Raising The Steaks

Beef Up Your Health

By: Leticia

Looking back to my days in grade school, I can remember several adults coming in educating us about how important it is to have a healthy diet.  Now, more than ever before, it seems that our society has become more health conscious.  That’s a good thing.  The bad side to this:  Everyone seems to have their own opinion on what makes up a healthy diet.  One diet that seems to be getting a lot of attention here lately is a vegan diet, which would mean cutting out all products that come from animals.  Even Oprah has agreed to try out this vegan diet for 21 days.  While I don’t claim to be any health expert, I do believe that we should have a balanced, well rounded diet that includes even beef.  Now, just to show you that I am not just making these assumptions, I am here to provide to you some interesting health benefits, which are factual, about beef.

Let’s begin with the basics.  The serving size for beef is 3oz, or about the size of a deck of cards.  A lot of people would prefer to eat chicken over beef on the basis that chicken is just healthier.  But actually, did you know that there are 29 cuts of lean beef?  The good news is to be considered lean, beef has to contain less than 10 grams of total fat per serving.  These cuts, on average, contain about just one more gram of fat than an equal portion of chicken.  See for yourself how these 29 lean cuts of beef compare to chicken.

Still not bought yet?  Well consider the role that Zinc, Iron, and Protein, or as we like to call it, ZIP, play in our daily lives.  Beef is a good source for all of these nutrients, which, according to the American Dietetic Association, are very important to the functioning of our bodies.  Each one of these provide our body with important functions.  Zinc helps your body grow and gives you energy while iron helps deliver oxygen throughout your body.  The protein in beef is really unique.  Not only does it grow muscle, but it also provides you with nine essential amino acids.  The essential amino acids can not be made by the body, so we must to turn to sources such as beef to get them.  Bieber Red Angus Ranch has provided additional health information about beef.

Some of these nutrients that are provided to us by beef are lacking in American diets.  The US health authorities report that 81% of American females and 65% of American males are zinc deficient-And this is just one example!  Beef can help you get your body get these requirements.  Just one serving size of beef will provide you with up to 39% of the daily requirement of Zinc!  To get this same amount of zinc that you get in one serving of beef, you would have to consume 13 3oz servings of tuna!  To see how beef stacks up to other foods in providing you with ZIP, click here.

 Beef, just like fruits and vegetables, is an important part of our diets that we can not afford to cut out.  I insist that you don’t just take my word for it, but to check out some of the links I’ve provided.  It’s important that you find out for yourself, and not just listen to what public figures such as Oprah have to say about your diet.  I know that tonight when I go home, I will participate in one of my summer events, grilling.  The end result will be a healthy steak that I can appreciate.  It’s nice to know that we can enjoy beef:  Nature’s best tasting multi-vitamin.