I'm going to go pick up some deer today from the butcher. Every year my buddy shoots me a couple deer and I put them in a chest freezer and enjoy them throughout the year.
Why do I go through the trouble of getting deer meat? Does it taste better then other types of meat? Nope, its far far healthier.
Cows, goats, chickens and pigs are all meant to eat either grass or a combination of grasses bugs and other things they can forage for naturally. What do we feed our animals?
Corn and Soy. My buddy John made a joke the other day about this, do you ever see a pig opening up a corn husk and eating it?
Why not grass? Corn and soy is very cheap and allows the animal to gain more weight then previously possible equaling greater sales for the farmer. Can you blame them for trying to make a living?
Fun fact about soy. Animals feed can only contain a given percentage of soy as the main ingredient because past a certain point of soy intake the animal becomes infertile. Hmmm....
What happens when you feed animals foods they aren't meant to eat? They become unhealthy animals. Most notably, cows fed grains produce beef that is high in fatty acids that promote inflammation in the body (omega - 6) and almost devoid of the anti-inflammatory fatty acids (omega - 3). Cows fed grass produce a ratio of omega 3 to 6 fatty acids closer to that of Wild Salmon.(Beef as healthy as salmon?) We need a balance of these two fatty acids in the body for a myriad of processes to function properly.
If you don't believe me go to any scholarly research webpage (like pubmed.gov) and think of any disorder you can come up with. Now plug that disorder into the search bar along with the words omega 3 or fish oil. I betcha you won' find a disorder that does not benefit from omega 3 supplementation. I first learned about this from coach charles poliquin.
What happens when human beings eat what they aren't supposed to? Cancer, heart disease, diabetes.
So back to the initial point, why deer? Deer in the wild forage for what they need naturally and aren't packed full of grains and soy. The deer is organic to boot and for the price of butchering the deer costs me very little per pound of meat.
So much for the argument that healthy organic meat is too expensive.
Quick tip: beef from australia and new zealand is all grass fed(healthier), thus the slight gamy taste.
If you want a great website for healthy meat choices try http://www.grasslandbeef.com/StoreFront.bok
