The Great Meat Makeover and More-Reverse Diabetes

The Great Meat Makeover

Twenty grams. That’s your limit of saturated fat per day if you want to abide by a diet that limits your risk of heart disease. So how much fat is that? Roughly one-third of a stick of butter. Put that way, it seems like a lot—it would take a lot of bread to handle that much butter! But the problem is, saturated fats are in a lot of food. And so most Americans pack in way more saturated fat each day than they should.

It’s an important health issue. Whereas we once thought that it was cholesterol in your diet that caused cholesterol in your bloodstream, we now know that it’s saturated fat that leads to high cholesterol and clogged arteries. Plus dietary fat is calorie dense—one gram is 9 calories, compared with 4 calories per gram for protein or carbs. Which means excess fat in our diet is a big reason we gain weight.

Saturated fat is found in just about any animal source of food, be it butter, milk, meat, or cheese. But what a lot of folks don’t realize is that saturated fat often sneaks in your diet. Sure, you may not drink a glass of whole milk every day, but if you add cream to your coffee, eat ice cream once in a while, and snack on whole-milk cheeses, you’re still getting an ample serving of saturated fat.

Unfortunately, the stealthy saturated fat sources don’t end with animal products. Certain plant oils such as palm, palm kernel and coconut oils—which are found in most packaged and processed foods like cookies and granola bars—contains loads of saturated fat. 

You can easily pack more than a day’s worth of saturated fat into a single meal if you’re not careful. The good news is that you can still enjoy a hearty dinner and dodge all that saturated fat. A few simple changes to a traditional steak and potatoes dinner can help you easily stay within your daily saturated fat budget. Here’s how:

A Typical Big, Bad Fats Dinner
3.5 oz. rib-eye steak, 5.7 g saturated fat
1 tablespoon butter for frying, 7.3 g saturated fat
2 tablespoons sour cream for potato, 2.7 g saturated fat
1 cup whole milk, 4.6 g saturated fat
1 cup chocolate ice cream, 9 g saturated fat
Total: 29.3 g saturated fat

That’s almost more than 125 percent of your recommended daily value—and this doesn’t even count the rest of the saturated fat you might have eaten throughout the day. Instead, try this meal: 

Good Fats Alternative Dinner 
3.5 oz beef tenderloin, 3.8 g saturated fat
1 tablespoon olive oil for frying, 3.8 g saturated fat
2 tablespoons herbed non-fat yogurt for potato, 0 g fat
1 cup 1% milk, 1.6 g saturated fat 
1 cup fresh strawberries, 0 g saturated fat
Total: 9.2 g saturated fat

With just a few quick swaps you cut out almost 70 percent of the meal’s saturated fat. Plus, with these tasty options, you’re not cheating yourself on quantity or taste. While protecting your heart and reducing your risk of heart attack, stroke and cardiovascular disease, you still get to enjoy a steak dinner with all the fixings—and dessert!

Featured Recipe

Chinese Beef Soup with Barley & Spinach 
With a potent combination of lots of protein and fiber, this Asian-inspired soup with hints of ginger and garlic will fill you up in all the right ways. Mmmmm, pass the spoon!

Serves 6

Ingredients:
1 ½ pounds beef stew meat, trimmed and cut into 1-inch cubes
1 onion, finely chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 can (14.5 ounces) reduced-sodium, fat-free beef broth
¼ cup reduced-sodium soy sauce
1 piece ginger, peeled and cut into 4 pieces
1 teaspoon fennel seeds
½ teaspoon salt
1 cup uncooked barley
12 cups stemmed spinach leaves
2 scallions, thinly sliced (optional) 

Preparation:
1    In a large saucepan, combine beef, onion, garlic, 6 cups water, broth, soy sauce, ginger, fennel seeds, and salt. Bring to a boil over medium heat.
2    Stir in barley. Lower heat and simmer, covered, for 1½ hours until beef is very tender.
3    Stir in spinach. Simmer 2 minutes. Remove ginger pieces. Garnish with scallion, if desired. 

Per serving: 304 cal, 6 g fat, 32 g carbs, 32 g protein, 8 g fiber, 66 mg chol, 808 mg sodium, 94 mg calcium

Great Ideas

4 Fun Things To Do With Oats (Besides Oatmeat)

Oatmeal is a high-fiber food superstar. Those oat grains have an amazing cholesterol-lowering benefit: Regularly eat 1½ cups and your LDL cholesterol can drop by 12 to 24 percent. But after a few bowls, oatmeal can be so booooooring. To keep you from falling asleep in your porridge, here are four ways to glam up the good old-fashioned oat:

1. Grind oats in the blender and use them to coat fish and chicken instead of breadcrumbs. Add a shake of salt, pepper, and your favorite seasonings. You’ll cut out the carbs and replace them with heart-healthy fiber.
2. Use a mixture of oats and ground oats with a little margarine to make a delicious crumble topping for pies and cobblers.
3. Next time you make pancakes, add oats to the batter to increase the fiber content. You’ll experience less of a sugar-crash than you usually get from flapjacks full of refined carbs. 
4. Use ground oats in meatloaf and meatballs instead of breadcrumbs.