Tuesday March 23, 2010

March Meatness

March happens to be National Nutrition Month and also, on or around the first day of Spring, there is something that takes place called the Great American Meatout. The meatout, now in its 25th year, encourages people to “kick the meat habit.” There seems to be much ado about eating or not eating meat these days and we thought we’d offer some meaty ideas and resources.

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Meatless Mondays

Going completely meatless may be daunting or simply not for you (and not for us either) so we love the Meatless Monday concept. Just one day without meat can improve your cardiovascular health and your weight. It can also help reduce your carbon footprint. A United Nations report has identified the world's rapidly growing herds of cattle as the greatest threat to the climate, wildlife and forests, greater than cars and planes! You can use Meatless Mondays to teach your family about the environment and to experiment with less familiar ingredients, such as spring veggies and unusual whole grains.

*Our challenge to you, our readers, is to embrace Meatless Mondays or at least meatless Monday dinners.* There are a lot of great recipes on the meatless Mondays website, including this one for portobello pizzas.
 

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A cut above

Even though we’re all omnivores at Foodtrainers, we actively try to avoid feedlot meat. Feedlot meat (the majority of the meat in markets and restaurants) have been fed only grain and then often require antibiotics as this is not the diet cows are meant to eat. Grass fed meat is nutritionally superior, containing higher omega 3’s and lower saturated fat. Here are some sources for quality meat:

Dicksons Farmstand Meats now with a location in Chelsea Market, Dickson’s have great selection of meat and holiday-related items such as corned beef for St. Patrick’s day, amazing chili for superbowl etc.

Fleishers located in Kingston NY, they deliver to NYC once a week.

Niman Ranch takes the guilt (and chemicals) out of bacon. All of the meat from Niman Ranch has never had hormones or antibiotics.

Dakota Beef a widely available good quality meat. One of the best burgers we ever had came from this meat.

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Piece of meat?

Ask your favorite restaurants where they get their meat or inquire if your grocer offers grass-fed options. Other tips are to eat meat or animal protein only once a day (if you currently eat it more than that) and also to watch the portion of meat you serve or consume. Instead of meat being the main attraction maybe you serve 2 vegetables or a whole grain to “beef” up your dish. Another idea is to split an entrée of meat with a friend or spouse when out to eat. Each of these steps improves our health, our weight and the health of the planet as well.

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