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How to Help a Meat Head

The Myth about Meat: What You Really Need to Know

Meat is ideal nutrition for my body, I once thought – after all, my own body is made of meat – like muscles, liver, kidneys, brain, and associated, more-or-less, edible substances, like fat, blood vessels, lymph nodes, tendons, nerves, bone, skin, etc. Most of my friends still believe meat is essential for vigorous health and they don’t hesitate to tell me so. I hear too often, ‘McDougall, if you ate a few more Tri-tips (a popular cut of beef) you’d be stronger, and be able to windsurf longer.’ I answer, ‘For these benefits, do I have to eat the blood vessels, too?’ They’re left speechless.

Everyone Knows Meat is a Serious Health Hazard
With very few exceptions, everyone clearly understands that eating meat is damaging to our health. Notice the reaction when you order a vegetarian meal. People will say, ‘I know, I should have ordered that’ and ‘I usually eat vegetarian.’ Or worse, they become defensive, explaining, ‘I could never live without my meat. Life would be so boring.’ And I freely admit, life on a meat-based diet is pretty exciting – you never know what new pain or failed body part will turn up next.

The hazards of meat are so well known they make the material for jokes:

This Bizarro cartoon would not be funny if these important issues were not widely recognized and understood. Yet knowledge in this case fails to result in a call to action for most people. Possibly having better knowledge of the damaging details would make a difference for some people. The following chart provides a summary of the problems with meat, and at the end of this article I have expanded the discussion on each of these points for you.

Three (False) Reasons People Eat Meat

Nutrition
Meat is supposed to be good nutrition. Undoubtedly, it is a source of concentrated calories, primarily of fat and protein. Once, during times of scarcity, that quality may have been valuable, but in our obesity-plagued society, few people need more calories. Meat has been touted as a good source of iron, zinc, and B12 – but I have never seen anyone with deficiencies of these nutrients due to eating too little meat – have you? On the other hand, everywhere I look I see problems from too much meat.

Plants are loaded with minerals, including iron and zinc, which they obtain from the ground (earth). Vitamin B12 deficiency is very rare and this vitamin can be obtained from bacteria which synthesize it, and from supplements (purchased in a natural foods store).

Taste
Meat tastes good. Really? If it tastes so good then why don’t people salivate over plain boiled chicken? Why don’t you find, featured on the menu of the finest restaurants ‘baked beef with no added sauce or salt?’ The truth is meat is flavorless, at best; either bland in taste – or at worst, repulsive to the human tongue and nose. The only way most people can stomach the taste of meat is to cover the natural flavors up with sauces made of sugar, salt, and spices – like ketchup, barbecue sauce, steak sauce, sweet and sour sauce, and marinara sauce. The tips of our tongue have taste buds that respond to salt and sugar. Our noses savor the aromas of plant-derived spices. So much for meat tasting good – it is the toppings we like.

Status
Throughout history, meat at the dinner table has been considered a sign of success. The strongest and bravest members of a society captured the most game. (This was almost exclusively a male venture). Hunting serves as a test of manhood, after all, chasing and killing animals is much more difficult and dangerous than picking raspberries or pulling up potatoes. Successful hunters obtain status (and as a prize, more women and more desirable ones). Even today people refer to the accomplishments of a successful breadwinner in the family as ‘bringing home the bacon.’ Fortunately, today, in 21st century society, bringing home meat has lost all status. In fact, more intelligent people view this activity as a sign of stupidity – akin to cigarette smoking and the two-martini lunch – two offensive behaviors not too long ago considered status symbols.

My parents lived through the Great Depression of the 1930s. My mother told stories of her family’s only foods being beans, corn, cabbage, parsnips, peas, rutabagas, carrots, onions, turnips, potatoes and bread for 5 cents a loaf – a little hamburger was their only meat. During my childhood she often reminded me of their poverty, and the promise to herself that her children would never have to suffer as she had, without an easy supply of meat and milk. Her need to provide this bountiful table caused far more suffering for my immediate family in the form of constipation, stomach aches, eczema, a stroke, and heart disease than she ever experienced. The influence of family values on my life and eating habits also came from my grandparents and great-grandparents.

Grandparents Are the Ultimate Justification for Meat-Eating
So why does almost everyone continue to eat meat when scientific research solidly condemns this behavior and predicts a shorter, more miserable life for those who make meat the center of their diets? The reason is feelings of invincibility that are hard wired into our brains. Naturally, even in the face of overwhelming facts to the contrary, we know these terrible consequences will never happen to us. And as proof we have grandparents. You’ve heard people defending their diet with, ‘My grandparents lived on a farm, ate meat their whole life, and they lived to be ninety.’ Of course, never mentioned are the vast majority of grandparents who die of heart disease, strokes, diabetes, and cancer long before they hit their mid-seventies. Thus, those few hearty grandparents, too stubborn to die, serve as the justification for our belief that we will beat the odds and are the reason we are slow to change destructive behaviors in the face of overwhelming facts.

