FOR many among us January is synonymous with change, an excuse to make the new year a little better than the last. In truth, you’re probably worse off now than you were this time last year. What started as a great year has probably ended in a pool of turkey, Christmas pudding and beer. Most likely you are now champing at the bit and feel something drastic is needed to return to normality. Whether it’s kicking off a new gym habit, having a dry month or some other goal, January seems like the best month to do it. So why not try something a little different… why not cut out or at least cut down on your meat consumption for the month of January?

I LOVE MEAT
I think it’s important to note that I grew up in a small agricultural community in Ireland, so the mere mention of this could have me ex-communicated, as meat was practically a religion. Your mother’s cooking prowess was assessed on her ability to deliver the pièce de résistance at the end of the week – “the Sunday roast”. The local restaurant was judged not by the quality of its culinary delights, but on how good the steak was. As a result, I love meat.

SO WHY DO THIS TO YOURSELF?
I am not advocating that we all cut out meat permanently from our diets and become strict vegetarians. I think occasional meat consumption is important and I imagine after January I will be looking forward to getting stuck into a nice, juicy steak. However, there are some surprising health benefits from cutting out or down on meat.
The American Institute for Cancer Research (AICR) published a review of the major studies on food, nutrition, and cancer prevention in 2007. It determined that people who consumed too much red meat and processed meat increased their cancer risk by up 20 per cent. Large studies in England and Germany showed that vegetarians were about 40 per cent less likely to develop cancer compared to meat eaters. That alone should be enough reasoning to try and cut down on the consumption of red meat, especially processed meats.

WHAT ARE PROCESSED MEATS?
Processed meats include bacon, sausage, hot dogs, sandwich meat, packaged ham, pepperoni, salami, meat used at popular restaurants and virtually all red meat used in frozen prepared meals. They are usually manufactured with a carcinogenic ingredient known as sodium nitrite. This is used as a colour fixer by meat companies to turn packaged meats a bright red colour so they look fresh (you won’t find it in chicken or fish products). Unfortunately, sodium nitrite also results in the formation of cancer-causing nitrosamines in the human body. And this leads to a sharp increase in cancer risk for those who eat them.
In addition, the high fat content of meat and other animal products increases hormone production, which increases the risk of hormone-related cancers such as breast and prostate cancer. The high fat content can also lead to heart disease.

REDUCING YOUR MEAT CONSUMPTION
I think a lot of folk shy away from cutting down on meat as they don’t know what to replace it with. As we know, meat is a good source of complete proteins. If you’re eating too much meat, replace some of the meat in your diet with non-meat sources of protein. Beans, legumes, nuts, seeds and eggs all contain protein. While fish and seafood might technically be meats, they don’t carry the same risks as red meat, pork and poultry, because they are so low in saturated fats and cholesterol. Fish helps maintain healthy blood cholesterol levels, which reduce the risk of heart attacks and strokes and other related blood circulatory problems which can happen later in life. One thing to be aware of though is that unfortunately various fish can and do absorb contaminants – the most common being mercury.

LEARNING FROM PAST MISTAKES
I’m a meat-and-veg kinda guy, so for me it will be an interesting experiment with vegetarianism. I would be lying if I said that the next few weeks will be a breeze, as I have been down this road before in my younger day. Unfortunately, I was not very clued up on nutrition back then and lived on pasta, topped with ready-made sauce from a jar, with the occasional vegetable thrown in for good measure. After six months I lost the battle and succumbed to a bacon sandwich after a night out. This time I hope things will be different and hopefully I will reap some of the benefits of reduced meat consumption.

The Herald:

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