Wellness Wednesday - The Truth About Chicken

I'm a cheap-o when it comes to groceries. I buy healthy food, but I don't like to spend a lot of money. Recently, I've come to the conclusion that I'm sick of "gross" meat. You know - the chicken that's always on sale at the grocery store is untrimmed and full of those nasty red veins...and why are chicken breasts so enormous now? I can feed my family for 2 dinners on two of those things! So, I've resolved to start buying, grass fed, antibiotic and hormone free meat. I'm not going to snub my nose at the other stuff all the time, I just want to make a switch.

Anyhow, I've been reading a book my sister got me for Christmas called Secrets of Longevity: Hundreds of Ways to Live to Be 100 by Dr. Maoshing Ni. After making my decision about the meat thing, I read this:

"Commercial feed for animals is full of growth-stimulating hormones, [hence the huge chicken breasts] coloring agents, pesticides, and drugs. And that's not all - of the 140,000 tons [that says TONS] of poultry condemned annually as unfit to eat, mainly due to cancer, a considerable amount is processed into animal feed! More than 40% [40%?!?!?!] of the antibiotics produced in the United States is used as animal-feed additives. The ecological result, after we urinate and defecate the antibiotics, is the emergence of antibiotic-resistant bacteria strains that can sicken or kill us."

Wow, I'm not a super-organic-health-nut type of person, but this freaks me out. Reconsider your meat...or SOME of your meat. A lot of times, meat doesn't have to be certified organic to be better for you. Look for the amish chicken if you have it in your area. It's usually hormone in antibiotic free, they just don't go through the expensive financial process of being labeled organic. 

And so, I leave you with pictures of my cute little Turkey from this past Thanksgiving.