Beef, ‘it’s what’s for dinner’?
How about ‘for all of your meals’?
You ought to be eating more meat…and that’s coming from a slightly sheepish National Institute of Health which had historically opposed meat consumption.
You may notice that there are subtle changes coming from your doctor and the dieticians as more and more they are changing their tune when it comes to meat.
Strangely they won’t admit they were wrong, but instead, are softening their message.
This trend started in 2014 when dieticians started doing studies instead of just attacking people who supported the Atkins Diet.
Scientists noticed that when diabetics ate meat, their insulin levels got better.
And since then, there has been more and more backing away from the idea that meat causes cholesterol to go up and cause heart attacks.
Celebrate Beef
Now that more of the “official” nutrition community is celebrating meat consumption, let’s look at some of the great things that steak does for your body.
- It’s a fat burner
The amino acid L-Carnitine is an important transporter of fat out of your cells and into your mitochondria so it can be used for energy.
In four ounces of beef, you get 162 mg, versus .1 mg from a half a cup of asparagus.
More of this vital nutrient helps with heart health, diabetes and blood sugar management and of course, weight loss.
And let’s not forget that beef contains conjugated linoleic acid which is a naturally occurring trans-fat that improves insulin sensitivity and turns on the fat burning systems in your body.
- Protects you from aging
Oxidative stress ages you.
If you want to be protected from it, then glutathione is something you want in abundance.
Beef not only contains this, but it also has all the building blocks in it to give your body the tools it needs to make even more when you need it.
- The building block of muscle
Your body needs just two macronutrients, fat, and protein, and beef has the protein.
Just six ounces of lean beef has 46 grams of protein. This is the building block of lean muscle in our own bodies. As we age, we need more protein to maintain the muscle in our body.
Ounce for ounce it is tough to get a better source of complete protein that our bodies can quickly use for muscle building.
- Vital Minerals in Abundance
Scientists note more and more that much of our vegetable supply is grown in areas where vital minerals have been depleted from the soils.
Yet beef has retained its supply of such vital minerals like iron, phosphorus, selenium, and zinc.
These minerals work throughout the body to help carry out nearly all vital functions.
- Preventing Heart Disease
One of the horrible side effects of convincing people that beef was bad for us was it opened us up for hardening of the heart arteries (atherosclerosis).
This is because beef contains carnosine (beta-alanyl-L-histidine) which is a compound created by the combination of the amino acids alanine and histidine.
Beef contains 50% more of this than chicken or turkey.
When we don’t have enough, our artery walls become more vulnerable to dangerous blockages which can lead to strokes and heart attacks.
- Chock-Full of Vitamins
If you listen to vegetarians, you would think the only way to get your vitamins is in fruits and vegetables, but nothing could be further from the truth.
As a matter of fact, the only way to get vitamin B12 is by eating meat.
A small serving of beef is sufficient for nearly all of your B vitamin needs.
But it also has E and K and depending on the cut of beef, other vitamins too.
But remember, if you don’t get enough B12, you run the serious risk of depression and other mental health issues.
- Explosive Muscles
And finally, beef is full of creatine which is what helps the muscles release energy quickly. You don’t need to buy expensive supplements if you eat your beef.
It is time we start to embrace beef again.
It’s not only what’s for dinner, but it’s also what keeps you healthy.
