My Beef With Red Meat

Yesterday was Fat Tuesday, more commonly referred to by New Orleanians as Mardi Gras (if you are not from Louisiana you might refer to it as "the Mardi Gras"). It was a spectacular Mardi Gras, mostly because it was my first Mardi Gras after two consecutive years off (one because LuLu's birth, and last year because I was pregnant and annoyed). The weather was perfect, the parades were throwing and the kids were behaving; I could not have dreamt of a better day.

But now play time is over, Lent has begun (Ash Wednesday) and being a Catholic girl, it is time to give up some things that make me happy and/or do things that I do not like to do. I have decided to go 40 days with NO red meat or poultry. (Not even roast beef po-boys to cure hangovers). I am trying some new recipes to try to prolong my husband's inevitable discovery that I have decided to extend the "no red meat" January rule indefinately.

In November of 2007 I decided I wanted to get more information on vegetarianism. After watching I am an Aminal, The Story of Ingrid Newkirk, I relized that I NEVER think about the origins of the things I put into my body. So I hit the books; and although I am still on the fence about poulry and seafood, I do have beef with red meat.

My first major concern are the heath issues associated with consumung red meat. The saturated fat in red meat contributes to heart disease and atheroscleroses. Recent studies have also linked red meat consuption to an increased risk of cancer. And the vertict is still out on the effect that the growth hormones cows are injected with have on the human body.

My second major concern is environmental implications. It takes loads of land to raise cattle(an estimated 26% of all non-ice-covered land). And loads of food to feed them and fatten them up(. What if, just pretend, we decresed red meat consumption by 50% and used the extra land (for living and the crops that would have gone to feeding the cattle) and donated all of that food to 3rd World countries . For more information on the environmental implications of eating red meat, here is a link to Livestock's Long Shadow.