Unfortunately, Americans really don't know what they are getting when they eat beef in a restaurant. Most beef is loaded with antibiotics & hormones. In addition, grain-fed beef (most of beef in America) sounds healthy, but is not. Before I understood this, I remember going into a fancy steak house and seeing 'corn-fed-beef' on the door and thinking, I'm eating healthy beef!

Dr. Mercola has done a good job of advancing the benefits of grass-fed-beef. But, sadly most of us are still confused and mis-informed.

By eating a diet rich in grass-fed-meats (be careful---some meat is sold as grass-fed and topped off with grain the last 3 months or so) you can be sure you are getting beneficial omega 3 fatty acids and CLA (conjugated linoleic acid).

Finally, if you have not seen the movie SuperSize Me, I suggest you see it tonight. You will never allow your kids to eat at McDonalds again.

If we are going to have a positive effect on the food industry, we have to ensure what we are saying is in fact true.  I take the liberty to re-post a comment from "talldrinkofwater1" under "10 Things Your Butcher Won't Tell You":

"As a past employee of a cattle feedlot where beef are fed grain to ready the animal for slaughter, I was on ground level in vaccinating and treating these animals.  All vaccines, antibiotics, and growth hormones have withdrawl dates.  Every person and operation that uses these substances keeps very close records of each animal and everything that they have recieved.  All animals are generally way past this withdrawl date and those that have to be slaughtered before the withdrawl date never go into circulation for human consumption.  The animals that recieve the vaccines, antibiotics and growth hormones are well past the withdrawl date and therefore their systems have processed and utilized them.  These substances are not in their systems anymore, or they could not be used for human consumption, and therefore would not even hit the grocery store shelves."

We know feedlot cattle are grown in pathetic conditions, and that antibiotics are used to allow these pathetic conditions to continue, but we should not be saying that our food is loaded with antibiotics - that is not the issue.  The issue is that our feedlot animals are loaded with antibiotics while they are growing.

And to those who are concerned about growth hormone (GH) in the food supply, all doctors know that growth hormone cannot be obtained by ingesting it - it is impossible.  That is why GH has to be injected.  It makes no sense to inject it just prior to slaughter, and the required washout period provides add'l margin, since GH is metabolized out of the animal.  So GH in beef/milk is not making children grow faster.  But it's use in feedlot cattle is still a problem.

Duane