The Best Meat Proteins for Your Body

There are dozens of reasons that you need to eat meat and all of them end up being because they’re good for your overall health. The protein in meat is used to keep your bones and muscles strong and it’s also used in hormone production.

Meat proteins also help you lose weight while keeping your energy level up at the same time. There are many forms of meat, and some are more beneficial to your body than others.

Beef

Beef is a well-known source of protein. This red meat is also packed full of iron as well, and depending on what type of beef you eat and how you prepare it, it can be extremely good for your body.

One of the reasons to consider making sure you consume meals containing beef in your eating plan is because the iron level in it is higher than that contained in poultry or seafood.

This is important because surprisingly, many adults don’t get enough daily iron intake - which affects their ability to lose weight. A lack of protein will cause a deterioration in concentration and increase fatigue, sabotaging your plans to work out.

Along with the different types of beef, you’ll encounter different levels of fat in this meat. That’s what you have to watch out for. You want the protein benefit, but you don’t want the fat content.

This is why you should always choose the leanest cuts of meats for your meals. Most people shy away from red meat when they’re trying to lose weight. They believe that the meat is too high in fat content to be good for them when dieting.

But the truth is, when you choose red meat that’s lean, the fat content isn’t that high. For example, you can choose to broil a serving of ground beef. If you choose the one that’s 90% or more lean for a 3-ounce serving, then you get about 200 calories with 22 grams of protein and only 10 grams of fat.

The leaner the meat cut, the lower the grams of fat will be. If you choose to have a steak, you just want to pay attention to how much marbling the meat cut has. This is the fat in the meat and it also tells you how tender that meat will turn out to be once cooked.

The beef that has the most fat is usually labeled as a prime cut. When choosing beef cuts such as steaks, look for ones that are labeled USDA Select. This is the cut that has the least amount of fat in it, but you still get a good amount of protein.

Not only should you pay attention to the amount of marbling when choosing a steak, but do the same when you’re planning on making a roast or some ribs. If you’re planning on grilling some burgers for a meal, you won’t see the marbling - which is why you have to rely on the fat percentage on the label.

Lean beef is packed with protein, vitamins and 8 essential amino acids so it’s a good choice when picking out meat for your meals. You can even buy lean steaks like filet mignon and have the butcher grind it into beef patties for you if you want something really lean.

Pork

Strangely, most people don’t associate pork with protein or weight loss. But that’s because it’s gotten an unfair reputation as being the kind of meat that’s not healthy for people to eat.

This is a myth. This myth exists because when pork is talked about, people immediately think of bologna or sausage or bacon. It’s true that those foods aren’t healthy for you to consume in large quantities and they’re loaded with fat as well as sodium.

The right cut of pork is actually very good for you. Not only is it white meat, which is healthier to eat, but it’s loaded with protein that can help you on your weight loss journey.

Certain types of pork contain as much protein as beef does and it’s equally healthy. When shopping for pork cuts, remember to choose the ones that have loin as part of the label.

These are the best cuts of the meat and they’re also leaner. What you want to do is to look for ones with labels like pork chops, pork loin and pork tenderloin. Not only are they loaded with protein, but they also don’t have as many calories as you might have thought.

Many people who are trying to lose weight will choose pork tenderloin. When compared to beef cuts, not only is it lower in fat content in many instances, but it’s also lower in price.

It’s a lean meat that’s easy to make and tastes delicious. When you compare pork tenderloin to a 3-ounce serving of ground beef, not only does the tenderloin have the same amount of protein, but it only has about 3 grams of fat compared to 10.

The meat can be grilled or roasted just like a steak can. Plus, besides the great taste and the protein it contains that will help you lose weight, you can enjoy all of the healthy vitamins and minerals it contains.

Pork is loaded with them. It has iron and phosphorus as well as thiamin and selenium, zinc and a plenty of the B vitamins as well. This helps your body run smoothly, giving you energy and vitality to pursue your weight loss.

Poultry

When you think of poultry, usually the first meat that comes to mind is chicken. That’s because this meat is one of the most popular ones you’ll find in this category thanks to the amount of protein it contains.

There is a good, healthy way to prepare chicken that will give you vitamins, minerals and the protein that will help you to be able to lose weight. Of all the parts of chicken to choose to eat, the breast meat has the least amount of fat.

It also has the most protein. As long as you cook the chicken using one of the healthier methods, it will help your weight loss efforts. However, if you cook chicken the wrong way, you can pile on the fat as well as the calories.

If you fry chicken in a heavily saturated oil, it’s not as good for you as if it were prepared other ways. Frying is one of the most often used methods for making chicken.

But fried chicken is one of the worst ways to prepare this meat because of how high the fat and calorie level rises. Eating chicken this way or consuming spicy chicken wings or other flavors in chicken wings is high in saturated fat and calories.

You’ll still get the protein, but you’ll be hindering your weight loss. Chicken is a popular source of protein because if it's prepared properly, it can be a low-calorie, low-sodium meal.

It can be eaten for all of your meals and if cubed, is also a great snack to have. To get the most benefit from the protein in chicken without the fat and calories, choose the white cuts over the dark ones.

Chicken breasts are a good option, but make sure that you remove all of the skin before you eat it. In case you’re wondering how chicken compares to beef when it comes to the amount of protein it has, one cup of chicken breasts cubed has about 5 grams of fat and a more than 40 grams of protein.

Even a small drumstick on a chicken has a high amount of protein. One of them alone has 23 grams of it. Turkey is another popular meat in the poultry category that’s loaded with protein.

Not everyone cooks with turkey and they’re really missing out on the high amount of protein contained in this meat. One pound of turkey contains an astonishing 133 grams of protein.

