I’ve heard cow tongue can be a delicacy but I’m pretty sure they didn’t mean on the first date.
“Mom?” My freshly bathed son snuggled into my lap as we read through his favorite book before bedtime.
“Yes, honey?” I answered, prepared for one of his silly existential questions he likes to pose right before lights out. (“If I had a googleplex of licorice would you make me share it with my brothers?”)
His big sweet brown eyes looked up at me through those long lashes he got from my husband. Laying one little hand on my cheek he asked, “Do baby cows taste as delicious as mommy cows?”
Cough, choke, splutter. My baby wants veal?!? All this time I thought he loved Brown Cow, Brown Cow because of the snuggly baby animals and the cute way I sing the text (I do a very fancy trill on the last “No kittens, no kittens, but many many friends!”) but apparently he was reading it as a cookbook. I panicked – you do realize there is a goose in that book, right? How am I supposed to explain Foie Gras to a 3-year-old?? But in the end, what could I say? The boy has always loved his meat. He once ate five bratwursts at friend’s birthday party; he called them “meat sticks” and carried one in each fist, alternating bites. That would be another thing he got from my husband – I was a vegetarian then.
My history with meat and with dead cow specifically has been long and tumultuous. I was a vegetarian for years, then a vegan, then I realized one day that for my health I did need to eat some meat. Then I went on a meat bender for a few months. I’ve tried the Primal Blueprint which has you eat meat at every meal. I investigated Gary Taubes‘ (of Good Calories Bad Calories) claim that one could eat nothing but meat – yes you read that right, no fruits and veggies necessary – and be perfectly healthy. And then I embraced Intuitive Eating which may have ended up teaching me more about what meat eating means for my body than I learned from 100 books.
And I’m not the only confused person out there. These days it takes much less than a children’s book though to bring out people’s mixed feelings about meat. There are two main controversies surrounding red meat: Is it healthy? Is it humane? (I’m including both taking good care of the animals and of the environment in the latter.) Today I’ll examine the first question and tomorrow I’ll talk about the second. (I originally wrote this as all one post but then I figured I shouldn’t dump a 3,000 word article on you on a Monday. You’re welcome.)
Is Eating Red Meat Bad For You?
The other day my friend DarLee and I were waxing rhapsodic about the amazing grass-fed, grass-finished, pastured, kissed-by-angels beef we got from a local farmer – seriously this stuff is so amazing I don’t even bother seasoning it when I cook it – when another friend wrinkled her nose and said, “Ew. I gave up red meat a long time ago. Especially ground beef. It’s so bad for you!”
But is it?
For years the advice given us from everyone from our doctors to the government to celebrities was to “eat lean meats” like the perennial favorite, the Almighty Boneless Skinless Chicken Breast. (See what I did there? I proper-noun’ed it!) We were told by our doctors to avoid red meat especially because of the “artery clogging saturated fat” and told that if we must eat it then to stick to the leanest cuts we could find. Indeed it seemed that the research backed up this position with studies linking red meat consumption to higher incidences of cancer and heart disease. Just last a week a report issued by the World Cancer Research Fund/American Institute for Cancer Research concluded, “red and processed meat increases the risk for colorectal cancer, and the evidence that foods containing fiber offer protection against the disease has become stronger.” CNN.com in reporting a different study, declared definitively, “Want to live longer? Cut back on red meat.” It became one of those nutritional facts that everyone just “knows.”
But when you really look into the research that knowledge becomes a lot less sure. The main problem is that most studies are looking at people who eat factory-farmed animals whose meat has an entirely different nutritional profile than cows raised as they were meant to be. Conventionally raised cows are fed a diet of grains, sugar (seriously), and a melange of other things that can include beef blood, chicken feathers and even arsenic. They are also injected with hormones and antibiotics to help speed their growth and for infections brought on by crowded, unsanitary conditions.
