You see terms like organic, free range, all natural, and cage free… but what the heck does this all mean and which should you choose?

Free Range

This term is pretty much useless. The term “free range” sounds great and all but if you put a Ferrari sticker on a Fiat it will still be a Fiat (nothing against Fiats). By FDA standards, the free range chicken must have access to the outside at least part of the time. This means that the farmers can have a door leading outside the coop that only needs to be open a small percentage of each day. The chickens are still living in cramped conditions and eating terribly processed food. This is also a way to charge more for the same sub-standard product.

Cage Free

This term doesn’t even have clearly set guidelines by the FDA. Basically chickens aren’t living in metal cages but are packed into henhouses to the point where they can’t move. Dead chickens are cleared out from underfoot every once in a while and the chickens never go outside. These would be considered worse than free range, but not by much. They are both equally disgusting and inhumane.

All Natural

This is the most ambiguous and disingenuous term there is with eggs. There is no way that a hen can lay an egg unnaturally. This is a term used by marketers to present the image of happy, pasture-based hens when instead it it quite the opposite.

Omega-3 Fortified

Hens producing these eggs are feed straight flaxseed, linseed, or a direct supplement. There are varying degrees of the good fat found in each egg. These eggs do however tend to come from organic, cage free birds so they are usually better. Don’t rely on these as a primary source of omega-3. Stick to the fish oil.

So what should you buy?

The chicken’s digestive system is not some magically food cleansing machine. What we feed chickens and the conditions in which they are kept in trickles down to the condition of their eggs. If not for steroids, being fed corn and soy along with living in cramped environments would atrophy the chicken so that it couldn’t produce eggs. Find yourself some eggs from chickens that are actually organic, cage-free and pasture raised whose main food source is grasses and insects. This is the way nature intended it to be. Try the farmers market for the best or at least stick to organic, cage-free, pasture-raised eggs at your local gourmet grocery store. Your wallet might take a hit but it is an investment in your health for later on down the road.

 

CrossFit is a sport. It is the sport of fitness. Some of you got a taste of this at Barbells & Handlebars last month. Every year CrossFit headquarters puts on the CrossFit Games in order to determine who the fittest male and female in the world are. We are now entering the season leading up to the Games which will go down mid to late summer. In order for Games athletes to make it to the actual Games, they must qualify in the Open and then get through Regionals.

The Open is a series of 5 different workouts starting March 6th. Anyone can register for the Open. There will be one workout announced each week and competitors will have four days to score the highest they can on each workout. Your scores will be tallied at the end of the five weeks and compared to others in our region. The top 48 males and females in Texas, Mississippi, and Louisiana will move on to regionals.

I am encouraging those who are advanced enough to sign up and compete along with me. Last year we had four from our gym, including myself, compete in the open. This year I would like to at least double that number. If you are on the fence about joining in, just do it. It will be a fun experience for everyone and you are encouraged to only do what you can do. Still don’t think this is for you? We plan to make an event out of it for our competitors and need the support of the EDCF community.

Sign up for the open HERE.