Eat Well, Live Well: Why Grass-fed? 

The close of one year and the beginning of another often sees many of us setting New Year resolutions to better ourselves and the world around us. However, unreachable goals and unrealistic expectations cause so many to go uncompleted every year and, with the year we’ve just had, we don’t need resolutions letting us down too!

At Eversfield Organic, we believe that small changes can make a big difference to the kind of life we live. It’s no secret that we’re big supporters of food being the source of life’s enjoyment – we aren’t joking when we say enjoy food, enjoy life.

With this in mind, we’ve complied a few simple changes you can make to your daily lifestyle to benefit both yourself and your surroundings this New Year. Our Eat Well, Live Well three-part blog series concludes with the health benefits of switching to organic, grass-fed meat.

Meaty Misconceptions

There’s no denying the rather astonishing growth of plant-based diets over the past couple of years. Just take Veganuary 2021 for example – a new record of 500,000 people across the country have vowed to ditch the meat this New Year. However, we can’t help but think that the abundance of news surrounding plant-based lifestyles has shone a somewhat underserving negative light upon meat. There’s a lot of confusing and conflicting information out there about the impact of meat on the individual and the environment, so let us hone in on just one part…

Grass-fed or Pasture-fed are phrases that often go hand in hand with organic. But what are the benefits of grass feeding animals when compared to traditional grain-fed “supermarket” meat? In our previous Eat Well, Live Well blog post we chatted about the importance of healthy soils. Well, grass-feeding livestock can help here too! Allowing our cattle to graze the pasture ensures it is kept well maintained and naturally fertilised, with the ground being allowed to breathe thanks to our rotational grazing system.

Feeding cattle on a diet of grass and pasture also results in less Methane production when compared with a soya and cereal diet. With Methane making up around 10% of greenhouse gas emissions, keeping these levels down is very important to us. At Eversfield Organic we stand firm in our belief that nature teaches us that you must give to receive, which is why regenerative farming is something we’ve been working on for many years. Food doesn’t need to damage the natural order, which is why we avoid the use of chemicals on both our land and livestock. Our naturally diverse environment needs nurturing in order to give back to us, but you can read more about that in our previous post!

From Field to Fork

Not only does grass-feeding livestock help to better protect and give back to the natural environment, but it also benefits those whose plate it ends up on! A pasture-fed steak (or whichever cut you prefer) is a sneaky way to incorporate more nutrients into your diet – especially if getting your five-a-day in is somewhat difficult.

Nutrients from pasture eaten by cattle in their fields makes its way through to your fork, leaving behind the antibiotics, pesticides, additives and preservatives used on mass produced meat. Grass-fed meat holds 3 times the amount of Omega-3, vitamins A and E, plenty of antioxidants as well as healthier fats. The marbling created from cattle feeding on grass only ensures a development of fats that are healthier than the saturated fats on grain-fed meats. This is exactly what you’ll find on an Eversfield Organic cut, with marbling boosting the delicious meaty taste and improving the texture of all our grass-fed produce.

Still not convinced? Grass-fed livestock also live the happiest and healthiest of lives, free to roam the fields and feed on a natural diet that works with their bodies (we even feed them preserved pasture in the form of hay when they’re tucked away in the winter months!). Healthy cattle means less antibiotic use benefitting not only the individual animal but the wider herd and beyond. With animals playing such an integral part in a balanced ecosystem, we believe their health should be just as much a priority as ours.

Making the change to grass-fed meat, even just once a week, allows for a healthy, balanced diet that isn’t upsetting the environment. We know deep down you don’t want to give up the meaty goodness completely, so join us for a succulent, pasture fed for life cut of delicious organic meat.