The Au Naturale Nutrition Guide to Choosing Healthy Meats and Seafood

​You certainly want the best for your family and for your own health.    Meats and seafood are foods that are especially rich in protein and are very nutrient dense. They are high in easily absorbable iron, essential and non-essential fats, zinc, calcium, many B vitamins, and selenium. 

In addition to the vitamins and minerals found in animal products, we eat them to provide our body with essential proteins.

The importance of protein:

• Protein is what makes up the structural components of your body, including the cells, tissues, skin, collagen, and even bone.  
• Protein gets broken down during digestion into amino acids.  These are then re-assembled as parts of a new protein in your body, cool!  
• Everyone needs protein.  More may be needed during periods of growth in children, during pregnancy, or if someone is tired or needs to repair or restore their body after an illness, injury, or surgery.  Athletes and individuals under stress also may need more protein.
• There are at least 22 amino acids, and 8 of them are considered "essential" amino acids (your body cannot make these on its own). Animal sources contain all 8.  Plant sources contain some, but must be combined strategically to obtain all 8 essential amino acids.
• The most nutrient-rich sources of protein are eggs, meats, nuts and seeds, seafood, legumes, and some dairy.
• Your need for protein is naturally dictated by your hunger for it.  

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The Au Naturale Nutrition
Guide to Choosing Meats & Seafood

​Do you know the importance of buying the highest quality meats and seafood? There IS a BIG difference in nutrient-value between well-raised animals from a sustainable farm versus those grown on a feedlot. Choose the best possible sources:

Meats:

Top of the Line:  Grass-fed, Organic, Antibiotic-free, Hormone-free

When land animals are raised humanely, in natural habitats and eat a natural diet, the nutrient quality of the meat is far superior to meat sourced from conventional farming methods.  

Grass-fed beef is especially rich in omega-3 anti-inflammatory fats and in conjugated linoleic acid (CLA), a proven cancer fighter and lean muscle-building tool.  It supplies vitamins A and E, essential nutrients that are known for their antioxidant properties. Other meats such as buffalo, elk, lamb, and venison can be healthy choices.  Compared to commercially raised meats, they are higher in minerals like calcium and magnesium, contain more protein, and are naturally leaner and lower in fat.
(Read more about Antioxidants.)
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Organic meat comes from animals raised on farms that practice sustainable farming and avoid treating the animals with harmful chemicals like hormones and antibiotics.   The animals are given 100% organic feed if not on pasture, and living conditions allow movement and access to outdoors and sunlight.  
(Read more: Organic Foods: Really Worth the Cost?)

AVOID: Conventional meats in the grocery store may come from animals raised in small pens on feedlots.  That feed may be genetically modified and is likely to have been sprayed with herbicides, pesticides, and synthetic fertilizers.  Poultry and pork are often raised on farms that can use extensive amounts of chemicals.  It is strongly encouraged to eat them only when they are certified organic.  ​
​(Read more about Selecting the Healthiest Poultry.)

​Seafood:

Top of the Line:  Clean, cold-water sources, wild-caught

Protein sources from the sea are great dietary sources of calcium, omega-3 essential fats, iodine, and trace minerals.  Fish consumption has been linked to many health benefits such as a lowered risk for arthritis, heart attacks, and high blood pressure.  (Read more about Omega 3 fats.)

The cleanest, cold-water locales  include Artic and northern waters of the Pacific and Atlantic oceans.  Halibut, mackerel, sardines, and wild salmon caught here are high quality and still in good supply.  In contrast, larger ocean fish from contaminated waters pose a health hazard from mercury and other contaminants.  Avoid: king mackerel, sea bass, shark, swordfish, tilefish, and ahi tuna.

Wild-caught seafood  is much higher in quality than farm-raised.  Farmed seafood is often contaminated and there are concerns about use of chemicals and antibiotics, genetic modification of the feed and of the fish, the presence of parasites and disease, and lowered nutritional quality. Salmon, shrimp, tilapia, and many other commercially important species are commonly farm-raised.

(Source Book: The Nutrient Dense Eating Plan, by D. Margel, D.C.)                        

I've put together this handy guide (below) for you to print and easily reference when choosing meats and seafood. 

PRINT: Guide to Choosing Meat & Seafood

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