Meat Vrs Veg
Do you crave a fresh salad, or a big steak? The answer may be in your genes.
I’ve had 2 vegetarian dinners this week and I feel great already!
(Actually 3 if you count the night I got home late and had white wine and potato chips for dinner.)
There was a study released in March 2016, that some of the media totally got wrong by quoting that a veggie diet could kill you. I can hear the conversations in the trailer park now….“I read it on the internet, so it must be true!” (academic.oup.com/mbe/article/33/7/1726/2578764/Positive-Selection-on-a-Regulatory-Insertion) Where the media reports went wrong was, was extrapolating if our body produces Omega 6 (an inflammatory fat), and you consume a diet high in inflammatory fats, your risk of heart disease could be higher.
What it really said is that if your culture was largely vegetarian, you may have a gene variant that allowed your people to survive by actually being able to manufacture your own Omega 3 and Omega 6 fatty acids. 70% of South Asians have the gene, but only 17 % in those of European decent, if you are from India, 68% of you carry the gene. The sciencey part of me finds that super interesting, but the carnivore in me says the taste of a BBQ’d steak, is hard to match with grilled eggplant, must be my European roots.
So the human genome is pretty diverse. In fact, it’s kind of a chicken and egg story. Did eating meat allow us to develop a larger brain making us smarter and able to evolve to where we are today, or did we have the bigger brain first that allowed us to figure out how to live as an omnivore (eating both plant and animal products).
Or did the Aliens just mess with our DNA? Eventually we started foraging less, farming and hunting more, and finally building the metropolises we currently occupy. The true answer is we survived, we ate whatever the hell we could get our hands on, we learned how to grow some stuff that we liked, but in North America, if we didn’t get a stash of woolly mammoth put away for the winter, we were gonna die!
Protein- The building block of life. There is a risk in veggie-based diets to be low in protein, because of the 9 essential amino acids we can’t manufacture in our bodies. So we need to get them from dietary sources. Some plants are higher in some amino acids and lower in others. Lets think of our body as a car plant, with an assembly line to make muscle, connective tissue, hormones etc. If we run out of one part (essential amino acid) production stops. We have a little storage of amino acids in our liver, but if we run out, it will break down another tissue to make up for the short-fall to keep the machine running.
Fully Vegan eaters have to consume meals with mindfulness and attention to details to ensure they get enough nutrients and calories to prevent catabolism and malnutrition. With an all plant-based diet it can be difficult to get in sufficient protein, Omega 3’s and micronutrients B-12, Iron, and zinc. One of the big challenges for vegans that want that lean body look is the extra amount of carbs consumed in plant-based diets. (Atkins and Paleo diets focus on a meals with excess protein and low carbs to reach that ketosis or fat-burning state. )
A vegan diet can reduce your risk for developing certain types of cancers. Plant matter has more fiber and that’s good for your intestinal mucosa. If you aren’t consuming processed empty foods, you can lose weight and without all the cholesterol and saturated fats, reduce the chance of developing colon cancer, diabetes or perhaps even cardiovascular disease. (Just a FYI, if your potato chips say cholesterol free, it’s a freekin’ plant, it never had any cholesterol. No plant on the planet produces cholesterol. That includes vegetable-based oils.)
The cost of meat is greater than the butcher bill. Environmentally the farm industry uses a tiny fraction of water and resources to grow crops compared to meat. Peta.org claims 30% of the earth’s forests have been cleared for pasture to grow livestock. That’s 260 million acres in the US alone. It takes 16 lbs of grain to grow 1 lb of meat, and 600 gallons of water for each quarter pounder. Then there is the problem with waste from animals, finding their way into rivers and streams. In the US, livestock produces 89,000 lbs per second. In a year, that’s about par with a certain political figure. Then, there is the green-house gases; Global livestock contributes about 14.5% or 7.1 Gigatonnes of C02 Equivalent a year. So if you love steak, you had better be planting a couple of trees.
There are benefits and hindrances on both sides of the plate. If you are a carnivore, plant-based diets can save the environment, save money, increase health, and reduce the waistline. Try and fit in some meat-free balanced meals; you just might like it!
If you are Veggie, you are my hero. It’s not an easy choice because it just takes more effort to make it work. Choose a variety of foods and make conscious choices to balance your diet to keep the machine running efficiently. If you are feeling low on energy have your Dr. check your vitamin B12 levels; you may need to add some supplements.
There are entire cultures that have existed for hundreds if not thousands of years on a mostly plant-based diet, with some dairy and occasional meat or fish. Imagine the impact it could have on the world if North America shifted even just a little away from our current burger culture!
Speaking of burgers, here’s a recipe for a killer vegetarian one from my fave cooking magazine bon appétit.( Personally, I think they would be delicious with cheese and bacon.) but that’s just me!
Ingredients
4 Servings
1 small sweet potato
6 tablespoons olive oil, divided
Kosher salt, freshly ground pepper
1 portobello mushroom
½ small zucchini
1 small shallot, finely chopped
¼ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1 cup cooked quinoa (from about ½ uncooked)
¾ cup dried breadcrumbs
1½ teaspoons fresh lemon juice
4 English muffins, split, toasted
Guacamole, tomato chutney, and sprouts (for serving; optional)
Get the instructions here: