Healthy Food Choices: Lean Meats

Lean meats are a good source of proteins, small amounts of fat, and nutrients needed for a healthy diet and body. Try these tips for buying lean meats in this healthy shopping video.

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Get lean cuts
Good source of iron & protein
Exercised parts of animals are best
Use healthy cooking methods

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Michelle Cooper has been a registered dietician for more than 10 years. She currently works for the state of North Carolina for the New Hanover County School District in the Child Nutrition Department as the supervising registered dietician on staff. She specializes in child nutrition, child fitness and overall child health. She enjoys her job because it allows her to be a pivotal piece of child development.

MICHELLE COOPER: Next, we're going to talk about healthy choices for lean meat. Meat can be a great source of iron and protein; however, it can also have a lot of fat. So when we choose meat, we want to choose the leanest cuts possible or the leanest sources. When looking for beef, you want to choose--or ground beef, one that has 85% or 90% lean meat, which means only 10% of that meat by weight is fat. Additionally, when you're looking for cuts of red meat that are lean, you want to find the most exercised part of the animal. That's where you'll find leaner cuts like the loins, the legs, the shoulders. Stay away from the soft underside of the belly where all the fat is. That's why you don't want to have things like ribs. Another good source of lean meat would be poultry or turkey, any kind of wild game like venison, where they have to exercise a lot out in the wild. Also you can remove any visible fat from your meat by trimming away that fat and by using methods of cooking like baking, broiling or roasting or grilling, not frying. So number one, try to choose lean meats, like ground beef that's 90% of lean beef and 10% fat, wild animals and try to choose the most exercised portion of the animal like the loin, the shoulders. Stay way from the ribs. Thirdly, choose birds like poultry and turkey. And lastly, when you cook the meat, make sure that you use no fat in preparation and cut away all visible fat.

Healthy Food Choices: Lean Meats Video

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