However, left to their own devices cows prefer to eat grasses and roam Home On The Range style (no word yet on if the deer and the antelope want to play today – I hear they’re under investigation for becoming rowdy neighbors now that we’ve killed off the wolves that used to shut down their redneck parties.) The end result is a meat that is naturally “lower in fat, calories, and omega-6 fatty acids linked to heart disease. It’s also higher in vitamin E and heart-healthy omega-3 fatty acids. (But not that high: You’ll get two to five times more omega-3 fatty acids from grass-fed beef than regular beef, but you’ll get 5,000 percent more from salmon.)” It also contains more CLA, a known cancer-fighter. The research supports that people who eat grass-fed beef get less cancer and have lower blood pressure and better lipid profiles than people who don’t.
The second issue with a lot of these studies is that they don’t differentiate between processed and unprocessed meats. Nitrates and nitrites among other preservatives commonly used in hot dogs, sausage, bacon and lunch meat have been linked to cancer but when you look at beef that has been naturally cured the link between cancer and red meat disappears again and it even reduces your risk of diabetes.
The third issue is that the link between saturated fat and heart disease has not held up under scientific scrutiny. I’ll give you a few minutes for that to sink in. I wrote about this before when I shared how I learned to embrace eating fat (all kinds of fat except man-made ones!) and how it increased my health but saturated fats are not the villains we’ve been taught to believe. A lot of that advice was based on Ancel Key’s 7 Countries Studies – a great body of research but his conclusions didn’t account for some important variables. Mark’s Daily Apple debunks this one more thoroughly and intelligently than I ever could.
A third consideration that I found buried in the studies is that ancient populations like the Inuit and Masai who subsisted almost entirely on meat, prized the fatty organ meat and often discarded the leaner muscle meat – which is exactly the opposite of how we eat it. Unless you’re a zombie (the apocalypse is here!) you likely have never eaten braiiinnnnnssss. When I asked on FaceBook and Twitter the best way to cook liver, the majority of cheeky answers said “Remove from fridge, throw directly in garbage.” (And no Naomi, I still haven’t had the guts – ha! – to try your liver recipe yet. But I’m going to, I promise!!)
My Conclusion
It appears to me (remember I’m no expert in this, just a neurotic speed reading overthinker) that it is the type of red meat you eat that makes the difference to your health. Indeed it seems that eating some grass-fed beef, especially the offal (organ meats), can provide a wide range of important health benefits that are difficult to get from other food sources. I eat it. Not every day. I love it.
Do you eat red meat? Is there any particular meat or meat dish you avoid? Any advice for cooking beef liver and/or heart?
*Check back in tomorrow to discuss the ethical issues surrounding red meat – so please don’t flame me in the comments for not talking about that in this post, ok?
Beef heart is very yummy. It’s like the “dark meat” of red meat. Oooh, that would be like maroon meat! Ha! I kill me! It’s late, I’m a geek. Anyway, I don’t know how my mom cooked it, but I did like it. Liver on the other hand will never again graze these lips and is not allowed in my home!!!
Save some of that humor for the gym tomorrow… we’re gonna need it!
I haven’t eaten meat in years, but my mom always makes liver with carmelized onions and garlic, just like fried. I recall liking it when I was younger, and unclear about what liver was. She says its the only thing that cures her anemia, so it’s frequently part of Saturday morning breakfast at my parents’ place. I’m betting it’s the iron shots, but…whatever.
I do believe red meat is good for you, in moderation, just like all other unprocessed foods. I just…will leave the remainder of my comments re: the meat industry for tomorrow.
Have you read Pride and Prejudice: Zombies? It’s hilarious. I don’t know if it’s critically-acclaimed, but I’ve read it several times (still fewer times than real Pride and Prejudice, and most definitely fewer times than watching the Bollywood Bride and Prejudice…) but the zombie version has a certain je ne se quoi. Mostly brains.
Did you see this (CDC Zombie Apocalypse Preparedness Guide?!): http://blogs.cdc.gov/publichealthmatters/2011/05/preparedness-101-zombie-apocalypse/
My book club read P&P Zombies last year – It was really funny, much better than the original Austen IMO!! The Bollywood P&P is awesome. LOVE. And yeah, it was fun seeing the CDC have a sense of humor.
Great piece, Charlotte, and it echoes my own food-geek-driven findings. Like any food, meat can be made better or worse through what goes into its production – that should seem like common sense, but the waters get muddied by all sides: the feedlot beef industry, the veg activists and the (usually confused) media. Anyone who uses the knee-jerk cliche “artery-clogging saturated fat” should have their keyboard taken away.
