Some facts about beef


Beef is often considered too fatty to use in every day cooking. A typical serving of beef contains 7 to 11 grams of fat. That's less than 100 fat calories.

The fat quantities often mentioned for beef assume you're eating all the fat that's on the cut of meat. Then there's the further complication of beef grading and pricing.

Prime Beef:
This is the most expensive and contains the most fat. Restaurants buy this and it's typically not available in grocery stores.
Choice Beef:
The second most expensive and contains the second highest levels of fat.
Select Beef:
This is the most economical and contains the least fat.

The following table shows the fat content of various foods. Most items are in the same fat content range as a typical serving of beef. Some others are for comparisons between home prepared foods and commercially prepared foods.

Fat content in various foods

Amount Food Item Fat Grams Source
1 Big Mac 32.4 2
16 French Fries 16.0 2
16 slices Bread 16.0 3
2 tbsp Peanut Butter 16.0 3
3.5 oz. Pork Chop 15.9 2
3.5 oz. Roast Beef 15.3 2
3.5 oz. Roast Ham 15.2 2
1 cup "Store brand" ice cream 14.0 3
1 cup Cole slaw 14.0 2
1 Wendy's Grilled Chicken Sandwich 13.0 2
1 cup Cottage Cheese Made from 4% Milkfat Milk 12.0 3
4 oz. 90% lean ground beef 11.2 1
1 Hot Dog 11.0 3
2 tbsp Kraft Catalina Salad Dressing with Honey 11.0 3
1 Commercially Prepared Bran Muffin 10.3 2
1 Chicken breast, fried with skin 8.7 2
1 cup Cream of Mushroom soup - Prepared with whole milk 8.0 3
2 cups Microwave popcorn 7.0 2
3 oz Sirloin Streak, lean 7.0 2
2 Oven-roasted skinless chicken drumstick 5.0 2
12 Small black olives, pitted 5.0 3


Sources:
1 - Calculated from uncooked fat content
2 - University of Chicago - McKinley Health Center
3 - Nutrition labelling on packaging

There are ways to further reduce the fat in beef. Buy 90% lean ground beef. Many stores label it Ground Sirloin. It costs a little more, but who wants a skillet full of grease, or worse yet, a stomach full.

Buy roasts and steaks that don't have much fat around the outside and don't have obvious streaks of fat running through them. Trim excess fat before cooking.

A homemade quarter-pound hamburger with cheese has about 19.2 grams of total fat. A comparable item commercially prepared in a fast food restaurant has about 32.4 grams of fat.

So, it's okay to keep beef in your diet if you cook it yourself and use just a little care when you buy it and prepare it.

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