Wednesday, October 31, 2012
A Halloween “Treat” You Didn’t Know You Were Getting
As if eating meat weren’t controversial enough these days…
You already know processed meat is like serving cancer on a plate. But it’s not just the processed stuff you need to worry about. Beef and its quality are making quite the stir lately.
I’m not talking about all of the added hormones. I’m not even talking cows being fed a diet of genetically modified corn or grain. Those are bad enough.
Thanks to the severe drought this year, we have even more to worry about. With corn at $9 a bushel – roughly $315 a ton – cattle owners have to find a cheaper route. Desperate times call for desperate measures, they’re saying. But that’s putting it mildly… 3
And – as usual – the cheaper route puts your health at risk. You won’t even believe how bad it’s gotten…
What if we told you that livestock owners fed the cattle you’re eating 100 percent processed junk food?
That’s right, junk. They were given a diet of:4
- High-fructose corn syrup
- MSG
- Hydrogenated oils
- Pesticides, herbicides, insecticides
- Acrylamides
- Artificial flavorings and colorings
- Artificial sweeteners (aspartame)
In short, these owners are feeding their cattle… the very cattle that are in your local grocer and ends up on your dinner table….
Candy!
It’s like a regular-old Halloween party over at the farm! We’re talking cookies, gummy worms, chocolate, fruit loops, ice cream sprinkles, marshmallows, and bits of hard candy. And anything else they can get their hands on for cheap.
“It’s…a very good way for producers to reduce feed cost, and to provide less expensive food for consumers,” said Ki Fanning, a livestock nutritionist with Great Plains Livestock Consulting, Inc.
Instead of spending $315 a ton for corn, owners can feed their cattle for as little as $160 a ton for ice-cream sprinkles.
You’ve heard the saying, “you are what you eat.” And you wouldn’t make a diet out of pure candy for yourself. There is absolutely no nutritional value to such a diet.
You know the dangers of high-fructose corn syrup and aspartame. High-fructose corn syrup has been linked to mercury.5 Mercury is toxic in any form. And aspartame is the waste from genetically engineered E. coli bacteria.6 Even though you aren’t eating the junk firsthand, if you eat beef from cows that have been fed all the toxins and preservatives, you are consuming them too. And possibly putting your health in danger.
“Anything that keeps the feed costs down,” says dairy cattle owner Mike Yoder. “Farming is a game of inches sometimes, or half-inches. Every little penny you can find to save, you do.”
Farmers have been able to rely on the candy because of the sugar. When it comes to cattle, energy and fat matters. And as you know sugar packs on pounds. Forget health and safety.
The only way you can be certain you aren’t getting candy-fed cattle is to buy grass-fed organic beef.
Always look for the certified organic seal. With 100 percent organic you know what you are getting and putting into your body. It’s natural, hormone and additive free. Cattle owners are not worried about anything but their wallets. So you need to think about your health.
People complain that buying organic is more expensive. But it is worth the extra few dollars in the long run. Your health may just depend on it.
References:
1http://naturalhealthdossier.com/2012/04/processed-meats-declared-too-dangerous-for-human-consumption/
2http://www.ers.usda.gov/topics/in-the-news/us-drought-2012-farm-and-food-impacts.aspx
3http://money.cnn.com/2012/10/10/news/economy/farmers-cows-candy-feed/index.html
4http://naturalsociety.com/cattle-now-being-fed-cookies-and-candies-instead-of-real-food/
5http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,484088,00.html
6http://naturalsociety.com/made-from-genetically-modified-bacteria-waste-aspartame-risks-public-health/
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