How many days a week do you consume meat?

[ashlesha]

Like 4-6?

[Kim]

At home I never eat meat. When I go out to eat (or order in), I do every once in a while if I want to try something new (and the foodie in me can't resist). I also eat meat when I am invited and the hosts serve meat. So maybe a few times a month.

[jessica129]

Every meal pretty much has meat in it. If it's not every meal, it's AT LEAST once a day. I'm going to die soon probably.

[jessica129]

I really wish I didn't have the taste for meat but everytime I go out to eat, I most definitely always get a gigantic steak. If you're not eating meat with an entree when you go to a restaurant, I just feel like it's so....unsatisfying or not a real meal. I know that's ridiculous but I just don't get that satisfied feeling I get when I eat meat.

What's interesting to me is that I was a strict vegetarian for a long time and then just couldn't do it anymore because I was gaining too much weight since I'm not a big fruits and vegetables fan. I would love to be a vegetarian but it just get's too boring for me and I start craving meat or I get entirely too bloated from all the fiber I'm consuming.

[Sol]

average westerner consumes far more meat then can be considered healthy and that we should ideally eat it only once a week or so.

To eat meat "only once a week" is not good for health. Never saw such medical recomendations. There are dietitians, they use normal scientific studies to decide what to eat. You need animal protein and fat.

[Beautiful sky]

I have to force myself to eat...and eating meat...not much. I enjoy it when others make delicious food or have food requirements around me that require preparation of meat. Then I can eat it. But generally I don't eat a lot of meat. I could probably say before it was once every two weeks. Now that I've been told that I have to eat meat I try to once meal a day.

[Kim]

Though I do agree with you that animal proteins and fats are somewhat important, vegetarians and vegans seem to do just fine without consuming any animal protein and fat. Saying that it's "not good for health" to only eat it once a week is silly.

I'm perfectly healthy, fit and energetic only eating it twice a week. I don't have any physical health problems. Now that I eat more vegetables I don't even stay sick for long if I catch a virus. I doubt that eating meat everyday would improve my health... maybe it would help me to gain weight.

Same. And I don't need to gain weight, so no meat it is. Works perfectly well for me. I just need to make sure I get enough protein, but that's easy enough. Some day I would like to go mostly vegan again, but that does take a lot of work.

[blackburry]

I'm trying to eat more meat... I just have to crave it (which is likely when my body actually needs it). I eat meat currently maybe once or twice a week.

[glam]

I eat meat almost every day, but not all meat is the same. I'm trying to lose weight so I've been eating more chicken, turkey, and fish lately. I eat red meat like beef and pork about 2 times a week (sometimes less), usually when I go out to eat. whenever I eat red meat, i can feel it in my stomach the next day - I really don't like the feeling. I like meat and it makes meals (especially dinner) feel more complete, even if it's just some grilled chicken topping a salad. I wouldn't mind eating more vegetarian dishes, but it's hard to completely give up all the tasty meat dishes out there. veggie/vegan dishes, however good they can be, can't entirely replace meat.

[Roro]

None. Vegetarian for about eight years, vegan for a combined total of about three years. Before cutting meat out of my diet, it was an average of maybe two days per week.

[Adam Strange]

I eat meat every day, but it is in the form of fish or shellfish or salmon for breakfast, almost never red meat. I have a steak only about three times a year, usually when I'm out with others and the options are few. Eating an entire steak now turns me into an emotional Hulk. Crazy aggression that I don't need to add to e8.

I tried going Vegan, but got horizontal ridges on my fingernails, indicating too little protein consumption for whatever my body uses it for, despite the garbanzo beans and blue cheese crumbles and high protein grains and whatever. I refuse to eat Tofu - the stuff is poisonous. Returned to eating a couple ounces of salmon daily, and the ridges vanished. Of course, the mercury is probably gonna kill me, but I'll be crazy first, so I won't care.

[Persephone]

I used to be vegetarian years ago and then I started to lose my hair along with losing a lot of weight (and I am naturally skinny).
I don't know what went wrong but I ended up with 103 lbs for 5'6 which involved medical supervision.
So now I eat meat at least once a day, mostly lean (no pork), also eggs and fish. I also consume a lot of veggies and fruits to balance it all.
I am still thin (around 113 lbs) but at least I look more human even if I get "eat more" quite often.
For my hair, I never got back the volume I used to have...

