Lean On Life Supports New Research That Reveals a Secret Ingredient That Makes Meat Healthier
Toronto, ON (PRWEB) October 29, 2013 -- Lean On Life, a leading healthy lifestyle website with the latest on weight loss, nutrition, and fitness is supporting research on a citrus ingredient that renders meat healthier.
As Lean On Life reports (http://www.leanonlife.com/the-secret-ingredient-that-makes-meat-healthier-with-recipe/), dietary fiber is crucial to your health, yet most Americans only consume half of the daily recommended amount, over-consuming fiber-less animal products instead.
Fiber is the element in plants that the human body doesn't digest. In fact, fiber passes through the digestive tract rapidly and mainly intact. Because it's mostly intact, fiber helps move carcinogens and stool through the system, improving detoxification processes and "regularity".
There are two types of fiber: soluble and insoluble. Some examples of soluble fiber include beans, citrus fruits, oats, peas, apples and rice bran. Insoluble fiber include cabbage, nuts, whole wheat flour, carrots and brussel sprouts.
Dietary fiber can help prevent or relieve constipation, reduce sluggishness, balance blood sugar levels, lower cholesterol and blood pressure, and generally help to maintain a healthy weight by way of satiation.
Motivated to help people increase their fiber intake, Ayca Gedikoglu and a team of researchers at the University of Missouri's College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources invested the effectiveness of adding citrus fiber to ground beef. They were successfully able to do so without compromising the meat's quality, texture or flavor.
The team made three batches of meatballs; each batch contained a different percentage of sweet and tangy citrus powder (1%, 5%, or 10%), so that the researchers could determine how much fiber powder could be added without negatively impacting the meatballs' cooking characteristics, taste or texture.
The researchers were able to maintain acceptable color, taste and texture in the 1% and 5% batches. Just how much fiber do the magic meatballs contain? A restaurant-sized serving of meatballs with 2% citrus powder contains 5 grams of fiber, compared to typical meatballs which don't contain any fiber at all.
Lean On Life nutritionist, Michelle Schiffman, adds that another added benefit of adding citrus fiber to meat is that it contains vitamin C; “In addition to protecting against immune system deficiencies and against cardiovascular disease, eating foods that are both high in vitamin C and rich in iron (like meat) enable the body to better absorb the iron in a more efficient and effective way.” Citrus powder can be found online at a fairly cheap price, and is also available at many local health food stores.
Lean On Life is a healthy lifestyle website that provides expert-driven knowledge from doctors, nutritionists, fitness trainers and life coaches. The site takes a hands-on approach to making weight-loss, healthy eating and fitness a simple achievable lifestyle change.
Health Editor, Lean On Life, http://www.leanonlife.com/, +1 905-851-9966 Ext: 231, [email protected]
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