The source of your meat is critical, and often misunderstood. We’ve learned time and time again on this blog that a healthy diet includes plenty of natural, whole foods, especially animal products. It can be important where those animal products come from, so let’s take a closer look.

Sweet little fauxhawk he’s rocking here.

Beef

We’ve covered beef before, read here for more.

Chicken and Eggs

You want “Free-Range” and/or “Pastured” chicken

Labels like “Cage-Free”, “Organic”, or “Vegetarian” are essentially meaningless. Chickens are not vegetarians, and should not be fed a vegetarian diet. “Cage-Free” still allows for the chickens to be packed together tightly and prevented from ever seeing sunlight.

Pork

Labeling standards on pork are still relatively weak, but terms like “Deep Bedding”, “Free-Range”, and “Pasture” are good. Again, “Organic”, “Vegetarian”, and “Pasture-Raised” confer no benefit.

Liver

Liver is a veritable super food, but the source is extremely important. Liver from well-raised cows and chickens is best; liver from even conventionally raised veal or calves is good, as is liver from organic chickens. You should avoid liver from CAFO cows.

Dairy

Best to get your milk raw and full-fat from pastured cows. Butter is best raw, but even homogenized and pasteurized butter from grass-fed cows is very good and can be found relatively cheap (a popular brand is Kerrygold). Hard cheese should also be full fat, but the source doesn’t matter much.

Meat Source – The Bottom Line

Meat source is important. If you can afford it, go grass-fed, pastured, and naturally raised when it makes sense. However, if it’s too expensive or difficult, don’t sweat it; you’re still improving your health and fitness by eating conventionally raised meat instead of processed food.

Learn More About How to Eat

Choosing the right source of your animal products is just the tip of the iceberg. You also need to know how much to eat, when to eat, and how to prepare your meat. For all this and more delivered straight to your inbox, join the MasculON Fitness Newsletter. It’s a great first step to fast weight loss and lifelong health. We never spam or share your info, and you can unsubscribe at any time. What have you got to lose?
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