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Lately I have had to eat mostly conventional meats and fish due to work obligations and invites to parties and gatherings. I try to choose beef over chicken due to the high amounts of Omega-6 content in conventional chicken, but sometimes I don't have a choice. With everything else being avoided (grains and legumes) am I still missing a big piece of the puzzle by eating large amounts of conventional meats or should I not be concerned?

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 My husband has been going with pretty much only conventional meat the entire time he's been paleo, and he's gotten outstanding results. So who knows. – NewEra Aug 3 2011 at 18:13

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You're doing the best you can! I don't have an affordable source of grass-fed meat but I still feel the best I have in 20+ years, my skin looks remarkably better, I sleep better and I've lost about 2 dress sizes. I don't believe this is all or nothing, so if you skipped the sugar and grain enjoy your meat and continue to do the best you can.

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I would be concerned simply with supporting the conventional meat industry first. Vote with every dollar! Hope that's not too political.

Secondly, I would be concerned with all the hormones and poor diet that are fed to the animals you consume. All those things are passed along to you.

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Not to mention the fact that grassfed/free range/wild caught could well be a thing of the past if the energy conglomerates get their way. – Futureboy Aug 3 2011 at 17:55
Oh look, a false dichotomy. – tonysolo Aug 3 2011 at 19:26
How so tonysolo? Enlighten me. – Futureboy Aug 3 2011 at 21:19
1. Local, organic, grass-finished, college-educated beef 2. Hormone-pumped toxic feedlot waste that I found in the alley behind the adult bookstore I exaggerate, of course – tonysolo Aug 3 2011 at 21:48
yeah...somehow I fail to see how that dichotomy is false. – Futureboy Aug 4 2011 at 5:53
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i've been conventional for most of my journey and it seems to be working out ok. i do buy "organic" conventional but it's not grassfed. do what fits in your budget. when it comes to beef, there are ways around the lack of omega 3, cla, etc- my favorite hack is to hit it with some pastured butter and make sure you pop one or two fish oil pills. i don't touch farm-raised fish and if i do conventional chicken, i try to only eat the breasts so it don't get the o6 outta wack too much. honestly, i don't even mention the grassfed part to people when i pitch it to them because getting them off processed foods, excess fructose, gluten, and high o6 oils will do wonders for their health. why let the perfect be the enemy of the good?

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Yep. I like to do my part to help local farmers and ranchers, and I hate the way CAFO livestock is treated, so I do try to eat grass-fed as much as I can (being married to a hunter helps, too). But most of the meat I eat is CAFO, and my health has improved so very much on this path that I simply don't buy that it's healthier to eat less meat than to eat CAFO meat. Real improvement today is worth way more than unrealized perfection tomorrow. – Rose Aug 3 2011 at 20:13
oooh big +1 for no farmed fish!! – Thumper Aug 3 2011 at 20:42
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This is more of a suggestion rather than an answer - We've had similar $$ restrictions lately - so I've been buying bison and lamb rather than grass-fed beef. The bison and lamb where I live is range fed so IMO it's similar to the grass-fed beef - only a heck of a lot cheaper - and we've been doing cheaper cuts and a lot of ground as well.

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We are on a shoestring budget right now as we prepare to lose my income for 2 years but we found it to be much cheaper than buying conventional to find a local farmer who raises grass fed beef and buy directly. We met him at a farmers market and we will never buy grocery store again. However we were recently on vacation for 2 weeks eating loads of conventionally raised meats all day long. Neither of us noticed a difference in our health at all! I wouldn't worry too much.

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Do you buy by the side, 1/2 or 1/4 side? I've been thinking about buying a chest freezer, as it seems to be more prudent to buy in bulk from a farmer and store the meat. – Futureboy Aug 3 2011 at 18:47
My family and I get 1/4 side. And go ahead and splurge on an upright freezer would be my advice (organizational convenience). Its me, my wife a 4 and 2 yr. old and this will last us about 4-6 months. – JayJay Aug 3 2011 at 19:06
The only problem that I have with the local meat is that it seems to be very hard bordering on impossible to get 100% grassfed if you live in the northeast. My friend's family is Pennsylvania Dutch and sell cattle by the half and quarter in Lancaster PA. The cows are pastured most of the year but fed grain the winter because they can't forage for themselves out in the snow and the grass is dead anyway. SO... aren't a lot of the benefits of grassfed lost if the cows are fed grain, even for a short amount of time? – permiechickie Aug 3 2011 at 20:42
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Cows that are force fed grain have a very poor fatty acid ratio. So if you put aside the fact that factory farms are a nightmare for general human health, and the health of our planet that drove many of us to vegetarianism...well, you are still left with the fact that grass finished beef is the closest domesticated meat to what our paleolithic ancestors that we are aiming to emulate, actually ate! IMHO, it's better to eat way less meat if that's what your budget allows, and make it all the highest possible quality.

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 The ratio is bad, yes, but cows will still have pretty low O6. – mari Aug 3 2011 at 19:11

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