Wow, the numbers are startling. Americans consume an astonishing amount of protein. USDA statistics reveal that U.S. men eat as much as 190% of their recommended daily protein allowance, while women eat as much as 160%, the great majority of which comes from saturated-fat heavy meat and meat products.
Protein is essential to life; it builds and maintains muscles, bones and skin, and regulates metabolism and digestion. But the question remains, whether you look at it from the perspective of personal health, or environmental degradation, or cost savings, or animal rights, or veggie activism, or whatever else floats your boat: do we really need to eat all that meat?
I went to the top, to the nation's most influential nutritionist, Dr. Marion Nestle, professor in the Department of Nutrition, Food Studies, and Public Health at New York University, to get her take. "All proteins are made up of the same amino acids. ALL. No exceptions," she reasons. "The difference between animal and vegetable proteins is in the content of certain amino acids. If vegetable proteins are mixed, the differences get made up. Even if they aren't mixed, all you need to do to get the right amount of low amino acids is to eat more of that food. There is no 'need' for animal proteins at all."
So, when it comes to protein...if we don't need animal protein all the time, what other options do we have? It turns out that beans, legumes, whole grains, greens, nuts and seeds are excellent sources of protein -- plus they offer the added benefit of fiber (not found in meat), vitamins and minerals. Here's some examples of protein found in readily available foods:
Broccoli -- 4 grams in 1 cup
Brown Rice -- 5 grams in 1 cup
Refried beans -- 7 grams in ½ cup
Soymilk -- 7 grams in 1 cup
Peas -- 8 grams in 1 cup
Tofu -- 11 grams in 5 oz
Oat Bran -- 16 grams in 1 cup
Lentils -- 18 grams in 1 cup
Chickpeas -- 18 grams in 1 cup
The key factor, though, is what comes along with the protein. According to the Harvard School of Public Health, a 6-ounce broiled porterhouse steak is an excellent source of protein -- 38 grams worth. But along for the ride are 44 grams of fat, 16 of them saturated! That's almost three-fourths of the recommended daily intake for saturated fat. The same amount of salmon gives you 34 grams of protein and 18 grams of fat, 4 of them saturated. A cup of cooked lentils has 18 grams of protein, but under 1 gram of fat!
That pretty much tells the story right there. It's what comes along for the ride that we need to play closer attention to. Indeed, if Americans are consuming nearly double their protein need, primarily from meat and meat products with their concomitant high saturated fat levels (not to even get into the hormone-administered meat topic, saved for another post), you can see why the nation is staring down the barrel of an obesity epidemic.
Let me leave you with a few low-fat food combos, followed by some interesting recipes from the Meatless Monday movement, where the idea is to cut back on meat consumption by 15% to limit saturated fat intake and to start the week off right -- and light!
• Hummus and pita
• Rice and beans
• Almost any legume-whole grain pair
• Trail mix
• Low-fat yogurt with granola
• Peanut butter on whole wheat bread or rice cakes
• Lentil soup and a roll
• Vegetarian chili with corn bread
• Tofu-vegetable stir fry over rice or pasta
|
Dull
Inspiring
|
Follow Chris Elam on Twitter: www.twitter.com/MeatlessMonday
Ellen Kanner: Meatless Monday: Still, Life With Eggplant
Ellen Kanner: Bloomsday: Celebrate James Joyce With A Meatless Recipe
Mark Hyman, MD: The Super Fiber That Controls Your Appetite and Blood Sugar
|
Post a Comment
Tell me why.... I don't like Mondays.
There are 52 weeks in a year, so there are about 52 Mondays in a year. 52 Mondays out of 365 days in a year is about 14% of the year.
Under scrutiny, the meatless Monday campaign emerges as an economic attack on the meat industry.
If you're not strong enough to go completely without meat, then buy it from the small farms like the guy on this thread.
