Everyday life is hectic – work, errands, social life etc. is exhausting. Add grad school to that equation and voila! you’ve got Buzzard’s life. How do I stay energized during my 12 hour work days (sans the 30 minutes I spent writing this post)? I eat MEAT! Beef, pork, chicken and sometimes (on the rarest occasions) fish.
Don’t get me wrong – I like other types of food. In the veggie category I really love green beans (yes, just one type of vegetable fits my fancy). I adore potatoes and eat lots of forms of corn (creamed, on the cob, frozen, popped) so I have my starches covered. I’m a huge fan of peaches, pears, strawberries, apples, bananas and lots of other fruits and who doesn’t love bread and pasta? Basically, I’ve got all the food groups covered but my favorite is meat.
Look at all the comparisons between meat and its subordinates 😉
- It would take 6X as much peanut butter to get the same amount of protein as you would from one 3 oz piece of beef – eating meat is so efficient!
- Half the daily protein you need in your diet comes from only 3 oz of beef – again with efficiency!
- You’d have to eat 8 stalks of celery to get the same amount of iron from 1 – 3 oz portion of brown sugar cured ham – blah, celery.
- One baked chicken drumstick as 2.5x less sodium than one serving (1.5 cups) of spinach – I’m not Popeye so hand me the chicken!
- Beef and chicken have almost no carbohydrates. Of the few cuts of pork that do contain carbs, each cut has less than 3 grams of carbohydrates per serving.
- There are 5 cuts of chicken that have fewer calories from fat than 1 ear of sweet corn.
- There are 29 cuts of beef that are classified as ‘lean’ – including the sirloin, tenderloin and T-bone steaks – all the more reason to eat steak on those not-so-special occasions!
- One sweet potato contains more calories than one 3 oz serving of roasted pork tenderloin.
Pair any of these healthy meat options with a glass of milk, some whole grain (and heart healthy) pasta and some sliced peaches and you’ve got yourself a tasty dinner!
Until next time,
~Buzzard~