Since I found a reasonably-priced source of grass-fed beef, I just can’t bring myself to eat the feedlot stuff any more.
And M.Lindsay, beef liver is actually recommended by some doctors for patients with iron-deficiency anemia.
Truly – it’s like a different food isn’t it? The taste is incomparable. The stuff between the buns at McDonald’s is unrecognizable. As for liver – when I was anemic and pregnant my doctor told me to eat it. (I didn’t at the time ’cause even Cheerios made me vomit but still)
In my opinion, a meat eating diet (including red meat) can be as healthy as a vegetarian diet – it all comes down to making the right choices. A vegetarian who lives off chocolate and veggie burgers is going to be less healthy than a (red) meat eater that knows nutrition and eats sensibly. That’s why it always annoys me when you see articles saying things like “want to live longer? Give up meat!”. Vegetarianism doesn’t equate to healthiness (though I would argue that more vegetarians are healthy, though cause≠effect; due to books like skinny bitch, people who are interested in health are more likely to be/become vegetarian, regardless of whether they could have been a healthy meat eater).
Personally, I’ve not eaten meat in going on 16 years. I gave it up (by choice) at 4 and a stubborn streak means I haven’t touched it since!
I agree – I think you can be healthy or unhealthy regardless of your food modality. I had one vegetarian friend who subsisted entirely on white flour (pasta, bread, pizza crust), tomato sauce (spaghetti, ketchup and pizza sauce) and cheese. She didn’t even recognize spinach when I served it in a salad. But on the other hand I have other veg friends who won’t touch sugar and regularly use vegetables that you can’t even find in a grocery store. It’s def. about education, I think.
I laugh that I always rant about how IM AN AVOWED CARNIVORE!!! yet the read meat? outside a smattering of ostrich jerky I rarely eat it.
Im a fish and chicken misfit.
I keep seeing that ostrich jerky around and I need to try it!!
We just recently located a source for great grass-fed meats (of all kinds) on the Virginia peninsula and WOW what a difference! I always thought it was the spice of Fanatacism that was flavoring the foods of organic/grass-fed junkies, but, nope! Truly, the taste is significantly better. And, (again, check the spices) it keeps us feeling satisfied faster and for longer. Incidentally, one of the reasons that this co-op is so awesome is because they deliver to HRCrossFit which is 5 minutes tops from my front door. Sadly, I can’t afford CrossFit right now, but they seem like very nice, sincere folks. My goal is to find: 1. the courage the join them, and 2. the money in the budget to join them, and 3. a friend who wants to be as crazy as me!
This: “the spice of Fanatacism that was flavoring the foods of organic/grass-fed junkies” made my morning. Laughed so hard! I hope you accomplish your goals (esp. #1) because I think you’ll love it!
I’m not a liver eater, but my parents liked it. My mom used to dust it with flour and then fry it with onions.
Hate it. Gives me the creeps as does the thought of any dead animal body parts or secretions.
I betcha I eat more veggies than most vegetarians. I also eat more than my share of dead cow.
I finally got hooked up with a local rancher with 100% grass-fed, free-pastured cows. I flummoxed him this past weekend by being the first customer to request tallow (or fat scraps to render my own).
He’ll be talking to the butcher this week to see if he can get it. So far it’s only packaged in 100-lb containers for restaurants; I don’t think I need quite that much.
Many years ago I was vegetarian for three years (vegan for one) and felt like crap. I’m an animal, and I feel best when I’m near the top of the food chain.
Me too: “I betcha I eat more veggies than most vegetarians. I also eat more than my share of dead cow.” See my comment to Ali about my veg friend. Interesting that you were a vegetarian – I didn’t know that!!
Yeah, that was about 25 years ago when I was going through a “hippie phase”. Wore tie-dye, did yoga, the works. I was a “smart” vegetarian, too. Made sure to combine my incomplete proteins, sprouted my own seeds, made my own soy milk, etc.
Soak the beef liver in milk overnight before cooking it, it makes the flavor not so strong.
Good to know! Thanks for the tip.