I have two grandparent examples from my own life that could have served nicely as justification for my not changing my diet. My grandfather lived to be 88 and my great-grandmother was mentally sharp at 106 years old, and they both ate meat every day. Why should I pay any attention to the health hazards of meat with the genes that I had?

‘Old Pop’ Was a Survivor
My grandfather lived to 88 years old. As long as I can remember he ate eggs for breakfast, and meatballs and onions for dinner. All his adult life he wore his potbelly with pride, claiming it was due to a swayback and not abundant fat, and suffered from a multitude of problems. In his sixties he underwent a bowel resection after almost dying from infected diverticular disease of his colon (diverticulitis) – all due to his years of eating a very low-fiber diet. During his later years he lived with intermittent claudication – meaning the arteries in his legs were severely closed by atherosclerosis (hardening of the arteries). The blood flow to his legs was restricted so much that he could walk no more than 15 feet before excruciating calf pain stopped him dead in his tracks.

Yes, my grandfather lived to 88, eating lots of meat, but he lived in pain. He, like so many people, was deceived by the remarkable resilience of the human body. It survives two packages of cigarettes inhaled, a bottle of whiskey drunk, physical activity restricted to TV channel-changing, and a diet of grease and sugar in the form of Krispy Kreme donuts – and it lives! – but in pain and with disability.

Moderation Saved ‘Old Mom’
I have an even better grandparent story – it is about my great-grandmother who lived to be 106 years old and ate meat every day. When I was a youngster she admonished me for eating too much meat – and I did eat a lot of meat back then. In my late 20s I became a strict vegetarian. On one of my visits to her home (she was about 103) she asked me to go out to the neighborhood McDonald’s and buy her a regular hamburger – you know, a simple burger with a paper thin slice of ground beef between two halves of a white bread bun, 2 pickle slices and a blob of mustard and ketchup. She proceeded to cut the hamburger into quarters. She raised one quarter to my face and told me, ‘If you ate a little more meat you would be healthier.’ Then she ate 2 quarters and put the rest away for later. She was a very moderate person – far different from my personality. Moderate people – those who eat small amounts of rich food, drink a cup of diluted coffee, have a glass of wine on holidays – survive well – simply because of their reserved behavior.

How I Saved My Life in a Meat-Eating World
I am an enthusiastic (lustful) person. In my hamburger-eating-days I would down two double cheeseburgers, fries and a milk shake for a single meal, and still be looking for more to fill my bottomless stomach. My childhood was plagued by stomachaches and chronic constipation; as a teenager my face was full of pimples and I had the energy of a sloth. I was shocked into the reality of my vulnerability when I was felled by a massive stroke at age 18 that caused the entire left side of my body to be completely paralyzed. In my early twenties I carried an extra fifty pounds of fat. My likely destiny would be to suffer a fatal heart attack before 35. Fortunately, in my late twenties I learned the importance of a diet based on starches, vegetables, and fruits – and to leave meat alone. I may have great genes, but you’re not going to find me testing them any more.

I can’t change my personality – my exuberance for life – my uncontrollable enthusiasm for everything – so I have learned to focus all of this energy upon healthy behaviors. Since my late twenties, I have occupied myself with activities that best support my appearance, feelings of well-being, functioning, and longevity. Saving my own life is one more reason why you find me an unrestrained proponent of healthy eating.

Do Feed Your Cat Meat
A vegetarian diet fails to supply adequate amounts of protein, taurine, arachidonic acid, and retinol (vitamin A) for a cat. Even if you are a purist vegetarian who wants to convert all of those around you, stop short of your cat. Cats are designed to eat meat – they are carnivores. Cats may enjoy a few fruits and vegetables, but too much fiber and polyunsaturated plant fats may be detrimental to your cat’s health. High fiber foods can fill the cat’s digestive system without providing the necessary nutrients in sufficient concentrations. Excess polyunsaturated fatty acids in vegetable oils can lead to vitamin E deficiency related illnesses.

Cats require large amounts of protein and this can be a problem on a vegetarian diet. Cats, unlike humans, cannot synthesize an amino acid called taurine – for a cat this is an essential amino acid. Inadequate amounts in a cat’s diet can cause eye damage, even blindness, and heart damage (cardiomyopathy). The only rich source of taurine is meat. Arachidonic acid is an essential fatty acid for cats – it must be in their diet, because they lack the essential enzymes to synthesize it. Meat is the only major source of this fat. Humans can synthesize arachidonic acid from linoleic acid, found abundantly in plant foods.

Unlike humans, cats cannot utilize beta carotene, the provitamin A, found abundantly in plant foods. Humans readily convert this provitamin A to preformed vitamin A (retinol). Retinol is abundant in animal foods and the richest source is liver.