Common sense suggests that eating unhealthy beef, leads to disease but healthy beef is good for your health. In recent years red meat has been getting a bad name. It has been linked to cancer, heart disease and atherosclerosis. Red meat can be very unhealthy if it happens to be barbecued, burnt, greasy burgers, but lean meat prepared properly with the right combinations of vegetables can actually be good for your health. Conventional beef is a great source of protein but lacks essential nutrients needed to make it a healthy diet choice if eaten alone. When combined with cruciferous vegetables, cancer causing substances are neutralized. But what is even more surprising is that studies have found that grass fed, organic beef or lamb does not have the same health risk of disease as grain-fed animals because it contains high levels of B vitamins, selenium, phosphorus, iron and zinc that actually can help prevent colon cancer and heart disease. It also has the benefit of being hormones, antibiotics and pesticides free.

Healthy beef comes from animals that are fed a 100% grass diet, have 2 to 4 times the level of omega 3 fatty acids of grain-fed animals, 3 to 5 times the amount of another healthy fat called conjugated linoleic acid(believed to be one of our greatest defenses against cancer), much lower levels of saturated fat and far fewer calories . People that receive enough omega 3 in their diet are less likely to have high blood pressure and 50 percent less likely to have a heart attack. With fewer calories being consumed, weight loss is achieved effortlessly. Grass fed beef contains about 1/3 the amount of fat as a similar cut of grain fed beef. In fact, it can have the same amount of fat as skinless chicken breasts. Grass-fed beef is known to decrease the risk of heart disease, boost the immune system and lower LDL cholesterol levels. Beef from grass fed cows contains more linoleic acid which studies show may decrease the risk of diabetes, breast cancer and other diseases. It also contains more vitamin A and E antioxidants to combat disease.

Some experts believe that the type of iron found in red meat can irritate the lining of the colon putting it at risk for colon cancer. Another possible link between red meat an cancer is in the oxidized fats produced in grilling or cooking the meat at a temperature higher than medium. So does grilling have to be eliminated all together? Maybe not! Eating a meal with raw or lightly steamed vegetables contains antioxidants that can neutralize the negative effects of iron and oxidized fats. One study showed that when red meat was eaten with spinach , all iron irritation was eliminated in the colon.

When choosing a beef product at the grocery store the first thing to look at is the sell by date label. Always look for the package with the latest date. Make sure the muscle portion of the meat is red and not brown, which could mean that the meat has been overexposed to oxygen and is spoiled. Look for meat that has the least amount of fat. The leanest cuts of beef come from the back leg bone and are called round bone. They include top round, bottom round and eye of round. These are the most muscular, low fat cuts of beef.

Eating large quantities of grain-fed beef may be hazardous to your health because of the lack of needed nutrients to make it healthy for the body. Grass-fed beef has been shown to be very nutritious and beneficial to health especially when eaten with nutritious vegetables and may protect against a number of life threatening diseases.