Portion contortion
So, the other day in spinning, I was again asked by a concerned friend:
"Dana, why is it that 3/4 pound of steak is considered too much? I don't understand, that seems like a reasonable portion to me."
Well, first I would like to qualify my next statement first by saying that for someone who exercises most days of the week, is of a healthy body weight, and has few medical problems, 3/4 pound of steak once every few weeks will not be dangerous for you.
But, for the average person, who, let's face it, with 2/3 of American's overweight and with 1/6 Americans with diabetes and heart diseases, 3/4 pound of steak on a daily basis, IS TOO MUCH.
I'm not going to just talk about steak, though that was the question, because the same information applies to many different types of meats.
Too much protein of any kind, especially protein that is marbled with fat, has skin on it, or basically is not lean poses risks.
1) Too many calories, which we are not burning off if we don't go to the gym, or are sitting at a desk all day, or are in traffic.
2) Too much saturated fat, the artery clogging kind. The white stuff you see on meat, or in the skin of chicken and turkey, well, not to gross you out, but it looks that way in your arteries as well.
Thus, the problem of eating too much of it is that it floats around in your arteries, thinning them out, making it harder for blood to pump through. Additionally, it increases the amount of triglycerides floating through your blood.
Too much fat over long periods of time not only wreak damage on your heart and arteries, but also your liver. If you have too many triglycerides floating in your blood it affects your liver, the cleansing system of your body.
Ok, back to the other reasons.
3) This is sort of a combination of the other two reasons, but too much total fat and too much to eat in general, just increases the total calories in, and again, if it's not being burned off then it can lead to weight gain, this if of course assuming this is a regular occurence.
I can understand feeling "starved" with small portions of 2-3 ounces of chicken/fish/meat. And, frankly, I agree that may be a bit on the small side. That is why I am a proponent of the 5-6 ounce portion for most healthy people.
If you have kidney diseases, liver diseases, diabetes, or other medical problems then restrictions may in fact be necessary.
I suppose I also should have qualified my answer by stating, I write my blog toward a general healthy audience, not for specific disease states.
If you have renal failure, chronic kidney disease, cirrhosis, diabetes, or any other host of heart diseases, please feel free to email me, leave a message, and I'll be happy to address your concerns, because those are critical and require special dietary changes.
This leads me to my next post...stay tuned...
THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A DIETITIAN (which is what I am) and a NUTRITIONIST.
"Dana, why is it that 3/4 pound of steak is considered too much? I don't understand, that seems like a reasonable portion to me."
Well, first I would like to qualify my next statement first by saying that for someone who exercises most days of the week, is of a healthy body weight, and has few medical problems, 3/4 pound of steak once every few weeks will not be dangerous for you.
But, for the average person, who, let's face it, with 2/3 of American's overweight and with 1/6 Americans with diabetes and heart diseases, 3/4 pound of steak on a daily basis, IS TOO MUCH.
I'm not going to just talk about steak, though that was the question, because the same information applies to many different types of meats.
Too much protein of any kind, especially protein that is marbled with fat, has skin on it, or basically is not lean poses risks.
1) Too many calories, which we are not burning off if we don't go to the gym, or are sitting at a desk all day, or are in traffic.
2) Too much saturated fat, the artery clogging kind. The white stuff you see on meat, or in the skin of chicken and turkey, well, not to gross you out, but it looks that way in your arteries as well.
Thus, the problem of eating too much of it is that it floats around in your arteries, thinning them out, making it harder for blood to pump through. Additionally, it increases the amount of triglycerides floating through your blood.
Too much fat over long periods of time not only wreak damage on your heart and arteries, but also your liver. If you have too many triglycerides floating in your blood it affects your liver, the cleansing system of your body.
Ok, back to the other reasons.
3) This is sort of a combination of the other two reasons, but too much total fat and too much to eat in general, just increases the total calories in, and again, if it's not being burned off then it can lead to weight gain, this if of course assuming this is a regular occurence.
I can understand feeling "starved" with small portions of 2-3 ounces of chicken/fish/meat. And, frankly, I agree that may be a bit on the small side. That is why I am a proponent of the 5-6 ounce portion for most healthy people.
If you have kidney diseases, liver diseases, diabetes, or other medical problems then restrictions may in fact be necessary.
I suppose I also should have qualified my answer by stating, I write my blog toward a general healthy audience, not for specific disease states.
If you have renal failure, chronic kidney disease, cirrhosis, diabetes, or any other host of heart diseases, please feel free to email me, leave a message, and I'll be happy to address your concerns, because those are critical and require special dietary changes.
This leads me to my next post...stay tuned...
THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A DIETITIAN (which is what I am) and a NUTRITIONIST.
posted by Dana M. Ellis, MPH, R.D. @ 7:19 AM
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