Eating Healthy: Everything You Need To Know About Lean Meats
Meats are thoroughly enjoyed forms of protein, making it very hard to avoid them even while on a diet. Thus, the standard advice that people consume more "lean" meats. Although lean meats are generally believed to be safe for consumption, there are some concerns about their potential threat to human health.
Lean meats are simply meats that have a lower fat content and, as a result, have a lower calorie content. Examples include skinless chicken and turkey and red meat, such as pork or lamb, with the fat trimmed.
The chicken's skin is said to make up about 80% of its total fat content, while the trimmed fat on the pork accounts for about two-thirds of its total fat content.
In other words, you'll be getting just the right amount of proteins and very little fat, if any at all, from eating lean meats. Thus, the expert recommendation that people striving to lose weight or maintain healthy eating patterns eat lean meats.
Here are some of the nutritional benefits of eating lean meats:
- Besides having little fat content, poultry is rich in selenium, vitamins B3 and B6, and choline:
- Selenium has antioxidant properties which help to prevent free radicals from damaging cells. Selenium also helps the immune system. Vitamins B3 and B6 help the body to convert carbohydrate into glucose.
- Vitamin B3, also called niacin, helps with the production of stress and sex hormones. Choline helps with nerve function and can reduce inflammation.
- On the other hand, red meat in a pure form is a good source of protein and B vitamins and has been a vital part of the human diet.
However, there is still concern about the possible dangers of lean meats. Some of them are:
1. Presence of antibiotics in poultry
The greatest may be the use of antibiotics in poultry farming. According to reports, these are frequently associated with people getting infections, such as urinary tract infections, that are resistant to antibiotics.
So, farmers are made to adhere to rules to limit the amount of antibiotics that we ingest through poultry. To remain safe, you may just choose to restrict yourself to eating organic poultry.
2. They may predispose people to gout
Another potential danger of eating lean meats is that they have been found to contain moderate levels of purines. Although purines are useful for the body, they can increase gout in people who are susceptible to it.
On a final note, we leave you with the advice to always cook your meats thoroughly before consumption and to store them properly, at very low temperatures.
