which has long been the standard of the beef industry and is most likely what you buy from the grocery store or butcher.

Because a grain-fed cow eats grains as its primary source of food, its meat does not have the same nutrition profile as meat from a cow that has eaten grass its entire life. For instance, grass-fed beef has a better omega-6 to omega-3 ratio, as well as more good fatty acids, nutrients, and minerals than grain-fed beef.

Also, grain-feeding occurs on feedlots, which we are vehemently opposed to. Grain-feeding in feedlots — where cattle are crammed into pens together — is done to make cows fatter to bring to market more significant quantities of beef that have marbling that the American consumer has unfortunately become used to over the past century.

Because of the horrible conditions at feedlots, which breed disease and the desire to raise bigger cows faster (i.e., get more meat on the market more quickly, regardless of quality), grain-fed cattle often receive antibiotics and hormones as well.

Thoughtfully-sourced meat is not just healthier, it’s more humane: No pens, no feedlots, no hormones, and no antibiotics.Pasture-raised cattle graze on grass as nature intended.

This brings us to one of our most significant concerns when it comes to grass-fed meat: Purposely deceitful labeling of some meat products.

Grass-finished is the key

The term grass-fed is used so often, that it is assumed that all “grass-fed” beef is the same: Meat from cows that have spent their lives grazing on lush grass green fields.

However, some meat producers purposely trick consumers into buying grass-fed beef when they are actually buying grass-fed, grain-finished meat. We’ve discussed this on Roam before, but here’s the Cliff’s Notes version: Almost all cattle spend the first year of their lives grazing with their mothers and eating grass. Industrial farms then move these cattle to inhumane feedlots. Unfortunately, some producers use this as justification to label their beef as “grass-fed, grain-finished,” just because the cows ate grass for a short period.

Additionally, some beef industry operators do feed their cows grass, hay, or forage for the majority of their lives. But they also feed the cows grains to fatten them up, labeling their meat “grass-fed, grain-finished” as well.

When consumers buy grass-fed beef, they are expecting meat that is more nutritious than grain-fed or corn-fed beef. Grass-fed, grass-finished has more good omega-3 fatty acids, more conjugated linoleic acids, and other vital nutrients.

More than anything, being pasture-raised — truly grass-fed — is good for the cow (a cow’s digestive system evolved to eat grass, not grain or corn).

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So what is organic beef?

Organic beef is meat that is sourced in a specific way so that the USDA designates it as “certified organic.”

According to the Department of Agriculture’s website, to meet the standards of the “certified organic” label, a cow needs to be raised, “in living conditions accommodating their natural behaviors (like the ability to graze on pasture), fed 100% organic feed and forage, and not administered antibiotics or hormones.”

Now the problem is that this means there are no qualifications on what that organic feed can be. This is the most prominent difference between grass-fed, grass-finished and organic beef.

A filet mignon or New York strip steak you buy that is organic may be from an animal that has eaten corn or grain its entire life, not grass-fed cows.

A grass-fed New York strip that comes from pasture-raised, grass-fed cattle has more health benefits — good fatty acids, nutrients, and the better omega 6 to omega-3 ratio — and, to our mind, tastes better. But, it may or may not be organic grass-fed beef.

The important distinction is that most grass-fed beef is raised organically, but organic beef is not necessarily grass-fed. Not all farmers receive the organic certification label from the USDA, either because the process is too cumbersome or they use some non-organic product on a section of their land, so they don’t have “organic pastures” to meet the standard for a certified organic label.

I know this is confusing.

From our perspective, the “organic” label is not as important as whether or not a cow is grass-fed and grass-finished, is raised humanely, and has never been given hormones or antibiotics. Period.

To ensure this, we vet our farmers carefully before we partner with them, and stay in close communication with them, to make sure they meet our high standards.

Our close relationship with our farmers — many of whom run small independent or family farms — allows us to bring the highest-quality beef products to our members each month.