Antibiotics and super bugs in your meat

[Tussiemussies]

From Dr. Weil:

http://www.drweil.com/drw/u/QAA401322/Antibiotics-and-Superbugs-in-Your-Food.html

[The Storyteller]

Antibiotic-Resistant Infections Lead to 23,000 Deaths a Year, C.D.C. Finds (http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/17/health/cdc-report-finds-23000-deaths-a-year-from-antibiotic-resistant-infections.html)

I don't medicate my chickens or turkeys at all, not even medicated chick starter, not even when they are sick.

[puglogic]

Storyteller, wish you lived closer to us. I'd help keep you in business too.

Nasty industry, "big meat." I'm so glad an alternative is becoming clearer and more available to more people.

[Tussiemussies]

I saw recently that Panara Bread announced that they would be using antibiotic free chicken in their foods....I just think everyone should become vegetarian. LOL. Even the free range chickens have horrible conditions, I saw some pictures from FB. I wouldn't want to eat an egg from any of them either that is why I am turning to veganism.

[The Storyteller]

Yeah, I wouldn't exactly trust those images, especially if they are from some in the vegan community. I know just a bit about sustainable farming, and often find their representations intellectually dishonest. That said,

There are degrees of humane treatment in animal husbandry. The sorriest of the lot for chickens are the poor battery cage birds. Six to seven birds in little tiny cages stacked on top of each other, hundreds of thousands in a single building with no access to fresh air or sunlight or room to turn around.

Cage free is just that, and only that. They aren't in cages. They could still be packed 10s of thousands to a single building, or they could have lots of free room to roam. Just depends on the farmer. But at least they can move around, flap their wings, scratch in the, er, litter and other birdlike behaviors. But they can still be locked in with no sunlight or fresh air. Still, it beats battery cages.

Free ranges means a wide range of things. It could mean they are like the cage free, and may be packed in to a huge building with a tiny door on one end and access a 10x10 yard that most of them never even see, let alone access. Or, it could mean a farmer who lets his or her birds outside in the morning into the yard where the birds are free to be birds, enjoy the sun, scratch in the dirt, chase bugs, etc. And everything in between.

Ideal is pastured. The birds are moved to new pasture frequently, with access to clean, fresh greens and vigorous earth, and all the bugs they can catch. The yolks for their eggs are a rich orange, which indicates healthy birds and nutrition. The birds feathers are sleek and clean and healthy. I sometimes sell my older layers to experienced chicken people and they always remark how beautiful and healthy they look.

Of course, birds can be raised poorly on pasture, depending on the care of their owner and the quality of the pasture. But that is why it is important you know your farmer,, and when you get a chance, visit the farm to check out conditions for yourself.

I would also mention that ethical individuals can do more for the humane treatment of animals by supporting local, humane animal husbandry than foregoing animal products entirely. That way, humane farmers can succeed and more small farmers will join them, which means more alternatives to inhumane factory farms.

[Elishi]

It is so frustrating as doctors say that humans need to eat red meat to get the minerals and vitamins that they need. But I for one, can't get over the fact where the meat comes from - it's horrible. There's just no way out of the situations we're creating for ourselves!

[creaker]

It is so frustrating as doctors say that humans need to eat red meat to get the minerals and vitamins that they need. But I for one, can't get over the fact where the meat comes from - it's horrible. There's just no way out of the situations we're creating for ourselves!

But how much? Even if you ascribe to that (I do still eat fowl and fish, I haven't eaten red meat for a number of years now, haven't missed it), if there are downsides to eating red meat, even if you don't stop, eating less would be an improvement

[catherine]

It is so frustrating as doctors say that humans need to eat red meat to get the minerals and vitamins that they need.

Some doctors may say that, and many people believe that. I do not--I believe that most people can get everything they need in a plant-based diet, especially if you eat fish.

I don't eat red meat (except for rare occasions when I buy local grass-fed beef), and I don't each poultry, and I'm very healthy, feel as good as I did decades ago, take no Rx medications, and at 61 have healthy blood pressure and cholesterol levels.

Some say they don't do well a vegetarian diet, and I respect that. But there are tons of people who live very, very long and healthy lives on a vegetarian diet.

[SteveinMN]

It is so frustrating as doctors say that humans need to eat red meat to get the minerals and vitamins that they need.
Elishi, first, welcome to SLF! I hope you come by often and participate!

But I must say that it not "necessary" for humans to eat red meat as part of a complete diet. Red meat may be an excellent and concentrated source of some necessary nutrients, but choosing one's diet carefully can replace those nutrients with non-meat foods. If people were to suffer and die if they did not eat red meat, there would not be six billion plus people on this earth.

[JaneV2.0]

Antibiotics are ubiquitous now (in the water, therefore in everything) because doctors over-prescribe and patients let them. I particularly wouldn't care to ingest ciprofloxacin, given a choice. Bacteria have always been in food, presumably in larger quantities than now. I eat cooked meat, so I don't much worry about that, but I eat raw foods as well. Keeping my immune system healthy is the best defense.

[ApatheticNoMore]

It is so frustrating as doctors say that humans need to eat red meat to get the minerals and vitamins that they need. But I for one, can't get over the fact where the meat comes from - it's horrible. There's just no way out of the situations we're creating for ourselves!

depends on who you are, it's a lot easier to become anemic as say a premenopausal female, a lot of older people and men actually have excess iron. I felt a lot better from vegetarianism when I added fish, I felt even better when I added meat. But I wouldn't say I eat "a lot" of red meat. There are times I feel strongly drawn toward eating more vegetarian meals.

So I don't think it's absolutely necessary to eat red meat, just listen to your body. You are free to avoid it if you hate the fact you have to eat it (see how it works out for you), or free to find meat that is raised more humanely and without antibiotics - basically any organic meat will be antibiotic free - so the entire antibiotic problem would be solved just by buying organic! Sure true pastured meat is raised even better than just organic meat of course (and it will be more pricey - it probably won't fit into a food stamp challenge).

[The Storyteller]

Some doctors may say that, and many people believe that. I do not--I believe that most people can get everything they need in a plant-based diet, especially if you eat fish.

I'll second that. In my research on diet (and I have been doing a lot of it lately), about the only thing meat has that is difficult to impossible to get through the right plants is vitamin B12, and you can get supplements for that. Kale, spinach, and Romain lettuce all have more protein per calorie than beef, to say nothing of beans and soy.

I now eat very little meat at all, and red meat maybe once a month. And that is because I just want it, not because I think I need it.