I recently came to the realization that I do not live in the real world. I live in a house with 3 other ‘mostly’ vegans. We rarely have animal products in the house and our refrigerator is always stocked with lots of fruits and vegetables. We make granola and whole wheat cookies for fun.
Living in this environment, sometimes makes me forget that there are people who have no clue about healthy eating. The other week, my roommates and I threw a kabob party. It was a success. We had four types of marinated tofu and a variety of vegetables to grill.
Sounds like a good time, right? Well apparently, not everyone thought so.
I ran into one of my friends before the party and asked him if he was going to make it.
“Oh yeah, I was thinking about going, but then I saw that there were going to be vegetables, and I don’t like vegetables.”
I laughed. He doesn’t like vegetables, I thought to myself, that’s a good one.
“Yeah, I’m just more of a meat person. I’m actually having a barbeque tonight with some friends. I just bought a ton of meat. I just don’t like vegetables.”
“Wait, what? You’re serious?” At this point, I was trying to grasp the concept of not liking vegetables. How can someone omit an entire food group? Surely there are some vegetables he likes.
“I will eat carrots, uncooked, those little ones.”
If he’s not eating vegetables what is he eating?! I had a sinking feeling in my chest. This nice young man is going to die an early death because he has a terrible diet.
The conversation ended with me convincing him to come to my house for dinner sometime and I would cook a delicious healthy meal with lots of vegetables. If I convince one person in this world to eat more vegetables and less meat, my life will be well lived.
The health implications of a diet high in meat are astronomical, especially from red meat. Meat consumption is associated with heart disease, cancer, diabetes, and stroke. These are four of the leading causes of death in the United States and for the most part, they are preventable with diet.
Here’s the problem with meat, it is usually high in saturated fat and cholesterol. People that have high amounts of meat in their diet, usually have low amounts of whole grains, vegetables, fruits, legumes, fiber, and antioxidants. So not only are they ingesting unhealthy fat and cholesterol, but they are not eating foods that are suggested to prevent diseases.
Although studies are not 100% conclusive, a number of studies have shown the correlation between meat and increased risk of mortality. One study in particular showed a correlation of increased mortality due to heart disease and cancer specifically with red meat versus white meat. Red meat consumption included all types of beef and pork and white meat included fish, turkey, and chicken.
A study conducted on women showed that an average intake of about 2 ounces of red meat a day increased the risk of metabolic syndrome and inflammation.
A potential mechanism for increase incidence of cancer could be the formation of carcinogens in meat during high temperature cooking. Iron found in meat (heme iron) may increase oxidative damage and increase N-nitroso compound (a proposed carcinogen). (Click here to read up on N-nitroso compounds http://www.dhss.delaware.gov/dhss/dph/files/nnitrosofaq.pdf )
Other than transfat, saturated fat is the main dietary culprit for raising LDL levels (bad cholesterol). It starts with bad cholesterol, and then suddenly you have plaque build-up, hypertension, atherosclerosis, a blood clot and BAM... heart attack. Okay, so I may be exaggerating. It doesn’t happen that quickly… the heart attack won’t come until after you’ve established a job and have a wife and 3 kids.
So next you’re going to tell me, but I only eat lean meats, so there’s less fat. And yes, that is better than the alternative, but still not the best J But understand, it is not only the meat that is unhealthy, it is the lack of vegetables, beans, legumes, and whole grains that is also hurting you. If you want optimal health, you will incorporate beans, legumes and whole grains as protein sources.
The American Heart Association recommends the following:
- Choose poultry without the skin, and trimmed lean meats
- Choose fish baked or grilled fish, especially oily fish containing omega-3 fatty acids such as mackerel, lake trout, herring, albacore tuna and salmon.
- No more than 6 ounces of meat per day. (Which is still a lot in my humble opinion.)
- Select meat substitutes such as dried beans, peas, lentils or tofu. (This is my personal favorite)
Be careful:
- Choose low-sodium, low-fat seasonings such as spices, herbs and other flavorings in cooking and at the table.
- Shrimp and crayfish are higher in cholesterol than most types of fish.
- Some types of fish may contain high levels of mercury, PCBs, dioxins and other environmental contaminants; ex: Shark, swordfish, tilefish (golden bass or golden snapper) and king mackerel.
- Check the amount of sodium in processed sandwich meats; some have 25% or more of the daily value.
- Ham and Canadian bacon are higher in sodium (salt) than other meats.
Types of lean red meats (if you insist):
- Lean beef (round, sirloin, chuck, loin). Buy "choice" or "select" grades of beef rather than "prime."
- Lean or extra lean ground beef (no more than 15% fat).
- Lean lamb (leg, arm, loin).
- Lean cuts of buffalo are very low in total fat, saturated fat, cholesterol and sodium.
So today’s post is about taking small steps toward a healthier life. Maybe now you'll choose chicken instead of beef or salmon instead of pork. I’m not asking that anyone become a vegetarian today, although that would be amazing; I’m recommending that you limit your meat consumption, especially red meat. If you don’t eat meat, inform others of the health concerns linked to a high meat diet.
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