Obviously I don’t eat meat at all, but I just wanted to say that I’ve always heard that ground beef (or any ground meat) is particularly bad for you because the act of grinding it up disperses the germs and bacteria that would normally only be on the outer part throughout the meat. I guess you just have to be more careful about cooking it? I really don’t know, but I’ve heard it. And maybe I read it on the internet once … so it must be true. 🙂
I’ve heard that too – and it makes sense frankly. All the more reason to be super choosy about where you get your meat from! (If you choose to eat meat which I will never say you have to do to be healthy.)
I’m not a fan of red meat (I just don’t care for the taste) but my husband could eat it every day I think. If I’m going to have it, I prefer it cooked in the slow cooker with lots of other stuff for flavor, and so that the meat is falling apart. Basically, I don’t want to notice that I’m eating it. 🙂
I tend to think the moderation approach makes sense for most things. Eating a wide variety of foods just makes sense to me.
My Mom tried all kinds of methods and recipes for cooking liver when I was a kid. I think she eventually just gave up. Some people do like it, but I think if you don’t like it there’s probably not a whole lot you can do; the taste and texture are quite distinct.
Aiee – see this is what makes me so nervous to try cooking it! I mean I just started liking meat again,do I really want to risk it? Lol.
Really interesting–I’m convinced that factory-farmed and processed meats are bad for you. The verdic is still out for me on the rest. I’m a vegan, but definitely not on my soap box about meat. BTW, typing comments here is still very funky.
I know – some people are still having issues with the site… kinda at my wit’s end about it:( Thank for sticking it out anyhow!! And for the record – more on this tomorrow – I will never, ever tell anyone that they “should” eat meat or that you can’t be healthy and happy as a vegetarian.
Charlotte, I think you’re being a little inaccurate describing The Primal Blueprint as having you “eat meat at every meal”. Many of the Primal folk would breakfast and lunch on things like eggs, nuts, yogurt or fish, as well as lots of veggies and salads of course. It doesn’t have to be a red-meat-heavy way of eating at all – the emphasis is on REAL, unprocessed, unadulterated food, and letting go of the grain-and-sugar-and-God-knows-what-based non-foods that are so prevalent thesedays.
I think there are a wide range of Primal eaters but if you look at the very basic 30-day challenge they tell you not to eat any dairy, incl. yogurt and nuts are on their occassional list as well due to the whole antinutrient issue (I think you are supposed to soak them and then roast them before eating?). Most of my Primal friends do eat meat/fish at every meal – which isn’t to say that you have to though, as you pointed out. (Also, since Mark says chicken is heavy in Omega 6’s, most of my Primal buddies do eat mainly red meat, pork and fish.) I realize if you’re not doing the 30-day challenge then a lot of Primal folk do have some cheese, yogurt, dark chocolate etc.
And yes, I absolutely agree about the genius of it being the emphasis on foods in their natural state. The more I read your comments, the more I think maybe we eat very much alike – I bet if we both listed all our meals in a day we’d probably come out pretty similar:)
After watching Future of Food and Food Inc we only get our meat from a farm. The difference in taste has taken some time to get used to. For the last 20 something years our food chain has been royally f’ed up thanks to big conglomerates so knowing what REAL meat tastes like is different. I could do without meat my husband on the other hand used to have a cow (hardy har har) if there wasn’t meat with every dinner. Well 1) it was expensive , 2) chicken and fish are good proteins as well. When I switched to ground turkey (which I prefer now to anything!) the difference is minimal. Now I try to eat less meat, I don’t think it’s the devil but I prefer to get real meat not stuff from the store wrapped in cellophane.
You sound a lot like where I ended up!
BTW, you always have THE BEST pictures heading your posts! Over the last week or so they’ve been fab. 🙂
Hahah – glad you like them! I have way too much fun finding them;)
I haven’t eaten meat for close to 2 decades – for the simple reason is that I don’t like it, the taste, the texture etc – bleeck!
However one Christmas my brothers asked me to buy the chicken for their BBQ (Xmas is in summer down here), so I bought organic chicken. They all raved about how great it tasted, especially the chef ! I was amazed.
