🥩 Protein Sources
🥚 Eggs
Egg Quality Ranking
👍 Best → 👎 Worst:
- Pasture-raised (third-party verified)
- Organic
- Cage-free
- Conventional
Egg Labels
- Cage-Free: Hens are not kept in cages, but can be kept indoors and overcrowded
- Farm Fresh: All eggs are "fresh." Fresh means not frozen and doesn't mean anything else
- Free-Range: Birds aren't in cages and have outdoor access, but can still be overcrowded and outdoor area can be tiny
- Natural: By definition, an egg is "natural." All shell eggs sold for consumption are natural by USDA. Completely meaningless marketing term
- No Hormones: By US law, chickens that produce eggs can't be given hormones. Meaningless marketing term
- Vegetarian-Fed: Misleading for omnivores and doesn't indicate living conditions
- Organic: hens fed grains grown without synthetic pesticides or GMO. Must have outdoor access, but can still be in confined conditions
- Pasture-Raised: Unregulated unless paired with third-party seal. Certified Humane have standards that require chicken have access to pasture
💡 Egg Tips:
- See the best independently verified egg brands Organic Eggs Scorecard
- See How to Decode Labels on Egg Cartons
🐄 Meat
🥩 Beef Labels
- Grass-Fed: Animals ate grass for at least part of its life. Does NOT always mean grass-finished
- Grass-Fed, Grain-Finished: Animals start on grass but are finished on grain
Beef Quality Ranking
👍 Best → 👎 Worst:
- 100% grass-fed / finished
- Grass-fed (unknown finish)
- Conventional
🐓 Poultry
✅ With Poultry, Look For
- Pasture-raised
⚠️ With Poultry, Caution With
- “Free-range”
- “Cage-free”
⚠️ Poultry Label Reality Check
- “No hormones” → meaningless for poultry (illegal anyway)
- “Antibiotic-free” → more relevant, but still varies
- “Natural” → no real regulatory meaning
👉 Focus on how the animal was raised, not marketing terms.
🛒 High-Quality Meat Sources
- REP Provisions → https://repprovisions.com/
💡 Meat Tips:
- See the best independently verified meat brands Organic Beef Scorecard
- See the best independently verified poultry brands Organic Poultry Scorecard
🐟 Fish
✅ With Fish, Look For
- Wild-caught
⚠️ With Fish, Caution With
- Farmed fish (variable quality)
💡 Fish Tip:
- Check for the MSC Blue Fish label for sustainable seafood MSC Seafood Guide
⚠️ Mercury Consideration in Fish
Limit high-mercury fish:
- Tuna (especially large species)
- Swordfish
- King mackerel
Better options:
- Salmon
- Sardines
- Anchovies
👉 Smaller fish = lower toxin accumulation.