I think this is the all time question of meat eaters...why...meat taste soo good and its a great source of PROTEIN!!
Well actually beans, brown rice, spinach, carrots and most, if not all, other plant -based foods have protein...Plus vitamins, enzymes, and fiber that you can't get from meat....
If your a meat-lover....I'm not telling you to stop buying your meat....just consider buying LESS of it and if you're going to go for it PLEASE buy the ORGANIC, GRASS-FED kind!!! Your body will thank-you for it =)
Now, please take a moment to read and contemplate on the following statistics:
"Americans eat about the same amount of meat as we have for some time, about eight ounces a day, roughly twice the global average. At about 5 percent of the world’s population, we “process” (that is, grow and kill) nearly 10 billion animals a year, more than 15 percent of the world’s total" **
"Though some 800 million people on the planet now suffer from hunger or malnutrition, the majority of corn and soy grown in the world feeds cattle, pigs and chickens. This despite the inherent inefficiencies: about two to five times more grain is required to produce the same amount of calories through livestock as through direct grain consumption, according to Rosamond Naylor, an associate professor of economics at Stanford University. It is as much as 10 times more in the case of grain-fed beef in the United States." **
"Because the stomachs of cattle are meant to digest grass, not grain, cattle raised industrially thrive only in the sense that they gain weight quickly. This diet made it possible to remove cattle from their natural environment and encourage the efficiency of mass confinement and slaughter. But it causes enough health problems that administration of antibiotics is routine, so much so that it can result in antibiotic-resistant bacteria that threaten the usefulness of medicines that treat people." **
"Those grain-fed animals, in turn, are contributing to health problems among the world’s wealthier citizens — heart disease, some types of cancer, diabetes. The argument that meat provides useful protein makes sense, if the quantities are small. But the “you gotta eat meat” claim collapses at American levels. Even if the amount of meat we eat weren’t harmful, it’s way more than enough." **
"Americans are downing close to 200 pounds of meat, poultry and fish per capita per year (dairy and eggs are separate, and hardly insignificant), an increase of 50 pounds per person from 50 years ago. We each consume something like 110 grams of protein a day, about twice the federal government’s recommended allowance; of that, about 75 grams come from animal protein. (The recommended level is itself considered by many dietary experts to be higher than it needs to be.) It’s likely that most of us would do just fine on around 30 grams of protein a day, virtually all of it from plant sources." **
Not to mention America has an epidemic of obesity and type II diabetes, diseases which can be prevented by the choices we make in our day to day living and food plays a central role in the overall equation. (We can talk about other things that play a role on another post, including exercise, stress, faith, the products we use on our bodies and in our homes, etc.
So I encourage you to try adding some meat-free ideas to your yummy food repertoire....
And remember my slogan... "Vegan Shmeegan" haha! No, this isn't a slam on veganism/vegetarianism it's just a reminder that you don't have to be intimidated by eating vegan/vegetarian! It's actually really FUN and EXCITING! If you have any recipes that you would like converted to vegan or vegetarian please write in the comments below and let me know so I can attempt to re-create them!!! =)
Health and Happiness,
Kat
