9 March 2010
faith215 asked: I have a follow up question to tsfitjournal's good fats question. When it comes to good fats, what should in moderation look like? For example I use Kerry Gold grass fed butter, is that something I can use a pat of daily for my oatmeal or best to use a few times a week. Or if I buy grass fed beef, should I still eat less of it or is this something that I can now eat as I please, still in moderation but say I wanted to do so daily? Not that I would eat beef daily, just trying to get a handle or these sort of things.
You definitely touched on my meat/dairy philosophy: If you eat it, make sure it’s the kind worth eating! Beef and dairy should be grass-fed, organic, free-range, and hormone/antibiotic-free whenever possible. Fish should be wild-caught, chicken should be organic and free-range. Ideally, you’d get everything from a local farmer, but that’s not always possible.
If we all made it a priority to only eat meat and dairy that fit the above criteria, I think our country would look a lot different than it does today.
That said, as long as you’re abiding by that criteria, I don’t think you need to make any other conscious efforts to limit your meat/dairy/fat consumption. Since that type of meat and dairy will be more expensive, you’ll naturally end up buying/eating less of it. I also don’t believe the conventional wisdom that saturated fat from that type of meat and dairy leads to heart disease (though you should feel free to do your own research and come to your own conclusions).
The industrialization of meat in the U.S. is bad for us and our environment, but so is the industrialization/subsidization of other crops like corn and soybeans (watch a movie like Food, Inc. to learn more).
But I love Kerrygold grass-fed butter and use it pretty much exclusively! It’s so good, not to mention widely available at Trader Joe’s and Whole Foods!
In a nutshell: As long as you’re purchasing meat or dairy that’s grass-fed, organic, free-range, etc., you don’t need to worry about how much you’re consuming from a health or environmental standpoint. I won’t comment on the other ethical reasons not to eat meat/dairy because that’s a very personal decision.
