Buying fruits or vegetables is simple - either you buy organic or a regular kind. But with ever-growing selection of different varieties of meat, choosing what to buy could be a bit confusing.

Have you ever been confused by the meat labels? I have been. I just want to buy my meat, but should I get free-range or USDA Organic? Who knows? What about grass-fed?

To clear a few things up about the meat labels, I decided to put together a quick guide.

Grass-fed meat is nutritionally similar to wild game. It is best known for its Omega-3 to Omega-6 fatty acid balance and it usually contains a good amount of Conjugated Linoleic Acid (CLA).

Omega-3 and CLA could help prevent inflammation, some cancers and a heart disease. They also play an important role in maintaining healthy cholesterol revels.

Grain-fed. How do you make a cow gain weight? Why, you feed your livestock a grain-based diet. This is not a natural diet for cows or any other animals.

Consequently, grain-fed meat is usually high in saturated fat, has a poor Omega-3 to Omega-6 balance, and does not contain much CLA.

Omega-6 is an essential fatty acid; its deficiency could lead to a number of health problems. However, a typical Western provides more than enough Omega-6 fat.

Many experts believe that over-consumption of this fatty acid could lead to elevated blood pressure, some forms of cancer, and high blood levels of “bad� (LDL) cholesterol.

Free-range does not indicate a particular diet. It implies that the animals roamed freely consuming a diet they would naturally choose in a wild.

Locally raised label only tells us that this meat comes from local sources. It could be grass-fed or grain-fed.

USDA Natural sounds as if it is a good choice. In reality, it only means that a product contains no added ingredients. The animals may have been raised on a grain-based diet, as well as injected with growth hormones and antibiotics, which is usually the case.

USDA Organic has to be good. Right? Well, not exactly. This label is not an indication of a grain-free diet. The good news is that the animals were not treated with antibiotics, or growth hormone, and the meat contains no added ingredients.