The big meat lobby goes way back. This article describes teh meat industry attempt to sidetrack stricter regulation:
"Meat Lobby Today Brings its Big Guns"
http://news.google.com/newspapers?
nid=1908&dat=19670717&id=MvUoAAAAIBAJ&sjid=btQEAAAAIBAJ&pg=3124,3923619
"The attacks launched against Meatless Mondays in Baltimore schools are anything but honest. If they told the truth, they would say that by eliminating meat for one meal a week in our kids' diets, we are affecting their bottom line. "
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/christina-pirello/childrens-health-and-the_b_345945.html
"In case after case, she said, policymakers have refrained from suggesting that Americans eat less meat. A 1977 Senate select committee led by Sen. George McGovern (D-S.D.) was forced to beat a hasty retreat after it initially recommended that Americans could cut their intake of saturated fat by reducing their consumption of red meat and dairy products."
http://wiseeats.wordpress.com/2010/05/24/meatless-mondays-a-movement-worth-following/
"The meat industry in the United States is a powerful political force, both in the legislative and the regulatory arena, even though the way they wield that power is different from many industries on Capitol Hill. "
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/meat/politics/
As with any big Corporate system, they are willing to invest in making sure to minimize loss of profits. Lobbyists are part of it, naturally promoting politicians who are likely to vote favorably for the meat growers' subsidies is part of it. They also hire "guns", mouthpieces, to, to keep articulate propaganda circulating in the press and on blogs.
We've seen this with the climate change deniers who have their cadre of scientists citing statistics and data that they know lay people aren't likely to fact-check to prove that climate change is an "hysteria" and/or that human activity won't affect inevitable climate change.
The meat industry has mouthpieces aiming at the audience who is more likely to become vegetarian: people concerned about the environment and about wildlife as well as domestic animals.
Don't take any one person's word for it about vegan agriculture as opposed to agriculture that includes the raising and slaughter of animals. No matter how many names they drop or credentials they imply, don't swallow it -- at least not without researching it carefully for yourself.
It's not that hard to find valid, peer reviewed research -- and even when you do, look for other information to balance that and use your own critical skills to draw your own conclusions.
You have presented no concrete evidence for yours or other militant vegan opinions. That is what they are, opinions. When your opinions fall short of science, and are proven to be just opinions, you attack the individual by calling them shills for the meat industry, as you have done with me and others here.
I have read Cervantes and felt sorry for Poncho having to follow such an insane loon, not to mention the innocents that suffered at the hands of title character's misguided and misinformed lunacy.
Let me parse it ofor you:
1)the purpoe of meatless Mondays and/or becoming vegetarian is a)to be healthier and/or b) to live consonant with ones values regarding relationship to the plaenet and other species of life.
2)Because the meat industry is huge, and, like any conglomerate/industry, is focused primarily on profit, it will try to confuse people with misinformation (much as the polluting industries work to confuse the public about climate change).
3)do your own research; seek information from a variety of sources -- draw your own conclusions.
You've obviously Googled "Don Quixote", and found the author's name, but you obviously haven't read the work because your you've made a mistake that even a 10th grade student in English class would have known better than to make.
Anyway, when you have to start tearing down someone's user ID to try to boost your own credibility, you've really lost it.
Food affects mood and mood can and often does affect behavior. This is a 'given' to Medical professionals.
One resource you may be interested in:
http://www.dietitian.com/mentalhealth.html
Just a quick anecdote: I've been a successful low-carber for 10 years but have technically never "Done Atkins." I just got "The New Atkins for the New You" which presents the phases as a sort of elimination diet for the carb-intolerant, like you might use to determine food allergies, gluten or lactose-intolerance. Since I had put on a "mini-muffin-topper" over the winter, I decided to actually do the induction phase. In 5 days the little extra around my middle has vanished.
I'm 57, female, and did a 55-mile bike ride this morning.
Americans probably do eat too much protein, but not enough fat. And it is sugar consumption that has risen from 5pounds percapita to something around 180 a year for the average American.
And, remember carbohydrates = sugar. All of them.
Diets such as Atkins promote fats for 60% to 80% of body energy supply.
I mean no offense meant but this is about recipes. I think there are several other posts about veggies vs omnies that everyone can go and be angry about. I know the author starts out with some...interesting facts however his solution really isn't that radical and certainly isn't something to get riled up about. But REALLY has anyone actually tested these recipes?
