Grass-Fed Beef Hits the Mainstream….

Well, not quite. But when the March 2008 edition of Consumer Reports had a small article acknowledging that the possible validity of the many health claims surrounding grass-fed beef, I felt hopeful that it will now be something a greater number of consumers demands.

Here’s the deal. When cows eat grass instead of grain (as they were doing for thousands and thousands of years before the advent of industrial farming), the meat from those cows is leaner. According to Dr. Mark Hyman in Ultrametabolism, grain-fed cattle have 500% more saturated fat than grass-fed cows. Grass-fed beef also has higher level of omega-3 fatty acids, which have been shown to help prevent heart disease and stroke. Other conditions that may be helped by omega-3 fatty acids include lupus, eczema, and rheumatoid arthritis. Grass-fed beef also has more conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) which may enhance the immune system, reduce abdominal fat, increase the metabolic rate, and make it easier to maintain weight. For an interesting article on this: http://www.mercola.com/beef/cla.htm

The health perks are exciting, but to me eating grass-fed beef makes sense from both a humane and environmental perspective. Cows aren’t meant to eat grain, and when they do, they tend to get sick. That sickness has other implications for us eaters, including antibiotic resistance and E. coli contaminated meat, but I’m focusing on the cows for now. Also, cows that eat grain are housed in factory-farm feedlots that are not only horrible for the cows (a picture is worth a thousand words — to see more, watch this http://www.themeatrix1.com/ ) but horrible for the environment; the waste & run-off from these farms contaminate our water supply and are implicated in global warming.

Call me old-fashioned, but when I do eat a burger I would rather that it came from an animal that lived as it was meant to live — outside, grazing in a pasture, instead of penned up with thousands of other animals for all of its life without space to move or appropriate food to eat. And it’s nice to know that when I make the better choice, it’s better for me, too.

Sore Throat Home Remedy

Given the cold that seems to be going around these days (I’ve nicknamed it The Throat), I thought that this home remedy might be of interest. Note: I haven’t tried it because I only heard of after The Throat had come and gone.

It’s a remedy from The Wilen Sisters’ (Lydia Wilen & Joan Wilen).

As soon as you notice that your throat is becoming sore or scratchy, whip up the following concoction:

2 teaspoons of apple cider vinegar

6 to 8 ounces of warm water

First, take a mouthful, gargle with it, and spit it out. Then, swallow a mouthful. Continue with the gargling/swallowing routine until the glass is gone, and repeat the whole process every hour until the sore throat is gone. The Wilen Sisters say that they usually feel better within two to three hours.

Since I no longer have a sore throat, I’m curious to see if this will work. So if anyone gives this a try please write in and let me know.

The only thing that I would like to add is that I would recommend doing this with Bragg’s Organic Raw Apple Cider Vinegar – very healing stuff.

Freaky Fast Food Facts

There’s a big fight going on now between the restaurant industry and public health officials about whether or not the caloric content of foods should be listed on menus. Of course, restaurants are reluctant to do this.

One of the best arguments that I’ve seen for doing this can be found in a little item in BusinessWeek (February 11, 2008). In an article on this very topic, the magazine featured a picture of a Quiznos Tuna Melt sandwich (12 inches long, 1.3 lb.). Guess how many calories? A whopping 2,090!!!! Although I am not a proponent of calorie counting, 2,090 calories is an absolutely ridiculous amount of calories for something that is 1) just a sandwich and 2) just one meal in an entire day. If the restaurant industry insists on tempting Americans with huge quantities of cheap, caloric-excessive food, I think that they should have to put that information where it is easy to read. I am sure that they would find a decreased demand for their large tuna melt at Quiznos. Here’s the link to the article: http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/08_06/b4070036764931.htm?chan=search

If this information were to appear on menus, what would Americans do? For one thing, I bet more people would buy donuts than muffins at Dunkin’ Donuts and feel virtuous for doing so. In the March issue of Consumer Reports, there is a delightful little quiz about which of two items has fewer calories and less fat. It turns out that a Dunkin’ Donuts French Cruller has 180 calories and 13 grams of fat while a Dunkin’ Donuts corn muffin has 510 calories and 18 grams of fat! In another person favorite, a Ruby Tuesday Triple Prime Burger has 883 calories and 56 grams of fat while the Ruby Tuesday Parmesan Shrimp Pasta has 1,221 calories and 64 grams of fat. And did you know that 3 Big Macs have fewer calories and less fat than one individual Uno deep-dish Schroom pizza? How is that possible? It makes you wonder about what, exactly, is in that Schroom pizza.

I’m not advocating any of these choices, but I do think it would interesting to see what Americans would do if the caloric information were readily available to them. Perhaps restaurants would discover that there was more of an appetite out there for healthy choices and reasonable portions than they imagined.

Why this blog?

As a certified health counselor, I know that good health has to do with more than just the food we eat. How much we exercise, how we handle stress, how we choose to nourish our spirit and our relationships, and even how much we laugh all have an impact on our health. What’s more, food or a dietary regimen that is beneficial for one person may not be beneficial for another!

With so much information out there – and with a lot of it seeming to change overnight – it can be confusing to know what to eat or what to do. Keeping up with the latest food recommendations, diets, health tips, and opinions is a passion of mine, and so I created this blog to be a go-to resource to find out what’s new, all of it tempered with a healthy dose of commonsense based on my experience and training as a health counselor.

Diane Carlyle

Certified Health Counselor
www.dianecarlyle.com