Moving to a carnivore way of eating people become concerned on your behalf about your health. Though, I have never had anyone at a fast-food joint, bakery, or bar question my decision making about what was going in my body. People do express concerns to me about heart disease, cholesterol, or lack of nutrition. There are even those who get personal enough to talk to me about the important of fiber in my diet.
Their concern comes from a good and genuine place. It also comes from a misguided place. Once I passed that 30-day mark going carnivore I started really questions myself about what was going into my body. I started to question more and more about my food’s food. The USDA provides analysis on various food items (FoodData Central (usda.gov)). Below is a table representing the comparison of a 4oz ribeye from a grass-fed cow (FoodData Central (usda.gov)) versus a non-grass-fed cow FoodData Central (usda.gov).
For this post I am going to focus on the nutrition aspects. The USDA reports Calcium, Iron, and Sodium in ribeye cuts with elevated levels in the non-grass-fed option. Vitamin A is also found in the non-grass-fed cow where there are none reported in grass-fed. The above is a comparison of just one cut of meat. Beef offers more nutrition than this table represents.
One nutrient the USDA does not explain is the one giving grass-fed beef that fishier taste. While the USDA talks about fatty acids, they do not call out the presence of Omega-3 or Omega-6. BMC’s nutrition journal (A review of fatty acid profiles and antioxidant content in grass-fed and grain-fed beef | Nutrition Journal | Full Text (biomedcentral.com)) provides analysis on this topic. Not only does grass-fed beef provide more Omega-3 and Omega-6, but it also provides a better ratio of the two.
We grow by how we are nourished. There are more nutrients in a pound of beef than most people consider. Looking at the carnivore way of eating it is just as important to look at what our food is eating.