[Satan]

if i eat too much meat in one meal it makes me sweat, as long as portion sizes of meat are below like 250grams i'm ok. (which is about half a pound i think)

i reckon the thing about meat is that it's good to have a little meat frequently. like it's better to have 4 90 gram serves rather than a 300 gram serve.

different people seem to vary how often they like to eat, for me i seem to do best with eating every 2 or 3 hours, but i can easily go 9 hours without eating if i don't have carbs, and do the carb crash thing.

[jessica129]

Meat sweats lol. Sadly this is a real thing and something I find myself frequently suffering from.

Why ya'll hating on red meat? It's effing beautiful and the things dreams are made of. I think I'm getting a steak tonight.

[jessica129]

That's interesting to me. IDK if it's a product of growing up in the Midwest or what but I was raised to eat like a lumberjack or something. I can easily put away a 12oz steak and not feel gross afterwards...meat is very filling and satisfying for me but I never feel bad after eating it like I do if I overeat fruits or vegetables. I just ate a banana and some strawberries and my stomach is bloated and I feel disgusting.

[Eliza Thomason]

Like 5 or even 6 but never 7, since we have fish on Friday. If you don't' count that as meat. Becaseu my naturapah recommends it, and really limited carbs to boot, and no starch with meat.... I like carbs so I limit drastically compared to what I'd like...

[lemontrees]

I've been reading about the "ideal diet" lately and have watched a few health documentaries on Netflix. From most of what I'm seeing it turns out that the average westerner consumes far more meat then can be considered healthy and that we should ideally eat it only once a week or so.

I'm not sure this is true- a few years ago I went to a doctor due to fainting spells and she pretty much told me, after I recited to her my diet, that I wasn't eating enough meat (and proteins in general). I ate meat every day, but in small amounts. And I don't think non-westerners who are not vegetarian / not extremely poor only eat meat once a week. If anything being health-crazed seems to be a "developed country" mentality.

That being said I do think Americans probably think they need more meat than they do. Also having a generally nutritious and balanced diet helps, but the traditional food here is not that healthy (and not big on protein substitutes - soy, etc).

Or maybe my body just sucks and I need a shit-ton of food to stay alive.

[Emmym]

I was vegetarian for a few years and gained a bunch of weight when I went back to eating meat daily. This coincided with me moving home (for the better part of three or four years, I couldn't afford to eat meat everyday--when your mom is ESE, you get as much as you want all day everyday). I knew it was bad to eat so much meat but it tasted so GOOD and I was used to being hungry, so you better believe I said yes to every steak burger and side of chili with ground beef. For a few months, I really was eating a lot, but after that and since then, I've been eating about as much as I did when I was 125lbs, but I know the amount of meat and dairy I'm consuming isn't doing me any favors and I need to cut back. Animal products are extremely calorie dense. I remember reading in an old book, some line about a man getting obese from having "meat everyday." Obviously, there are plenty of thin and even scrawny people who eat meat daily, but Americans still eat far too much. According to my ecology teacher, if everyone in the world had the opportunity to eat the same amount of meat, there would only be enough for half the global population to have it as part of one daily meal.

I still try to include vegetarian meals in my diet. I love Amy's vegan chili (the tofu really does taste like ground beef) and I love a good salad or caprese sandwich. I don't think people should feel obligated to stop eating meat (or stop doing anything), but I wish people at least felt accountable to foster awareness in themselves and others of the consequences of their actions and lifestyles. /rant

[huiheiwufhawriuhg]

I eat meat once or twice a week. I really need to force myself to it and I find the taste of most meat to be disgusting, but I still live with my mother and she forces me to eat meat for what she calls health reasons.

[totalize]

I eat meat every day at least once usually twice.

[totalize]

@Starfall

I think the thing is more complicated than do we eat meat or not.

The first part is how is the meat treated. Humans are used to, biologically speaking, eating meat that has no chemical injections. When you buy ham or bacon from the store what you're really buying, funnily enough is built meat (we all know that though, don't we) and then of course, there's a LOT of antibiotics plugged into meat. I would recommend anyone who eats pork in the United States especially to research the state of how pork is produced in the US especially Smithfields. Most of it is battery farming and the pig spends all its time enclosed in a cage, it tries to escape and gets cut and pumped full of antibiotics which you end up eating.

[Not a dig] in Britain pig cages illegal and pig farming is free range by law. The pork there is the most wonderful quality.

