Healthiest meat options

Meat and poultry can be valuable sources of protein and other important nutrients, but they can also be sources of unhealthy fat and cholesterol. 

Fattier cuts tend to taste better but with a few simple tricks and tips, you can have it both ways — taste and health. With the following tips, you can reduce the fat even in higher fat marbled cuts.

Selecting meat and poultry

Look for lean cuts. Certain cuts of meat and poultry are lower in fat. Lean cuts of beef include round, sirloin and tenderloin. Lean pork or lamb includes tenderloin, loin chops and leg. The leanest poultry is white meat from the breast with no skin.

Check percentages. When buying minced beef, look for packages with the highest percentage of lean meat — 90 percent or higher.

Watch the mince. Minced poultry can have as much fat as minced beef has, or more, because it often includes dark meat and skin. To make the leanest choice, choose minced breast meat, or look for low-fat minced chicken or turkey.

BEEF AND VEAL

Average per 100g: 136 calories, 5.1g fat (beef); 106 calories, 1.7g fat (veal).

Health rating: ****(beef); ***(veal)

Beef steaks and joints are low in fat, provided only the lean is eaten. But

minced beef can be 5-25 pc fat, with half being saturated fat - the type

strongly linked with heart disease.

LAMB

Average per 100g: 156 calories, 8.3g fat. Health rating: **

Lamb is one of the fattiest meats, with the leanest cuts twice as fatty as

their beef equivalent. However, there is a lot of variation, with lean leg

steaks providing just 5.2 pc fat and lean breast 11 pc.

Lamb is one of the best absorbed sources of iron and a rich supply of

zinc. An average serving has more than the Recommended Daily Allowance (RDA) of vitamin B12, needed for healthy red blood cells.

PORK

Average per 100g: 123 calories, 4g fat. Health rating: ****

Technically a red meat, lean pork is almost as low in fat as chicken.

Escalopes contain 1.7 pc fat compared with 1.1 pc in chicken breasts.

However, streaky spare ribs are much fattier at 13.5 pc.

Pork has a lower proportion of artery-clogging saturates than lamb or beef

but is not as high in the unsaturated type as chicken. Its zinc and iron

content is intermediate between poultry and red meat.

CHICKEN

Average per 100g: 106 calories, 1.1g fat Health rating: ***

Cooked light meat is the lowest in fat, but grilled breast with the skin has triple the fat content.

On the upside, the fat in chicken meat and skin is far less saturated than

in red meats, and supplies a better proportion of healthier monounsaturates

and polyunsaturates.

The dark meat is a much better source of zinc and iron than white but

supplies only about half the quantity of red meat.

Lean and Fat cuts

 

Leanest Cuts

Sirloin tip side

Taken from the top of the round. Very lean, but still holds flavour.

Fat content per 100g: 5.4g

Saturated fat per 100g: 2.06g

Round Steak

Cut from the hip and considered flavourful and more tender than other cuts from the round. 

Fat content per 100g: 7.6g

Saturated fat per 100g: 3g

Fattiest Cuts

Rib-Eye 

Very marbled cut, which means its flavourful and stays tender while cooking.

Fat content per 100g: 37.6g

Saturated fat per 100g: 15g 

T-Bone

A cut from below the porterhouse. Its high fat content means that it stays tender while cooking 

Fat content per 100g: 25.6g

Saturated fat content per 100g: 10.6g