Are our bodies healthier without meat? (climate, best, system, consumption)

[Escort Rider]

Depends on what you mean. When I was a child in the 1950's it was common practice to have meat at every meal - three times a day. At breakfast there was normally either bacon, sausage, or ham to go along with the eggs. Lunch and dinner were not considered complete without meat, either beef, chicken, or fish.

Epidemiological science has indicated that this is clearly too much meat. So it is clear that our bodies are healthier without too much meat, but that leaves the tougher questions about meat consumption.

Is once a day too much, healthwise? (Full disclosure - that is my own current level of meat consumption). Once a day is about one third of the amount previously considered "normal" in this country. Do any posters have scientific information concerning lower levels of meat consumption?

[jimboburnsy]

Originally Posted by Escort Rider

Depends on what you mean. When I was a child in the 1950's it was common practice to have meat at every meal - three times a day. At breakfast there was normally either bacon, sausage, or ham to go along with the eggs. Lunch and dinner were not considered complete without meat, either beef, chicken, or fish.

Epidemiological science has indicated that this is clearly too much meat. So it is clear that our bodies are healthier without too much meat, but that leaves the tougher questions about meat consumption.

Is once a day too much, healthwise? (Full disclosure - that is my own current level of meat consumption). Once a day is about one third of the amount previously considered "normal" in this country. Do any posters have scientific information concerning lower levels of meat consumption?

There have been some compelling studies contrasting the health of vegetarians and vegans versus omnivores, but I think the results are so compelling because the contrast is between a group of people who are necessarily adhering to a dietary discipline and McMerica. That isn't apples to apples. I want to see a study contrasting vegetarians/vegans versus a group of similarly disciplined omnivores. I suspect that the results would be considerably different.

Our bodies have taken some steps towards the consumption of animal proteins that are undeniable. For example, the organ present in gorillas to digest raw "grazed" matter has become vestigial in humans (the coecum, we call it the appendix). I also think it's interesting that our taste buds, in addition to sweet, sour, bitter, salty and heat can detect what some people describe as "savory". In a very basic sense, your taste buds respond to particular amino acids making meat very satisfying.

If daily meat consumption is reasonable, encompasses a number of different taxonomic classes and you have a healthy and active lifestyle, I personally doubt you are at much risk from your diet.

[southernnaturelover]

Meat moves through the digestive system very slowly, so too much of it can't be a good thing.

[Escort Rider]

Agreed, but the point of my post was how much is too much.

[tcrackly]

The human body can metabolize a consistent meat diet very well provided there is adequate exercise. Case in point: numbers of cultures that revolve around hunting or herding such as the Masai, Inuit, tribes of the Mongolian Steppes, and many early American Indian nations. these are the same peoples that develop diabetes, heart disease, and various other ailments when introduced to the high starch/high sugar Western diet.

[TexasHorseLady]

It's not a question that can be answered in a black or white answer for everyone. So much depends on your genetic heritage (what the people you are descended from ate because of the climate they found themselves in), what your individual physiological make-up is, among other things.

For example, I do NOT do well on a diet that does not contain not only meat, but red meat, on a regular basis. (Chicken and seafood are great, but don't do the trick for me, though shrimp, oddly enough, does.) This even when it is a carefully balanced vegetarian diet - yes, I've tried, it makes me sick as a dog. If I eat a high-protein, meat-based diet, my health blossoms.

My late best friend for three decades was a vegetarian, and did extremely well on that diet (her death was from cancer, and since every single member of her family, including a two-year-old, died of some form of cancer, I don't think her diet had anything to do with that).

Neither of us found it necessary to insist that ours was the only healthy diet and only healthy way to live.

So, the question would be, how much meat for which person is too much?

[Mac_Muz]

The labor force has changed to be many people don't need meats like in earlier times.

I eat a lot of meat each day for me, but i would prefer more fish and rice as a everyday foods. My metabolizim is a fast burner, much to the dismay of many friends, so I don't gain or loose much weight over a given series of years.

I would fail to do what I do on all vegii diets.

[Renaldo5000]

*Waits for the sanctimonious vegan to chime in at any second*

We would not have been born with canine teeth and the ability to digest meat if we were not meant to eat it.

[terrasurf]

Processed meat like most packaged sausage is bad (but oh so good). Red meat is bad. A slow cooked stew or soup made with meat is much, much better.

[Grandpa Pipes]

Originally Posted by Escort Rider

Depends on what you mean. When I was a child in the 1950's it was common practice to have meat at every meal - three times a day. At breakfast there was normally either bacon, sausage, or ham to go along with the eggs. Lunch and dinner were not considered complete without meat, either beef, chicken, or fish.

Epidemiological science has indicated that this is clearly too much meat. So it is clear that our bodies are healthier without too much meat, but that leaves the tougher questions about meat consumption.

Is once a day too much, healthwise? (Full disclosure - that is my own current level of meat consumption). Once a day is about one third of the amount previously considered "normal" in this country. Do any posters have scientific information concerning lower levels of meat consumption?

Meat is not needed to stay healthy. Protein is.

There are lots of ways to get enough protein with eating meat.