I very occasionally eat duck or turkey. I was buying some turkey from the supermarket until I read on the label “Manufactured meat”. Seriously ! I checked it out and apparently they sweep up the left-overs from the floor and mold it into a loaf. Haven’t touched the stuff since.
PS – Received my My Trainer Fitness cards today ! Woo-Hoo ! They’re great 🙂
“Manufactured meat”?!? I just threw up a little. And yay, so glad you like your cards!!!
Yes it is!
I do not eat red meat, chicken , turkey ,or pork, only some seafood and in time may eliminate that also.
Look at people who eat that way with aging and you will see a significant difference .
Dr J – I’m shocked! I cannot believe your implication that eating meat will somehow shorten our lives. Unless you are saying that we won’t live past 100 if we eat meat….. because I have many relatives who have lived well into their 90’s on an omnivoric (is that a word? Spellcheck doesn’t seem to think so) diet!
I don’t eat it often, but I can’t give up red meat. But then again, I know where my meat comes from. It’s one of the great things about marrying into a family that raises cattle. I know the cows were well taken care of and well fed on a mainly grass diet, and I know where they go to get processed is cruelty free. But I won’t eat veal, veal is the devil.
I know, right? I don’t think I could ever do veal… I’m jealous of your cowboy in=laws!!
Gosh, I could write a comment longer than your post about this stuff – it’s super interesting. 🙂 But I will keep it short and just say, yes. I agree. Completely.
(Funny aside: I have a place near me that sells pastured beef, chicken and eggs. My mom took some chicken home from there a few weeks ago, and then called me. It tasted so different from grocery-store chicken that she wanted to make sure it wasn’t spoiled or something! I asked her if it smelled bad or tasted spoiled, and she hesitated, then answered, “No . . . just a lot . . . well, CHICKENIER than I’m used to.” We both died laughing. :))
Also – shoot me an email (don’t know if I have yours anymore) and I’ll give you the liver rundown. (I cook it with bacon and onions, but it’s too long to post here. ;D)
Chickenier! Am going to have to use that one! And I’ll drop you a line but for future reference, you can always click on the contact me link at the top of the page and it’ll come straight to my inbox;)
I tried the whole vegetarian thing for a few years because I was promised a lot of energy. But the only thing I got was a lot of muscle loss. I went back to eating meat. I think grass fed meat is a perfectly healthy choice of food.
As far as the scientific evidence go, I have a hard time in believing what they say, because there are always theories to prove other theories wrong. It is best to listen to your own body. I think our bodies are very smart and if you provide it with good nutrition and just a little exercise, you are guarantied great health.
Meat is something I decided to never give up again.
If you got muscle loss, you weren’t doing the “vegetarian thing” properly. I’m certainly not trying to give you a hard time, but as a vegan athlete, I’ve found a way to build muscle with no animal protein whatsoever. Not only do I know it’s COMPLETELY possible, but I’ve never felt better in my life.
I think it is possible to maintain and build muscle on a vegetarian/vegan diet. I was at my very leanest (and most muscular) as a vegan. For me though it was the thyroid/b12/iron issues I simply couldn’t overcome.
I think there are many different paths to healthy and it’s about finding the one that works best for you – which it sounds like both of you have!
Totally Kristy, I agree absolutely.
I’m a red meat lover. Hands down. My body burns through chicken and pork as though they weren’t even there. I don’t get a lot of iron from the rest of my diet, and my roommate will actually check to make sure I’ve had red meat lately if I start to get too cranky. And I’ll admit it – I eat mine RARE.
Oh I like mine super rare too!
I’m a pescatarian and gave up red meat when I was about 10 just because I didn’t really like the taste/texture. I really don’t like labels on foods of just “good” or “bad,” and red meat is always labeled “bad.” I do think grass-fed beef (or any animal) has to be better than factory-farmed, and if people eat that kind of beef on occasion – I doubt that alone will cause heart disease.
I just started eating meat again after 8 years veg, some vegan. I only have organic grass fed beef, have even met the cows! Tastes amazing. I actually have steak for breakfast most days (pre workout) I feel amazing. There was antime in my life when veganism worked for me but things change! I like to think I keep my food miles low and the cows/chickens etc are treated well and happy – like I said I’ve met them! So I am happy with the environmental choices I am making. Plus I eat loads of veggies-I’m talking whole broccoli and 1/2 a pound of spinach plus more a day! Yum!
