beef

PERFECT portions: 3 ounces (85 g)

Forget the mega-burgers with enough calories for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. A healthy serving of lean beef is 3 ounces (85 g), cooked (6 ounces/170 g is okay if you eat meat only once a day). That’s only about the size of a deck of cards. Fill the rest of your plate with low-GL vegetables and whole grains.

GL

VERY LOW

Beef for dinner? You bet! Beef is an important source of protein, and as long as you choose lean cuts and eat moderate portions (no giant T-bones that give the waiter a workout), there’s no reason it can’t be part of a Magic diet. In fact, here’s how important protein is to your blood sugar: A study at the University of Minnesota tested two different diets, one high in protein and one with only half as much. The fat content was the same in both diets. In the group that followed the high-protein diet (which was also lower in carbs), blood sugar levels were reduced by as much as if the participants had taken pills prescribed to lower blood sugar.

Your leanest choices are the “skinny six”: eye of round, top round, sirloin, bottom round, top loin, and tenderloin. The not-so-skinny cuts to trim from your diet include rib eye, prime rib, T-bone, and most ground beef, which are all high in saturated fat. (To get the leanest ground beef for hamburgers or meat loaf, look for “extra lean,” or 93 percent to 95 percent lean, whether it’s ground beef, ground round, or ground sirloin.) Saturated fat not only clogs your arteries, it can also contribute to insulin resistance, which makes it harder for your body to use insulin to get blood sugar out of the bloodstream and into cells.

Lean beef isn’t just good for your blood sugar, it’s even good for your waistline. Dieters tend to lose muscle along with fat, which slows their metabolisms, since muscle tissue burns more calories than fat tissue does. Eating protein helps you hang on to that muscle mass—and keep your metabolism burning on “high.”

We’re not advocating a diet super-high in protein or super-low in carbs, which simply isn’t healthy. (If you haven’t already, read “Why Low-Carb Diets Aren’t the Answer”.) Aim to keep your protein intake at 20 to 30 percent of the calories you eat.

Health Bonus

Protein isn’t the only selling point. Beef is also one of the best sources of zinc, a mineral that people often come up short on, especially if they’re counting calories, and vitamin B₁₂, which you can get only from eating animal foods such as eggs, milk, and of course, beef. Another beef bonus: Its fat is rich in conjugated linoleic acid, or CLA, a fatty acid that helps lower blood sugar.

Cooks Tips

Want to beef up the health benefits of beef? If you can find it, you may want to opt for grass-finished beef, which generally has more heart-healthy omega-3 fatty acids and CLA as regular beef. But be prepared to pay: Grass-finished beef can cost at least twice as much. All beef is grass-fed. Grass-finished means the cow remained on grass during the last two months of life. Regular beef is “finished” with extra feed the last 60 days.

Love Me Tender

While lean cuts of beef are better for you, they’re also not as tender as fattier cuts (the fat is what makes a knife cut through a prime rib like butter). But there are ways to turn up the tenderness of healthier cuts.

 Pound and flatten the meat into thinner, more tender slices.

 Use the juice from a fresh pineapple as a marinade. It contains a powerful enzyme that breaks down the meat, tenderizing it. Canned pineapple juice won’t work; the enzymes are destroyed during processing.

 Use a marinade that contains vinegar, wine, or citrus juice. The acid softens the tissues of meat, making it more tender and tastier.

 Cook tenderized beef either quickly at a high temperature or for an extended period with moist heat at a low to medium temperature.

Menu Magic

 Throw together fajitas made with flank steak, bell peppers, and onions for a quick weeknight meal.

 Toss hot grilled beef with cold, crisp lettuce; lime juice; and chopped onion for a refreshingly delicious Asian-inspired salad.

 When company comes, serve up a nice (and lean) beef tenderloin.

 Stir-fry strips of beef with lots of veggies for an easy way to have your beef and get your vegetables, too.

 Cook up three-bean chili with a small amount of extra-lean ground beef.

 Make Asian kebabs with beef marinated in soy sauce, sesame oil, crushed garlic, and ginger. Serve over brown rice.

 Create healthier meat loaf by combining finely chopped spinach and onions and grated carrots with lean ground beef. Use oats as a binder.

 Make any cut of beef a taste standout by marinating it in balsamic vinegar, olive oil, basil, Dijon mustard, and garlic.

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Lean beef is good for your blood sugar and even your waistline, so don’t cross it off your shopping list.