Let's take a poll here. I'm giving serious thought to removing red meat from my diet on a semi-permanent basis. I'm curious: how hard would this be for you guys/girls, to give up red meat permanently (save for the occasional slip)? Couple of caveats: 1) Yeah, I know we've got vegans and vegetarians on this BBS. Obviously, for them, the answer would be "super easy". Unless they're hiding their craving for animal flesh well. 2) I don't mean the cartoon strip. I would wither and die without the comic. I sure would like to eliminate the fat red meat brings into my diet. It's not about losing weight (that is not a problem for me), it's about overall health and fat intake. Thing is, I'm trying to imagine a world without chicken fried steak or beef stroganoff or sausage with country gravy. Damn.
i couldnt give it up 100% but i bet i could give it up for 90% of the time pretty easy. just having it once and awhile (not even once a week).
I would never make it. As a family of five, we must shop wisely and avoid the temptation to eat out whenever neither my wife or I feel like cooking. Thus, quick, simple meals that the kids like are a must. Tacos, spaghetti, chicken fried steak, meatloaf, etc., are simple to cook meals using red meat. Please note: We do eat a lot of chicken and vegies and stuff. The above are examples of what to cook when there is little time nor inclination to cook.
Behad, that's probably my biggest challenge too (though I don't have the kids to think about)-- it's not the temptation so much as it is the fact that I hate eating out, and I want some variety in my diet. Only so many ways someone of my limited culinary skills can cook chicken and fish before getting desperate and trying it raw.
Hard as hell, there are only so many ways to prepare chicken before you get tired of it, and I really love chicken. I managed to do it for 40 days, but beyond that, I'd go insane.
Brian, kids are the "x" factor in all this. A number of times, my wife or I will go thru recipes, find something interesting and different, take hours to prepare it, and serve it up, only to get a unanimous response of "Eewww, what's this? I don't like it!" from all three kids. Sure the parent in me says "Eat it or go hungry", but the part of me that likes peace and quiet says "Stop expirimenting with the menu and just cook what they like". Thus, tacos are a weekly favorite.
I can go a week or two without, but after a while chicken gets very old! I get a little pressure to not eat it, my girlfriend doesn't do red meat, so typically around her I avoid it, if possible. SO I could probably go without for a couple weeks max, but not any longer than that!
I think I could do it with a little disipline...but I don't want to I actually went through a period of a few years of eating no meat at all before. I could easily get by with chicken and fish if I had to (good thing wings and sushi aren't considered red meat). Are health reasons the only reason you are considering giving it up? There are healthier ways to eat it... mmmmmm...straganoff mmmmmm...sausage mmmmmm....gravy....aagggggggggh
hard as hell I tried giving up Pork it was easy . .. until breakfast EVERY BREAKFAST MEAT I LIKE is pork based Ham, sausage, bacon . .and the alternatives are not great to me So it is hard because i don't eat seafood [except occasional tuna fish and fish stick] how hard would it be to give up vegatables? Rocket River
I did it for 6 months, had beef on my birthday, went another 8 months... If I wanted to totally quit, I probably could, but of course, I have no aversion to tofu, beans, chicken, fish or other sources of protein.
LOL, Behad. x34: that's what I'm talking about! I just had stroganoff for dinner.... leftovers-- that stuff keeps really well. You're right about healthier ways to prepare it. I buy the "super lean" kind of beef as it is, so that's a step in the right direction. Rocket River: man, I hadn't really given breakfast much thought. Damn, no more bacon. rockHEAD: I'm not really sure what tofu is. Pole: tell you this much, I'll never give it up completely. I reserve the right, as a carnivore, to cut a big ass steak out of any cow, any time, and have me a real dinner.
rockHEAD, tofu has protein in it? Now I understand why it's the veggie meat-substitute of choice. Ahhhhhh..... BK, good luck. If it doesn't work out, maybe you can resign yourself to very limited portions, like, one meal with red meat per week. I've always maintained we'd be a lot healthier if most people were bad vegetarians in the sense that they tried to give up meat, but broke down every once in awhile and allowed themselves to eat a steak.
Heh heh...I just started Atkins again last week. Todays dinner consisted of barbqued steak and avocado...BIG steak...
The protein from Soy is complete. It has all eight essential amino acids. In this respect, the soy bean is no ordinary bean. It is truly a gift. Ironically, the value of Soy is only partially understood in the West. The United States grows 2/3 of the World's Soy and squanders it's protein on animal feed. Soy has the ability to provide 30% more protein per acre than any other crop, and 20 times the protein derived from an acre dedicated to beef cattle. from http://www.tofu.com/
I've given it up since October and I'm still going strong. I really don't crave it that much. I'm eating alot of chicken and turkey. They have turkey burgers, turkey hot dogs, turkey ground meat, chicken fried chicken and about anything else that would normally be red meat except for steaks. It's been very easy for me. The ground turkey tastes almost just as good if not better than ground beef, so you could use that for tacos, and other meals that Behad was suggesting.
BK: Don't think that we vegetarians don't have meat cravings! If I didn't, I wouldn't still down tofu dogs, Boca burgers and fake chicken. I found that it was just a decision I made one day. Some people take time to do it. There is a great book called The Gradual Vegetarian that helps people who want to go partially or totally veggie. By the way, tofu is soybean curd. It along with TVP (textured vegetable protein) and wheat gluten (a wheat byproduct) makes up the primary meat substitute sources. They all sound worse than they taste, particularly if you eat the one's that have been formulated to taste like meat as opposed to just skillet frying a lump of tofu. One thing you should stronly consider is eating some meat substitutes first to see how you like them. Try Boca Burgers, Liteline Tofu Pups and some fake bacon or LiteLine Ham or Turkey slices to see what you think. Maybe substitute them for regulat meat every few days. I find that I don't even need a lot of meat substitutes now because I eat a lot of pasta, potatoes and things of that nature. They are all very filling.
