There has been a lot of misunderstanding regarding pork and red meat and the media has wrongfully demonized red meat for years, claiming that red meat should only be consumed once a day. In fact, but the American Heart Association (AHA) and the U.S Department of Agriculture (USDA) say that lean red meat can be part of a healthy diet. Pork has probably gotten the worst publicity of all red meats and there are certain religions that don’t allow the consumption of pork because it’s swine. Subjective name calling may be convincing to some people but as a fitness expert I like to have my reasoning backed up by scientific evidence.
I can’t tell you the amount of people I’ve met who claim they only eat white meat as means of reducing calories, cholesterol and losing weight faster, yet they can’t give any solid scientifically proven evidence to back up their claims. Ironically there is a lot of evidence showing why you should make red meat a port of your diet and many of the popular and expensive testosterone boosting supplements extract most of their active ingredients from red meat. It’s ironic that many people choose beef over pork because the myth is that pork is higher in calories and saturated fat when the exact opposite is true. Pork is actually leaner than most cuts of beef with a higher nutrition lean sirloin steak.
Some people choose not to eat pork simply because they don’t know enough recipes that incorporate pork, but pork is naturally seasoned, and most cuts of pork can be seasoned with just a little salt and pepper. Pork is very high in Vitamins B1, B2, B3, B6, B12, Calcium, Iron, Zink, Magnesium and Phosphorus. All these minerals support a healthy metabolism and keeping you energized all day. In case you’re not aware, red meat is an excellent choice if you’re looking to build muscle and burn fat which should be everyone’s goal, red meat is a not only a high source of complete protein but a natural source of creatine which can help you give that extra muscle building final push during your resistance training program.
When it comes to leanness, the Food and Drug Administration considers meat lean if it has less than 10 grams of total fat, less than 4.5 grams of saturated fat and less than 95 milligrams of cholesterol for every 3.5-ounce portion. Some great choices for lean cuts of beef are top loin (strip) steak, tenderloin (filet mignon) or 93% or leaner ground beef with most of the fat coming from the unsaturated kind. Unfortunately it’s hard to get the exact details of fat when buying meat from the meat market but every butcher should be able to tell you the percentage of leanness.
If you’re trying to lose weight and love red meat, pork should take priority over beef so you can get more of these vitamins and calorie burning minerals from your lean cuts. Beef does have nutritional benefits, but you must be more cautious about the lean cuts you eat doe to its higher ratio of saturated fat compared to most pork cuts. My favorite choice of pork is pork tenderloin, although it tends to be more expensive. Pork chops are also a good choice but make sure you trim off the layer of fat. All other forms of red meat tend to be naturally lean but not a regular part of the American diet, such as, venison, rabbit, lamb, bison, rodent, water buffalo and many other game meats. If you have access to meats that grown in the wild and not farm raised, these meat cuts tend to have a higher ratio of unsaturated fat and less saturated fat with a higher nutrition density.
There are some obvious cuts of meat you should clearly stay away from, such as sausage, hot dogs, deli meat and other meats not meeting the FDA leanness guidelines. Not only are these meats higher in artery-clogging saturated fats but many of them are high in sodium. Lots of people argue that eating too much pork can cause heart attack or stroke due to its natural sodium content. We normally ad salt to all our recipes to bring out the flavor and this is what makes pork easier to cook. Alleged health problems from eating too much pork is not caused from the pork itself but from either not fulling cooking the pork to kill all germs and bacteria or from over seasoning the pork. Once you recognize that pork is already somewhat naturally seasoned, you can be careful when adding your own seasoning so that you’re not over seasoning and just making sure you’re cooking it to the right internal temperature.
Nutrition density is vital to a successful body transformation and you should never exile entire food groups from your program. If you’re not a vegetarian you should be including all sources of protein to your meal plan such as red meat, chicken, fish, soy and other beans and seeds. This will help you fight off sickness, keep a high metabolism and burn fat faster.
Comments
