Whether you're looking to eat less meat (like me) or have no interest in doing so whatsoever (like Conservative Boy), I'd advise reading this New York Times article called "Putting Meat Back in Its Place."
It proffers some worthwhile advice, including:
- Keep at least some of your decisions personal so they affect no one but yourself (and don't preach!).
- At the same time, don't apologize—deciding to eat less meat in no way harms the people around you.
- Meat isn't the only source of protein in our diets; in fact, plants have protein too. And most Americans eat about twice as much as the recommended daily allowance of protein anyway.
- The USDA recommends that meat servings be four ounces per person, yet per capita we eat half a pound a day. Simply by serving the recommended portion size, you can drastically cut your meat consumption.
- In most traditional styles of cooking, meat is a condiment or treat or simply one of many ingredients. It doesn't have to be a massive slab in the middle of the plate, with everything else fighting for a little space off to one side.
Yeah, this not eating meat thing stinks.
5 comments:
So, more burgers for the rest of us this weekend then?
Woo-hoo!
PS - I've been hanging out on these Lexicon food photoshoots... you are missing out on some tasty stuff out there in Lincoln!
Um, careful with the math there. "The USDA recommends that meat servings be 4 ounces per person, yet per capita we eat half a pound a day. Simply by serving the recommended portion size, you can drastically cut your meat consumption." Sounds fine, sure, but here's the thing: the USDA uses 4 ounces as their denomination of a portion, but they also recommend (at least on the old pyramid thingamajig) 2-3 of them a day. Now, as a scientist and a lawyer, I can tell you that that means that the USDA actually recommended over half of a pound per day of meat/fish/poultry.
Granted, the wisdom of taking dietary advice from a government agency that has stretched and bloated itself beyond all recognition eludes me entirely.
As for the nutrition per calorie stuff, ummmm, duh. That's the (biological) appeal of eating meat at all. Ever notice how herbivores (esp. ruminants) eat basically constantly, while omnivores and carnivores don't? They have to take in a lot more material to get the same caloric value, which in turn allows them to avoid the whole dying thing.
Hmm. We'll see about that, Cale. Perhaps eating less meat this week will allow me to splurge on a burger on Saturday. It may be hard to resist.
Also, you failed to mention that by "hanging out" you meant "modeling." Don't worry—I plan to make sure you hear plenty about that this weekend!
(And yes, sadly I am stuck simply looking at the lovely pictures of the food rather than actually enjoying it in person.)
Well, Jason. This is what I get for hastily posting at 6:40 a.m. while a certain dog drooled all over my leg, isn't it? What would I do without a scientist and a lawyer to fact-check my blog posts for me?
It appears my wording got all muddled, which I did not realize until you kindly pointed it out. My original intention had been to point out that we Americans tend to eat considerably more than the recommended daily serving of meat, so by at least trying to cut down to the USDA recommendations (or, better yet, also cutting out one of those meat servings per day), we can drastically reduce our meat consumption without depriving ourselves.
Ever read Michael Pollan's "In Defense of Food"? That's why I question taking dietary advice from the government——they change their minds about what's good for us or not on a whim, based on weak research and more than a little influence from folks like the cattle industry.
Speaking of eating meat, remind me again how many record-setting pounds of steak you once ate in one sitting?
It was 60 ounces - almost 4 pounds - not actually a record, but it was free that way, a la The Great Outdoors. It was lovely steak, but I was totally miserable that evening.
I haven't read Mr. Pollan's book, maybe I will have to check it out after my exam. I lost any respect that I may have had for the USDA when they recommended a "caveman diet" a few years back. Cavemen, except of course if you were to count the biblical Abraham as a caveman, didn't live very long, and yet for some undisclosed reason, we were supposed to adopt their eating style.
Also, I've been totally spoiled on the vegetable front my entire life because my grandparents have always had a very big garden. In fact, I tilled it yesterday (keeping the weeds down around things), barefoot. It was awesome, and my feet were disgusting.
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