Not Another Case of the Mondays – Choose the Right Beef for Energy!

May 23, 2011 in Apex Nutrition, Daily Nutrition, Energy, Metabolism by kelli | 139 comments

For Beef Eaters, is all beef the same? Is there a better choice?

In tomorrow’s recipe, I specifically list Grass-fed beef.

Why? When cows are fed grains instead of grass, even if it’s just to “finish” off their feeding to make them gain more weight, the fat make-up of their meat is altered. With 100% grass-feeding, the meat has higher amount of healthy (anti-inflammatory) omega-3s. With grain-feeding, the meat has a lower omega-3 composition and higher omega-6. It’s this ratio of omega-3s vs. omega-6s that’s important for overall inflammation in our bodies. This bodily inflammation doesn’t just affect things like joints and arthritis…it has implications for most all chronic disease (diabetes, cardiovascular disease, etc). And, while there is not a lot of omega-3s in red meat to start with, and even grass-feeding doesn’t increase it anywhere near high omega-3 foods like fish, a recent study suggested that grass-fed red meat eaters had a better omega-3:omega-6 ratio (http://cdn.marksdailyapple.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/McAfeeGrassfedbeefbettern3thanconventionalbeefBJN2011-2.pdf

Since I, and especially my husband, enjoy a good steak now and again (or other beef products like ground beef), I try to make the healthiest choice possible. But, I, too, have a grocery budget and I know it’s expensive! Every once in awhile it goes on sale, and I stock up. If you live by a store like “Whole Foods,” you can find grass-fed and finished beef. Otherwise, you will likely have to buy it straight from the rancher…here’s one site that lists ranchers that sell it: http://www.eatwild.com/.

If you can’t find grass-fed and finished beef, but still want to eat red meat, at least make sure that it is hormone and anti-biotic free.

As athletes, we often have extra inflammation and oxidative stress in our bodies. We also have high protein needs – much higher than has been historically taught and recommneded (for daily nutrition, endurance athletes are often way high on carbs and way too low on protein). It’s important to find healthy protein sources that provide beneficial nutrients for our bodies (whether vegetarian or meat-eating), rather than eating the least-expensive, cheaply-fed, unhealthy ones that drag us down. And, I know those huge family-size hormone-enlarged budget meats are tempting when you’re concentrating on the money, but it never helps to save money on food only to spend it on sickness.

This week, we’ll use healthy sources of beef and other energy-promoting ingredients…