We’re eating too much Meat for our Lifestyle

Whenever people debate on the good and bad sides of meat, people always say: If meat was so bad, then why do we like the taste so much and why do we just seem to dislike vegetables?

Similar to my Food Philosophy post, I want to try and explain my beliefs about why we love meat, yet dislike a lot of vegetables. Our tastes evolved from our ancestors who used to go hunting in the wild. Back then, people didn’t know what was edible or what wasn’t, and many plants were toxic. That’s why we developed a hate for bitterness, all to help us survive. At the same time, people would’ve also hunted for animals and ate them, but because I’d assume that they weren’t poisonous, our tastes gradually came to love the taste of meat, telling us they were great to eat. That’s probably why in today’s world, people still love meat over vegetables.

But something extremely important we’re forgetting is:

Our lifestyle is completely different form our ancestors.

Back then, people hunted, was in the wild and walked or exercised all day. They wouldn’t be sitting on a comfy sofa, watching TV, playing games or going on the computer. Nor would most of their jobs require them to sit all day. Our life is significantly different from our ancestors, and so should our diet be.

Perhaps it was alright for people in ancient times to eat a steaks a day because they worked it all off. But are we doing the same thing? If we’re an athlete or working physically all the time, then of course we may need to increase the amount of meat and proteins, but for many of us, we eat all this meat and it just gets stuck in our bodies because we never exercise enough to get rid of it all.

It’s very important to realise that:

The amount of meat we need in our bodies is far lower than in the past because we live sedentary lifestyle. Yet many people because they love the taste so much, can’t help themselves and still eat the same amount.

Then, all the fats in the meat gradually clog up your body, head, heart, and cause problems like strokes, heart attacks and such.

The amount of meat you need may be far less than you think. I remember reading a report that said it can take up to six hours of continuous exercise to work off just one burger.

In today’s world, we need to learn how to make vegetables taste better, because we no longer need to worry about toxic plants that will cause us harm. It may take another thousands of years before our taste buds can grow to love vegetables, because the whole evolutionary process is so slow.

A vicious cycle may develop from eating too much meat. People who eat a lot of meat may become overweight, the more overweight someone is, the more they find it hard to exercise (it’s like carrying two heavy backpacks while you and run), therefore they are likely to move even less.

A lot of meat nowadays are also processed and added with hormones or other type of chemicals, which may be even more unhealthy for our diets.

The next time you’re thinking of picking up a Steak, think about:

What can I do to increase my exercises during the day?

What can I do to my vegetables to make it taste better? Because you can learn to make delicious foods to enjoy vegetables too. View my article about how to make vegetables taste nice and check out some recipes at Divine Healthy Food.

Can you limit the meat and enjoy it once a week or in a few days as a special treat?

Is it possible to limit the amount of meat at home, cooked or uncooked, so that you don’t get tempted to to eat it even if you weren’t thinking about it? Sometimes, the delicious sight or smell is the greatest temptation we simply can’t fight.

Starting out is always Extremely Hard

It’s the most difficult thing to cut down something you love suddenly. My experience is that unless you have something that’s directly threatening your health to the point you fear what will happen if you eat a lot of unhealthy food, you may not find the motivation to cut it down. My suggestion is that you start off gradual. Just limit a little meat, and make a little more vegetables. At the same time, try and fit even 10 minutes more of exercise daily would be great. If you live with someone, try and exercise together because two people doing it is a lot more fun than one. After a week or two when you’re used to it, then try and cut down even more meat and add one more dish of vegetables. Soon, you may find that not eating so much meat isn’t as hard as you thought.