Yay! So glad you have found what works best for your body right now!
I do not eat any meat at all. While I don’t condemn anyone who does, and I see your point, I think there are two things you are missing here:
1. Any health benefits you get from eating red meat (or any meat for that matter) can be obtained elsewhere, in a healthier manner.
2. Our society is at serious risk for animal-protein overload. I realize that our active lifestyles require protein, but I think it’s important for us health-nuts to start subbing out animal protein with healthier varieties — for the good of our health, and the health of the environment.
Being a vegan, obviously this is just my stance. Again, I condemn nobody for their choices, but at the same time I feel like it’s my duty to try to spread the word and get people to realize that perhaps animal protein isn’t as important as we once thought. 🙂
I agree with you for sure about our society’s over-reliance on animal protein (and it isn’t just from a health stand point but also an ecological and economical one) but I’d have to disagree with you a bit on your first point. It just didn’t work for me. I ended up b12 & iron deficient along with thyroid problems, none of which could be resolved in any manner save going back to eating some meat and eggs. I was not happy with that at the time but I eventually had to accept that that is how my body works. I’m glad that veganism is working well for you though! I’m all about finding what works best for you and your body!
I 100% agree with finding what works best for your body, and if eating meat works for you, I’m glad you’re finding the most environmentally friendly and health-conscious way to do so!
I like me a good burger every six months or so, but I agree that the grass-fed happy cow meat is a bajillion timea better. Not even comparable, in my opinion.
I echo what others have said above. There are potato chip vegans and vegetarians who are way less healthy than omnivores that eat ethically. I think ethically eating is more important than a blanket ban on meat products. There are a lot ofpesticides that can kill you slowly and vegan or not, they’ll getcha.
This is a great article. I am an ovo-pescetarian….but for ethical reasons, not health reasons.
I recently read The China Study and then dove into the actual studies cited by the book and…..a lot of those links and connections? Are kind of lousy. The studies are flawed. And correlation does not = causation. I think MODERATION is the key for everyone and everything. Two burgers a week isn’t going to kill you, just like eating nothing but veggies won’t guarantee you won’t get cancer.
Yes, the first time I read the China Study I was blown away by it (and it was a major impetus in me going Vegan). Like you though when I really got into the research it didn’t hold up at all…
Hi Charlote: Here in Mexico you can easily find places where they serve brains, usually in fried quesadillas, and liver with onion is very usual here. I HATE organs, specially liver (it leaves an awful layer of ‘something’ in your mouth and throat, disgusting) but in Mexico they eat brains, liver, lungs, intestines, kidneys, hart, eyes, ears, and all kind of gross things from cow, pig, lamb, goat and in some places yo even find donkey, horse, cat, dog and rat meat (of course they don’t tell, but you just ‘know’) so between that and the insects tacos it can be a dangerous place to eat!
My husband is mexican and he eats these sometimes, but I always say no.
Oh wow. Part of me really wants to come to Mexico so I can try an insect taco (I did eat roasted grasshoppers once!) but part me just shivers at the thought of popping an eyeball in my mouth. I guess people get used to it though!
We still eat meat, but get it from local ethical farmers., and have it done up by butchers. Happy cows taste better and I know it’s hormone free and good quality 🙂 I refuse to eat veal though, simply for the way they are often treated. I can’t eat liver, butmostly due to a texture thing…bleh. We’ve been eating a lot of ground pork and ground turkey too.
I think moderation of food from healthy origingsis the key.
I need a good burger once in a while 🙂
And I second the recommendation of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies…it’s a hoot 🙂
I do eat red meat and I love it – but we didn’t eat it for a while because we couldn’t find a good source — we wanted the grass fed happy smiling cows and for a long time that was not in our budget, so we went without. Now we found a good farm to buy it from.
I wonder if we use the same farm? Otis?
I’m a fan of meat. I LOVE read meat, but find that I’m being choosier about how often I eat it. I can thank IE for that one!
