Grilling in the backyard with family is widely considered to be one of the great American pastimes. Rarely on these occasions will you find tofu, or broccoli on the grill. Eating burgers, steak, chicken and hot dogs has become synonymous with get-togethers and family events, and as a country, there's no denying that the U.S. is a nation of meat eaters. Knowing which meats you should eat, how much and how often are crucial to staying healthy.
Guidelines
The current U.S. Department of Agriculture's calorie guidelines recommend that a 170 lb. sedentary person between the ages of 19 and 50 should eat 1,800 to 2,400 calories per day to sustain a healthy level of energy. Meat contains on average quite a high amount of protein, and the USDA recommends eating no more than 0.4 g of protein per pound of body weight, unless you are an athlete or bodybuilder. An athlete needs to eat 0.6 g per pound, and a body builder needs 0.8 g per pound.
Benefits
While many may think of beef or chicken immediately upon hearing the word "meat," fish is in fact meat and can be quite healthy for you. According to a study done at the Harvard School of Medicine in 2006, eating 3 oz. per week of fatty fish such as salmon, or 6 oz. of mackerel, can reduce your chances of dying from coronary heart disease by up to 36 percent. In fact, eating a modest amount of fish high in omega-3 fatty acids can reduce your overall mortality rate by 17 percent.
Misconceptions
Despite what you may have heard about red meat being high in fat and "bad for you," it's just not true. Yes, grain-fed beef is high in saturated fat, but that's mostly due to the high amounts of fat in the feed that the cows eat. Grass-fed beef is making a comeback in the U.S., and you may be surprised at the health benefits it's packing. In comparison to grain-fed ground beef, grass-fed beef is 65 percent lower in saturated fat, and New York strips are 35 percent lower. Grass-fed beef is also packed with omega-3 fatty acids and contains 400 percent more vitamin A and E.
Preparation and Safety
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, or CDC, estimates that 76 million people will get sick from food-borne illnesses in the U.S., and of those, about 5,000 die. This is in part due to many frequent meat eaters not knowing how to properly prepare and cook their meat before serving it. According to the USDA, pork, ground beef, eggs, chicken breasts and whole poultry have to be cooked until their internal temperate reaches at least 165 degrees. Meanwhile, fish, steaks and roasts must get up to at least 145 degrees. Harmful bacteria that live in raw meat can't survive temperatures above these levels.
Warning
Some meats contain extremely unhealthy amounts of fat and need to be eaten sparingly and in very small serving sizes. For example, just one ounce of dry salami contains 108 calories, and a whopping 3 g of saturated fat, equal to 15 percent of your recommended daily intake. Thus, although "cold cut" sandwiches may look delicious, they may very well contain several days worth of saturated fat.
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