TEXAS NEIGHBORS | SUMMER 2018 By Jessica Domel Multimedia Reporter Striving for a better beach body? Hoping for better overall health? No matter your goal, beef can play a vital role. “A lot of times people feel like beef is not part of a healthy diet,” Haley Poinsett, se-nior manager of Nutrition for the Texas Beef Council, said. “Beef is just an incredible source of nutrients that our bodies can’t make. There’s a great body of research to support it is part of a heart-healthy lifestyle.” Beef is a great source of protein, which can be use-ful in weight management, muscle building and a feel-ing of fullness. “If you have 25 to 30 grams of beef at breakfast, studies show that actually changes your brain, and it turns off the part of it that is seeking food and wanting that reward toward the end of the day,” Poinsett said. It leads to healthier choices naturally, according to Poinsett, which is an important component of a weight maintenance pro-gram. The good news is two-thirds of the meat case at a grocery store already meets the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s definition for lean meat, which means it has less than 10 grams of total fat, less than 4.5 grams of saturated fat and less than 95 milligrams of cho-lesterol. “Most of what you find there already meets the definition. You really don’t have to worry about it. Most of the popular cuts—even ground beef—can fit into that,” Poinsett said. If the ribeye is your favorite cut, don’t worry. The key to a healthy diet is balance. You can cut the visible fat or cut back in other ways. “If you were to use a salad dressing with the meal, you could just have a fat-free salad dressing. It’s all about balance, variety and moderation,” Poinsett said. Choosing to roast the meat instead of frying is also helpful. “Really, where the extra fat comes in is in the things you would add to the cooking,” Poinsett said. “That’s actually where most of our added calories come from—a sauce or something you coat it in that is very high in fat. Frying it would signifi-cantly add fat from the oil.” Additional cooking tips, nutrition information and recipes are available at BeefLovingTexans.com . WWW.TEXASFARMBUREAU.ORG