On Sat, 22 Jul 2000, Siobhan wrote:

> I'm wondering how people feel about eating an animal that has been fed
> grain?  In keeping with the paleo philosophy, how can this be okay when
> directly consuming grain isn't?  Thanks for your responses :-)

Ruminants are, to some extent, grain-eaters by nature.  We
aren't.  Cows and goats don't avoid the grains when they eat wild
grasses, after all; it's just that the grasses are not a
concentrated source of grains.  Chickens and other birds have
sharp beaks for pecking and cracking grains.  In short, grains do
have their place in the food chain, but that place is probably
not in human stomachs.

It's rather like asking how people feel about eating cucumbers
that have been "fed" manure, when directly consuming manure isn't
okay.

There is no question (in my mind, anyway) that pasture-fed meat
is preferable to grain-finished meat, for a number of reasons
that I think we're all familiar with.  But this doesn't make the
grain-finished meat inedible.  Perhaps the two most important
factors are that grain-finished meats have reduced levels of CLA
and w-3 fats.  This is important but there are other sources of
these fats, so all is not lost.

Todd Moody
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