These next two lies I am going to discuss really make me angry. You may hear a lot of talk in the keto community about eating grass-fed meat and pasture raised eggs. The nutrition is normally better in these products. The animals are often treated more humanely in farms with these types of goals over factory farms/feed lots. You do pay a higher price for these products, so I always say buy the best quality food you can on your budget. If you can’t afford these things, that is okay and you can still do keto. Its still MUCH better than the processed boxed/packaged food we eat on the standard American diet. But also beware that meat labeled grass-fed, may not be grass-finished. Often the animal may be started on grass/hay then sent to a feed lot and fed grain prior to slaughter to fatten it up and make higher profit. Ruminant animals were meant to eat grass and when they are fed a diet unnatural for their species, like grain and soy, they become fat and sick (kinda like humans, see a trend?). Basically, there is little oversight on grass fed labeling. So, the company can sell it as grass-fed and charge you more money for the same feed lot meat on the discount shelf. We can’t rely on the USDA to stop this lying from happening on food labels. In 2016, the USDA dropped their claim standards for grass fed meat. I really wanted to believe this was false when I heard about it, but its right here on the USDA website. I say support local farms and ranchers as much as you can. Get to know the people running your local farmer’s markets. Get your food from honest farmers who care about the quality of their food if you can. 

Now onto eggs. I used to buy “cage free” or “free range” eggs thinking I was really doing something great for my health and the environment. Supporting ethical farming. I then learned that factory farms can cram a bunch of chickens into a warehouse with a concrete floor and market them as amazing, wonderful “cage free” eggs. Same with the term “free range”. The USDA free range labeling only requires that birds have outdoor access, which means they may only have a tiny hole in the building and can’t even get outside. These conditions are often not much better than for factory farmed chickens who are stacked on top of each other in cages, never let free to roam on grass. Now, I spend the extra buck or two for the “certified humane pasture raised eggs”. These are the types of farms I am trying to support as much as I can. Again, I will only encourage you to do the best you can with your budget and what is available in your local area. Pete and Gerry’s and Vital Farms are two of my favorite egg brands that are available in my local Kroger stores. Read more about deceptive egg labeling and what certified humane means HERE.