Beef – It's Good and Good for you
Beef tastes great and it’s good for you. Lean beef – ground beef, roast beef, and great tasting steaks – contains 14 essential nutrients including high quality protein, iron, zinc and B vitamins.
With beef you can quickly and easily put some ZIP – Zinc, Iron, Protein – in your diet each time you sit down to a meal that includes beef.
- Zinc is an anti-oxidant that helps to prevent early aging of the skin and muscles of the body.
- Iron is great at helping to carry oxygen through the body. Too little iron can greatly affect your mood and your alertness.
- Protein is vital for muscle growth and provides great energy for your body.
Eating Well with Canada’s Food Guide encourages Canadians to enjoy one to three servings of meat and alternatives such as lean beef every day. Just one serving of cooked meat equals 75 grams or 2 ½ ounces.
Beef is nutrient dense. It contains many nutrients in relationship to the size of the serving, which is an important consideration for the small appetites of the young and the elderly. Eight beef cuts as well as lean and extra lean ground beef, qualify for the Heart and Stroke Foundation’s of Canada HealthCheck™.
When trimmed of visible fat, all cuts of beef except short ribs and spare ribs have less than 10% fat and qualify as lean. Research shows that lean beef is as effective as chicken or fish in lower-fat diets designed to reduce blood cholesterol levels.