Why You Should Be Eating Bison

No grocery store trip is complete without piling your cart full of different kinds of meats. From frozen hamburger patties, to chicken breast, how can you be sure that what your eating is:

A) Safe

B) Healthy

One of my new favorite hobbies is walking around Whole Foods aimlessly looking at all the different things they sell, and  I came across a small little section (separate from the rest of the meat section) and it had all kinds of meat I had not seen at any other grocery store.  They had natural ground bison, ostrich, and other kinds of meat.  So I got curious and decided to pick up a pound of ground bison.  Heck it looked just like the regular ground beef my husband and I picked up religiously every week, why not try it?  The following Friday  I decided to make Bison burgers (recipe coming soon!).  They were amazing!! Not only were they not as greasy, but they actually tasted good!  Little did I know all the health benefits that I was getting out of switching from regular ground beef to bison!

Here are a few KEY POINTS on why you should eat bison:

• Bison meat is 9 times less fat than pork, and 2 times less fat than chicken
• Bison feed mostly on hay and grass making it a healthier option (other red meats are usually pumped with growth hormones)
• For every 100 grams, it contains only 2.42 grams of fat
• Contains more protein per gram than beef
• High in iron
• When comparing bison sirloin steak side by side to a beef sirloin steak, bison contains 80% less fat, and 49% less calories
• Contains conjugated linoleic acid which is a healthy fat that helps fight cancer and lower bad cholesterol
• It cooks quicker!!

From experience, it definitely tastes better (in my opinion) than beef because not only is it less greasy, it doesn't give you that heavy feeling in your stomach that you get from eating beef.  The great thing about it, is you can substitute it into anything you use regular beef in.  One thing you definitely want to make sure you look at when purchasing bison, is whether or not it is organic.  You want natural bison, otherwise there is no way to guarantee that the bison meat you are purchasing wasn't pumped with growth hormones like beef.

One more warning before you rush out to buy your first pound of bison.  It is EXPENSIVE.  Usually we would buy 1 pound of ground beef for $2 (max).  1 pound of ground bison will run you anywhere from $7-$10.  It is more expensive however,  the health benefits outweigh the costs :)


 Here are links to a few recipes.  Hope you like! 


Smoky Buffalo Burger

Sirloin BBQ Kabobs

Bean Free Bison Chili

Easy Tamale Casserole

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My nutrition label says what?

As I wandered down the aisles of my local HEB with my hubby this morning, I realized that it is EXTREMELY confusing to read food labels.   I don’t know if it was my husband asking me after every product he picked up, “Is this good?” Or if it was all the millions of ingredients that made me dizzy just trying to decipher.  So I did a little bit of research on some general guidelines you can follow, as well as some ingredients you should avoid at all costs.

A few things to remember when looking at a nutrition label:

The more ingredients you can’t pronounce, the more you should avoid them.

The ingredients are listed by percent.  Meaning, if whole wheat flour is the first ingredient, than it probably makes up the majority of the product. If you have never heard of the ingredient, the likelihood that the ingredient is a chemical, is high. I’ve put together a quick list of ingredients you should look for.

Some key words to look for:

• Hydrogenated –  This is the process of  making an oil hot, and this causes bubbles to run through it.  When the bubbles run through it, the fat get some hydrogen added, making the oil or fat into a solid.  This means Trans Fat.  Trans fats do all kinds of terrible things to your body like clog your arteries, and raise your cholesterol.  The further up this is on your ingredients list, the more trans fat the product contains. 

• High Fructrose Corn Syrup – it is the most common sweetener in processed foods. Commonly linked with weight gain, insulin resistance and high blood pressure. A study done shows that the type of fat that high fructose corn syrup causes is belly fat as well as a fatty liver.

• Artificial Colors – cause allergies, fatigue, asthma, skin rashes, hyperactivity and headaches.

• Artificial Flavors – causes allergic reactions, eczema, dermatitis, and can affect your thyroid (meaning it affects your metabolism meaning it can cause you to gain weight).

• Artificial Sugars (Aspartame, Succralose, Saccharin, Sorbitol, Maltodextrin, ends with “ose” or “itol” means its a sugar.  – causes CANCER dizziness, hallucinations and headaches.

• MSG – Monosodium Glutamate (yeast extract, glutamate, soy protein isolate, barley malt, malt extract)– increases your appetite (i.e. gain weight), headaches, nausea, change in heart rate

• Potassium Bromate  (bromic acid, potassium salt) – has been shown to cause cancer in animals.

Hopefully this will give you a better idea the next time you are sitting in the middle of the pasta aisle looking completely confused at the 3 million boxes of pasta :) 

Further Reading: 

 10 Worst Food Ingredients to Avoid Like the Plague - Healthier Talk Article

 9 Ingredients to Avoid in Processed Foods - Yahoo Article

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