What does grass-fed beef or fairy mean?

In short, grass-fed means that the animals are only fed hay and/or grass for the production of milk or meat. Grazers (which cows are) in nature survive by eating mainly grass. With the rise of intensive agriculture, people were looking for ways to get cows to produce more milk and meat. People have succeeded in this by using raw materials that contain more energy, such as barley and corn, but also sugars and oils.

Not to mention synthetic growth promoters (steroids) or antibiotics that can be used to promote growth. Fortunately, this is forbidden in Europe for meat production, but it still occurs regularly in America. So be careful where you source your organ meat supplements.

There are many strategies how you can feed cows, grass-fed is considered to be the most natural. When farmers use a only grass-fed diet, the use of antibiotics drop but also the growth rate. A hybrid strategy is often seen as well. Example, cows are on the pastures in the spring and summer and in the barn during autumn and winter. This does not mean you can raise cows 100% grass-fed. If the cows are fed barley, maize or alfalfa in addition to hay, you can no longer call this grass-fed.

Fatty acids

Saturated or unsaturated fat, omega 3 and omega 6, trans fats and cardiovascular disease. In the last 100 years a lot of research has been done on cardiovascular disease and our diet. A link was discovered between over-consumption of fat and cardiovascular disease.

Eating red meat and animal fat is according to many the biggest culprit. This is not entirely true, I myself see a strong connection between the rise of cheap vegetable oils in the middle of the last century. These fats are widely used in manufactured food but are also used to feed animals to produce cheap meat and milk.

Saturated or unsaturated

In short, saturated fat is solid and unsaturated fat is liquid at room temperature. If you asked people about this, most would say that saturated fat is bad for you and unsaturated fat is not. This is certainly not the case, because there are many different types of saturated and unsaturated fat that can be healthy or unhealthy.

Trans Fat (Hard fat)

Everyone knows saturated and unsaturated, trans fat is a lot less known. Manufacturers do not have to put this on the packaging either. More and more research shows that trans fat increases the risk of cardiovascular disease. Trans fat is difficult to digest and increases LDL cholesterol levels.

In the past, trans fat was strongly present in hard fat products such as margarine / low-fat margarine and solid frying fat. Trans fat increases shelf life, does not lose shape and is cheap.

Omega 6 and 3 ratio

Omega 3 is an unsaturated fatty acid commonly found in fish and shellfish. Plankton contains a lot of omega 3, which is food for many fish and shellfish. As a vegetable source, flaxseed is by far the highest in omega 3 fatty acids.

The omega-6 fatty acid linoleic acid is found in vegetable oils such as sunflower oil, corn oil and soybean oil, but also in margarine, low-fat margarine and baking and frying fats.

Both omega 3 and 6 are essential fatty acids. This means that our body cannot produce them on its own. So we depend on our food to get them. Both lower the risk of cardiovascular disease if they are in our diet in the right proportion.

Ratio of omega 6 : 3 is used to see if the intake of both fatty acids is in proportion. A high omega 3 and 6 ratio increases the risk of cardiovascular disease, cancer, inflammatory and autoimmune disorders.

In a western diet the ratio is on average 14 : 1, which is too high. This is mainly due to processed foods, which generally only contains omega 6.

There is still a lot of discussion about the correct ratio, but most agree that 14 : 1 is too high. Our ancestors would have eaten a ratio of about 1:1, my advice is to aim for at least a 4:1 ratio.

In short, try to avoid trans fat as much as possible and make sure that the omega 6 : 3 ratio is not too high. Saturated or unsaturated fat are outdated terms and cause more confusion than clarity.

In addition, nowadays there are also intensive industrial processes that can get unsaturated fats into solid forms without the help of trans fat. My advice is to stay away from this. First, we are naturally not evolved to eat high concentrations of vegetable fat. Second, we still know too little about the long-term influence on our body.

These types of products are marketed as “good for the heart and blood vessels” because they contain only vegetable fat and no saturated fats. My advice is to stay away from it. In the middle of the last century, we saw an extreme increase in problems with the heart and blood vessels. This increase coincides suspiciously with the introduction of the first industrial margarine / low-fat margarine. More research is needed into this connection, but it is clear that Unilever changed its formula at the end of the last century. In the past, there was clearly more trans fat in margarine than there is now. What long term effects do the “new industrially manufactured fats” have on our body.