�� Six Things that happen when you Stop Eating Meat

Grass Fed Beef Versus Grain Fed Beef

The recent growing popularity of organic products has sparked a debate about grass-fed beef benefits versus the price you pay for it. Is the 2 - 3x supermarket price markup worth it? The bigger issue is more likely the overall health benefits of eating grass fed beef over the conventional grain or corn fed beef. This article will discuss the differences in how the grass fed and grain fed meats are created, processed and ultimately affect your health.

Definition

How cattle are raised will determine the quality and specific makeup of the meat. There are three phases to the process:

Phase 1. This is the infant stage - the calf is born, consumes only milk from its mother and eventually eats grass for the first time in a pasture at 7 - 9 months of age.

Phase 2. This stage is where the type of feeding methods change in the process. This phase will last from the end of phase 1 to just before the slaughter to yield the meat. grass fed beef eat grass from the ground while grain fed will eat a variety or different grains in a lot of cases in an enclosed environment.

Phase 3. This finishing stage is just before harvest which involves rapid growth. Some producers will use grain at this stage even though the cattle have been fed exclusively grass up to this point. This is the time when the cattle increase in weight faster than any other time frame. How they are fed will drastically change the finished product in both weight and quality of meat.

Your local supermarket or butcher shop will offer four types of meat which will vary in exposure to grain.

1. Veal - this is calf meat from phase 1 above. It has never been fed grain and will be predominantly males as they do not produce milk so are of lower value as adults.

2. Organic or 100% grass fed - cattle that have spent their whole lives in a pasture.

3. Initially grass fed beef but finished in phase 3 with grain.

4. Grain fed beef that have been raised in the conventional manner and have not eaten grass in a pasture at all.

This list (not surprisingly) is also in order of most expensive to least expensive.

The Benefits

Unfortunately the research on this topic is fairly limited as it is not a really popular concern to the public. With limited data, we will compare only the two extremes - 100% grass fed and 100% grain fed beef.

One research group did a comparison of grass fed and grain fed beef using samples from different farms in the continental USA. Having samples collected in this way takes into account the different regions of the country with differing quality of both grass and grains as feed. The meat tested is the same beef that you would find in a supermarket. All of the farms are the suppliers of meat to the local grocery stores, restaurants, burger joints, etc.

The results were not overly surprising - the nutrient profiles of the two types were very similar.

- the fat in grass fed meat is a darker yellow color possibly due to larger amounts of vitamin A and carotenoids

- slightly less marbling (lines of fat in the meat) in grain fed which makes it a little leaner

- a little less unsaturated fats but more omega-3's and saturated fats in grain fed beef (but not by very much)

- the ratio of omega-6 fats to omega-3 fats is much lower in grain fed beef at 2.45 compared to 9.6 for grass fed meat. Omega fats are known to have anti-inflammatory properties so the high ratio is much better.

There was a different study that looked at the effect of using grain in the last two months of cattle development. The findings showed that the longer grain was used, the more saturated fats were produced. This is the opposite of the previous research. The other results were the same.

Overall, the findings make the two types of meat very similar with only omega fats being better in grass fed beef.

Human Benefits

We have taken a look at the research involving the meat itself but what about feeding it to humans and seeing the result? Another group did a 4 week test where they fed two groups of people beef that was either grass fed or grain fed in the final phase of growth. The subjects underwent blood analysis which showed the grass fed beef group had significantly better levels of omega-3 fats, lower omega-6/omega-3 fat ratio and higher levels of DHA (docosahexaenoic acid). DHA is a fish fatty acid that has been shown in research to improve memory and slow the progress of Alzheimer's disease.

Based on these findings, anyone who does not eat very much fish to obtain DHA would benefit from grass fed beef to obtain it, even if the amount is not as significant.

Commercial grain fed beef is notorious for containing antibiotics and artificial hormones as the cattle are treated in captivity. Grass fed beef would help lower the risk of exposure. Testing in this area is quite limited so some of it is speculation.

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Meatballs Are Not Just a Ball of Meat Nnational Meatball Day

Meatballs Done Right Are the Best

I was watching television the other night and Kitchen Nightmares came on. The episode was about an Italian restaurant in Brooklyn, New York. Yes, they made many mistakes and I saw one mistake that was not mentioned. This mistake makes me sick to my stomach.

