Tuesday, March 13, 2012

Daily Beef.






















Orchids. Shops at the Pru. March 2012.

I heard an interesting story on the news last night regarding what we eat and how it affects our overall health.  The Harvard School of Public Health recently published a study about the consumption of red meat and how eating it frequently can take years off of your life.  The study consisted of 120,000 Americans who recorded what they ate over the course of 20 years and they found that those who ate red meat on a daily basis were more likely to die at a younger age.  Get this... Eating just one serving of beef a day increases your risk of dying from heart disease by 16% and of cancer by 10%.  Pretty significant finding.  And, of course, what is considered one serving by American standards is usually double what it should be as one serving of red meat is only about the size of a deck of cards.

So what does this all mean?  Eat less red meat, of course.  Americans (on average) eat 120 pounds of red meat per year.  Yikes.  With these study results and with all that recent pink slime talk, maybe we should eat a whole lot less of that stuff.  I'd sure like to try.

Be honest.  How often do you eat red meat?  I was a full-on vegetarian for 7 years but have been eating meat again for the last 5 years or so.  I don't know if I'll ever stop eating all meat again but I'd like to cut down on the overall amount that we eat.  Ideally we would only eat red meat once a month but I'd say right now we're at about 2 or 3 times a month, which isn't terrible.  But there is always room for improvement.  

Have you heard about this pink slime issue?  In a word...... yuck.

4 comments:

  1. It amazes me how little consciousness people afford to the things we put in our bodies. Devon has the worst diet of just about anyone I've ever met - it's a wonder he's still breathing/isn't 600+ lbs. I'm trying to help him make healthier choices and my jaw just about dropped when he told me that when they go to Tucanos for lunch today he'd just get the salad bad... and not just load up on pasta and potato salad ;)

    Right now I'm only eating meat once a week so I'd rather turn to something flavorful like pepperoni or pancetta than a giant cut of steak or a burger that'll just make me want to sleep all day. I swing back and forth from vegetarian to not.

    The pink slime deal shocks me to know end - it's so hard to even accept that this is an issue, in that I can't fathom Anyone would be okay eating it, let alone feeding it to our children.

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  2. And thanks for your kind words!! I am beyond excited - despite crawling into a shell whenever people I don't really know toss out the "have you set a date? where are you doing it?" onslaught of questions :)

    I would love to get coffee next time you're in town! Can you believe you'll be toting around a tiny human? I think we're going to Martha's Vineyard in a few months for a vacation with Devon's Texas family. This year and last when we went to Nantasket it makes me so crazy that we're so close, but slightly too far from all the major cities I want to visit.

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  3. I just read this study to my family THIS morning!

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  4. I rarely eat red meat, so looks like I'll live longer ;) The pink slime thing completely nauseates me!

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