There have been recipes provided. Right-click on my user name, open in a new tab, click on the "Comments" tab, and read back through my replies. You'll find a subthread on recipes with Maslin, I believe it was.
Fanned, by the way. For your positive outlook on getting along.
No thanks. Someone who uses another blogger's article for self-promotion doesn't have any material I'd be interested in.
I find I don't miss meat at all, and prefer to cook seafood (except lobster, which I'm allergic to), but we often eat out in restaurants and then sometimes I'll choose a sirloin steak, and then I'd share it because it's always so big.
If you like meat but want to decrease your consumption of it, cook Asian style.
A nice piece of steak which in the West serves one person, can feed two, three people by slicing it thinly and cooking it with vegetables, and serving it on a bed of rice. Cut up everything in bite-size pieces, then the cooking, over HIGH HEAT, takes only a few minutes.
A single 10-12 oz filet mignon serves 2 adults and 2 children in our home. A single 12 oz porterhouse makes 3 meals. Grill medium rare.
Serve with grilled asparagus, sauteed broccoli & garlic, or steamed cauliflower on the side. Add a starch - rice or baked or grilled potato - to fill in the cracks. And a nice cabernet or pinot noir.
That's a loaded question and you know it. I've read enough of your posts to know that you dismiss anything as not being ",meaningful" unless it jibes with your 'thesis', and you've outright ignored citations from another commentor.
Scrolling through the threads can be tedious and in don't expect you to trace everything I've posted, but the answer to your (rhetorical) question is "yes".
I still eat chicken, turkey, fish, eggs. I eat variety of raw nuts every day drink 6 oz of wheat grass 4 times a week followed buy coconut water. I feel great and have seen some weird positive changes such as hair re growth on my head that is very obvious and continue growing. I do not use anything for this to happen.
I know vegans looking like they are making their last call in life and others that look 15-20 years younger then what they are. I have no clue to why this is but one person who looks much younger studies carefully what she eats and has not had any sickness in 15 years including a cold.
One sustainably raised cow could provide your primary protein source for a year, while exponentially increasing the vitality of the soil and significantly increasing the biodiversity of the land it lived on. Conversely, the amount of plants that you would have to eat to make up for the difference on a vegetarian diet would wipe out a vast area of animal habitat, countless small animals would be killed in the agricultural process, the water runoff of the plowed fields would erode the soil, the plowing would kill trillions of microorganisms through oxidization, and the shallow-rooted annuals of agriculture would leach the soil of vital nutrients, desertifying the land. Clearly, eating an all vegetable diet in most areas causes massively more loss of life and environmental destruction than eating sustainably raised meat along with vegetables.
You may not realize it, but the vast majority of organic vegetables that vegans enjoy are grown with animal products such as manure, blood, and bonemeal. There is no sustainable agriculture without animals.
It's hard to say whether veganism just attracts a lot of nut cases, or if it causes mental illness. Considering the studies linking both vitamin B12 deficiencies (92% of all vegans are seriously B12 deficient) and tofu consumption to degenerative brain diseases, it could go either way.
Studies also show that 67% of those who use the word 'vegangelical' are actually closeted vegans themselves. At least, some 1992 study in Luxemborg does, I heard.
Ahh, I see... German and Dutch people, well, that changes everything. Golly, everybody knows that studies don't count if German and Dutch people are involved. How could I have overlooked such an obvious thing? And 7 years ago... Gosh, I'm pretty sure they didn't even have cooked food back then. People lived in trees back then, right?
That changes everything. Nobody could ever take a peer reviewed scientific study from the premier nutritional journal seriously if it was a study of German and Dutch people from 7 years ago! Silly me, thanks for straightening things out. Good thing we have you around to set the record straight, because without the burden of silly inconveniences like facts and continuity of reason, only you can come to such amusing conclusions.
You do hear circus music when you type, don't you?
1. To the omnivores chill out and just let it go. I know a lot of vegetarians and vegans and the people here who are being so militant and aggressive are not the norm. In their defense they think they are either saving you or the planet, so it is all based on good intentions.
