5 health benefits of all natural sausages

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March 18, 2022

Sausage is a staple food in many households. Why? It’s affordable, convenient, versatile, and tasty. Could you ask for more? Yes, you can.

Sausage often gets a bad rap and is labeled as “processed meat”. Sure, this might be true for conventional sausages, which often have fillers and additives and “natural flavors” and nitrates… and the list goes on.

But, not all sausage is bad (I mean, it’s been around for thousands of years). I recommend sourcing all-natural sausages, not only natural in how the animals were raised but also the ingredients added during sausage making. Always read ingredients carefully on sausages.

High quality natural sausages are good for your health. Here’s some general nutrition data.

On average, one regular sized 2.6oz beef or pork sausage link contains:

260 calories
25g total fat
7.6g saturated fat
550mg sodium
15g protein
0g carbohydrates (when there’s no added fillers like eggs or breadcrumbs)
0g fiber (when there’s no added fillers like eggs or breadcrumbs)
0g added sugar (when there’s no added sugar or maple syrup)
0.52mg Vitamin B3 (26% DV)
0.52mg Vitamin B5 (10% DV)
0.39mg Vitamin B6 (30% DV)
0.,54mcg Vitamin B12 (23%)
15mcg selenium (27% DV)
33iu Vitamin D (4% DV)
286mg potassium (5% DV)
1.3mg iron (8% DV)
2.25mg zinc (15% DV)

That’s the data on conventional sausages. I can only imagine that the numbers would be better for sausages made from regeneratively farmed meat and with great recipes.

Let’s break it down with a bit more detail. Here are the top 5 health benefits of eating sausage.

1- Sausage is packed with protein.

Your body needs protein to make and repair cells. Protein also helps fight infection, build and contract muscles, keep body fluids balanced, clot blood and carry fats, vitamins, minerals and oxygen throughout the body.

Protein needs change from body to body, varying on age, activity level, and a number of factors. But, it’s generally recommended that 10-35% of your caloric intake should be protein.

To maintain optimal health, it’s best to eat protein throughout the day. How about some salt and pepper beef breakfast sausage with eggs for breakfast, chorizo sausage and veggie stir fry for lunch, and Italian sausage and peppers for dinner ;)

2- Sausage is high in B vitamins.

B vitamins are essential to your health. They help a variety of enzymes do their jobs, ranging from releasing energy from carbohydrates and fat to breaking down amino acids and transporting oxygen and energy-containing nutrients around the body. They can help prevent anemia, lower cholesterol, ease arthritis, boost brain function, improve your skin, hair, and eyes… B vitamins do so much!

B vitamins are generally not found in plant foods, unless they’re fortified. On the contrary, one link of sausage can naturally provide around 40% of the daily value of bioavailable vitamin B12.

3- Sausage is high in selenium.

Selenium is a nutrient which is vital to your health. It’s important for reproduction, thyroid function, DNA productions, and protecting the body from free radical damage. It can boost your immune system and can reduce your risk of heart disease.

Pork and beef contain plenty of selenium, especially when farmed on regenerative pastures. One serving of sausage contains at least 15 mcg of selenium, which is 27% of the recommended daily value.

4- Sausage contains iron.

Iron is an essential mineral. It’s important for hemoglobin production, which supports red blood cell function. Additionally, iron is a component of myoglobin, a protein your muscles use to store oxygen, which is necessary for all muscle function.

Sausage contains about 1.3 mg of iron, which is about 8% of the daily recommended value.

5- Sausage is a great way to incorporate a variety of healthy foods into your diet.

Fiber, vegetables, and fruit are commonly lacking in the modern American diet. Sausage is a great vehicle for getting more healthy foods into your family’s bodies.

Skewer kielbasa beef sausage grillers with vegetables and grill, make a tomato veggie sauce and cover some smoked beef sage sausages, or grill some Raging Brats and serve on a bun with fermented sauerkraut.

Is sausage a staple in your house? What are your favorite ways to cook sausages?

I’d love to hear from you. Comment below (no account required) or contact us.

PS: I created an amazing new sausage collection, so you can see our wide selection of beef and pork sausages all in one place. Click on the product to learn more and view the clean ingredients.

PPS: It’s worth noting that small farms like ours often have an overload of ground meat. People want steaks, roasts, and organs more than ground. Adding sausage to your order is an excellent way to help us manage our ground meat inventory and have a zero waste facility.

