There are no real advantages to giving up "red meat’ altogether. Cutting back to a small portion a couple times a week may be good advice for those with high Chol and whose Chol responds to diet. Cutting back your overall fat intake is likely a good thing, as many Americans are somewhat overwieght (yes, I know the Op is an Aussie). But lean red meat contains little fat- and there are many vegan sources which are worse. Macadamia nuts, for example.
But cutting back on the number of hotdogs and hamburgers you eat (with those naughty “chips”) is likely good for you.
This reminds me (veggie or not, my brain is certainly fading fast with age :)) some of the studies (which I still have not re-found) stated that it wasn’t clear that the lack of meat was the primary factor in the reduction of heart and cancer problems. It’s possible that the consumption of legumes and green vegetables is the main cause of health improvement. Chili is my fave, Beano is my friend.*
*Have I found myself a new sig line???
Not too much kangaroo around these parts, but in much of the US you can get bison or beefalo (a bison-cow hybrid). It’s a bit more expensive, and it can be a bit tougher, but it’s very low in fat, and some folks (myself included) think it tastes better. It’s probably not available in Oz, but just for the benefit of any Americans interested in the subject.
And one easy way to supplement your dietary iron, whatever you’re eating, is to cook in iron pots and pans. Some of the iron will get into your food that way, especially if you’re cooking something acidic like tomatoes.
Who even knew that there were Bratwurst on Mercotia? Or summer, for that matter? Isn’t that the planet where the denizens change form with the seasons?* Are you suggesting that your Xmex-like** tongue could tell a meat brat from a non-meat?
*Oh wait, that was Ploor. Never mind.
**However you spell it.
I gave up red meat four or five years ago and I have never regretted it. I’ve never had my iron or cholesterol checked so I don’t know how those have been affected. My wife (who is also skipping red meat) had a baby last year, however, which required her to undergo blood testing. She was fine.
I figure I’m getting less fat and cholesterol than I would be if I were eating red meat and I really don’t miss it. I’ve been working at cutting out foods that are deep fried now. That’s probably a more significant move from a health standpoint.
I think that’s a fair guess - I think a diet free of red meat is probably healthier, but it’s easy to be a fat, unhealthy vegetarian. It ain’t tough to get way too many calories on a vegetarian diet.
No, but I don’t need it because I didn’t say they did at all, let alone frequently. As you and others acknowledge here, it is harder for veggies than red meat eaters to get enough useable iron in their diet, so it’s something they have to pay specific attention to. My reading of the OP was that he wasn’t aware of that, so if his motivation for not eating red meat was “health”, I was just pointing out he didn’t need to - switching to healthier red meats would do as well and he wouldn’t have to worry about that aspect.
It does need to be handled differently, what you have eaten was almost certainly overcooked. I suggest you start with barbecued roo sausages, absolutely delicious!
Also roos are easier on the environment than cattle or sheep. The way the drought and other degradation is going here, the sooner we switch to roo the better, IMO.
Oh, and you still haven’t clarified what your goal in possibly dropping red meat is?
But the evidence suggests that we don’t need to look harder at it - while a naïve guess based upon usable iron in the diet does indeed suggest that it would be more likely for vegetarians to develop iron deficiencies, it doesn’t seem to be the case that we do. When you look at something as complicated as diet and nutrition, it’s important to return to the empirical data on actual impacts on health. Looking too closely at individual chemicals and test-tube models results in things like the recommendations to eat more vitamin E or beta carotene, which in fact may be harmful rather than helpful. It doesn’t seem to be something vegetarians need to be careful of at all in most cases.
Again, while I’m a vegetarian it’s essentially for environmental reasons and I’m hardly evangelical about it. Nevertheless I’ve long thought that this focus on iron is something akin to omnivore FUD.
Well, you could be consuming even more Chol laden foods. Eggs for example. Tropical oils. Many men have too much Iron, not a deficiency; but you should have your blood checked, really. (Many women have an iron deficiency, however)
Lean red meat, in moderate portion size, is not bad for most dudes, in fact it’s good for you. That’s 3-4oz a couple-three times a week.
However, the 'deep fried" thing- yes, that’s good to cut out. There is nothing good you’ll be missing there (well, other than taste, sure…).