Same thing is broadly true of chickens.

When people say 'meat' though what they often don't realise is an important thing is not what the meat is or how it is cooked. Chicken is not healthier for you than lamb. The difference is the part of the meat. Some parts of an animal are great for you, others are not. Combine that with how the animal is raised and kept.

Obvious example is -- pork belly from pig cage battery farm or battery-farmed antibiotic supported chicken wing vs grass-fed lamb loin.

Then of course what do you cook it with. Some types of oil are horrible for you, others are not.

So meat is really a multi-dimensional issue.

[yeves]

once or twice and it's always seafood-based. I've tried going on full vegetarian diet, but found my quality of life and my health got worse than when I was eating meat at least several days a month.

http://www.realclearscience.com/jour...fe_108583.html

A vegetarian diet is associated with higher rates of allergies, cancer, and mental illness, as well as a poorer quality of life compared to carnivorous diets, according to a new study.

The research, published in February in the journal PLoS ONE, surveyed 1,320 Austrians, evenly portioned to four different nutritional groups: a vegetarian diet, a carnivorous diet rich in fruits and vegetables, a carnivorous diet less rich in meat, and a carnivorous diet rich in meat. Subjects were matched based on age, sex, income, education, and occupation. All information was attained through face-to-face interviews.

The results were bleak for vegetarians.

"Overall, vegetarians are in a poorer state of health compared to the other dietary habit groups," the authors reported.

Vegetarians suffered from higher rates of allergies, cancer, anxiety, and depression. They were also vaccinated less often than all of the other groups, and visited the doctor for preventative check-ups less frequently than subjects eating a carnivorous diet rich in fruits and vegetables.

[epheme]

I've been a vegetarian most of my life. I was also vegan for eight years, between the ages of 16-24. The reason I started eating eggs and dairy again was because at some point my health started to deteriorate. I kept getting sick and couldn't figure out why, then it dawned on me. Also, I was far too thin, 5' 8" and 105 pounds.

I do get worried that I'm not getting enough protein. I started doing the app myfitnesspal and I only get about 1/2 the amount of protein that I should be getting daily. So, now I've become more conscious about my protein intake, and have been buying protein shakes and drinking them before bed. I don't really know if those are good for you though, tbh. But it's a solution until I figure something else out.

I've been thinking about eating fish lately to try and get more protein but it's honestly a really difficult decision to make - I think it's something I'm just not ready for. We went fishing about a month ago and I caught a fish and I honestly just wanted to cry. I don't think I should be eating fish if I can't kill one myself - it feels hypocritical to me, so I don't know what the solution is.

[chrys]

personally I think I eat way too little meat, though I prolly eat it everyday.

[rat200Turbo]

For a while I tried being vegetarian, then eating low amounts of meat, but recently I started eating alot more meat. And I realized that my body is actually craving meat. I think I had deprived myself of an important source of nutrition actually, judging by my appetite. I've been eating a ton of meat and I keep wanting more.
It surprised me, I think eating meat is much more important for our health than I had thought previously.

[FDG]

2-3 I think I try to eat only high quality meat like low fat beef or turkey no wurst / kebab / hotdogs

[Pallas]

I eat meat pretty much every day because if I don't eat stuff like that I don't feel so good physically. I don't necessarily eat it at every meal, but during those other meals I eat lots of other stuff you're not supposed to like eggs, dairy, and beans. I'm sorry but I just can't do the high-carb diet thing. Even if I eat a ton of "good" carbs I crash too quickly afterwards compared to eating protein and fats.

[Pallas]

@Starfall

I think the thing is more complicated than do we eat meat or not.

The first part is how is the meat treated. Humans are used to, biologically speaking, eating meat that has no chemical injections. When you buy ham or bacon from the store what you're really buying, funnily enough is built meat (we all know that though, don't we) and then of course, there's a LOT of antibiotics plugged into meat. I would recommend anyone who eats pork in the United States especially to research the state of how pork is produced in the US especially Smithfields. Most of it is battery farming and the pig spends all its time enclosed in a cage, it tries to escape and gets cut and pumped full of antibiotics which you end up eating.

[Not a dig] in Britain pig cages illegal and pig farming is free range by law. The pork there is the most wonderful quality.

Same thing is broadly true of chickens.

When people say 'meat' though what they often don't realise is an important thing is not what the meat is or how it is cooked. Chicken is not healthier for you than lamb. The difference is the part of the meat. Some parts of an animal are great for you, others are not. Combine that with how the animal is raised and kept.