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Sources

Pastured Meat

Health and Nutrition

Sausages

From farm to fork: Understanding the value of sustainable pork

Raising Pork the Old-Fashioned Way: Miller's Bio Farm's Commitment to Quality At Miller's Bio Farm, we're not trying to reinvent the wheel, we're bringing back the farming practices that sustained communities for generations. As an Amish farm, we understand that good stewardship of the land and animals isn't just about business; it's about honoring creation and providing wholesome food for families. When you buy pork from us, you're getting more than just meat. You're getting the result of careful, intentional farming that puts the well-being of our animals, our land, and your family first. Let's be honest: most grocery store pork comes wrapped in pretty words like "natural" and "humanely raised," but these labels often don't mean much. It's easy to put nice words on a package, much harder to actually do the work of raising animals properly. We'd like to show you how we do things differently here at Miller's Bio Farm. What Makes Our Pork Different Good pork starts with good practices. For us, that means healthy soil, happy animals, responsible harvesting, and thoughtful management of everything that happens on our farm. Here's what that looks like in practice: Pasture-Raised the Way Nature Intended Pigs aren't meant to spend their lives standing on concrete in windowless buildings. They're curious, intelligent animals that need fresh air, sunshine, and room to express their natural behaviors, rooting in the dirt, foraging for food, and socializing with other pigs. On our farm, hogs live outdoors on pasture in the woods where they can do exactly that. We move them regularly to fresh ground, which keeps them healthy and gives the land time to rest and regenerate. This practice, sometimes called rotational grazing is farming wisdom that's been passed down for centuries. When pigs root and forage on fresh pasture, they're naturally fertilizing the soil and helping plants grow back stronger. The land becomes more fertile season after season, storing carbon and building topsoil instead of depleting it. No chemical fertilizers needed, just pigs doing what pigs do best. This kind of farming takes more work than confining animals in one place, but it produces better results for everyone involved: healthier pigs, healthier land, and better tasting pork. Raising Animals with Respect Our approach to animal care reflects our values as an Amish farming community. We believe animals deserve to be treated with dignity and respect throughout their lives. Processing with Care When harvest time comes, we work with a small processor who shares our commitment to humane treatment. Our animals are handled calmly and respectfully, with immediate stunning to ensure they feel no distress. This isn't just the right thing to do, it also affects meat quality. Animals that are stressed at slaughter produce tougher, less flavorful meat. Properly handled animals yield tender, delicious pork that you can taste the difference in. Studies also confirm what traditional farmers have long known: animals raised on pasture produce meat with better nutritional profiles, including higher omega-3 fatty acids and more vitamins. Wholesome Feed, No Shortcuts We raise heritage breed pigs, traditional breeds known for their hardiness and flavor. These animals thrive on pasture with supplemental non-GMO grain, and they don't need antibiotics or growth hormones to stay healthy. In industrial pork production, antibiotics are mixed into feed daily to prevent disease in overcrowded conditions. This practice is creating drug-resistant bacteria that threaten public health, a problem we don't contribute to. Our pigs build strong immune systems naturally through good nutrition, clean living conditions, and low-stress environments. It's the way farming worked for centuries before shortcuts became the norm. Caring for God's Creation As stewards of the land, we take seriously our responsibility to leave it better than we found it. That's not just good farming, it's part of our calling. Building Soil, Not Destroying It Industrial agriculture depletes soil through intensive tilling, chemical dependence, and continuous monoculture cropping. This approach might boost short-term production, but it's not sustainable. We farm differently. Our rotational grazing actually improves soil health year after year. As pigs move across pasture, they naturally incorporate organic matter into the ground. Rest periods allow plants to regrow with deeper roots, which prevents erosion and captures carbon from the atmosphere. The result is living, fertile soil teeming with beneficial microorganisms soil that produces nutritious forage without synthetic inputs. Handling Waste Responsibly Large scale pig operations often store waste in enormous lagoons that leak pollutants into water supplies and release harmful gases into the air. These systems create environmental and health problems for surrounding communities. Our approach couldn't be more different. Because our pigs are spread across pasture and woodlands in manageable groups, their manure distributes naturally as valuable fertilizer rather than concentrating into a waste problem. When winter weather requires us to bring pigs into shelter, we bed them deeply with straw or wood shavings. This creates a composting effect that safely breaks down manure without environmental contamination. We also plant diverse pasture species specifically chosen to absorb nutrients and maintain ecological balance. Not all pigs like to go in the open shelter in the winter time and that's perfectly fine with us! The Real Story Behind Your Pork Chop Many people wonder which type of meat is most environmentally friendly. The truth is, it's not so much about whether you're eating pork, beef, or chicken, it's about how that animal was raised. Take beef as an example. You've probably heard that cattle are terrible for the environment. That criticism applies to feedlot operations where thousands of cattle are confined in small spaces and fed grain-heavy diets. But cattle raised properly on well managed pasture actually improve the land and sequester carbon. The animal itself isn't the problem; the farming method is. The same principle applies to pork. Factory farmed pork has serious environmental and ethical problems. Pasture raised pork from a regenerative farm like ours is a completely different product. One challenge specific to pork is that pigs need grain as part of their diet, they can't survive on grass alone like cattle can. This means sustainable pork production requires access to sustainably grown grain, ideally non-GMO corn and soybeans from farmers practicing regenerative agriculture. On our farm, we're committed to sourcing feed from responsible growers who share our values of soil health, biodiversity, and chemical free farming. What You're Really Buying When you purchase pork from Miller's Bio Farm, you're not just buying bacon or pork chops. You're supporting a way of farming that's been proven over generations, one that respects animals, regenerates land, and produces genuinely nutritious food. We're proud to raise pork the right way, even though it's more work. Because at the end of the day, that's what good stewardship looks like. And that's something worth bringing home to your table. Check out our: ✔️Corn & Soy Free ✔️ Vaccine, Drug, GMO-Free ✔️Heritage Breeds ✔️Woodland Raised PORK COLLECTION HERE: https://millersbiofarm.com/sto...

