I like vegetables, I really do. I have yet to find a vegetable that, given just a bit of kitchen work, can’t end up a delicious part of an everyday meal. However, I have a very hard time eating dinner without some meat as part of it. It’s not that I necessarily believe that I shouldn’t have meat at dinner, but I am distressed that the idea of not having meat in my dinner makes the meal significantly less satisfying. I have therefore spent some time investigating meal plans that attempt to make meals without meat to see if I can get myself over that little hump. Remember, again, that my goal is self control, so anything that is so unexplainably compelling to me merits investigation as to why.
My investigation led me to much of what began my initial realization that I was eating poorly as well as too much. Particularly, I focused on Harvard’s modified food pyramid. The pyramid, pictured above, focuses on the need for fruits and vegetables and distinctly minimizes the need for meat, and red meat in particular. Further, though, it included studies associated with their reasoning and pointed out that traditionally humans were far more herbivorous.
In his book, In Defense of Food, Michael Pollan emphasizes that point. Pollan argues for a more natural approach to food. He calls for more fresh produce and less nutrient enhanced replacements. This stance has been championed by the celebrity food industry for years. Most of the chefs and cooks for Food Network, for instance, consistently advocate using the freshest ingredients available, for both health and flavor. In concordance, the Food Network chefs who have a habit of using canned goods, boxed premade ingredients, and frozen produce have a certain notoriety for being subpar at best (think Rachael Ray and Sandra Lee).
As I began to investigate this further, I turned to my habit: investigate the extreme. What exactly is a vegetarian diet? Per its namesake, it’s a diet consisting of mainly plants. Generally speaking, individuals who identify as vegetarian will still eat eggs, drink milk, and eat fish (as, by definition, fish isn’t “meat”). Though there are some concerns about staying healthy while vegetarian, particularly with lacking certain chemicals and nutrients, in this day of modern science one can live as a vegetarian without any negative side effects, aside from difficulty find anything to eat when not in an urban center. My mother did vegetarian many years ago and seemed to see some very positive results from it. Taking it one step further are the vegans. They seek to ensure that whatever they consume was in no part a product of an animal. Theirs is a total lifestyle, rejecting food, products, clothing— anything that made use of animals. Fish have feelings, the whole 9 yards. And of course, they have their crazier associates among PETA.
On the other philosophical spectrum are those who advocate nearly all meat diets. The Atkins diet, apart from being highly dangerous, has claimed thousands as advocates, and even convinced food chains to add it to their menus. They advocate the consumption of meat over carbohydrates to force the
body to use fat as fuel. It works, but it has its side effects. Generally speaking you don’t have to advocate Atkins to advocate a high consumption of meat. In fact, you just have to be American. We package meats to such an extent that we can hardly recognize the animal in the meat. We even alter the meat’s appearance so it can conform to our perception of what meat should look like, as though it were bread dough to be shaped into creation.
So, as you can see, struck with dilemma, I came to no firm conclusion, but I did decide on a couple of things. First, and foremost, if I’m going to use meat, it cannot go to waste. Though I need to accept food waste in my home, I refuse to accept meat waste. If an animal must die for me to eat, then dammit I’m going to eat that meat. I should at least give the animal that much respect. I’ve also decided to lower my meat consumption to one type of meat a day, for one meal and only one meal each day, at only one serving of that meat per meal. Maybe I do need meat in my diet, but I don’t need much. Other than that, I have no answers. What do you think?
I’ll leave you with this discussion on the matter:
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