Add protein-rich pork to your weeknight menus

You can't eat like a pig and stay healthy, but you can eat pig (a.k.a. pork). Like other protein foods, pork won't bump up your blood sugar a bit. And the leanest cuts, such as tenderloin, are almost as low in fat as chicken! That's why advertisers dubbed pork "the other white meat," even though it is in fact red meat. Read on to learn why pork has made a comeback as a healthier food.

Over the past 20 years, changes in feeding and breeding practices have produced much leaner cuts of pork. Less fat means fewer calories, which means less excess weight and better blood sugar control.Like all other animal foods, including beef and eggs, pork is a good source of vitamins B6 and B12, which help keep homocysteine in check.

High levels of this amino acid raise the risk of heart disease and dementia. Pork is also a standout for riboflavin (vitamin B2), important for metabolizing carbohydrates and for producing red blood cells.

To keep pork as lean as possible, trim off any excess fat before you cook. One of the biggest mistakes made with pork is overcooking it. That's a recipe for a tough, dried-out dish.

To keep lean cuts moist during roasting and to bring the glycemic load (GL) of the meal even lower, try using a marinade that contains vinegar, wine or citrus juice. The acid from the marinade will soften the meat, making it juicier and tastier.Years ago, people worried about getting trichinosis, caused by intestinal parasites, from pork.

Today, because of changes in the way animals are fed and raised, it's much less of a concern. And as was the case all along, cooking pork properly — to an internal temperature of 71°C (160°F) — will kill any trichina parasites that may be present.

Think of using pork just as you would beef or chicken, and the possibilities are endless:

• Use pork strips or cubes in stir-fries along with plenty of vegetables (try a frozen stir-fry mix).
• Try pork tenderloin on the grill.
• Create hearty pork and wild rice soup with cubed pork loin, white beans, chickpeas, cooked wild rice, chopped onion, chicken broth, olive oil, cumin, chopped parsley and coriander.
• Make pork and black bean chili with cubed pork, black beans, chopped red peppers, diced tomatoes, chunky salsa, minced garlic, chopped onion and chili powder. Cook in a slow cooker for seven hours.
• Throw a lean pork chop on the grill along with sliced summer squash and halved tomatoes.
• Use extra-lean ground pork, labelled 97 percent lean, in place of regular or even extra-lean ground beef for meat loaf, meatballs or burgers. You may have to go to a health food supermarket to get such lean pork, or order it online, but it's worth the effort since it's significantly lower in fat than pork labelled "lean" (and often lower than ground pork whose label says "extra lean" but doesn't include a number).
• Use pork in kebabs, along with cherry tomatoes and pieces of onion and yellow pepper.