Well, now that my year as the 2006 National Beef Ambassador is complete, I often reflect on my experiences. I ask myself questions like: Did I do my job to the best of my ability? Did I take advantage of every opportunity that was offered to me? Did I leave my mark on the beef industry? Did I make a difference? Did I enhance the value of beef?
Even though I feel confident in the answers to my questions, I have realized that there is so much left to do and so many people left to share my beef production story with.
Even after traveling across the United States to promote the beef industry by speaking with consumers about nutrition, food safety, and environmental issues, there are so many people left uneducated, misinformed, and making poor decisions for their health. I realized all this because of some of my closest friends. Let me tell you about some of the girls I hang out with....I'm going to call this segment: Beef Bloopers!
*Names have been changed to protect the misinformed college girls!
Let's start with one of my good buddies back from highschool. We'll call her.....Natalie. Natalie is a die hard runner, a nutrition and exercise science major, and a health nut. Natalie has lost all her steam though because she has quit including beef in her diet. She suffers from injuries like stress fractures, ankle sprains, and sore muscles. Her running has slowed and she has lost energy. So like a good friend I corrected this bad habit with this bit of information:
Did you know that beef contains only one more gram of saturated fat than a skinless chicken breast? There are now 29 cuts of beef considered lean and healthy by the USDA, one being 95% lean ground beef. There are 6-8 times the nutrients in a lean serving of beef than in a serving of chicken; thus getting a nutrient dense meal for the same fat content. The choice is clear: become stronger, leaner, healthier, and have more energy and choose beef!
Now, let's move to my friend, Whitney. Whitney is a sweet girl who doesn't really understand what it takes to live on a farm. I took her to the State Fair this year, and we sat on my showbox to watch the cattle. My mom brought us burgers for lunch. I suddenly noticed that Whitney wasn't eating her burger. I asked her what was wrong. She got a sad look in her eye and said, "Amanda, I can't eat this in front of a COW! They were probably brothers!"
What?
I know right? So many times we roll our eyes when people quit eating beef for "health reasons" or for "animal rights reasons". I took the time to explain to Whitney about the beef production story and the fundamental circle of life. This all reminds me of a quote:
"I would rather be a superb and magnificent meteor, every essence of me aglow; than a permanent and sleepy planet. The purpose of man is not to simply exist, but to live."
Often we are complacent in the cattle industry about one of the biggest problems we face: misinformed consumers. We are our worst enemy when we ignore these statements like listed above and never truly show them the real story. We can't be sleepy planets; we need to be glowing meteors and share our passion for this industry with the world.
Go ahead, try it, become an ambassador for the beef industry!
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