Want to Eat Less Meat? Here's How.
By: Stepfanie Romine,
SparkPeople Blogger
8/15/2008 10:45 AM
: 46 comments
Long ago, meat lost its starring role in my diet. Like many aspects of my life, my diet was profoundly influenced by the year I spent teaching English in South Korea.
There, meat could be found in almost every dish, but it wasn't a dominating ingredient. A sprinkling of pork flavored spicy kimchi stew, dried fish added depth to broths, and a lone clam sank to the bottom of the tofu soup I ate almost every day for lunch.
Koreans love meat. DIY BBQ places line the streets, and a favorite Friday night activity was eating pork at a streetside restaurant with my fellow teachers. We sat on small plastic stools, coughed from the smoke rolling off our combination table/grill, and drank pungent Korean soju to wash it all down. Even there, we rarely ate meat by itself. Though the samgyeopsal (pork belly) or moksal (pork chops) were the star ingredients, we carefully wrapped each bite in an entire Romaine lettuce leaf, along with roasted garlic and onion, grilled kimchi, ssamjang (a combo miso-pepper paste) and a bit of pickled radish.
Awhile back in the NYT Dining section, Mark Bittmann writes about "Putting Meat Back in its Place."
Bittman, a self-proclaimed meat lover, is, like many of us, cutting back on the amount of meat he eats. He's not giving it up cold turkey, but he's trying to make less of the focus of the meal.
In most foreign cuisines, "meat is seen as a treasure, not as something to be gobbled up as if it were air," he writes.
Like any gastronomical "vice," be it chocolate, red wine, or ice cream, there is room for meat in a healthy lifestyle. It's all a question of moderation. Bittman offers great pointers for people who are trying to wean themselves off the 16-ounce ribeyes found on most restaurant menus.
I've already cut meat from my diet, but my boyfriend found the tips quite helpful and informative. He's a flexitarian, meaning he eats vegetarian meals several times a week (any time he eats at home).
Are you eating less meat these days? What are some ways that you make a little meat go a long way?
*Photo from 2005, of me and my friends Jen and Shan eating BBQ in Seoul, South Korea
There, meat could be found in almost every dish, but it wasn't a dominating ingredient. A sprinkling of pork flavored spicy kimchi stew, dried fish added depth to broths, and a lone clam sank to the bottom of the tofu soup I ate almost every day for lunch.
Koreans love meat. DIY BBQ places line the streets, and a favorite Friday night activity was eating pork at a streetside restaurant with my fellow teachers. We sat on small plastic stools, coughed from the smoke rolling off our combination table/grill, and drank pungent Korean soju to wash it all down. Even there, we rarely ate meat by itself. Though the samgyeopsal (pork belly) or moksal (pork chops) were the star ingredients, we carefully wrapped each bite in an entire Romaine lettuce leaf, along with roasted garlic and onion, grilled kimchi, ssamjang (a combo miso-pepper paste) and a bit of pickled radish.
Awhile back in the NYT Dining section, Mark Bittmann writes about "Putting Meat Back in its Place."
Bittman, a self-proclaimed meat lover, is, like many of us, cutting back on the amount of meat he eats. He's not giving it up cold turkey, but he's trying to make less of the focus of the meal.
In most foreign cuisines, "meat is seen as a treasure, not as something to be gobbled up as if it were air," he writes.
Like any gastronomical "vice," be it chocolate, red wine, or ice cream, there is room for meat in a healthy lifestyle. It's all a question of moderation. Bittman offers great pointers for people who are trying to wean themselves off the 16-ounce ribeyes found on most restaurant menus.
I've already cut meat from my diet, but my boyfriend found the tips quite helpful and informative. He's a flexitarian, meaning he eats vegetarian meals several times a week (any time he eats at home).
Are you eating less meat these days? What are some ways that you make a little meat go a long way?
*Photo from 2005, of me and my friends Jen and Shan eating BBQ in Seoul, South Korea
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Comments
Omnivorous friends and family seem to think it must be a constant struggle to not eat a burger or some non-vegan cake... but it's not. It's just not food to me. I am not tempted to eat wallpaper paste or rocks because I see them as non-edible. This is how it is with non-vegan food, especially when the animal bits are super visible.
On the rare occasion I'm hit with "I wish I could eat xyz" I always find myself wishing the food were vegan, not that I wasn't. :) - 7/13/2009 4:49:33 PM
We have been using meat as a seasoning since the 70's when we read Diet for a Small Planet and More with Less Cookbook.
I also love TVP, a meat substitute which i use for sloppy joes. - 7/10/2009 4:08:37 PM
meat of all types when I wanted it. About thirty years ago I decide to eliminate pork from my diet completely as it was
the meat I liked the least. Twenty years ago, I found that
I could no longer digest beef as I ate it so infrequently, so it went too. Three years later I said good bye to poultry. Now I eat seafood and fish twice a week and the rest of time my meals are vegetarian or even vegan.
For those worried about protein, I get plenty. Feel great. Feel lighter. I have plenty of energy. Love my diet. Now meat eating seems very strange to me. Also I know by choosing to eat this way, I am reducing my carbon footprint and not participating in so much cruelty to animals.
But I have found that the key to this change is do
it gradually and be patient with yourself. - 7/9/2009 1:18:44 PM
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/
story.php?storyId=99268166 - 1/26/2009 4:59:51 PM
My husband is supportive. He eats meat but at one time in his life was also a vegetarian. Nobody in my family or his seem to care.
- 9/20/2008 2:37:01 PM
As far as Iron is concerned you get a lot more from a serving of beans and rice than a burger. Iron comes in lots of foods, spinach, soy, whole grains, legumes etc. Tuna and Turkey are higher in iron content for the calories than red meat. - 9/16/2008 3:59:30 PM
Joan - 8/20/2008 10:53:37 AM
I am gradually learning to consider a serving to be the size of a deck of cards, and that I don't need seconds, and that I don't even need meat every day of the week.
Thank goodness for articles like yours, because I need a lot of reinforcement on this one! My intuitions are still all upside down! - 8/16/2008 11:35:05 PM
Thanks so much.. debbie - 8/16/2008 11:29:18 AM
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