How to Be a Conscious Eater

26

THE GRASS-FED

QUESTION

N

ot to beat a dead horse, er, cow, but the only sustainable

way that a growing population can eat animal-based

foods is to eat less of them. In the “First, less. Then, bet-

ter” equation, we covered “better” for animals, workers, and

the planet, so now we turn to the unique case of grass-fed

cattle, which is about those things too, but also, importantly,

about the impact it has on us.

Ruminant animals—again, such as cattle, sheep, and

goats—are not meant to eat grains. Their digestive systems

were designed for the way they have eaten from time imme-

morial, which is to say on pasture. Grass. The stuff that gets

stuck in your soccer cleats and offers summer employment for

the neighbor kid with a mower. When cows eat grains, soy, and

corn, they get fat faster (the goal of CAFOs, after all), but their

gut microbiomes get totally hijacked. This, in turn, throws off

the usual fermentation that would occur in their stomachs to

convert grass and hay into nutrients. Instead, you’re left with

a bunch of cows craving wagonloads of Rolaids. As a result,

they get sick more often and require more antibiotics. Bad

news all around.

By contrast, cattle that are pasture-raised get to move about

and graze as they are naturally inclined to do. They burn more

calories since they get more exercise; grass has fewer calories

and more nutrients, so the product—the meat that you then

put into your body—has fewer calories and more nutrients. In

100 how to be a Conscious Eater

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