Trade your traditional beef burger to a wild caught salmon burger as a healthier option
Red meet has been getting a bad rep for a while, and there is a good reason for it. But first things first.
Fat. Dietary fat is not a bad thing, if the right type of fat is consumed in the right amount. Saturated fat (the one found in meat, no matter how lean it is) is a naturally occurring fat that’s solid at room temperature. The problem with saturated fat, is that it’s been linked to heart disease. Consume too much of it, blood cholesterol levels rise leading to the narrowing of arteries due to too much plague, preventing arteries from expanding as normal, which puts too much strain on the heart, causing high blood pressure, increasing our chances of a heart attack.
So what can you do? You have a couple options. If you must have your beef, go with the leanest parts (such as the top round, eye of round, round tip). Or better yet, trade your beef for wild caught salmon.
Wild salmon is better, because it is natural. Farmed salmon, in a lot of cases, has artificial color added and eats whatever it’s fed. Which is not always healthy.
Other great benefits of salmon over beef include:
– higher protein content
– Omega-3: Omega-3 improves vision, reduces high blood pressure (the exact opposite of what consuming too much red meat does), regulates heart rate, improves learning and behavior, makes us smarter (your OBGYN will hopefully make sure your prenatal vitamins have DHA & EPA Omega-3’s to get your child off the a great start), and makes skin smoother
Who wouldn’t want these, right?
RECIPE
I won’t leave you hanging though, here’s the recipe for the above pictured salmon burger.
Ingredients
4 oz wild caught salmon filet, finely diced
1 celery stalk, finely diced
1/4 of a smaller red onion, finely diced
1/2 tsp (or less, if you’re not a fan) of crushed garlic –
1/2 tbsp barbecue sauce (you may use a whole tbsp 😛 )
garlic salt to taste
pepper to taste
Procedure
Heat a half tbsp on olive oil in a non-stick skillet. Saute celery, onion until translucent, adding garlic about half-way through to avoid it getting bitter. After onion mixture has cooled down a bit, mix it with the rest of the ingredients, forming a patty (if it doesn’t want to take the shape of a patty, which for me happens 90% of the time, just use one of those one egg frying pans, does the trick every time). Grill the patty, cooking it thoroughly – about 6 minutes on each side. Serve on a whole wheat bun with a spring mix, mashed avocados and tomatoes.
Enjoy 🙂
Mom of Balance 