Grass versus Grain

Cows; they are the source of where all our beef comes from. The source is the best place to start understanding where and how the fast food restaurants obtain their meat. How are cows feed? In Fast Food Nation, Eric Schlosser states that fast food companies purchase their meat from companies who feed their cows grain and sometimes other dead animals (202). Grain fed cows grow and develop quicker and are generally ready to be slaughtered and sold after about twelve to fourteen months. This allows the fast food companies to buy them at a cheaper price. Grain reduces the capital that agricultural companies must place into their business because cows do not need as much land because they are is no need for them to move from place to place because they are not eating the grass. In Jennifer Sygo’s article she provides evidence that because the cows are more stationary and do not have much exercise as well as their diet of only grain; they tend to be fatter thus making their meat have a higher percentage of fat.

Feeding cows grass has a surprisingly nutritious affect on their health. Overall, grass fed cows are healthier animals and live healthier lives, mainly because they are eating grass. A single grass feed cow needs around thirty to forty acres of land to survive and have plenty of food. This extra land has positive and negative effects for the company. It allows the cows more space to move around and get some exercise thus making them healthier and leaner. The grass they are eating is all-natural and comes straight from the earth, and there is nothing healthier than that. When cows are crowded together the sick and healthy have more contact with each other and that increases the possibility of the healthy cows becoming sick. Sygo provides proven evidence that cows that are grass fed have lower fat, saturated fat, calories, and cholesterol in their meat. These cows take longer to mature, around twenty to twenty-four months before they are ready to be sold. That causes their price to increase because it costs more money to keep them at the farm for an extra year. Fast food companies are always looking for the cheapest product so they go straight for the grain fed cows thus grass fed cows are disappearing rapidly as well as the health of many people who eat fast food (Fast Food Nation, 255-257). 

It's here to stay or is it?

Fast food does not only affect us now, but can and often does have serious affects on our bodies and health ten, twenty-five, or fifty years down the road. Over the past twenty-five years the number of obese children has doubled and as of 2010, no state had less than twenty percent of its population as obese (CDC, http://www.cdc.gov/obesity/data/trends.html). The United States has now become the fattest nation in the world with sixty percent of Americans being either overweight or obese (Obesity Graphs). Obesity is the second preventable death in the United States, second only to smoking (Super Size Me). It has become a national epidemic, and Americans are doing nothing to prevent younger generations from succumbing to this lifestyle. Obesity can cause Hypertension, Coronary Heart Disease, Stroke, Gallbladder Disease, Osteo-arthritis, Sleep Apnea, Repertory problems, Endometrial Cancer, Breast Cancer, Prostrate Cancer, Colon Cancer, Insulin Resistance, Asthma, Reproductive Hormone Abnormalities, Cystic Ovarian Syndrome, Impaired Fertility, and adult onset Diabetes (Super Size Me).
(see this for more effects: Obesity) That is not the “American Dream,” and some of these diseases or conditions never disappear. People can take medicine to control their diabetes, high blood pressure, or asthma but they will never be the same.  

During Super Size Me, they called one hundred nutritionists and forty-five of those nutritionists said people should never eat fast food. Yet, the average American family eats out four to five times a week, and generally it is fast food because it is more economical. Fifty years ago the average American family ate out once or twice a month and everything else was homemade. The original McDonald’s French Fries, which are now the kid's size had just 200 calories and significantly less sodium, and today the large fry has 600 calories and 350 mg. of sodium. The 12 oz. drink that used to be the regular sized drink is now the kid’s cup, and the large is generally a 32 oz. cup. Once you start eating fast food on regular basis it can become addicting. Throughout Super Size Me, Spurlock talked about how down, depressed, and lethargic he felt every day, especially before and not long after his meals. His moods were all over the place because the dyes, sugar, and other chemicals had an addictive affect on his brain. The food has so much sugar that it gives the consumer a high for an hour or so, but then they are down again once the sugar wears off (Super Size Me). This is how fast food affects are bodies when we eat it to often, but there is good news. We have a choice. We can break away from our culture’s fast food obsession and take time to take care of our bodies and live a long, healthy life.

Is it safe?

Ever heard of Mad Cow Disease, E. Coli, or salmonella? All these diseases are foodborne bacteria that come from many of the animals we consume on a regular basis (CDC, http://www.cdc.gov/ncezid/dfwed/edeb/index.html). These diseases enter our bodies through our mouth and intestinal track causing diarrhea, fever, and abdominal cramps. These bacterias thrive in feces, vomit, and certain foods farm animals are fed. There are hundreds of laws created by the USDA against feeding animals certain foods (USDA Food Laws), but in Fast Food Nation, Schlosser states the USDA only visits most large companies once every ten years.

These “certain” foods contain chopped up parts from other dead animals such as, dogs, cows, cats, and sheep that could be contaminated with these infectious diseases. In the United States, about seventy-five percent of cows are feed other animal’s waste or parts (Fast Food Nation, 202). The modern day farming techniques contain large feedlots, but they are overcrowded with cows, pigs, or chickens. Since the feedlots are overcrowded the animals do not get any exercise and live in their own waste. These companies still think they can serve animals dirty food and water and have no negative affects from it. While they would never feed that to themselves, in actuality that is exactly what they are doing. When you feed animals dirty or contaminated food, and it is time to slaughter them and send them to the grocery store the only meat people will have to consume is contaminated meat. The spreading of bacteria does not magically stop in the feedlots, but it follows the animals into the slaughterhouse and into the meat grinders. It is an atrocious cycle and harmful to both humans and animals (Fast Food Nation, 201-203).