This Italian restaurant froze their meatballs. That is, not even what made me the most angry. What fired me up the most was the fact that they did not use any bread in their meatballs. I saw no trace anywhere when the meatball was cut open. That sounds trivial, but is far from it.

Meatballs are not just ground beef rolled up into a ball - that is what Subway and other generic subs shops do. In the old days when people were really poor, they had to stretch their expensive ingredient - meat. They did that with bread that was stale. Stale bread had to be used for the family to maximize their food dollars. Nothing was wasted. Days What may or may not have been realized by these "poor" people was that the stale bread brought a new texture and in the future, flavor to a meatball. I will get into the futuristic portion of my last statement later on, but first I will give you the recipe for a Basic Meatball.

Ingredients:

1 pound ground chuck

one half loaf hard as a rock stale Italian bread

2 eggs - Deacon

4 cloves garlic - chopped fine

4 Tablespoons Fresh Italian Parsley - rough chopped

3 Tablespoons Parmesan cheese, grated

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon pepper.

Preparation:

1. Place the stale bread in a large bowl and cover with cold water until it is soft. Remove it from the water and

thoroughly squeeze all the water out. Dry out that large bowl.

2. Break the bread up and place it in that bowl

3. Place everything else in that bowl and with your hands mix everything together until evenly distributed.

4. Place approximately 1/4 inch of oil, (Olive, one, vegetable, whatever you have.), in a large frying pan

5. Heat the oil over Medium/High Heat

6. Roll the meatballs to the size of a little bit larger than a golf ball

7. Fry the meatballs until they are brown on all sides.

8. Place the meatballs on some paper towel to drain any excess oil.

When I was a kid, my friends would appear at my house on Sunday morning for a meatball on a fork. They would call them Italian Lollipops.

Futuristic Stuff - Some further things that can be done to make meatballs even better are to soak the bread in milk. That will add some added richness. Also, use one third ground beef, one third ground veal and one third ground pork. Some people also add pine nuts and/or raisins to the meatballs. Personally, pine nuts not my preference, but e.online veryone likes what they like.

When a meatball is placed in a bubbling pot of tomato sauce, it adds its flavor to the sauce. When the meatball is braised and softened by the sauce, then their marriage will be consummated.

If you like meatballs, please take the time to make them correctly. I can pick off a poorly produced meatball anywhere. If that makes me a snob, so be it.




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Benefits of Using the Slow Cooker

The slow cooker or crock pot has become one of the most useful appliances in the kitchen for every family. The slow cooker has gained much popularity due to the many benefits of using it. The slow cooker can help to prepare a great variety of delicious food. There are many slow cooker recipes widely available to provide more choices of the types of dishes you can prepare using the slow cooker. By simply following the recipes, you can cook many types of delicious meals for your family everyday.
The best benefit of using the slow cooker for cooking is that the dishes it prepares are nutritious. This is because mainly fresh, wholesome ingredients are used in the cooking. The ingredients are cooked at a low temperature for a long period of time, thus they become extremely tender and delicious. As there is little evaporation, the food will not dry out. The natural juices from the meats and vegetables are retained in the pot, thus, the cooked food are nutritious as well as tasty. Hence, if you are looking for healthy food, using the slow cooker to cook your meals is a way to attain it.

Although using the gas stove, electric burner or grill are fast and efficient methods to do cooking, these methods require attention and supervision. For example, if a piece of meat is left unattended on a hot grill, it will become charred. If stirring is not done regularly while simmering tomato sauce in a pot, sticking and burning will occur at the bottom of the pot. Similarly, if a tray of butter cookies is placed in a heated oven, the cookies will blacken if they are not removed on time. Hence, we see that although these methods are fast but they require monitoring and the food items need to be stirred, flipped or turned. The advantage of the slow cooker is that it is able to do the cooking without any human intervention. The cooker takes the heat and indirectly applies it to the food so that the food cooked slowly and evenly. As the slow cooker uses low heat, the food is not burned without stirring.
Due to the fact that slow cookers are safe, easy to use, and require no attention while cooking, people who use it save much time and effort in cooking their meals. Nowadays, many working adults avoid cooking because they are either too tired after a long day of work, or they have no time to do so. The slow cooker provides them with the convenience of being able to work and still can enjoy eating home-cooked food without having to spend time in the cooking process. In the morning before leaving for work, they can easily place all the food ingredients in the slow cooker and set it on low. By the time they come back from work in the evening, a tasty, nutritious, home-cooked dish will be ready for them. They can choose to add a salad or whole-grain bread to the dish and it will form a complete meal. Thus, by using the slow cooker, people can spend their time at work, in school or anywhere enjoying some recreation, and still have the opportunity to eat nutritious food.


