While the Holistic Rendezvous lifestyle focuses on a plant-based diet, that doesn’t mean that it does not include animal proteins. We believe that everyone is different and on their own path towards health and wellness, which sometimes includes healthy animal proteins.

I (Blair) was a vegan for 3 years and then slowly began adding small amounts of pasture-raised eggs and wild caught fish…but remained mostly vegan for 5 years. I was even a raw foodie for a couple years during this time. However, I began adding healthy, sustainable meat to my diet about a year ago to see how I would feel and this flexibility and openness to all foods has really lead me to a healthier state than before. I think vegan diets are amazing, but probably not best for most people for the long term…but me talking about different diets could be a book in itself.

“Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.”

― Michael Pollan, In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto

Alex also focuses on a plant-based diet and considers herself a pescatarian, though again, we feel that labeling diets may make you focus too much on following rules and not enough on listening to your body.

Download your PDF on how to choose the best meats!

Grassfed meat handout…or keep reading below! 🙂

Understanding Meat Labels:

• Grass-finished: The gold standard for animal raising! This refers to animals raised on pasture with a natural diet consisting of foraging and grasses, never grain, so they have been fed their native diet for their entire lives. This is also associated with other healthy farming practices such as no antibiotics or hormones and humane slaughtering, but to be sure it is important to know your farmers!
• Grass-fed: This is technically the same as above, however, sometimes these animals are fed grain for significant periods of their life and may have even spent a portion of their lives in feedlots. So, again, know your farmer!
• Organic: These foods must be certified to meet USDA’s strict organic criteria. This means that the animals must be fed an all organic, non GMO diet, may not be given hormones/antibiotics, and must have access to the outdoors/ pasture. This does not mean that the animals spend a significant amount of time in pasture and these animals are also fed grain, which is not a healthy diet for animals and can cause them to be ill.
• Hormone Free/ No added hormones: This means that the animals were never given hormone treatments, which have been linked to cancer in humans. However, this does not mean that the animals were healthy/ not given antibiotics or raised in a sustainable/ humane way.
• rBGH-free: Like the above, these animals were not given the hormone rBGH (recombinant bovine growth hormone), which is a genetically engineered hormone injected into cows to increase milk production. There are health concerns for humans and animals exposed to the drug.
• All natural: This is a misleading term that doesn’t have have regulations regarding feed, antibiotic/ hormone use, or humane raising. It simply means that there are “no artificial ingredients or added colors and is only minimally processed,” which means all fresh meat can fall under this category.

Health Benefits of Grass-fed/finished meats:

• 3 X more Vitamin E!
• 2 X more Vitamin A!
• Higher concentrations of omega-3 fatty acids!
• Higher levels of antioxidants!
• High levels of CLA , which is associated with improved bone health, immune and inflammatory support, blood sugar regulation, and reduced body fat.
• Contains 80% less fat.
• Contains 30% less cholesterol.
• No antibiotics or hormones.
• No GMO’s!

Look for this grassfed label, but most importantly, know your farmers and buy locally produced grass fed meats