Your cow tongue pic brings back a bad memory for me. When I was a junior or senior in high school, I used to go horseback riding with a friend. Her mom was awesome (I called her Grandma Jan) and always made us a meal or snack when we got back from riding. Anyway, she made these adorable little sandwiches and gave me one. One bite and I KNEW without ever trying it before, that it was cow tongue…just from the texture. It was just as I imagined french kissing a cow would be like, though a bit drier. Eww.
Ok I just retched. Thank you for that.
Oh, tongue is delicious – such soft and juicy meat. I can get past the “what it is” factor okay now. But when I once worked as a lowly kitchen hand in a European restaurant many years ago, I had to peel the skins off huge, boiled beef tongues (and yes, they looked exactly like what they were) before slicing them … that wasn’t quite so okay. The big tongues chased me and licked me in my sleep for a while. Eep!
I read recently, somewhere, that it’s refined carbs and not saturated fats that are giving us heart disease.
I also recently did a 21-day vegan experiment. Along with (finally!) getting the hang of IE, what I have learned is that I cannot be a full-on vegan, but have lost my taste for red meat. I’ll eat chicken and wild-caught fish now and then, and if I crave red meat in the future, I’ll try and make it grass-fed and hormone-free. I also will not judge others on what they eat, because that’s just mean, IMHO.
Yes, I’ve read a lot about the carb issue lately. Some researchers lay the blame for diabetes, obesity and heart disease at the feet of ALL carbs. Not sure I agree there but I don’t feel smart enough to argue the research with them…
And amen to not judging!
Thanks for collecting all this info! I know I’ve said to my boyfriend when he’s commented about how much less meat he eats these days, “That’s good. Red meat’s not good for you.” I think I have to revise that. If he wants to eat meat at home (which he rarely does) I think I’ll just encourage him to go for the grass-fed stuff.
Personally, I was raised a pescatarian and have always eaten that way, with a short period of true vegetarianism. And it makes me happy. I think I’ll stick with it 🙂
I’m all about finding what works for you and your body and sticking with it! I think there are many paths to health:)
“GIVE ME COLON CANCER OR GIVE ME DEATH!” I always say.
OK, so I eat red meat. I don’t stress about the source too much. I DO eat it in controlled quantities. The longer I’m around the more I understand the “wisdom” 😉 in “everything in moderation.”
Boring and cliche I know.
That’s how I roll.
in the documentary fathead the film maker loses weight and improves his health by only eating McDonald’s. the film was made in response to super-size me. very funny stuff. but I’m biased because i love red meat and my family owns a grass fed cattle ranch. i also had the wonderful experience of becoming so ill on my rebellious vegan diet when i was 16 that my hair started falling out. eat what makes you happy and healthy. not always in that order.
I had to read Omnivore’s Dilemma and watch some gross You Tube videos of the humane chicken slaughtering at Polyface Farms before I could stand to work with raw meat in my own kitchen. And the only way I’ve ever used “the nasty bits” is rinsed and quickly tossed in boiling water to make broth, lol. So I don’t have any good recipes for you. But I did eat chicken heart once at a Brazilian steakhouse in San Francisco. They basically put anything made of meat on a skewer, roast it, and slice bits off for you at your table. It seemed kind of chewy to me. I don’t have very sensitive tastebuds.
I’ll admit I have a mental block on this issue. Intellectually I don’t see why eating moderate portions of red meat would be that bad (and I do like lamb), but the people I know personally who really love burgers, steaks, ribs, etc.–well, let’s just say that a lot of them are not too healthy. To be fair, they also eat their share of junk food carbs, the typical standard American diet….
I am almost to the point of just ignoring all new “studies.” Isn’t it obvious what we should eat — real, unprocessed foods that make us feel good? And food is just one variable. What about exercise, stress, community, a feeling of purpose, other lifestyle habits? A lot of people who are advocating these real meat-heavy diets are ignoring the fact that we have very different lifestyles than Masai tribesmen or pre-industrial farmers, and I also get a feeling that (just as you can find with vegans and vegetarians) there is an ideological component to some of them.
