Benefits Of Free Range Chicken
Wednesday, July 7th, 2010The more time that has passed, the more people are looking at making healthier life choices, such as healthy eating. Keep in mind that healthy eating can mean a number of different things, it can mean that you are no longer eating animal products or that you are only going to eat a raw food diet and everything in between. Another term that has also become popular in the healthy eating arena is free range. Today you can find free range chickens, eggs and meats. Currently free range chicken is very popular. How did free range get its start? What is free range exactly? Are there really any benefits to eating free range? To help answer these questions as well as others you may have, here is unbiased information to help you make an informed decision.
The definition of the term free range differs depending on where you live. If you live outside of the United States, free range refers to animals being allowed to roam wherever they want without being caged up for any period of time. A free range chicken has access to the outdoors, the green grass, and the shining sun whenever he wants. Now if you live within the United States, free range has a different meaning. It refers only to poultry. Free range chicken, ducks, and turkeys have access to the outside. It does not specify the amount of time the animal can be outside or what the size of the outside is. So if a free range animal does not decide to move outside it stays in the often tiny, cramped cage.
Surprisingly, free range farming used to be the only way to farm. Looking back to before the 20th century, all most farmers knew about raising animals was that they needed a varied diet and plenty of sunshine. There were ranchers that found it difficult to keep cattle in one place and carry around heavy feed bags so ranchers would try to keep the cattle on their land. Chickens were free range up until 1920. The discovery of the vitamins A and D in 1920 brought an end to free range chickens. This is the time that farmers found out that they could market their chickens commercially if they were confined. Once the chickens were confined it was only a matter of time before all other farm animals were confined as well.
Today there is still a debate over whether or not eating free range products truly offers any health benefits. There are a number of very valid points that support that argument that free range is better for us. One such reason is the fact that animals that are confined tend to have a higher incidence of disease and illness. Free range animals do not have this risk because they are not kept in small confined spaces in close proximity to one another. Free range animals also have access to more sources that are nutrient dense such as grass and bugs. This makes free range animals better for us because they are packed with vitamins and minerals. Whereas confined animals do not have access to the green grass or as many bugs, they are also only given enough food to survive. Confined animals’ food is often loaded with high doses of antibiotics. The purpose of the antibiotics is to keep the animal disease free. You then eat these animals. Eating animals that are loaded with antibiotics is bad for your health.
When deciding whether or not to take a certain avenue when it involves your health it should be researched thoroughly first. Just in the way this provides information on free range chickens and other free range animals, you can find pertinent information on almost every health subject. If you are well informed about something you can put it into effect easily and it is more than likely to be successful.
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