Meat often gets a bad rap - the threats of obesity, high cholesterol, and even colon cancer are enough to make anyone decline that next barbecue invitation - but experts now advise that you can have your steak and spare the guilt.

“Some beef fat is monounsaturated, which is the kind of fat that is good for you and actually helps lower LDL, or bad cholesterol, like the kind found in olive oil and avocado,” says George Faison, COO of DeBragga and Spitler and an owner of DeBragga.com, an online purveyor of high-quality meats. Meat from grass-fed cattle, Faison explains, is also lower in saturated fat than conventionally raised beef and has more omega-3 fatty acids, vitamin E, and conjugated linoleic acid—all healthy, beneficial components. In fact, according to the American Meat Institute, there are 29 cuts of lean beef that have fewer calories and are leaner than the same size serving of salmon. (And, really, who wants to serve salmon at a barbecue?)