Meat and holistic nutrition

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Transcription Meat and holistic nutrition

The present lesson will be dedicated to deepen on a controversial food within the nutrition: the meat. We invite you to know what types of meats exist, their properties and the precautions that you should take into account when consuming them.

The meat that we ingest as food is mainly the muscular animal tissue of certain animals. It is worth clarifying that the term meat as a food product responds more to a commercial classification than to a biological one, as marine animals and human meat are not usually included in this category, which is why, for example in supermarkets, in the meat products section we find meat from mammals, birds, reptiles, while fish and seafood are separate.

Within the specialized industries in the food sector, the meat industry is the one that moves the most capital in sales. In spite of being a controversial product, and the existence of a strong trend towards veganism, meat consumption continues to grow at a global level, to the point that market studies reflect that the growing number of people per year could imply the search for solutions to supply the demand for meat in the future.

Types of meat

As we explained previously, when approaching the related thing to the meat in the present lesson, we will do it from the commercial point of view, so that the information that you find here helps you to determine the products that you must include in your holistic feeding plan.

In the world there are two major classifications for meat: red meat and white meat.

Red meat:

The name of this classification alludes to the reddish color that the meats included here have in their raw state, for example those coming from mammalian animals such as the cow, wild boar, bull, deer and certain birds among which are partridges, quail and ostrich. Although poultry is considered mostly white meat, an exception is made for goose and duck.
These classifications are subjective and vary depending on the age of the animal. Thus, while pork is included in the red meat group, when pork is suckling pig, it is recognized as white meat. Something similar happens with mutton, which oscillates between one classification or another in relation to the part of the animal to which we refer and the cut applied to it.
Myoglobin is a small protein in charge of transporting oxygen from the interior of the muscle cells to the rest of the organism, in such a way that it allows the process of muscular contraction. This compound determines the red or pink color of meats, while mammals such as pork and beef have concentrations of between 0.1 to 0.3% of myoglobin and poultry such as chicken barely reach 0.05%.

Here is a list of the most popular red meats internationally:

Beef

Horse meat

Pork

Sheep meat: mutton, mutton, sheep, lamb

The nation with the highest consumption of red meat in the world is the United States, with a figure of 20%. According to data published by the Department of Agriculture of this country, the consumption for 2019 was approximately 60 million tons. The European Union, on the other hand, presents a high consumption of beef with predictions of going down because of prices and the low profitability of this economic activity in the region. According to the FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations), Spain is the country with the highest meat consumption in the association. White meats: As explained above, the classification of these meats is based on their color when raw. Clearly these are not strictly white, but their reddish color is much fainter in comparison to the others and they are attributed superior nutritional values. This group includes chicken, turkey, hen and rabbit meat; with the exceptions already seen of pork and lamb in certain circumstances.

Differences between red and white meats

In addition to their color, given by the myoglobin, these meats have other nutritional aspects that make them different. Red meats have a higher concentration of saturated fats, which makes them juicier and less recommended for frequent consumption; they also have a higher purine content than white meats, a compound that accelerates the increase of uric acid in the body. White meats, on the other hand, contain fewer calories than red meats, and can be considered lean depending on the cut applied to them.