A person will use portion size when they are cooking because it’s a great way to ensure that they aren’t eating too much or too little.
By following portion sizes, you make sure that you don’t overeat or under-eat. Both of these, believe it or not, can lead to you gaining excessive amounts of weight.
People often use portion sizes with meat, such as ground beef. In this article, we are going to discuss how much each person should get if you can eat too much, and finally, the benefits of eating it!
We assure you that by the end, you’ll be an expert on not only portion size but everything ground beef!
Contents
How Much Ground Beef Does Each Person Get?
There is a certain amount of meat that each person should get, and ground beef is no different. Normally, what plays into the portion size is whether the meat is boneless or bone-in.
With ground beef, this isn’t too much of an issue because it’s called ground beef. What makes the ground beef ground is that it is literally minced and has been finely chopped and/or put into a meat grinder.
For ground beef, it’ll be boneless, so that means you should get about ½ pound per adult, and for children, you get ¼ pound per person.
You don’t need to worry about getting bone-in because ground beef isn’t going to have any bone in it.
So now that you know how much each person can get, we are going to touch on what can happen if you do eat too much ground beef because this is the best way to prevent illness.
Can You Eat Too Much Ground Beef?
Sadly, we can eat too much ground beef. The risks of eating too much ground beef include:
- Beef is red meat, and if you eat lots of red meat, it can put you at risk for certain diseases. One of these diseases is type 2 diabetes, which is manageable but requires a huge lifestyle change. If you don’t, then you can put yourself at risk of a lot of health problems, which include death. Some other diseases you can be at risk of include stroke, cancer like colorectal cancer, and coronary heart disease.
- The redder meat you eat, the bigger your risk of dying of certain diseases is. For example, if you have a daily serving of unprocessed red meat which is healthier than processed, your chance of dying from cancer or cardiovascular disease is up to thirteen percent. The risk of having a daily serving of processed red meat puts that risk up to 20 percent. It’s not exactly doubled, but this is a seven-digit increase.
- Red meat is extremely high in sodium, fats, and cholesterol. All of these things can hurt your health. One thing you could end up with is cholesterol, which can wreak havoc on your body. The scary thing about this disease is that there aren’t any physical symptoms. You’ll only be able to tell that you have high cholesterol if your doctor decides to specifically check your blood for this problem. They only start doing this once you are older or if it runs in the family.
These are the biggest problems that can come about with eating a lot of red meat. Again, this might sound like a broken record, but the best way to avoid it is to just eat red meat in moderation!
What Are the Benefits of Eating Ground Beef?
Despite the risks, there are also benefits of eating ground beef. The benefits include:
- There is a lot of protein in red meat, and ground beef is no exception to this rule. Protein is important for the body because it helps not only support your muscle mass but also muscle growth.
- In beef, there are about eight essential vitamins and minerals. All of these do a great job of making your body overall healthier in its way. Some are stronger than others, but all of them are needed.
- Beef has a lot of iron, B6, B12, niacin, and riboflavin. These can help you beat the dreaded tiredness and fatigue that can sometimes come about. It won’t entirely prevent it, but it can help lower your risk a significant amount.
- Recall that we said that beef has a lot of iron. The reason beef is so important for our body is that it helps keep our immune system in tip-top shape. If our immune system isn’t working properly, then it puts us at risk of contracting illnesses.
- A good amount of zinc can be found in beef. The great thing about zinc is that it helps keep your nails, hair, and skin healthy. This isn’t all. It also can help with fertility, reproduction, and brain function in general. Hard to believe zinc can do all of this, but it can!
So, these are the biggest benefits that come along with eating red meat or ground beef in particular.
In moderation, this type of meat can be very good for your body. It’ll help it get all the vitamins, minerals, etc., that it needs to function daily.
Yes, it can be confusing that there can be both risks and benefits to eating something, but again this is where moderation comes in! Following portion sizes will help you avoid this.
Final Thoughts
And there you go, all your ground beef lovers out there! Now you know how much ground beef each person should get if you can eat too much ground beef in the first place, and finally, the benefits of eating it.
Getting used to portion sizes isn’t the easiest thing in the world, but the more you use them then, the easier it will be!
This isn’t to say you can’t overindulge in food now and again, but remember to do things in moderation, which is especially true for food. If you are doing it often, then you are putting your health at risk.
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I have been smoking and grilling meat from an early age and enjoy sharing my knowledge and expertise through the hundreds of articles I have written about BBQ. I hope to make everyone’s BBQ journey that little bit easier.