There have been three cases of Mad Cow Disease in the United States, and from those three cases old, worn out, “downer” cows were the only cows contaminated (CDC, http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dvrd/bse/). These are generally dairy cows that are no longer producing enough milk for the company so they are slaughtered. The stress from industrial milk production causes these cows to be some of the unhealthiest and most bacteria riddled. One fourth of the ground beef made in the United States comes from these unhealthy dairy cows (Fast Food Nation, 204). 

What's the cost?

In the movie Supersize Me, Morgan Spurlock goes on a McDonald’s binge for thirty days and during those thirty days he can only eat McDonald’s nothing else. Throughout the movie, Spurlock interviews different people and programs about the food they are serving to children or to themselves. He visits public schools in Appleton, Wisconsin that provides cheap and low-grade meat by Sodekho to keep the cost down as well as many unhealthy options like, fries, potato chips, tater-tots, cookies and sodas. He visits an alternative school whose food is provided by Natural Ovens. They have chosen to provide healthy lunches for their students, salads, sandwiches, fruit, vegetables, water, no food dyes, no chemicals, and no sodas. Throughout the school’s process in changing from fried, fatty, and salty foods to healthier options they noticed a change in students’ behaviors. Money is such a large issue in public schools today that most believe providing a healthy option for students is out of reach and will blow the budget. But the amazing part about these new lunches was the cost was relatively same. So why do schools not provide healthier options for students? For years people have thought that fresh, healthy, and nutritious food was beyond their budget but that is not the case, as shown in this quote by the USDA below.

According to the USDA:

"Among the 69 forms of fruits and 85 forms of vegetables included in the analysis, more than half were estimated to cost 25 cents or less per serving in 1999, and 86 percent of all vegetables and 78 percent of all fruit cost less than 50 cents a serving. That's 127 different ways to eat a serving of fruits and vegetables for less than the price of a 3-ounce candy bar. In fact, consumers can meet the [Food Guide Pyramid] recommendations of three servings of fruits and four servings of vegetables daily for as little as 64 cents. Consumers trying to meet the 5-a-day challenge could do so for even less."

(http://www.obesitymyths.com/myth5.7.htm)

Behind Closed Doors

Today almost all meat is raised, fed, processed, and slaughtered through one large company, with ConAgra Meatpacking Company being the number one meat supplier (Fast Food Nation, 149). This large company, and a few others, is whom all the fast food restaurants purchase their meat from because these meat companies produce an enormous amount of meat every day thus driving down the price. For ConAgra to produce such large amounts of beef and chicken they must find a way to grow the animals quickly with the cheapest food possible. If you were to visit a ConAgra farm, there would be overcrowded feedlots with thousands of cows and these cows do not eat grass because of the cost, instead they are fed grain that fattens them quicker. During their nine-month stay at the feedlot, they are fed over three thousand pounds of grain and often hormone shots so they will grow quickly and thus cost less money for the company. After their nine-month stay they are shipped to the slaughterhouse to be killed (Fast Food Nation, 150). In the video below, you will see the terrible conditions that these animals must live in and the ease with which bacteria is created and can live.

The Lives of Animals Raised for Food

Once the cows have fatten-up and gained the appropriate amount of weight they are herded into the slaughterhouses and this is where the atrocities begin. Right before the cows enter the slaughterhouse they stunned to sedate them and placed on a hook that connects them to the assembly line where unskilled workers will dissemble them. The first slice into the cow is its carotid artery to kill it, and it continues down the line at a swift pace being disassembled into many pieces by overcrowded workers. The fast pace of the assembly line makes gutting the cows in a sanitary way extremely difficult. Cutting the intestines out is a precise job that takes concentration and time, but because the workers are rushed through the process the bacteria from the intestines can and often does contaminate the meat. The last step is to package up the meat and ship it off to the grocery store, public schools, or fast food restaurants 
(Fast Food Nation, 170-172). 

I want to add that I am not a vegetarian and I love to eat meat, but I do not condone the way most the meat we eat is made. I believe cows, pigs, and chickens should be treated humanly throughout their whole life.

Our Nutrition...How much are we really consuming?

Where does the fast food we eat really come from? What is in the food that we eat? How nutritious is the food? How much sodium, fat, cholesterol, saturated fat, calories, carbohydrates, protein, and fiber are in the food? How do we know what options are healthy and which options are not healthy? Which fast food restaurants offer the healthiest options? Where do the fast food meats, beef, chicken, and fish come from? Is fast food safe to eat, with all the E. Coli and salmonella outbreaks in the past several years? These are all questions I have been asking myself recently.

In this blog, I want to tackle how nutritious fast food is and if it can be healthy and I have posted a link (http://caloriecount.about.com/fast-food-restaurants-mc3) to the nutritional facts of almost all the fast food restaurants in the United States and even some in the United Kingdom.

For the average male (6’ 175 lbs.), they need between 2500-2750 calories, 324-468 grams of fat, 38 grams of fiber, 64 grams of protein, 64-112 grams of fat, no more than 2000 grams of sodium, and as little as possible in saturated fats and cholesterol (USDA, Dietary Reference Intakes).

For the average female (5’6” 140 lbs.), they need between 1900-2100 calories, 245-354 grams of carbohydrates, at least 25 grams of fiber, 51 grams of protein, no more than 2000 grams of sodium, 48-85 grams of fat, and little as possible in saturated fats and cholesterol on a daily basis 

(USDA, Dietary Reference Intakes).

Take a look at the link and see what ingredients are really in the food we eat on a regular basis. As you read over the lists of your favorite fast food restaurants, keep in mind what your body needs on a daily basis and what you are exactly putting into it.