2. To the Vegan/Vegetarians chill out. Saying things like you met your true self through vegan/vegetarianism is great, but please don't say people who eat meat do not know themselves. That is incredibly self-righteous, generalized and down-right rude.
Everyone commenting on this article really need to take a couple of breathes (or whatever calms you down) and remember that a bunch of people commenting to you really are not going to affect your life.
P.S. first person to post something mean to this needs to re-read the comment! :-)
not.
"I know a lot of vegetarians and vegans and the people here who are being so militant and aggressive are not the norm.
"To the Vegan/Vegetarians chill out. Saying things like you met your true self through vegan/vegetarianism is great, but please don't say people who eat meat do not know themselves. That is incredibly self-righteous, generalized and down-right rude."
Such is exactly my perspective - many strict vegetarians in this topic display an incredible hubris of self-righteous moral superiority over what's on their plate. And they are determined to shove that plate down everyone's throats who do not share their militant beliefs.
Diet is a strictly personal choice. Everyone is entitled to theirs - including strict vegans. I just hope they ensure an adequate supplement of B12 in their diet according to ardent _vegan_ advice.
"... Do you not perceive that whatever enters a man from outside cannot defile him, because it does not enter his heart but his stomach, and is eliminated, thus purifying all foods?'
"And he said to them, 'What comes out of a man, that defiles a man. For from within, out of the hearts of men, proceed evil thoughts, ... blasphemy, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within and defile a man." Mark 7:18-23
It's a personal choice. And a perfectly valid one, so long as the luxuries of modern civilization remain close at hand.
Nothin' more to say beyond that, except maybe please pass the roast carrots.
Here's some real things that the man actually said:
"It is very significant that some of the most thoughtful and cultured men are partisans of a pure vegetable diet."
"I do not regard flesh-food as necessary for us at any stage and under any clime in which it is possible for human beings ordinarily to live, I hold flesh-food to be unsuited to our species."
"The crores of India today get neither milk nor ghee nor butter, nor even buttermilk. No wonder that mortality figures are on the increase and there is a lack of energy in the people. It would appear as if man is really unable to sustain life without either meat or milk and milk products. Anyone who deceives people in this regard or countenances the fraud is an enemy of India."
I am entirely open to the possibility that this famous quote could be inaccurate, that is the nature of quotes, but I am certainly not going to take the word of a vegan fanatic that has been shamefully posting a ton of disinformation here. If it has been debunked as you sayh, it should be very easy for you to back up your claim with evidence.
Fail – and shame on you.
"...I would therefore urge those who, on the strength of the theory propounded by me, may have given up milk, not to persist in the experiment..."
"I have always been favor of pure vegetarian diet. But experience has taught me that in order to be perfect fit, vegetarian diet must include milk and milk-products such as curd, butter, ghee, etc."
"For vegetarians milk being the only source of animal proteins, is a very important article of diet. "
"A sterile egg never develops into a chick. Therefore, he who can take milk should have no objection to taking sterile eggs."
http://www.ivu.org/history/gandhi/autobiography.pdf
http://www.forget-me.net/en/Gandhi/health.pdf
Same exact thing for B12 deficiencies in vegans. You spouted a bunch of obnoxious disinformation, but when confronted with a peer reviewed study in a major scientific journal showing that 92% of vegans have serious B12 deficiencies, you didn't even have the integrity to apologize.
Instead you just keep substituting ridiculously irrelevant anecdotal observations about India for actual facts.
As far as making up quotes about Gandhi, if you're going to falsely attribute it to him, then you need to back it up with something other than some cut and paste fallacy from an anti-veg website starting "In 1946 he declared...". Look, everyone makes mistakes, but now you know you're wrong – just stop it. All legitimate accounts of the mans life say he supported vegetarianism till the day he died.
Finally, I'm not going to make any tasteless jokes about dementia, but 92% of vegans suffering from B-12... the "terrifying" study you refuse to link to. Go stuff it. Actual vegans who have gotten tested will kindly inform you it's not a problem – thanks for caring though!
Seriously, some people...