Lean Meat
August 7, 2009
Meat as well as poultry products are a favourite source of important protein but these tend to be really high on fat, they contain high cholesterol and saturated fat which is unhealthy. That’s the reason why most of the diets suggest only some amount of this kind of stuff.
If you know how to choose the exact cuts in meat and you practice low fat cooking style, you can actually cut the unnecessary and unimportant fat from your daily diet; this will also help you in achieving your health goals. The tips mentioned below can be of immense use.
Select lean meat and poultry cuts: Leanest products in poultry choice are obviously white meat, which is found in chicken or turkey breast (remember to have them without their skin). Lean cut is also available in beef and pork.
Labels of Grounded meat: If you have to buy ground form of beef, make sure you see the package which have the highest % of lean meat-this should be around 90% or more. Many stores sell different type of grounded beef with different % of lean meat.
Chicken and Turkey Breast: Ground form of poultry can also have equal amount of fat as in ground beef, even more, as it often contains darker portion of meat along with the skin. Make sure you choose ground chicken or turkey breast instead.
Least visible fat: Meat labeled as ‘Select’ or ‘choice’ should be chosen as they are low in fat vis-a-vie ‘Prime’ meat which contains fat.
Trim or take off whatever visible fat is seen on the poultry and meat. This has skin on the poultry. When you are roasting chicken or turkey as a whole, you can leave skin on while cooking but take it off when you eat it.
Low-fat marinade: The Marinade you use is used to enhance the flavor of the dish and it can also help make the meat tender and it also helps in keeping the food moist when you cook it. Pick low fat options like mixture of herbs or spice in soy sauce, wine, lime juice or cider vinegar.
Low fat Cooking: You should opt for low fat options in cooking like grilling, roasting, broiling, saute and baking our food. If you are oven cooking your meat, make sure that you place the meat on the rack inside a baking dish so extra fat can drips off.
Advance Cooking: Prepare stews, soups or other such dishes which you use to boil the meat at least a day or two prior, keep it refrigerated. On chilled dishes excess fat hardens on the top which can be removed easily.
Drain the fat: Post preparation of ground meat, make sure you drain all the fat that you have on the pan follow it by rinsing the meat in warm water. Blot meat with the help of a paper towel, this will aid in removing extra water.
Serving the right portion: If you reduce the portion you would lower the intake of fat and cholesterol you had with the meat.
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