Eggnog's Medieval Magic

Well now, friends, let me tell you about eggnog - it's no yolk, this drink has been around forever! While history scholars are still whisking through different stories, most agree it sprouted from a Medieval drink called posset. Posset was hot milk curdled with wine or beer, served in a two-handled pot when folks caught the sniffles. Yup, that's right, I said sniffles. The warmth would settle your bones, the milk kept your strength up better than a day of plowing, and the alcohol and spices worked like nature's own medicine chest. Posset recipes were as varied as quilting patterns, every homestead had their own way to make it, and from this patchwork of kitchen wisdom grew a whole crop of milk based treasures, including... eggnog itself. Eggnog is a rich, chilled, sweet dairy drink that'll make you smile like you just finished morning milking. It's made with milk, cream, sugar, egg yolks, and spices, simple as that! Most folks only raise a glass during a short spell around Christmas. It was those fancy British folks in the 1700s who turned eggnog into a holiday tradition. They'd add expensive spirits and spices to milk to preserve it through winter (yep, aged eggnog, just like preserving pickles in the cellar). Eventually, eggnog crossed the ocean to the Thirteen Colonies. As times changed and food became easier to come by, common folk adopted it as a cherished holiday drink. Today, food is everywhere you look, but finding the right kind is harder than finding a needle in a haystack. Store-bought eggnog is stacked in every store, but I won't hitch my wagon to it. Store-bought eggnog is cooked up in factories to taste good and stay the same every time. But it's packed with additives, loaded with more sugar than a honey wagon, and has less than 2% egg yolks. Might as well call it milknog! And don't get me started on all that pasteurization business. If you've got the time, eggnog is easier than feeding chickens. Here's what you need: 4 egg yolks (fresh from the henhouse) ⅓ cup maple syrup (the real stuff, tapped honest) 2 cups raw milk (straight from Bessie, if you're blessed) 1 cup raw cream 1 tsp nutmeg (or whatever spices suit your fancy) 3 oz bourbon or rum (if you're of a mind to) You can mix these ingredients raw (like we do on the farm) or you can warm it up. Your barn, your rules. For a fuller eggnog, beat those yolks until they lighten like sunrise. Then fold in the rest. For a frothy eggnog that'll make you grin like a cat in the creamery, beat 4 egg whites until soft peaks form, then stir them into your finished batch. I highly recommend doing this whether you bought it from a farm stand or made it yourself. It's wonderful. So please, enjoy your eggnog this winter season. When you raise your glass, think on what you're celebrating. Toast to home remedies, good health, the wisdom of those who came before us, and honest food that comes from the land.

From Grass To Glow: Tallow Skin Care

Tallow might sound old-school, but this grass-fed goodness is pure skin food. Packed with vitamins A, D, E & K plus CLA, it mimics your skin’s natural fats for maximum absorption. The result? Happy, nourished, glowing skin, without the chemicals