For the pure Vegans out there do note- there is no vegetable source of Vitamin B-12, which can thus lead to anemia. (There is some B12 in some Tofu, but the source isn’t the soy, it’s from the bacteria that breaks the soy down). Here is one time where I strongly suggest a supplement.
Whack-a-mole’s first source - the Vegetarian Network of Victoria - seems to, at least partially, disagree with you:
The clear implication is that the reason veggies don’t in general suffer from lack of dietary iron is due only to taking special care not to. My reading of the OP was that this planning was not going to happen, hence my warning.
Non-vegetarian (and non-omnivore) sites are more categorical:
Hamsters ate my last post wherein I explained that I was going to give up red meat for health reasons, especially with a view to losing weight. I’m not fat by any means though I’m a fair bit heavier than when I was quit smoking 6 years ago.
I was aware of the iron issue wrt meat, hence my spinach remark in the OP. However, I wasn’t sure how big a factor this really was. If I’m reading everyone correctly, I gather there’s no evidence of a general higher incidence of iron deficiency in vegetarians than there is in meat-eaters, but that B-12 doesn’t feature in vegetables and therefore a vegetarian can only get that through supplements.
Having made it through 6 days straight without meat of any kind (I’m on fish and vegies only), I can add “tastebuds will die of boredom” and “permanent feeling of emptiness in stomach” to the cons column and nothing much at all in the pro column. I feel a bit lighter - a little less sluggish, maybe - but thats about it. I’ll give it a run for another few days and see what happens.
Well, if this is the case, the most likely culprit is a lack of imagination and variety on your part, because there is nothing inherently boring or bland or monotonous about the taste of vegetarian food.
Rats. Here I scan the whole thread to make sure no one has already used my comment "The biggest con about not eating red meat is that you don’t get to eat yummy yummy red meat!"only to find that the OP already realized that.
But mhendo’s comment could be rephrased as a minor con - Need to learn all new recipies. And the solution to this con is to start going to Indian restaurants. mmm… Lentils… Mmmm.
On second look, the OP stated only giving up red meat. Chicken and turkey are quite good, why have you not been eating them? Or has this morphed into no meat at all?
(Of course, everything tastes better with a large hunk of pork in it.)
Well, I stopped eating meat about 20 years ago although I did add back in tuna two years ago and sneak an Arby’s every couple of months.
My opinions:
Pros:
Easier food storage, less risk of food posioning.
Easier to keep meals low cal (if you don’t just sub in cheese for the meat).
Personally, I have amazing numbers (blood pressure, triglycerides, cholesterol, etc.) but I also exercise regularly and have good genes so can’t really blame it on vegetarianism.
Feeling good about not supporting farming practices I disagree with.
Cons:
Can be trickier to find good recipes once you take away the meat. There are a lot of good ones out there but they take more work than just scrambling up some beef.
Can be hard to find food when traveling. Also, some people get offended or dismayed when you won’t eat what’s offered.
I am not anemic but I’m right at the border. I’ve never been able to give blood. ('cept once back in HS but I think that was a mistake 'cause I was underweight and boderline bulemic at the time)
Absolutely. If your tastebuds are dying of boredom, you’ve got a ways to go in learning to cook. Did meat used to figure in everything you ate before - did you eat it with every meal? Otherwise, I can’t figure out why you aren’t aware of vegetarian foods that aren’t tasteless. A healthy omnivorous diet doesn’t contain constant large portions of meat either, so I don’t understand why you’d be particularly bored on a vegetarian diet.
Yes, it has. It started out intended to be a no-red-meat thing but its now a no-meat-at-all thing though I am still keeping fish in there.
I wasn’t trying to offend vegetarians with my comment about my tastebuds dying of boredom. I am fairly handy in the kitchen if I say so myself and have always cooked the odd meat-free dinner for myself, but its surely a YMMV situation. Whenever I go out to a restaurant - or when I used to, I should say - I would go past the vegetarian option to one of the meat ones virtually every time because of my tastebuds’ natural preference for meat-based food over the other. I am not saying that all meat-free food is boring, just that my tastebuds have a clear preference. Having said that, I will keep an eye out for a good vegetarian cookbook. If anyone can recommend me one, that would be appreciated. I have only one vegetarian cookbook at home and its crap.
Its day 9 without meat and I’m feeling alright. However, I actually have little reason to keep this going other than as a personal dare and so I’m struggling to motivate myself to continue.
