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Why Pork Should be Part of Your Diet
If you are interested in healthy eating, pork is an excellent choice. Many of the nutrients recommended by Health Canada to keep your body strong and healthy are found in pork.
Vitamins in Pork:
Thiamin (Vitamin B1), Riboflavin (Vitamin B2), Niacin (Vitamin B3), Vitamin B6, Vitamin B12, PantothenateMinerals in Pork:
Phosphorus, Magnesium, Iron, ZincPlus:
Protein, calories, fatYes, you do need calories and fat in your diet, to provide energy for your body processes and muscle movement. Chock full of nutrients, pork is especially important for growing children, women, seniors, and people on low calorie diets.
How Lean is Pork?
Canadian pork is leaner than ever, and can play an essential role in healthy eating. Between 1987 and 1994, the fat content in loin and leg cuts has decreased by almost half. Tenderloin has decreased by 25%. Some pork cuts, including the tenderloin, are now leaner than chicken. The leanest cuts are pork loin chops, roasts, tenderloin and leg cuts.
Leaner Canadian pork is the result of constant improvements in feed, breeding and management practices on the farm. Leaner, well muscled hogs are the goal of today's pork producer. Trimming practices at packing plants also help reduce the fat content of pork.
Will Canadian pork get even leaner? It's not likely, because reducing the fat further would decrease the quality and taste of Canadian pork.
Healthy Eating with Pork
How your food is prepared has a lot to do with the amount of fat in your meal. Grilling is an easy way to trim fat, because it allows fat to drip away as the meat cooks.
All trimmed cuts of pork , except ribs, are lean or extra lean. Removing the visible fat before you cook the meat can reduce the fat content by almost half.
Canada's Food Guide recommended 2 to 3 servings a day of leaner meats or alternatives. That means they can be eaten as two 3 oz (85 g) servings, or one 5 to 7 oz (140 to 200 g) serving.