It’s one of the most often chosen meats during the holidays, but you can get all of the weight loss effects from the protein by making sure you have turkey added to dishes every week.

Substituting lean ground turkey for lean ground beef can give you a great serving of protein. Plus, it’s packed with vitamins and minerals. It’s the kind of meat that helps you build your muscles if that’s part of your exercise plan.

Building lean muscle by using protein causes you to lose weight because a higher muscle mass burns calories more efficiently. Plus, turkey is rich in tryptophan, an amino acid.

You need this in order for your brain to produce serotonin, which boosts your mood. So if you’re someone who’s an emotional eater, you might want to choose turkey as the protein that you eat more often.

By choosing turkey as your protein, it will help you resist the temptation to give in to feeding your emotions. While it’s not as popular as chicken or turkey, another type of poultry food that’s loaded with protein is duck.

A serving of this meat contains 27 grams of protein. Though it tastes delicious, one of the problems with getting your protein allowance from duck is that this type of meat can be very fatty if made with the skin on.

But if you take off the skin before you eat it, then you gain the protein benefits without the high fat content. Again, it’s all in preparation and how you consume it that determines whether it’s beneficial to your goals or not.

Another option is to eat eggs. If there’s one protein food that’s received a bad rap over the years, it’s eggs in any form that you make them. Many nutritional experts came back years after telling people to limit their egg intake because eggs were supposedly bad for your cholesterol and admitted they were wrong.

Eggs are far from being a food that’s bad for you. In fact, it’s the opposite. This natural food is so great for your body that it can prevent many diseases and health conditions that other foods can’t help you with.

Eggs are full of vitamins and minerals. They contain a lot of the important B vitamins as well as vitamin A. They’re also packed with nutrients like phosphorus, folate and selenium.

They also have many of the trace elements that are good for your body. One of the erroneous warnings about eggs had to do with the way that they supposedly raised the cholesterol levels.

But new studies found that the prior warnings about linking eggs to high cholesterol levels were wrong. And the amount of fat in an egg is actually small. It contains 5 grams of fat, but it’s not the kind of fat that’s bad for your heart.

Your body naturally makes cholesterol itself. In some people, there’s a higher cholesterol production than in other people, and this can contribute to bad cholesterol numbers being higher than they should.

Eggs are low in calories. A large egg has about 70 calories, which makes it the perfect choice when you want to add protein as part of a healthy way to lose weight.

When you eat a large egg, you gain 6 grams of protein. However, that amount depends on you eating the whole egg. If you separate the yolk from the egg white, then you lose grams of protein.

One of the reasons that choosing to get your protein from eggs is a good choice is because eggs have the essential amino acids that your body needs. You get all of that without getting a lot of calories or fat.

This not only makes eggs a good choice for a meal, but also as a snack. You can snack on a boiled egg and have less calories than you’d get from a prepackaged diet food snack.

Seafood

There are many different types of seafood and there are plenty of ways that you can prepare it. If you fry seafood and load it up with butter or other fatty sauces, then while you’ll still get the protein benefit, you’ll pile on calories and fat as well.

When preparing seafood, always choose the freshest option and keep the sauces, especially any kinds made with high fat and calories, to a bare minimum if not eliminated completely.

One of the most popular seafood items is tuna. It’s simple to make and just as good for you regardless of how it comes packaged. It’s extremely low in calories as well as fat - which means that the makeup of this meat is considered to be pure protein.

The protein content of tuna is so high, that’s almost all there is to the meat. This is one of the reasons that tuna is often heralded as the best seafood for people who are trying to lose weight.

Consuming just three ounces of tuna at mealtime can give you around 20 grams of protein. But when you look at the calorie content as well, you get less than 100 calories for that serving.

Besides being loaded with protein, tuna is packed with all of the B vitamins that are good for you. It also contains magnesium and potassium - two very important minerals that your body needs plenty of.

And something you might not know about this high protein meat is that it’s considered an antioxidant seafood. You can eat this and help give your immune system a boost as well as keep inflammation at bay.

While tuna does have mercury in it, you don’t have to worry about this affecting your health. Tuna contains selenium, which counteracts mercury. If you love to eat fish, then you’re in luck.

You can lose weight with the high amount of protein found in fish. One type of fish that’s a good source of protein is halibut. There are 12 grams of protein for every three ounces of the fish that you eat.

Most portion sizes of this fish are greater than three ounces. When you eat this as a meal, most portion sizes are giving you at least 24 grams or more of protein. Plus, fish is a great way to get in the amount of omega 3 fatty acids that your body need.

Like tuna, halibut also contains anti-inflammatory properties. It’s also loaded with plenty of the B vitamins. Those who enjoy eating fish will love the amount of protein that can be found in tilapia.

Consuming just one fillet of tilapia will give you 23 grams of protein. Plus, it’s very low in both fat as well as calories. If you love eating shrimp, that’s good news if you’re trying to lose weight.

Shrimp can give you almost half of your daily recommended intake of protein. You can get as much as 24 grams of protein from eating shrimp. Just make sure that if you want to have a dipping sauce, you choose a low calorie one.

In the seafood family, there are some fish that are so high in protein, they can give you almost a complete day’s worth of it. Not only is it beneficial for weight loss but fish is a very tasty form of protein, too.

For a fillet size of just 0.5, you can receive an amazing 40 grams of protein. Just adding fish to your diet twice a week not only gives you the benefit of omega 3, but it can reduce your risk of heart disease as well.

Fish protein is one of the best kinds of protein to add to your meal planning and it’s lower in fat and calories than most other types of meats contain. Just find the type you most enjoy and prepare to cook it in a way that benefits your weight loss goals, such as broiling or grilling.