3 (research-backed) reasons why meat is no longer needed to live a long and healthy life.
Giving up the main course of your meals can feel like a crazy thing to do, especially in our culture.
We are constantly told that it’s not only natural for us to eat meat, but it’s also good for us. I mean our paleolithic ancestors were ferocious hunters that killed lions and woolly mammoths and feasted on meat, right?
While they are correct that we humans have evolved to eat an omnivorous diet that can include meat, we do not need meat to be healthy, and in fact, research is showing that in our modern society eating meat is actually the opposite of healthy.
3 researched backed reasons why meat is no longer needed to live a long and healthy life:
- Processed meats and red meats cause cancer.
The World Health Organization has labeled them a class 1 carcinogen, the same category as smoking.
I remember clearly when the news came out that red and processed meats cause cancer. I thought for sure that that would be it and everyone would stop eating red meat and processed meat. I was so wrong. Pretty much no one changed. I was flabbergasted. How can these people keep eating steak, sausage, and deli meat sandwiches after knowing that it can cause cancer?
But then I learned that it took 70 years of scientists and doctors saying that smoking causes cancer before anyone started believing it. 70 years! That’s multiple generations. People don’t like change. It took taxing cigarettes at an extremely high rate to get people to stop and as of 2018 over 13% of the US population still smoked, with half of them suffering from some kind of smoking-related disease.
2. Ditching meat is associated with a chance at a longer life.
In a study published in JAMA Internal Medicine that looked at 70,000 seventh-day Adventists in Loma Linda, CA they found that over a 6 year period the vegans and vegetarians experienced 12% fewer deaths than the meat-eaters.
Since that study was published other studies have looked at vegan, vegetarian, lacto-ovo vegetarian, and omnivore diets with similar results. Vegans and vegetarians seem to have fewer health problems from cardiovascular diseases and cancer, which are the main causes of premature death in omnivores, especially obese omnivores.
3. Ditching the meat is associated with a lower BMI.
Vegans are on average 30lbs lighter than their meat-eating counterparts.
This was discovered in the EPIC-oxford study that looked at over 65,000 vegans, vegetarians, and meat-eaters in England. Ditching meat helps you lose weight.
Personally I can attest to both of these statements. As a meat-eater I was always on a diet, constantly afraid of gaining weight. As a vegan, I eat significantly more food and weigh 10lbs less than I did on an omnivore diet. I actually have to be mindful of not losing too much weight now and have found that gaining weight takes a significant effort on my part.
Now that doesn’t mean you cannot gain weight on a vegan diet. Just Google the 300lb vegan for a look at what it takes for this former football player to maintain his muscular 300lb body.
The truth about our ancestor's diet.
But wait a minute, if we have eaten meat for the majority of our existence as humans, how can it be so bad for us?
Well, first of all, science doesn’t know much about our ancestor's diet. Almost nothing at all. But the more we discover and learn, the more we are realizing that meat was actually a very small part of our diets. We ate mostly tubers, leaves, fruits, nuts, and seeds. Our ancestral diets were actually not meat-based at all. Yes, we did eat meat but it was hard to catch and kill so it was a rare treat.
Also, meat back then was wild, happy, free, and ate a diet full of tubers, leaves, fruits, nuts, and seeds. The meat you get from the store now eats a diet full of processed, genetically modified corn, hay, and soy and they are kept in confined quarters, have to live in their own shit, get their babies taken away, and live a life full of stress and anxiety. Genetically modified foods and stress and anxiety have all been shown to cause cancer, so when you eat meat, you're basically eating a large slab of cancer.
Also for most of human existence, we have had to survive through food shortages, famines, and starvation was a real issue. We genetically evolved to seek the most nutrient, fat, and calorie-dense food because the possibility of going days without food was high. We needed the density of meat for most of our time on this planet. Our existence and survival depended on it.
Luckily food shortages, famines, and starvation are a thing of the past. Although there are a few areas in Africa that still suffer from these tragedies due to political conflict and instability, it has basically been eradicated worldwide. Now we have a new problem. Too much food. Every year more and more people tip the weight scale over the side of obese because we are just eating way too many calories. We no longer need the nutrient, calorie, and fat density of meat. With its high protein and fat content, it’s way too easy to overeat. With the abundance of rice, beans, fruits, vegetables, nuts, and seeds we have available to us now it is no longer necessary to eat meat or dairy anymore to get the number of calories we need to thrive.
Ditching the Meat.
But what the heck are you supposed to eat if you stop eating the food that makes up the majority of your calories?
More of everything else.
Big bowls of pasta with lots of tomato sauce next to big bowls of steamed veggies.
Big bowls of rice and beans with tortillas, fajita style veggies, and lots of guacamole.
Big bowls of salads filled vegetables, beans, nuts, fruits, grains, and creamy dressings.
Smoothies with banans, spinach, plant-based milk and a dollop of peanut butter for protein.
A huge plate of roasted potatoes with a variety of dips: hummus, guacamole, and vegan cashew cheese sauce.
Sandwiches piled high with lettuce, tomato, roasted peppers, roasted eggplant, avocado, shredded carrots, sprouts, and spread with hummus.
Big bowls of stews filled with hearty beans and vegetables.
Experiment with tofu, tempeh, and other vegan meats and cheeses.
Make your favorite recipes just substitute the meat-based ingredients with vegan ingredients.
The possibilities really are endless, but the key is to EAT MORE FOOD.
