Humans are omnivores. We don’t naturally lean toward vegetarianism, as historically it has been difficult to get all of our nutrients this way. Of course, vegetarianism is an easy and healthy choice for many now that grocery stores are accessible to nearly all in the Western world.
However, when it comes to meat, the products in your local butcher department have little resemblance to the animal 
proteins consumed by our ancestors. This has implications for our overall health that most don’t even realize.
proteins consumed by our ancestors. This has implications for our overall health that most don’t even realize.
For most of human history, we were nomadic hunter/gatherers. It wasn’t until about 8000 years ago that we figured out how to cultivate land and domesticate livestock, leading the the advent of modern society as we know it today. Instead of going out and dealing with the unknowns of hunting, we could have organic produce and natural, grass and grain-fed livestock readily at hand.
The problem is that now our farms aren’t there to produce products for the local market necessarily. Most of our food is produced in a profoundly unnatural setting, then shipped across nations and overseas to finally get to the plates on the table. Many people don’t even know from where there food comes, or how it is produced.
Let’s break down the modern meat industry.
Our Modern Meat
American meat production became big business after World War II was over and our economy and population starting booming. Farmers formerly employed in raising free-range animals with a natural diet went by the wayside in favor of more efficient factory-style farms. It was ‘progress.’
Unfortunately, in the name of efficiency, factory-farmed cattle spend their days in feed lots and are given unnatural hormones to make them grow fatter faster.
Those that are lucky are fed corn and soy. However, in addition, mass-produced farm animals are often forced into carnivorous behavior, being fed diseased animals and even manure, plastic wrappers, candy, sawdust, and more.
Sick food produces sick livestock, and this is why antibiotics are needed.
Deficiency in the Modern Diet
This unnatural and immoral way of producing meat, besides being aesthetically unappealing, affects your health as well.
The importance of essential fatty acids (EFA’s) in our diets is coming out of the corners of the oft-marginalized holistic and natural medical field and into the minds of the masses. Perhaps you’ve wondered why they’ve been missing from our diets for so long, given their importance to our health.
The thing is that meat from wild hunted game and naturally grazed animals is healthy, lean and chock full of nutrition. In contrast, animals raised in factory farms aren’t given access to their natural food sources, and therefore, the meat produced form them no longer contains the vital omegas and other EFA’s.
This is not just a problem with our cattle, either. It also applies to pork, chicken, lamb, or any other meat that is raised commercially. Unless they are specifically ‘wild’ or ‘grass-fed,’ they will not bear the nutrition that they are supposed to provide. This goes for dairy, eggs, and fish as well.
The deficiency in us of EFA’s has been blown open as a ‘hidden’ epidemic. According to the Harvard School of Public Health, EFA deficiencies are responsible for at least 100,000 deaths per year, and probably more.
Finding Healthy Meat
If you are invested in feeding yourself and your family nutrient-dense meat with plenty of omega-3 fatty acids without antibiotics or hormones, here’s how you can find it:
- Purchase grass-fed beef and pasture-raised poultry and pork. If you can’t find it locally, you can find it online.
- Buy grass-fed natural bison if you can find it. This is lower in fat, cholesterol, and calories than beef.
- When it comes to dairy and eggs, buy from local farmers and farmers’ markets. This goes for beef as well, if you can find it.
Most Salmon Isn’t Really Wild. Or Pink.
Line-caught wild salmon is both reasonably sustainable and rich in nutrition, including essential omega-3′s.
However, a recent exposé by the New York Times found that most salmon labeled as ‘wild’ was actually farm-raised.
The different fish looked the same, but they were different in flavor. Of course, by the time it’s in your mouth, it’s too late.
Salmon flesh is naturally gray. It gets its pink color from eating krill, and farmed salmon is fed chemically synthesized astaxanthin, the carotenoid in krill that provides that color.
It’s safe to say that, if you’re in a land-locked state, don’t buy the seafood on the menu or in the stores. There’s hardly any way it is wild. However, you can buy it online!
Conclusion
While we are not advocating a return to the caves, hunting with spears, and spending most of our nasty, brutish and short lives searching for food, it is obvious that the way we grow our meat is fundamentally flawed.
In America, we eat much, much more meat on average than we need or is healthy. What’s more, the meat we tend to eat is nutritionally barren. Reducing our intake of meat, and sourcing it from farmers with integrity when we do partake, is vital for a healthier life.
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