                               

During hot weather, when using the stove and oven for cooking may increase the heat in the surroundings, the slow cooker provides a good alternative. Furthermore, the slow cooker is an economical appliance to use for cooking. It uses as little electricity as a 75-watt light bulb and substantially less energy as compared to an electric oven.
As you can see from the above, crock pot cooking has many benefits. If you wish to enjoy fully the advantages of slow cooker cooking, it is best to equip yourself with a book of slow cooker recipes. It can provide you with a great variety of ideas so that you can prepare delicious and sumptuous meals everyday.

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What Exactly Is the Paleo Diet Program?

The paleo diet program has become popular recently thanks to the amount of beneficial results folks have had, where no other diet would work. The paleo diet is a form of a low-carb diet that is actually implemented as more of a way of living than a diet.

Paleo Diet

It calls for dedication. It demands change. It yields results. You have to find paleo diet recipes. You need to eat a paleo breakfast, a paleo lunch, and a paleo dinner. I don't always snack, but when I do, its paleo. The key rule of the paleo diet is to eat like our ancestors, the cavemen. Cavemen didn't have farming and constantly had to hunt and gather for their meals. They survived on a diet of meat, fish, berries, fruit, roots, nuts, and vegetables. They were furthermore active and had to be physically in good shape to safeguard themselves and their families. There were no guns (the great equalizer) or even crossbows. The paleo diet seeks to imitate the cavemen by foregoing carbs, eating a couple large meals every day, consuming a lot of animal fat, and ideally eating lots of organic produce. While typically animal fat is demonized as a cause of being overweight, a month or two eating as a caveman will teach you that carbohydrates are the real primary cause. The main difference between this diet and previous low-carb diets, such as the Atkins, is that this is a way of living in addition to a diet. You can still eat fruits with this diet, even the ones with lots of natural sugar. It is all right if you slip-up every now and then. The key is to follow an 80%/20% principle; stay rigid to the program 80% of the time and don't worry if you slip up in the other 20%. The diet works by schooling your body to begin digesting your body fat for your energy instead of using carbohydrates as in a normal American diet.

Carbohydrates are not evil, it is just in our present state of civilization where many of us work in careers that call for little or no physical exercise, we don't need them. Eating more than half of your daily calorie consumption in carbohydrates when you are not an endurance athlete and asking yourself why you are obese is like wearing a winter coat to Miami and asking yourself why you are sweaty. By getting rid of carbohydrates from the diet and instead consuming your calories from animal fat and produce, your body is taught to break down fat instead of carbohydrates for energy. So where to get started? For some people this diet is a substantial change to the status quo, and if you've been eating a particular way for most of your adult life it is not easy to switch at the flip of a coin. Here are a couple steps to help get you on the right path:

1. Discard all of your processed foods This is an absolute must. It doesn't matter if you are getting with the paleo plan or if you are on a standard calorie-counting diet, processed foods are the most detrimental thing you can put into your system food-wise. They have chemical substances used to make manufacturing easier and faster, usually too much salt, low quality ingredients, virtually no nutritional value, and are often strictly simple carbohydrates. You ever ask yourself why most coupons are marketed only for this junk? Because it's trash and everyone knows it. 2. Get rid of fast food. This may be challenging for people who live on a tight schedule, but you got to take care of yourself. Have you read recently that McDonalds just now eliminated a pink slime chemical (some form of ammonium) from their burgers because someone ratted them out to the press? Think about that for a moment. Pink slime. Makes me gag. They use the lowest quality meat at these places to make it cheap and quick to cook.

Paleo Diet Recipes

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What If The World Went Vegetarian?