Funny contradictions in patured prodcuts

[Guest guest]

I buy really excellent 100% pastured, no grain-fed beef from a local farmer. But

most of his customers are buying his beef because it's so lean and are low-fat

dieters. This is just one of the funny contradictions I've discovered in the

pastured products sector.

Lucky for me I can get all the cavity fat I want for free (from the same beefs)!

So it's really a matter of living like an ancient hunter and collecting and

saving the fat and eating it with some lean.

Another example is the nutrient profile of pastured eggs. The first page of the

article below attempts to tout the health benefits of pastured eggs by stating

they have:

• 1/3 less cholesterol

• 1/4 less saturated fat

• 2/3 more vitamin A

• 2 times more omega-3 fatty acids

• 3 times more vitamin E

• 7 times more beta carotene

http://www.motherearthnews.com/Real-Food/2007-10-01/Tests-Reveal-Healthier-Eggs.\

aspx

But of course cholesterol is not bad, and in fact the lower your cholesterol,

the lower your life expectancy. Plus your body makes far more cholesterol than

you consume so this point is either actually bad or irrelevant.

Saturated fat is good for you, not bad for you so this point actually bad, not

good.

2/3 more vitamin A is good. (Kinda surprised they haven't jumped on the " Vitamin

A is bad for you " bandwagon.)

Omega-3 is not needed in large quantities and touting omega-3 is part of the

whole silly " omega-3 is heart-healthy " movement.

3 times more vitamin E is good

7 times more beta-carotene is probably bad or neutral. If you eat a WAPF style

diet you should be getting most of your vitamin A as pre-formed vitamin A and

not too much beta-carotene. But excessive beta-carotene is probably bad for

you--although most of the research on this topic appears to be biased pro-beta

carotene.

Every pastured beef farmer I've talked to is firmly in the " low-fat diet is good

for you camp and their pastured meat is very lean so it's good camp " . But of

course like any producer in a market-driven economy, they are just responding to

the market signals they are receiving. Most people are scared of fat and want

lean meat and pastured meat is an excellent source of very lean meat.

At least my farmer is trying to make his meat a little less lean by breeding in

Devon genetics from New Zealand which produces more marbling on grass than

conventional US genetics. He sells to butcher shops where people want higher

grade beef (which means more fat marbling). Which leads to the last funny

contradiction. If fat is so bad for you, why doesn't the USDA flip it's grading

system around? Then the leanest beef would be the highest grade and the most

marbled would be the lowest grade? Of course I think this would be a bad idea,

but I'm surprised the diet dictacrats haven't pushed this change through the

USDA.

What do you all think?

-

[Guest guest]

All of my grass-fed farmers, and I purchase from 7 different farmers, are

all on the WAPF bandwagon. One of them offers ground beef with higher fat

content, but charges extra for it, which I think is SO funny!

Kathy

=============

If fat is so bad for you, why doesn't the USDA flip it's grading system

around? Then the leanest beef would be the highest grade and the most

marbled would be the lowest grade? Of course I think this would be a bad

idea, but I'm surprised the diet dictacrats haven't pushed this change

through the USDA.

What do you all think?

-

[Guest guest]

You're lucky. The only farmer I've met so far that is on board with WAPF is

Schmidt.

I would suggest passing on the information about the New Zealand Devon genetics.

Also, the Wagyu genetics are very good for marbling, although I think the

genetics are adapted to grain feeding so I don't know how Wagyu genetics would

perform on all grass. I'm trying to find a farmer to put that to the test.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wagy%C5%AB

Cheers,

--- In , " Kathy Dickson " <kathy.dickson@...>

wrote:

>

> All of my grass-fed farmers, and I purchase from 7 different farmers, are

> all on the WAPF bandwagon. One of them offers ground beef with higher fat

> content, but charges extra for it, which I think is SO funny!

>

>

>

> Kathy

>

> =============

>

> If fat is so bad for you, why doesn't the USDA flip it's grading system

> around? Then the leanest beef would be the highest grade and the most

> marbled would be the lowest grade? Of course I think this would be a bad

> idea, but I'm surprised the diet dictacrats haven't pushed this change

> through the USDA.

>

> What do you all think?

>

> -

>

>

>

>