Improving the Healthfulness of your Father's Day Cookout
Happy (almost) Father's Day to all you fathers out there!
It's a day of grilling for many of you, I know. But it doesn't have to be a day of throwing your Omega-3/Omega-6 balance to the wind! Or your pocketbook!
Those of you who know where to find -- and can afford -- grass-fed beef know that the Omega-3/Omega-6 balance of animals fed exclusively on grass is ideal for human health. But those who don't have access to grass-fed or pastured meat needn't despair -- or give up on good health.
I did the homework for you and calculated just how much (or little) ground flax seed you need to add to conventional ground beef in order to turn it into a healthy burger (as least far as Omega-3s go). It's remarkably little -- one tenth of a teaspoon per 100 gram patty. But I suggest that you throw in a little more -- say 1/4 teaspoon flax seed meal per burger -- in order to balance out the bun and some of the other things you may be putting in your mouth.
Anyone who reads this blog hopefully already knows to make their salad dressings; coleslaw; and potato salads using canola mayo. But it's hard to find potato chips made with canola oil these days, so the extra flax seed meal in your burger should help with those.
Those of you who are making your burgers out of ground turkey will actually need a little more flax seed in each of these burgers -- 1 teaspoon per 100 gram turkey burger -- to balance out all the Omega 6 fats in turkey.
I couldn't find detailed nutritionals for the Impossible Burger and Beyond Meat (for those choosing meat-free options this year), but the ingredients of these products tell me there is a big difference between these two products -- as far as the Omega-3/Omega 6 balance goes. The Impossible Burger is made with sunflower and coconut oil so will be very high in Omega-6s (and low in Omega-3s).
Beyond Meat, however, is made with canola oil so is well balanced.
Happy, healthy cookout and enjoy the day -- and beginning of summer!
Susie
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