Lamb is an interesting variety of meat. While common enough to be found on most dinner tables once and a while, it is far from a staple of North American diets. Often considered fancy or gourmet– a restaurant-type dish– lamb can also be the centerpiece of “low-fi” cuisine like donairs or souvlaki. Such a versatile ingredient certainly deserves a place of importance in our modern food culture.
More importantly, lamb meat is highly nutritious and offers a wide range of health benefits when added in moderation to a balanced diet and lifestyle. Read on for D’Arcy’s summary of lamb facts, tips and tricks.
- While it has the reputation of rich, fatty meat– modern lamb cuts are actually quite lean in comparison to other meats. Advances in ethical raising and butchery have drastically improved the quality of lamb meat on the market.
- Lamb is exceptionally rich in high-quality proteins.
- Red meat is the most readily digestible source of iron and one serving of lamb meat can provide almost a quarter of your recommended daily intake. Iron is essential to red blood cells and many other body functions. Iron deficiency is the most common nutritional deficiency in the world.
- Like iron, lamb is an extremely reliable and effective source of zinc– another building block of a healthy body. Among other uses, zinc is present in over 100 separate enzymes within the human body.
- Lamb meat contains high concentrations of other essential nutrients such as B vitamins, amino acids, omega-3 fats and thiamine. It also contains other minerals that are reported to offer health benefits such as manganese and selenium.
- A cornerstone of the “Mediterranean-style” diet, lamb is a source of healthy, non-saturated fats– only approximately half of the fat in lamb meat is saturated.
Our list is only a partial summary and D’Arcy’s experts are always standing by to answer any question you might have about lamb and its health benefits. Introduce a new flavour to an old favourite or make a splash with a traditional Sunday dinner with lamb (it’s not only delicious– it’s healthy too)!