Where’s the Meat?

“Where’s the meat?” A question I’m often asked by my relatives and Serbian friends when I make a vegan dish or tell them that I mostly eat a vegetarian diet. Some say it in a mocking sort of way, some question out of curiosity, while others express worry about my health (and I get the impression they’re concerned about my sanity too!).

Generally speaking, for the Serbian community here in North America, meat rules. The cultural norm for us is that a meal isn’t complete without meat. This idea that we need animal protein all the time is very much a product of our culture rather than an individual or biological requirement. Eating is primarily a learned behaviour. We’re taught how and what to eat by our parents and caregivers as young children, then later on we’re influenced by our peers, our wider community, media, and the food industry. By the time we reach adulthood, this can develop into a fixed mindset when it comes to our eating. At what point, though, do we pause and internally question whether the way we, Canadian Serbs, currently eat meat is good for us? When do we start listening to ourselves instead of conforming to others’ beliefs and buying into certain fears?

From talking to Serbs of older generations that came to Canada back in the 1970s through to the 1990s, I’ve observed that to them meat is a status symbol – i.e. having a lot of meat on your plate means you’re wealthy. Coming from an era and place where eating meat was a special privilege and hard to come by, I can understand where this belief stems from. However, it is a limiting belief that can have a negative impact on your health and doesn’t apply to our current reality here where we’re blessed with an abundance of food and our basic survival needs being met.

I’ve also heard the reasoning that our ancestors ate meat for strength, so we should too. I agree, many of them did eat meat, but as my Serbian elders confirmed for me, not very often because meat was expensive and scarce. Then how did our ancestors, especially those engaged in heavy physical labour on farms, get enough protein? Pasulj, other plant-based proteins, eggs, and dairy.

I used to buy into the belief that I needed to eat meat everyday because I often felt tired and weak. I assumed I was lacking enough animal protein and needed to eat more meat. Then one day, I was talking to my mom about my grandfather and how most of the meat from the livestock he raised would be sold to others and what little was left would need to be preserved and stretched to last throughout the year. This confounded me. But how could he have the strength and energy to do such hard physical work everyday living off of pasulj, yet I thought I needed meat daily for the strength and energy to do my cushy office job where I was sitting most of the time? This was an eye-opener for me.

We don’t actually need as much protein as we might think or as our Serbian upbringing might lead us to believe. There is no concrete scientific evidence I could find proving that consuming meat in the vast quantities that we do is essential to our well-being. In fact, according to the Acceptable Macronutrient Distribution Range from Health Canada, we only need 10-30% of our total daily calories to come from protein. Which, based on a 2000 calorie diet for example, is only 50 to 150 grams of protein a day. And Health Canada reports that nearly 100% of Canadian adults consume protein in quantities within this acceptable range. Furthermore, you can over do it when it comes to protein since humans can only tolerate protein consumption comprising a maximum of about 40% of total caloric intake, due to the toxicity of nitrogen compounds stemming from protein digestion.

All this being said, there are numerous benefits to decreasing your meat consumption in favour of adopting a flexitarian diet, which means mostly plant-based foods with moderate amounts of meat and other animal-based products (and I’d add “high-quality meat and animal-based products” to this definition – remembering that eating well is about quality, not quantity).

The first benefit is to your health. Plant-based diets are centred around fresh, minimally processed foods like vegetables, fruits, legumes, grains, and nuts. These types of foods are often high in fibre, magnesium, and potassium, and can have just as much protein, iron, and zinc as meat-based dishes. Eating mostly plants helps us fight off disease and can reduce our risk of developing many chronic health conditions, like heart disease, while also protecting us against cancer.

The second reason for reducing your meat consumption is because it’s better for the environment. You’ll be contributing to lower greenhouse gas emissions, reduce air and soil pollution, and conserve water every time you forgo the meat.

Eating mostly plant-based is better for your wallet too. Meat is one of the pricier items at the grocery store, meanwhile a bag of dried beans is more affordable and can stretch across more meals if need be.

The last major benefit to going meatless, at least some of the time, is that you’ll likely be adding more variety to your diet. All health experts agree that a varied diet is the easiest way to ensure you are getting all the nutrients you need to maintain your health.

Ultimately, if and how often you eat meat is a personal choice informed by your values and circumstances. But I advise you to question your choices from time to time and to not just blindly follow other people’s values and beliefs in the matter. Practicing an open-minded approach toward eating is a wonderful basis to cultivate an open-minded approach to how you live life on the whole, paving the way for richer and happier existence.

Bio:

Milka Milicevic is a Registered Holistic Nutritionist, blogger, and speaker who teaches the art of eating well for better health and energy. To learn more about Milka, visit her website at: www.holisticmilka.com.