Giving up red meat?

[Borstalboy]

Posted: 7/23/14 at 4:19pm

Anyone done it? I would like to, but I love it so!
This article's got me thinkin', tho.

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 7/23/14 at 4:36pm

I gave it up when the AIDS epidemic hit. I figured I had to figure our SOMETHING I could do. At the time in gay mags like Honcho and whatnot there were suddenly full page ads for vitamin supplements and I thought I would go to a health food store and get a multi. While there I picked up a pamphlet by a yogi and he talked about the road to health being paved with the life force in plants and not the death force of animal flesh. I thought about how at the record store I worked at it seemed somebody made a McDonalds run every day. So I decided to give up red meat.

I've only had a few bites of it entirely by accident since the mid-80s.

[Gothampc]

Posted: 7/23/14 at 4:38pm

Don't do it! How can you walk past a Ruth's Chris and not stop?

[Jane2]

Posted: 7/23/14 at 4:41pm

Updated On: 7/23/14 at 04:41 PM

[Gothampc]

Posted: 7/23/14 at 4:46pm

My grandmother is 98 and she makes Paula Deen look like a vegan. My grandmother has eaten Southern fare all her life, fried chicken, banana pudding, sweet tea and that's just an appetizer.

[Jane2]

Posted: 7/23/14 at 4:51pm

Updated On: 7/23/14 at 04:51 PM

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 7/23/14 at 4:53pm

Jane, it's true, every body's different and a lot of it is the luck (or lack thereof) of genetics. I will say that I have terrific cholesterol (I gave up all meat and fish too in the late-'80s) while close family members are all on cholesterol meds. Again, no way of knowing if it's diet or luck.

[Jane2]

Posted: 7/23/14 at 4:58pm

Updated On: 7/23/14 at 04:58 PM

[Jane2]

Posted: 7/23/14 at 5:03pm

Updated On: 7/23/14 at 05:03 PM

[Borstalboy]

Posted: 7/23/14 at 5:29pm

The article I linked isn't about cholesterol.

[EricMontreal22]

Posted: 7/23/14 at 5:44pm

I've been a pescotarian or whatever the term is since I was 12 and saw some meat packing documentary on TV. So I didn't do it for health reasons, but really, it isn't all that hard to do. I did miss a few things (like my grandma's pot roast...) but...

[Jane2]

Posted: 7/23/14 at 5:56pm

.

Updated On: 7/23/14 at 05:56 PM

[ghostlight2]

Posted: 7/23/14 at 6:01pm

"The article I linked isn't about cholesterol"

Nor is it about personal health, period. It is about the health of the planet. I eat meat, but not often. Meat shouldn't be coming from factories. It's bad for the animals, it's bad for the people, it's bad for the planet. When I was a kid, the only meat we got was either hunted or from my uncle's small farm.

I eat whatever I want, but when I eat any kind of animal flesh, I consider how it was sourced (even fish - swordfish, for example, is entirely off my plate). So, you don't have to give it up entirely (though, like Eric says, it isn't that hard). Do keep thinking, educate yourself where your meat is coming from, and act according to your conscience.

I wish more people who ate meat had to either raise or hunt their meat and butcher it themselves. I'll guarantee they'd eat it less often.
The carbon footprint of beef

[Jane2]

Posted: 7/23/14 at 6:03pm

Updated On: 7/23/14 at 06:03 PM

[ghostlight2]

Posted: 7/23/14 at 6:16pm

^^^I was speaking of Borstalboy's link. It is not about personal health. It's about the carbon footprint of the beef industry.

Updated On: 7/23/14 at 06:16 PM

[Addison D.]

Posted: 7/23/14 at 6:20pm

I would second much of what ghostlight says. While I DO think that reducing the frequency with which I eat meat--once-ish a week--has been a healthy change, the real motivation was my objections to mass-produced meat--the treatment of the animals, the damage to the environment and the quality of the product.

I am fortunate to spend time in areas where there are many small- and medium-scale farmers committed to healthy, humane, environmentally sound production, and thus have a reasonable level of confidence in the quality of the meat that I consume.

[Jane2]

Posted: 7/23/14 at 6:24pm

Updated On: 7/23/14 at 06:24 PM

[Sutton Ross]

Posted: 7/23/14 at 6:50pm

I think if any meat eater watched the undercover videos of animal factories and slaughterhouses, they would never feel right about eating meat again.

[ghostlight2]

Posted: 7/23/14 at 7:00pm

^^^You'd be very wrong about that wild generalization. Some people simply don't care - and in any case, meat from factories does not equal all meat. There is a huge difference between factory meat and meat raised and killed in an ethical and humane manner (imo).

I have no qualms about eating meat produced in that manner, nor meat from an animal I've killed myself. I almost never (I'm not perfect) eat factory-produced meat - but I've seen those videos and still eat meat, as do many other meat eaters.

[PB ENT.]

Posted: 7/23/14 at 8:03pm

I don't condemn meat eaters. Personally I don't digest red meat very well so I avoid it. If I do eat fish or white meat, I choose my markets carefully for where they get their products and choose organic or farm raised. I feel much healthier eating mostly fruits, veggies whole grains and some dairy. I can't return to red meat anymore. Also, never eat fast foods or packaged or processed foods. It's a lifestyle change, but it works for me.

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 7/23/14 at 8:36pm

I don't know about that article, but I have heard that cutting red meat from your diet makes your spoo taste better.

[EricMontreal22]

Posted: 7/23/14 at 9:08pm

I don't condemn meat eaters either (I know we've had this thread, but if anything I find some meat eaters get defensive thinking I care what they eat.) It's obviously a personal decision that could be made for a myriad of reasons...

[Sutton Ross]

Posted: 7/23/14 at 9:57pm

"Some people simply don't care - and in any case, meat from factories does not equal all meat. There is a huge difference between factory meat and meat raised and killed in an ethical and humane manner"

I agree, I was assuming people understood that I was talking about meat coming from those places I mentioned. There is a huge difference, and even though it's more expensive to consume meat that was humanely and ethically raised, it's worth it to be able to sleep at night. At least, to me it is.

[ghostlight2]

Posted: 7/24/14 at 9:03am

"There is a huge difference, and even though it's more expensive to consume meat that was humanely and ethically raised, it's worth it to be able to sleep at night. At least, to me it is."

Meat should be expensive and less common. Eat meat, if you're inclined to, but make it count. Have a sirloin, not a Big Mac. A Cornish game hen instead of KFC.

That said, if I'm at a friend's BBQ, and the ribs look good, I am not asking the provenance of the pig and will likely indulge rather than stick to potato salad and watermelon - and I'll sleep just fine.

To Borstalboy: I've found that a lot of times, it's more about the idea of giving up meat and its place in the American culture that it is actually giving up meat. Early on, I experimented with meat substitutes - I'm not talking about faux hotdogs or tofurkey. I mean things like grilled portobellos, eggplant, home made veggie/bean/quinoa patties - foods that take the physical place of meat on your plate, and offer the mouth feel and texture of it, to a degree.

Start by substituting things like this gradually, and eventually you'll find that even if you haven't cut red meat out of your diet entirely, you will have at least cut back on it.

[Roscoe]

Posted: 7/24/14 at 10:55am

I've seen the films about slaughterhouses, seen the PETA materials, and still eat meat, and always have and always will, and do so with a perfectly clear conscience. I certainly understand the feelings and motives of those who don't, I think, but I'll never share them.

Updated On: 7/24/14 at 10:55 AM