paulr

On balance is giving up meat,or even cutting down,good for your health.
Anyone seriously looked into this?

OllyK

Personally I'm with the - everything in moderation. Tend to eat a lot more chicken and turkey than other meats but still like a sausage, a steak or even a fry up now and again. But I don't eat meat every night either

Jerome

What sort of meat?

I'm fairly sure (but will bow the the fountain of knowledge that is SN) that cutting out red meat would be good for you, but to give up white meat and fish would make you less healthy.

I have 2 totally vegan cousins. You will never see two less healthy looking non-dead people.

darts_aint_sport

Biologically speaking, we have the teeth and the digestive system to eat meat, so eat meat I shall! We've managed to get this far in evolution by eating meat, so no, eating meat is not bad for you

(unless of course you have a meat phobia or meat allergy which will kill you)

paulr

When was fish ever classed as meat?

What i mean is reducing or cutting out red meat.Is having some red meat better than none at all and what would you classify as occasional.......once a week?

OllyK

Some may argue that there are nutrients in red meat that you won't get any other way. I am not sure of that, but as I said before moderation is probably the key. What the "limits" are for that, I have no idea. I probably eat red meat more in the summer (BBQ season), say 1 or 2 times a week and maybe once every couple of months in the winter.

Jerome

Which is why I asked my question. Many people regard poultry as meat (and some fish also), so I was after clarification. Typing an extra three letters would hardly have killed you.

paulr

Fair point Jerome.
On the subject of white meat why is that healthier than red?

Tiggs

fish and white meat in sensible levels = good for you

red meat = rotting flesh sat in your gut for ages, not nice.

i wont eat anything i cant chew in a few bites....big steaks are not my idea of healthy food!

EvilKyote

yup I agree, If we were meant to be vegitarians we would all have furry skin, long floppy ears and a little white fluffy tail and spend all day mating!!!!

Tiggs

like a race horse?

EvilKyote

Um.........yeah!

paulr

Cats eat mice.

imlach

I always love the vegetarians that claim to be one, yet say "....but I eat fish".

WTF!? Vegetarianism is, by definition, not eating animals/mammals/living things (ie, something with a pulse).

Markus

If someone tries to make me give up meat then it'll be bad for thier health! I can tell you that for nothing! (hopes that someone has decided not to peek around at what I actually do all day, when I claim I'm working, if they are looking then "hello K")

Personal opinion is that we apes are designed to eat meat. Don't think I've ever heard reference to a veggie eating cave dweller before (though there is a bread eating species of ape )

paulr

I'm asking this from a health point of view,not moral or "animal welfare".

Tiggs

hmmm....poor basis as apes and cavemen ate/eat veggies/berries/plants a lot more than the odd meat they catch

imlach

Well, my wife is a vegetarian and has been for 2 decades. No health issues at all. Blood pressure great, cholestrol great, iron great....in fact the analysis of all stats were fine & normal.

So long as you get enough protein, carbs, fat, iron, calcium, etc from non-meat sources, no health issues at all.

Vegans are a different matter.

imlach

Oily fish contains Omega-3 fatty acids which is what is claimed to be good for you. This can be got from non-meat sources.

Chicken, AFAIK, contains nothing special.


Vegans do have a harder time of it, as protein is mainly limited to nuts.

yoza

Just the word, ' vegetarian ' gives me pictures in my head of......

English secondary school teachers, wearing mo-hair jumpers, brown cords, and Polyvelts, who drive green rag top 2CV's, with GreenPiece bumper stickers on the back.

Gothic style tree hugging women, with weird coloured hair, who wear striped day-glo leggins with DrMartin AirWare, they stink of pot, and say "Yar".......alot.

Is it just me ?

Jye

Didnt do Linda McCartney any good. I eat red meat myself, as already said top fodder for the BBQ, on occasion. Has been linked with various cancers such as bowel cancer but then again, Linda Mc..... Fish and poultry are deffo better but then you wont be a vegetarian. Makes me laugh, folk say 'I'm a vegetarian' then order up some fish or chicken

Jye

Oops just noticed imlach's post

swiss scooby

I quit eating meat (incl. fish, seafood and chicken) when I was 16 years old. Besides several other reasons, it all started with a bet between a couple of friends and myself as to who would first give in and start eating meat again. AFAIK the bet is still up an I just turned 30 this year. I was never one of those guys that judged the meat eating people, which by doing this really puts vegetarians into a bad light. Therefore, to each its own, but sometimes I really wonder how many cows, pigs, etc. I saved from being slaughtered in these 14 years. BTW, I am not skinny at all --> au contraire!! Cheers, Danny

milo

are u asking about just cutting out meat, or are you saying dropping things like eggs and milk too?

if its the latter, forget it. no way on this planet can u get enough amino acids from a frickin' carrot to properly fuel your body to do anything more than sit around catabolising.

cutting out meat is a mistake.. because its easy protein and works your metabolism nicely. the amino acid profile is nice, and some meats (steak) contain creatine, which is vital. its the way you cook the meat that matters.

chicken breasts, turkey, lean steak all grilled are some of the best foods you can be eating. no way should any person wanting to be healthy be looking to cut these out or down. i eat well over 1kg of meat every day, plus fish and other protein sources on top of that and i have very low levels of bodyfat, and have full blood tests, liver values and various other tests done every 3 months (and always come back as expected.. touch wood). i have been doing this for many years... living proof that its safe to eat meat

naturally, a cheap burger drowned in grease is NOT clever and should be avoided... so if you're asking whether you should cut them out.. yes you should

milo

no.. the method of cooking it has. i have yet to see a scientific test to prove that its actually red meat that causes cancers. its the way the meat is cooked. and this is what the test are (in many cases inadvertantly) testing.

take a vegetarian and cook all his carrots in grease.. and i guaran-damn-tee that he'll be just as likely to get cancer as someone cooking red meat in the same way.

Jye

Agreed milo, and more importantly what happens to fat when cooked (spesh BBQ'd red meat), same thing though as we prob all cook red meat this way some (a lot) of the time.

Chip

Just finished a nice big rib-eye cooked rare on a cast iron griddle. Mmmm lovely.

Chip.

Jye

Same here

imlach

Some useful FAQs here

http://www.ivu.org/faq/

..and in particular, this page about whether the body needs meat :

http://www.ivu.org/faq/nutrition.html

imlach

...and equally, I can show you someone who has had all the tests and eats no meat....living proof that it is safe to NOT eat meat

There are whole cultures living on the planet who don't eat meat.