Cutting back a lot on meat. Help?
I'm turning over a new leaf- I'm health conscious always, but I something tells me to cut back on meat a lot. I can't put my finger on why, but my body seems to tell me I should eat very little for a long time, so I'm gonna listen to it.
I'm allowing myself animal products in moderation, and meat products, but sparingly. Any help or advice?
I'm allowing myself animal products in moderation, and meat products, but sparingly. Any help or advice?
Take multi vitamins and multi minerals?
I'm cutting back on meat as well and so far I feel really good. I used to eat a lot of meat before.
The one thing to be aware of is getting all the important nutrients that you used to get from meat. There's lots of other sources to get them from. Probably a little research on it could help.
Taking pills is the same thing as eating. You get the whatever the hell is in meat through pills just a lower mass of them. So taking pills would probably be the more expensive route maybe. I took lechtin, acetylcholine, b6,12, and something else. It helped me I guess i dont really know but yeah i feel like im better off then when i started. I'm way more focused and not brain dead lost in my memories. I'm almost more annoyed of who I am now.
Morning Star and Veggie Patch make good (at least, in my opinion) substitutes, Quorn Turk'y roasts are also really good, I would expect that if the slices weren't round you could fool some people into thinking it's real turkey. With these kinds of things you can get sufficiently close to meat flavors, usually quite good protein levels (since they are designed for people who don't often get much protein in their diets) while cutting off huge amounts of fat and other undesirables compared to their real counterparts. Sodium is the main thing to watch out for with substitute products (but nothing alarming unless you totally gorge on chik'n patties, which would defeat the purpose of trying to eat healthier). Depending on product most of the choices won't be kinds that can fool meat eaters, but the flavors are good for what they are even if they aren't 100% accurate. Those alone won't be healthy, but they'll give you a lot of protein.
I also found that as far as the green veggie stuff goes (the part that carnivores usually complain about), the more I gave it a chance and tolerated the "ew" flavors, the more I found that they are actually pretty good. I think it is partly because when you transition from junky foods to healthy foods, you expect everything to taste like junk, and when it doesn't you assume it tastes bad. But it's all about experiencing the new flavors for what they are, not for what they aren't. Now I think junk foods taste terrible, even the things I used to like a lot, but as far as I care it's best that way. But since I don't know you, maybe you don't even have that problem.
Depending on how far you want to take it, if you don't eat it already it might be worth looking into salmon. It's extremely healthy for you if it's low on PCBs and mercury (salmon are usually rated 'very low' on mercury, so it's mostly PCBs you have to be conscious of, and usually they are only high in farmed salmon from what I've researched in the past). There will probably be more emphasis on doing your research when it comes to fish, like always checking labels, or being aware of which companies use which practices and how that translates into pollution content in the fish. You have a safe tolerance of about 2 parts per billion of PCBs, but they have a half-life in the body from 2.6 to 8 years, so they should be a serious consideration. It's also worth noting that depending on how you prepare it and what method you use to cook it, you can reduce your exposure to toxins (for instance, I've heard that as much as half of the toxins can be in the skin, so removing the skin from a fillet before cooking could be worth the extra time). That aside, if you can get clean-enough salmon (none will be entirely clean thanks to human irresponsibility), and are okay with eating fish, then they can be a fantastic alternative to meat that had legs.
Last edited by Deuterium on 27 Jul 2011, 5:40 am, edited 2 times in total.
Yeah also the simple ones like zinc which you mostly get from poultry. It's important for testosterone production.
Eat more nuts, seeds and pulses (beans, lentils, chickpeas etc.). Add more protein rich greens (spinach, chard, kale, nettle, alfalfa sprouts). I would maybe keep eating eggs.
Reducing your calorific intake is associated with longevity. I like to spend a day or two every now and then fasting, it seems to help my body catch up and clean house.
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Good alternatives to meat also may be: tofu, quorn, seitan, tempeh, mushrooms, hummus.
Beans, lentils etc are not complete proteins (apart from soy) so better be adjoined with wholesome grains.
Not sure what is your digestive system like, but many feel uncomfortable if they switch rapidly to vegan/vegetarian diet, due to increased fibre intake, so better incorporate it slowly.
if you continue to eat fish/dairy/eggs occasionally, I wouldn't worry so much about supplements - better to take it via food than tablets IMO.
I don't agree with this advice. I'm healthy as a horse. And do not eat meat. And I do not take multivitamins or minerals.
Its just knowing what your food gives you.
Such as nuts, nuts are good for the fat in them. I could give more examples, but I think that works nicely.
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Genius. I agree. In my perception, people bent on just replacing X animal product with faux X animal product aren't getting the maximum health benefits of a plant-based diet that's not meant to "mimic" anything. People need to change their relationship with food altogether to reap the benefits of any lifestyle change. I love fresh fruits and vegetables, but I've had people tell me raw veggies taste bitter to them, always people who eat a ton of fat and sugar.
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I think the first couple of weeks after I gave up animal products I made the mistake of trying to find things that would taste the same. Veggie burgers and all the different types of alternatives. I eventually just changed my way of eating to eating fresh fruit, veggies, beans and a few other things. I sometimes now will have faux meat but very rarely. The biggest thing that helped was good cookbooks which there are a lot of on the market.
The only vitamin that I use now is B12.
That always comes to mind when I eat fish- mercury ("comes to mind" in more than one sense)
Till now I've avoided sea food because I heard too much about the mercury content. Salmon would nice to try again, though.
If you're gonna cut back on something, I would get rid of simple carbohydrates first.
I don't hate meat. Nobody so far has said they hated meat. It's fine in moderation. I just have a gut feeling I should cut back a lot. I actually don't eat that much to begin with, but I still want to cut back and see how I feel.
If you feel getting rid of simple carbs is the way to go, go do it.
If you're gonna cut back on something, I would get rid of simple carbohydrates first.
I don't hate meat. Nobody so far has said they hated meat. It's fine in moderation. I just have a gut feeling I should cut back a lot. I actually don't eat that much to begin with, but I still want to cut back and see how I feel.
If you feel getting rid of simple carbs is the way to go, go do it.
If you want to change your diet based on a gut feeling, then go for it, but I would advise you to exercise caution so you don't end up replacing meat with fatty nuts or calorie-rich grains in an attempt to consume all your essential amino acids.
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