5 Things You Probably Didn’t Know About Meat & Nutrition

If you’re like me, you hate a steak that is overcooked.  But did you know ordering a steak well-done affects more than just the meat’s flavor?  The way you cook meat has the ability to ruin or protect the nutrients it contains.

Last week I started reading Deep Nutrition, a book written by Catherine Shanahan, MD and Luke Shanahan, MFA.  In their book they talk about how the food you eat affects your entire body, inside and out, as well as your children… and your children’s children.

So far I’m only about a third of the way through it, but it has already taught an incredible amount… about meat.  Here are 5 things I didn’t know, and 5 things you probably didn’t know either.

Overcooking, kills its nutrition:

• Ordering your steak well-done is actually harmful.  When you overcook your meat, the heat not only kills the nutrients but it creates carcinogenic chemical compounds including aromatic hydrocarbons and cyclic amines.

Slow cooking, preserves its nutrition:

• Slow cooking meat traps moisture inside, making it more tender, and it also causes the meat to release mineral salts including calcium, potassium, iron, sulfate, phosphorus, sodium, and chloride.

Cooking with fat, adds nutrition:

• Turns out fat not only tastes great (say what you will about butter, but it is undeniably delicious), but it allows your body to absorb fat-soluble nutrients such as Vitamins A, D, E, and K.

• Fat also acts as a buffer between the meat and the heat, which helps prevent it from overcooking and causes the meat to cook slower (re-read number 1 and 2 if you need to know why those are good things).

Buying organic, intensifies its nutrition:

• If you buy organic meat, which hopefully means grass-fed, pastured-raised, and fed from good soil, the nutrients the animal consumed will have compounded due to Bioconcentration.  It pays to pay more for good meat!

Making bone stock, releases nutrition:

• Making bone stock from the bones, ligaments, and tendons of an animal releases glycosaminoglycans.  Glycosaminoglycans contain glucosamine which stimulates the growth of collagen… which is great for your joints, hair, skin, nails, bones, and arteries.

photo credit: exponent.com

For anyone who has an interest in food, nutrition, your body, or all three… I highly recommend you read Deep Nutrition.  Happy meat-eating! 🙂