FAT!

Last night I went to the in-store talk at Rebecca’s by Susan Dunlap: Butter is Better! (learning about healthy fats). If you’ve ever been into Rebecca’s you’ve probably seen Susan’s smiling face, she’s been there doling out healthy advice for 20 years and has over 30 years of natural food and nutrition experience! She’s a really wonderful speaker who is clearly full of tips that would make us all a little healthier.

The basic premise of her talk, as I understood it, is that we should be eating the “foods that have sustained people over long periods of time” which means that we need a balance between saturated and unsaturated fats. Saturated fats (butter, cream, whole milk, even lard) are NOT the evil, body destroying creatures that our society generally considers them to be.

I can’t even really begin to go over her whole talk because I’m sure I could never do it justice, but I’d like to give a few interesting bullet points, facts and definitions that I learned.

-Crisco was invented in 1911 and marks the beginning of processed fats in our society.

-Trans fatty acids “are a type of fat molecule produced by a process called “partial hydrogenation,” which rearranges the hydrogen atoms in an unsaturated fatty acid to produce a fat that is solid at room temperature.” (definition from The Weston A. Price Foundation)

-Our brain is mostly fat! Saturated fats help solidify cells, especially brain cells! BUT, hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated saturated fats don’t fit into our receptors in the same way as natural saturated fats because the molecules themselves have been modified and transformed by human interference…they have been literally blasted full of hydrogen (yikes).

-Two grams of trans fat is the maximum that the body can handle and get rid of. By law, products can be labeled as “0 Trans Fat” if they have .5g or less…that means if you have 4 Oreos which each contain .5g of trans fat, you’ve already hit your max! Many McDonald’s meals contain 30 or more grams of trans fat!

-Butter is anti-microbial, anti-fungal, anti-carcinogenic and contains CLAs.

-CLAs (Conjugated Lineolic Acids) help with weight loss, build muscle mass and help fight off cancer. They are found in high concentrations in grass-fed beef (all ruminants really-think Wolf Creek beef or Wild Oats lamb/pork) as well as free-range eggs/chickens (Davis Creek, Polyface, Meadow Run).

-Fats coat the lining of your intestines, which helps your body absorb vitamins and minerals. This is why humans traditionally put salad dressing (a fat) on salad (high in vitamins/minerals) or bacon grease in collards. For the same reason, French fries are MUCH better for you (still only as a treat) when cooked in beef fat (YUM)! Along the same lines, vitamins A and D are actually in the fats of milk…which means whole milk (especially when it comes from grass-fed cows full of CLAs) is actually better for you than skim!

-Good fats (like chicken skin) actually make you feel more satiated as well so you eat less!

SO! That was just a small selection of the facts I found interesting, but if you’d like to know more, stop by Rebecca’s and talk to Susan…I think I’m going home to cook some beef fat French fries now.

Where's the beef?

I’m going to pretend this snow is not happening AGAIN and talk about something completely unrelated to this cold, white, miserable (though admittedly beautiful!) stuff draining my vitamin D stores (ps-according to this NYTimes article, vitamin D might not be the cure-all I’d love to think it is…).

SO, I’ve been reading up on grass-fed beef today and feel almost overwhelmed with all the information I’ve taken in, specifically from the Wolf Creek farm website. In case you don’t know, Wolf Creek is a sustainable beef cattle farm in Madison, VA run by John and Miyhe Whiteside (they prefer to be called ‘grass farmers’ rather than cattle farmers…). According to their website, they set out with three main objectives related to environmental stewardship and community, principles that are close to our hearts here at Relay:

First, to operate a farm that is completely sustainable as defined by the rural community in which we live, the families that live, work, and play on the farm, the ecological environment we occupy, and the customers who make it economically possible…Second, to produce an environment capable of sustaining healthy animals, as well as farm workers, neighbors, and customers who consume the by-products from our efforts. Third, to ensure that what we are doing brings enjoyment to our customers and other members of our community through our natural beef and other services.

Their site expounds upon their methods of sustainable grass farming as well as the health benefits of grass-fed beef. You should check out their site for full information and useful links/resources, but there are a few points that I noted while reading through. First, the folks at Wolf Creek utilize an interesting practice called Management Intensive Rotational Grazing (MIG). Essentially, it is a farming practice that is what it sounds like- farmers move their cattle among small paddocks every few days taking into account various environmental factors including herd size, soil richness, rainfall, time of year and, obviously, amount of grass. Unlike feedlot industrial farms, MIG farms require constant attention and care- thus the “management intensive” part. The cattle benefit from fresh, healthy grass, the grasses themselves benefit from a more natural “rest” period between feedings as well as chemical-free soil, and we all benefit from healthy, delicious, sustainable meat.

Another (not so surprising) tidbit I learned: grass-fed, natural meat is more nutritious for you. According and an eatwild article cited on the Wolf Creek site, grass-fed beef is: 1- lower in fat and calories, 2- includes extra Omega-3’s, 3- one of the richest known sources of CLA, 4- grass-fed beef is 4 times higher in Vitamin E than feedlot beef.

The prices are a bit higher for grass-fed beef than its ugly industrial feedlot cousin, as expected for a practice that includes such intensive farming methods. That said, as the Wolf Creek site explains, the benefits outweigh the costs, though you can be more economical by picking up the less expensive cuts of beef and cooking them with a little patience and car. This delightful article in the C’ville Abode by local chef and food advocate/consultant (as well as blogger) Lisa Reeder taught me that the tougher, less expensive meat is actually more flavorful than the cheaper, tender parts, it just takes a little extra love.

Thank you to the Whitesides for their stewardship of our Virginia land and to Lisa Reeder for letting me know how to eat responsibly raised local meat without destroying my budget!

Stay safe out there tonight, friends!