Thursday, September 18, 2008

Goodbye, Delicious Steak!

I never thought the day would come when I'd turn down a burger or steak.

When given the option, I used order my meat as medium-rare as possible. I was a regular consumer of carne asada burritos at the local taco stand in my neighborhood. One of my favorite restaurants of all time was a Brazilian BBQ place that served hearty slabs of meat by the skewer.

But that day has come - I've decided to omit red meat from my diet.

Steve and I try our best to live healthy lives, and recently decided that our diets can do without red meat. Red meat is generally higher in saturated fat, and is a contributor to negative health issues such as high cholesterol, heart disease and colon cancer.

We also want to be as environmentally responsible as we can. Yes, we are some of those people. The people that believe in things like sustainable living, reducing carbon emissions, and doing what is in our power to care for our environment.

So as much as possible, we have been sticking to poultry, fish, and other alternative proteins. We're a few months into our "no red meat" diet, and so far, it has been surprisingly easy.

If I stop to think about it, sometimes I miss red meat. But the benefits are so valuable, I think this change will be worth the sacrifice.

21 comments:

  1. Have you read the article about how red meat has a key type of protein that maintains brain mass?

    It's pretty much the only article I've ever read that tells people that the straight up vegan/vegetarian lifestyle isn't 100% enough (just 99.9%).

    Just wondering. Alas, I think I'm sticking with the life of a hard core Carnitarian. ;)

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  2. i don't eat red meat very often either. but my brother? has perfected the technique of a great steak....and somehow i can never turn it down!!

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  3. I only eat red meat maybe once a month, but when I do it is oh-so-good. I don't think I could give it up.

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  4. i don't know that i could give up red meat, but i have definitely cut back on it.

    but good luck and way to keep up healthy living :)

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  5. I eat it so infrequently that I don't know it's worth giving it up, but good for you guys!

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  6. I've been laying off the red meat as well for the last month or so. It's going well so far and it wasn't that hard because I didn't enjoy red meat in the first place.

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  7. Dude, I could so NEVER pull that off. We don't eat as much as we used to though -- the old red meat & potatoes diet of the midwest. ;o)

    Have to ask -- where are you getting your protein? I love me some juicy chikkin, but every time I cook some up I've got one of those creepy Peta cruelty to animals videos playing in the back of my head.

    It's horrible what they're doing to the animals, but I also don't really want to eat too much of anything that was raised in an environment like that -- you know? Hrm.... do I sense a follow-up post? *grin*

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  9. I just don't believe this crazy talk I am hearing! As family, does this mean we have to take this into account when we eat out?!

    On an individual note, I think it is a fad that is addressing the issues of our generations heart, but not addressing the real issue that our world is not where we want it to be.

    Basically, there are larger issues that we don't know how to address as a large population, so we resort to this fad.

    So far, that is my "not so informed" opinion. Digitally timestamped and dated by my friend Blogspot.

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  10. good for you!

    i was raised not to be a big red meat eater. its a once in awhile thing for me, but i don't think i could give it up completely. i love a good burger.

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  11. Slimpanther - no, I haven't read that article, but I'm interested. Send me a link, if you can.

    Tubetone - I'm eating a lot of poultry, tofu and beans for protein. Chicken is one of my favorite foods, so that one's a no-brainer.

    Stuart - No, I won't be making everyone else adhere to my food choices...don't worry :) And I agree that our world is filled with very large issues. While small personal changes don't completely address the breadth of say, our environmental problems, I strongly disagree with people who decide not to do anything at all. We should be doing anything and everything in our power to make changes for the better.

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  12. I've never been a huge red meat fan, but I've started to add it to my diet here and there. Looks like we're heading in opposite directions :) Kudos to you, though! It never hurts to be healthy!

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  13. Hmmmm, well, I'll eat the red meat for ya! Actually had a burger today.
    But I admire your willpower to stay away from something sooo yummy! But then again, maybe it's not that yummy to you.
    Regardless, hope you find a good nutritional substitute!

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  14. I wish I could give up meat, but after growing up in the Midwest and eating meat SEVERAL times a week there is just no way...

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  15. I could never do it. It's not in my omnivorous nature.

    I'll help in the battle against methane produced in the raising of domestic cattle by eating those suckers just as fast as I can!

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  16. When researching stuff for Earth Day I found a ton of articles that pointed out that the number one thing you could do to help the environment was to cut back on eating red meat. So, you are in the good books with the environmentalists now!

    As for me, my doctor is always trying to get me to eat more red meat for the iron. So far I've refused and have been trying to get it from chickpeas... he's not very impressed.

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  17. I am dying right now over the last picture in your previous post. Die.ing.

    I really admire you for being able to make the red meat cut. Mark and I don't eat much of it, with the exception being the occasional steak (with blue cheese butter, so totally not healthy), and we do enjoy burgers off the grill. But I go for chicken in things like our tacos and such, and I do try to substitute ground turkey for things where one would usually use ground beef. Kudos to you! I think I'd cave and need a steak eventually. You go!

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  18. Kudos for keeping it up! I only eat red meat every once in a while, so I don't think it would be TOO hard to give up, but I enjoy a good steak.

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  19. My friend has a cattle ranch in southern arizona and they are raising certified organic beef. This means no hormones! The business is doing great and I think they can ship wherever, it would be worth trying if you want some red meat without all the unnecessary extras.
    santaritaranching.com

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  20. I wandered over here from mrs priss's blog, and I just had to comment on this one. I haven't eat red meat in a long long time, and I never regret it. It actually didn't start all that intentionally. I just hadn't eaten any in a while and now I absolutely cannot unless I want to be ill for the rest of the day (found that one out the hard way). But yes it's a great step.

    I also read the article about brain shrinkage. It is due to vitamin B-12, which is only found in animal protein, ie meats, dairy and eggs. If you are only cutting out red meat you should be fine, though there are b12 fortified foods you can buy if you go vegan.

    http://www.vegsoc.org/info/b12.html

    Best of luck!

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