Canadians Are Helping Themselves to a Better Diet While Helping Beef Industry
In helping the beef industry get back on track, consumers may also be helping themselves to a more nutritious diet. “Large segments of the population are not eating the recommended number of servings from the Meat and Alternatives food group, thus putting themselves at risk for insufficient intakes of important nutrients such as iron and zinc,” Scarlett notes.
Scarlett bases this statement on a national nutrition study by McGill University, which showed that about 40% of women and 25% of men aren’t eating the minimum recommendation of two servings from the Meat and Alternatives food group as suggested in Canada’s Food Guide to Health Eating.
There is definitely room in Canadians’ diet for nutrient dense foods like meat. The McGill study also found that the “Other Foods” category – a group of foods that contain significant amounts of fat and Calories, but are low in nutrients – contribute more than 25% of the Calories in our daily diet.
“Beef contains 12 essential nutrients, and is a rich source of highly absorbable iron and zinc,” explains Scarlett. “By replacing snacks, such as chips and chocolate bars, with a burger or a salad with steak strips, consumers benefit themselves … and the beef industry.”
Consumers can enjoy the delicious, nutritious taste of beef guilt free. All cuts of beef, except short ribs, qualify as lean when trimmed of visible fat – that is, they have no more than 10% fat. As for ground beef, Scarlett points out that lean and extra lean ground beef make up the majority of ground beef purchases in Canada. “However, consumers wanting to take advantage of feature pricing on regular ground beef will be pleased to learn that during cooking much of the fat drains off,” explains Scarlett. “When cooked, drained, and rinsed of excess fat, regular ground beef is similar in fat content to cooked, drained lean ground beef.”
