I might become a vegetarian…

March 19, 2012 at 12:33 pm · Filed under Health, Nutrition and tagged: Dean Ornish, diet, health, Meat, meat preservatives, nutrition, pink slime, red meat, vegan, vegetarian

It has been TOO LONG since I have posted on here.  I’m sure you’ve been there, life fills up and certain things have to be moved to the “procrastinate” or “expendable” category in order for sanity to be maintained.

I’ve been motivated to come out of my blog hibernation by a few articles I’ve read recently pertaining to meat.  I’m sure many of you have heard of the “recent” pink slime controversy or have heard that red meat is bad for you.  It’s hard to discern what part of all this is true, hype, or assumption.  I try to always be cautious in my interpretation of new studies by asking two questions:  1. Are there other studies that back this new one?  2. How reliable is the study in question?

While I’m still meting out the answers to these two questions with the studies on red meat, one thing I do know for certain:  I am now less comfortable with eating commercially processed or packaged meats.

It is fact that the meat industry does treat meat with a variety of chemicals to sterilize and preserve it.  This alone is a good reason to cut back on the cold cuts.  For more information on that, check out this article in the Huffington Post written by fellow RD, Andy Bellatti.  It’s unclear, however, to what extent these preservatives affect our health.

Lucky for me, I’m not so addicted to meat that I wouldn’t consider the benefit of becoming something of a semi-vegetarian.  Take the Dean Ornish diet which has been proven to reverse congestive heart failure and to prevent other forms of heart disease, as well as cancer and diabetes.

The Dean Ornish diet falls perfectly in line with what many experts agree is the optimal disease prevention diet.  According to the  National Institute of Health, this diet is “consisting of a lot of fruit and vegetables, lots of fish, less salt and sugar, more unrefined cereals, beans and nuts.”  These foods are generally high in vitamins, minerals, phytochemicals, fiber, healthy fats, and many other beneficial properties.  And don’t worry, it’s not hard to get enough protein and iron even for a vegan, as long as the basis of your diet isn’t heavily processed food.

By the way, I fundamentally hate the label of “diet” given to any form of healthy, balance eating because the term has more often been used to describe fad food practices that are, more often than not, extreme and unhealthy.  Dean Ornish and other balanced vegetarian or vegan “diets” use the word simply to mean “way of eating.”

I like to take this perspective when it comes to dealing with certain unknowns:  choose the route of least risk and greatest possible benefit.  I think most people can appreciate this logic, even if the words “vegetarian” or “vegan” are interpreted as dietary blasphemy.  While it may not yet be concrete in the collective health community’s mind that red meat and poultry are better left as “sometimes foods”, no one can argue the health benefits of a largely meatless diet whose protein comes from fish [classified separately from “meat”] and plant based sources.

So for now, I think I’m going to start phasing out red meats, limiting poultry and opting for more [fatty] fish, beans, and lentils…and maybe some soy :)

Comments (2)