#Myth: Meat is Bad For You

 

To eat meat, or not to eat meat. That is the question.

Lately, it’s no surprise that we are often driven to realign with our personal values when it comes to the idea of adopting a more plant-based diet. That is, if you consider, the realities of climate change, the overwhelming amounts of contradicting health advice, as well as the viral, and not to mention, graphic videos about factory farming that can easily be found on the Internet!

Which brings us to the main question… Should you keep meat as a staple household ingredient? Let’s avoid the whole environmental & political debate and simply look at it from a nutritionist’s perspective.

Here’s what you should know.

Is meat bad for you?

Why Meat Is Good For You  

Meat, which includes beef, pork, lamb, veal and any other flesh of animal that is eaten as food, are known for being great sources of...

  • Iron ─ which helps your blood cells carry oxygen to different parts of the body. 

  • Zinc ─ which is important for a healthy immune system.

  • Vitamin B12 ─ which helps maintain our bodies’ nervous system & blood cells, and that is essential for the creation of our genetic material. 

  • Protein  ─ which, in this case, is considered to be a “high-quality protein” that in other words, means it is readily available for our bodies to use. 

How Meat Is Bad For You 

On the other hand, despite meat being rich in essential nutrients, it is also known for being one of the main sources of ‘saturated fat’ in our diets ─ which, when eaten in large quantities, is linked to many chronic diseases such as cancer and Type 2 diabetes.

Why go more plant-based?

It’s Good For Your Health!

In the last couple of years, there has been a significant shift towards a more plant-based diet as people have an ever growing concern for their health & the environment. As a response to the general public, the latest edition of the Canadian Food Guide (2019) merged meat & alternatives and milk & alternatives into a single category called “protein”.

On top of its environmental benefits, many studies have shown that adopting a plant-based diet could help reduce the risks of heart disease, hypertension and type 2 diabetes.

It Can Be Cheap!

Contrary to popular belief, choosing to follow a more plant-based diet can actually be pretty cost-friendly! This can be done by…

  • Buying fresh (seasonally) or frozen fruit & vegetables.

  • Buying canned or raw legumes (e.g. chickpeas, black beans, kidney beans, lentils, etc.)

  • Trying out soy-based proteins such as texturized vegetable protein (TVP), tofu and tempeh.

The real question we should ask ourselves is whether red meat is bad for us ─ to which I would reply: in large amounts, yes! While making the big switch towards a vegan/vegetarian diet is not totally necessary, reducing our consumption of red meat is definitely encouraged (for both environmental & health-related reasons).

To eat red meat, or not to eat red meat. THAT is the question.

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