They say that the smell of a barbecue fat in meat is sublime. That is true. People love both red and white meat. Whether men or women, they all love to eat meat. In fact, almost 80% of majority people claim that they are carnivore means; they eat meat more than anything. It is good to eat meat for our body needs protein, but what we have to be careful with is the fat contained in it. If we are not careful, we can easily raise our cholesterol level and that can affect our health.

How to choose your beef cuts for low-cholesterol diet?

Choosing your beef cuts wisely might be the first important step for low-cholesterol diet. Although most people believe that all meat cuts are full of saturated fat but facts say otherwise. There are actually certain cuts that don’t have any fat at all. Whenever you go to the market, you can always ask the butcher about which cuts that don’t or contain less fat. Listed below are the acceptable beef cuts that contained less saturated fat which butchers might recommend:

• Ground meat

This meat cut doesn’t contain much-saturated fat as long as the meat that you use for grounding is sirloin cut or any other parts that contain less that 10% fat.

• Short loin

These beef cuts come from the back of the cow. Meats that included in this cut are many. It contains part of the spine and includes the top loin and tenderloin. Of course, they will have different name depends on what the locals named them. These are the cuts from the short loin that are famously known in Asia:

• T-bone steak
• Tenderloin Steak
• Filet Mignon (Ask your butcher or Gordon Ramsay if you don’t know this)
• Sirloin strip steak
• Top loin steak
• Sirloin

These steak cuts are from the back of the cows, continuing off the short loin. The sirloin is actually divided into two types of steak, top sirloin and bottom sirloin in which both of them have a different price. Top sirloin is priced higher than the other cuts while bottom sirloin, which is less tender and much larger, usually not as demanded as top sirloin. The beef cuts from these ‘loins’ also have many names. Depending on the area that you lived, they might be known as the following:

• Round-bone steak
• Beef loin
• Flap steak
• Round

A round steak is a beef steak from the round part or the rear leg of the cow. This cut is divided into the eye (of) round, bottom round, top round, with or without the round bone (femur) and sometimes may also include the sirloin tip (knuckle), depending on the butcher who separated this cut from the loin. Because this cut is lean and moderately tough, it can easily dry out if it’s cooked with a high-heat cooking method. This cut also known with several names in the other places such as:

• Beef sirloin tip steak
• Round steak
• Knuckle steak

Besides those three cuts, they are also other acceptable beef cuts such flank steak that also contained less fat and good for a low-cholesterol diet. The disadvantages are that these kinds of steak need a good cooking method that not all can do because it can dry very quickly and many believe that beef cuts that don’t contain fat are not as delicious as cuts that contained one.

How about sausages, bacon, luncheon, ribs and organ meats? Is it also good for low-cholesterol diet?

Have you heard about healthy sausages or bacon? Do you believe that marketing word? I hope not. Why? As you can see, those so-called healthy sausages or bacon don’t exist because sausages can taste very nice and delicious, all because of its fat and sodium. That’s the same with bacon and luncheon. Those three items are processed foods and you can’t expect processed foods to be healthy for the company adds many preservatives or food flavoring in their products.

For ribs, we know that ribs contained a lot of saturated fat so it’s best to avoid this beef cut because by eating it, literally, you eat more fat than protein. Now, how about organ meats? Many believe that organ meat especially liver can be good for your body. That’s half true. The only organ meat that has benefits for the body is only liver. Although liver might be good for the body but it also contained fat and iron, a substance that if consumed too much won’t bring a good result to your body for it can jeopardize your red blood cell production. Well, that’s certainly not a good combo to make your body healthy, don’t you agree with me?

Cooking methods that can be used for low-cholesterol diet

Even if you have the acceptable beef cuts, it’s still not enough. You also need to do some changes to in your usual cooking method into a healthier one. Is that difficult? Well, it might be at first since you have to adapt not only to the method but also with the taste of your food but after awhile, you will find that beneficial and easy. Just scroll down the page to see more details about how you can change your cooking method to healthier one:

• Trim all visible fat or left only a little fat from meat before cooking
• Rather than pan-fry meats such as hamburger and steaks, try to broil (grill) your meat.
• Use a rack to drain off fat after broiling or roasting. People usually use the drippings oily fat for basting but don’t use that. Use fruit juices or olive oil instead to keep the meat moist.
• Cook a day ahead of time. Cooking like stews, boiled meat, soup or stock or other dishes in which fat cooks into the liquid can be put into refrigerator and all those hardened fat will come out on the surface of the liquid. You can use spoon or ladle to remove it and as a result, you will get a beautiful clean less fat broth.
• Try using the broiler instead of a pan when you want to caramelize or browning your meat.

By trying these healthy methods, you will feel healthier. With the combination of exercises and good lifestyle, it is a guarantee that your cholesterol levels will be reduced. Happy cooking and life healthy!