Obvious example is -- pork belly from pig cage battery farm or battery-farmed antibiotic supported chicken wing vs grass-fed lamb loin.

Then of course what do you cook it with. Some types of oil are horrible for you, others are not.

So meat is really a multi-dimensional issue.

Exactly. The whole "don't eat animals" thing is oversimplifying really, because pretty much all agriculture results in animals dying, the important thing is how ​the animal is treated. Also, if anything, I thought chicken would be less healthy than lamb, at least the "white meat" part that they always serve.

[Satan]

I'm doing strength training now and my personal trainer is having me eat meat at every meal (4 meals a day, plus snacks), because she says I won't build muscle otherwise. I feel a lot stronger and have more endurance throughout the day, but that's probably because I'm consuming a lot more calories and drinking multiple protein shakes a day.

I still hate the texture of meat, though. I'd go back to eating a mostly plant based diet if I could. Though, I look & feel better on this diet & work out plan. I didn't get enough calories when I was plant based.

There is still the ethical issue... I'm not doing much about that though other than buying higher quality when I can. Who knows how long I'll keep it up, but it's kind of nice not being so frail anymore.

you mostly need protein rather than meat. if you're eating plenty of calories you don't have to be quite as careful.

protein shakes get boring quickly, but even large amounts of milk have quite a lot of protein.

maybe find an in between point?

[Satan]

i was eating a lot of meat, but recently i've cut down. and i don't feel that bad, and it's cheaper

[Exodus]

For a while I tried being vegetarian, then eating low amounts of meat, but recently I started eating alot more meat. And I realized that my body is actually craving meat. I think I had deprived myself of an important source of nutrition actually, judging by my appetite. I've been eating a ton of meat and I keep wanting more.
It surprised me, I think eating meat is much more important for our health than I had thought previously.

Same, I was vegetarian for almost a year and experienced major cravings. You're depriving yourself of certain nutrients, it's easier to do than being vegan but still. Now I eat meat just about every day, but not much. It's also slaughtered the day it's eaten rather than factory produced so it's a lot better.

[rat200Turbo]

Now I eat meat just about every day, but not much. It's also slaughtered the day it's eaten rather than factory produced so it's a lot better.

Have you ever slaughtered a chicken yourself?

[mclane]

I haven't ever slaughtered a chicken, but I slaughtered a fish I caught myself once. If I had to slaughter the animals I eat everyday, I'll probably only eat fish. I don't think I'll be able to bring myself to kill a more evolved animal like a cow or a pig.

[rat200Turbo]

There is an acute fear of dying that especially our culture has which I think translates into a fear of killing animals. We will eat them after they're dead but we can't kill them. I haven't slaughtered anything, but I think probably I could. I'd probably give it a nice last day though, like I'd give it a day in paradise... take it on a small vacation, and then slaughter it. For food of course

[Exodus]

Have you ever slaughtered a chicken yourself?

I've slaughtered a ram twice before. Haven't slaughtered a chicken.

[rat200Turbo]

I've slaughtered a ram twice before. Haven't slaughtered a chicken.

Wow, that's ritualistic, and alot of meat too. I think I'd rather not cut up such a giant animal. So much meat to deal with. I imagine there was alot of blood also.

[Hitta]

High fat, low carb.... I eat meat every day. I also eat olive oil quite a bit with green veggies. Eat a ton of nuts, nut butters... especially those higher in monounsaturated fats or omega 3 instead of omega 6. Guacamole/Avocados pretty regularly. Grass fed cheese, grass fed butter.

[Exodus]

Wow, that's ritualistic, and alot of meat too. I think I'd rather not cut up such a giant animal. So much meat to deal with. I imagine there was alot of blood also.

I didn't cut it up, I just killed it. The second one was pretty small.

[summerprincess]

Like once or twice a week at most...do most people really eat meat everyday? I hate cooking meat so I really only eat it if a) I'm cooking something special with chicken in it (once in a blue moon) or b) I'm eating out (grab a buffalo chicken wrap or turkey wrap, etc). And we had to track our eating for my nutrition class : I get enough protein despite not eating a lot of meat, and I was over the saturated fat limit too!! Haha

[The Exception]

I eat meat every day. Sometimes even more than once a day. I wished I liked vegetables more. I make myself eat them because I know they are healthy.