Ground beef nutrition facts and Health Benefits

Dive in and get to know all the nutrition facts on ground beef as well as the health benefits that come with consuming ground beef.

While it makes for a versatile meal; versatile in the sense that it works as a meal for any occasion or can easily be paired with any side, there are concerns as to the impact red meat may have on your health. (Ground beef happens to fall in this purview).

With this, it’s not just your waistline that is the point of concern, but rather your entire wellbeing, health wise. With this in mind, it is prudent that you watch the calories as you eat, and most importantly the amount of red meat in your diet.

Whether you wish to know ground beef nutrition facts and health benefits for general knowledge, or you want to monitor the calories as you eat ground beef; you are in the right place.

So what is the issue with calories in ground beef?

So yeah, ground beef is a great way to incorporate protein in your diet. However, what you may or may not know is that ground beef, even though satisfying and some may say convenient, comes packed with saturated fat and lots of calories.

And if that’s not enough, ground beef is red meat, and health-wise, it is not recommended to consume a lot of it.

Calories in cooked ground beef.

Generally, for cooked ground beef, for every 3 ounces of there are about 232 calories.

In this, the fat content is 62%, protein 38% and 0% for the carbs.

As much as it is easy to work with generalized data, there’s just so much to ground beef, and a general classification wouldn’t suffice. If you’ve been to the meat section at the store, you know the trouble that comes with selecting the correct or rather healthy ground beef.

There are different “grinds” of ground beef. To this end, you can then decide which type of ground beef would work best for you.

1. Ground chuck beef.

-It’s also known as lean ground beef, ground chuck beef is 80% lean and 15% fat.

– This piece is ideal for burger patty. It is full of flavor and quite tender.

– Mostly this piece comes from the cow’s shoulder.

-So what do you get with ground chuck beef?

2. Sirloin ground beef.

– Sirloin ground beef is 90% lean and 10% fat.

– This variation is extra lean and is gotten from the cow’s middle.

-Compared to ground chuck or any other regular ground beef, sirloin ground beef is somewhat dry. This can be attributed to the less amount of fat in the beef.

– However, the amount of fat in sirloin ground beef can be less or more than 10% but with a very small margin of variation.

3. Ground round.

-Ground round beef is gotten from a cow’s back half.

– It is 85% lean and 15% fat.

-It is extra lean and with this, it does not have a lot of the beef flavor. (So much for eating healthy; on a light note though).

4. Regular ground beef

– Regular ground beef is 70% lean and 30% fat.

– It is the variety with the highest amount of fat (And yeah, exactly what you’re thinking, the most flavor).

-The amount of fat can range between 25%-30%.

– You may find ground beef somewhat mushy, depending on how you cook but on the plus side, it is the least expensive.

Ground beef nutrition facts.

Health benefits of ground beef.

You are probably wondering how ground beef can have health benefits, what with all the “red meat” controversies out there.

Well as it turns out, there’s a silver lining to it.

1.     A source of amino acid L-Carnitine.

L-Carnitine occurs naturally in beef.

While it can be found in other foods i.e. chicken meat or whole milk, it occurs in a larger amount relative to all other food sources.

Now you might be wondering how L-Carnitine is important. Well, this amino acid comes into play in fat metabolism, helps improve heart health and even helps in weight loss.

2.     It is a source of Glutathione.

Glutathione is what you may call a “super anti-oxidant”.

Now if you’re not up to speed yet; anti-oxidants simply help reverse the aging process by preventing oxidation in cells. Oxidation in cells if you were not aware is what damages cells.

So what does glutathione do?

• It helps reverse aging. (Its obvious superpower)
• It helps increase longevity.
• It reduces the risk of getting chronic diseases among others.

Now that you’ve known how important glutathione is to your health, try keeping your glutathione levels up. (Of course by eating beef)

3.     It has minerals.

While it may seem irrelevant, just consuming beef helps you make up for some of the minerals you may be missing.

Below is a table showing the minerals in 80% lean beef.

Conclusion.

That sums it up for ground beef nutrition facts and health benefits.

It is a point to note; glutathione is produced by the body in the liver, but it is in small amounts. Increasing the amount of glutathione by consuming beef, undoubtedly is beneficial to your body and health.

However, if you found the article too long or maybe the lean/fat percentages didn’t quite register, here is a key takeaway for you. For the healthiest ground beef, you can never go wrong with the ground round and ground sirloin varieties. They are a bit costly though.

And remember to eat healthy, it may not be exciting but your body will thank you for it.

Check my post on how to cook ground beef and crock pot recipes.