I have switched to grass fed beef and I love it!…. as for liver?? my mom used to cook it when i was a kid… but it stunk up the house so badly that I ended up sitting on the back porch eating pb&j… and I don’t like hearts or gizzards or any organ meats – ewwwwwww (and don’t try to call’em giblets and put em in my gravy either!)
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I grew up only eating red meat once a week and fish and chicken the rest of the week. I love a good steak and meatballs and chops and liver too! My mother makes traditional Jewish chopped liver where it’s salted and roasted first and then processed with some hard boiled eggs, caramelised onions and some soup stock. It’s absolutely yummy and I could eat it on toast or crackers for breakfast lunch and dinner (and I definitely have done that too!)
I tend to buy Kosher red meat since I find the animals have had a better life and definitely a better death but I’d love to be able to afford organic kosher meat. It’s just so expensive!
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I don’t do red meat often, a few times a week at max, and at home, I always get the leanest ground beef I can (the 96/4 stuff I buy and the extra lean grass fed don’t even have to be drained, they have no fat), and will pretty much only eat filet for steaks. Sometimes I’ll just get a CRAAAAVING for it, and that’s when I know I’m a little low on iron (usually right around PMS time…).
I am not a beef eater, not because I don’t eat meat but I just don’t really care for it. I ate it as a kid but as an adult, I just don’t have any desire. I do eat turkey & chicken but not pork or beef cause not my thing… I know, I am no help! 😉
I don’t know much about the overall health of red meat — I try hard to care about health, but I’m not too great at it. What I DO know is that my digestive system is NOT a fan of red meat. In fact, the only thing it likes less is ice cream (*sob*). I think it’s the high amount of fat — my body just can’t handle it. So I eat a lot of chicken, pork, and turkey burgers/Boca patties, which suits me just fine. I say you should eat what makes you feel healthy (notice I say “healthy,” not “good,” as they’re not necessarily the same thing).
I eat beef, but usually not grass-fed, beer-fed. I prefer 50 g of Kobe beef once in a while to 10 pounds of imported hamburger beef. I eat other red meats sometimes too, duck, boar, horse… I don’t worry much about food I eat in small amounts. My only goal is to eat 80% of healthy stuff and vary a lot
And you know that the real French fries are cooked in beef fat ? “If you eat them instead of the fast-food junk, you’ll be obese in your late 90’s…”. That’s what my grand-dad often says. As he couldn’t afford anything but potatoes and cabbage as a poor orphan kid, since he could afford, he has eaten huge amounts of red meat. And all the uncles and aunts of his generation did the same.
That doesn’t seem to have done them bad. I think it’s because they have always been active and totally avoided any kind of processed food. Maybe they buy mustard, and the all
rest is home-made.
You can surely explain “foie gras” to kids. It’s the famous carb loading of marathon geeks. Haven’t you experimented that yet ? I mean the carb loading. Well, in its genre, making foie gras is a sports. You can try too.
This: “You can surely explain “foie gras” to kids. It’s the famous carb loading of marathon geeks. Haven’t you experimented that yet ? I mean the carb loading. Well, in its genre, making foie gras is a sports. ” is hilarious! So true!!
Everything in moderation. If you eat red meat at every meal then you will definitely be more prone to heart and other problems, but meat is essential to a healthy diet and body. Just not in the amounts most Americans eat it.
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For me, red meat is an important staple in my diet. (When I quit eating meat, I had similar iron and B12 issues, which I might have been able to overcome with a “proper” vegetarian diet. I just wasn’t committed to it for any strong reason and working meat back into my diet was a treat, not a chore.) I probably only have it one meal a day on average, but I lurve that one meal.
My DH on the other hand “picks things up and puts them down” for exercise, has lost ~70lbs, and eats 1.5-2 lbs of meat a day. (You’ve all seen that commercial, right? http://youtu.be/M-cpojkILO0)
So we have made a point of getting the bestest red meat we can (yak meat – grass fed, grass finished, local slaughterhouse), and getting it in large quantities. Me because I like being healthier and more ethicalish and having fewer trips to the grocery store, him because he’s cheap and needs it to taste good if he’s going to eat that much. Now my next task is to find some sort of nitrate/nitrite free alternative to the turkey sausage he eats everyday for breakfast…
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