Are there any examples of cultures that eat lots of meat and have good health?!
I ask this because in this course I'm currently taking, we watched a video on how western culture, especially America, has such a huge fixation on meat (and dairy in general) and all of the health problems it brings about...and how other cultures around the world that don't consume much meat (or dairy) don't suffer from all of the cardiovascular/circulatory diseases that we do in America. Also, osteoperosis rates in countries like China which consume very little meat are almost non-existant (this is because taking in excess protein causes the body to leech calcium off of bones to aid in digestion/secretion or something).
I tend to disagree with the idea that too much meat/protein is bad for your body...I think that just like with fat and carbs, it's more the QUALITY of the energy, not the quantity. And in America, most of the population eats large quantities of poor quality meats and protein (ground beef, hot dogs, cheeses, etc.).
Answers: This is a repost into this category.
I ask this because in this course I'm currently taking, we watched a video on how western culture, especially America, has such a huge fixation on meat (and dairy in general) and all of the health problems it brings about...and how other cultures around the world that don't consume much meat (or dairy) don't suffer from all of the cardiovascular/circulatory diseases that we do in America. Also, osteoperosis rates in countries like China which consume very little meat are almost non-existant (this is because taking in excess protein causes the body to leech calcium off of bones to aid in digestion/secretion or something).
I tend to disagree with the idea that too much meat/protein is bad for your body...I think that just like with fat and carbs, it's more the QUALITY of the energy, not the quantity. And in America, most of the population eats large quantities of poor quality meats and protein (ground beef, hot dogs, cheeses, etc.).
Excess of anything is bad.
With the abundance of the fast food and the lack of time and the lack of will to cook at home, make salads etc - leads to an urge to buy the fast food and get away from the grind of cooking.
If someone eats a balanced diet as you suggest then whether you eat meat or do not eat would not matter much as far as the health is concerned.
for thousands of years Eskimos ate only meat ,fat & occaisionally fish
No cultures suffer as bad from cardiovascular disease as we do in America. A lot of that comes from flat out being overweight however. We're the most overweight country in the world and because of that we suffer from all sorts of diseases other countries don't have so much of. Obesity causes a higher risk for disease than smoking.
As for the meat thing... I think you'll have to compare individual case studies of people who eat meat / don't eat meat to figure out what you want. There's too many variables to just look across cultures and say oh this culture is healthy cause it doesn't eat meat. Especially in America where most of the problems we have are from obesity, not that meat doesn't help with that and cause other problems.
My advice: stick with seafood (shellfish in moderation because of the cholesterol), and other forms of protein not from red meat. I also suggest if you eat poultry to get clean meat, either free range or halal, it is very important. Think of it this way, would you pick something up off of the street to eat it? no, because it's dirty and you have no idea where it's been. Same thing with meat, you have to be careful.
Overall, I do think your health will improve. The Mediterranean diet is very healthy, and has very little red meat, more fish, and unsaturated oils.
I really dont know, ive never come across any in my food science and diet research...
As for you disagreeing... well thats too bad on the calcium and osteoporosis point because its known supported fact.
humans actually have very little dietary protein requirements. look up the RDI.
there are some vegetables alone that have a composite protein percentage that meets those requirements, brocolli for one. sure, nobody is going to live off one single vegetable, but it illustrates a valid point. its just a vegetable, not even a legume or a grain, they have higher composition of protein.
there is heaaaaps of protein in meat. tonnes of it! so much the the body simply cannot take it all in when we eat it.
its the trying to get rid of it that uses up the bodies calcium stores.
everything costs in the body. whether its excretion or uptake, everything has a price.
I dont see any point to drinking 1% milk man. reaaally, think about it, a drink called milk, thats only 1 percent milk? why isnt it called 99% water instead? why not just drink water? ftw...
In all honesty I do mostly agree with you, (though not on the red meat one, its still far too much protein to be considered ok to offset) if you cut consumption eat leaner meats and stick to high quality cuts you probably will be reasonably healthy.
but in all honesty i dont want to be reasonable healthy. i want optimal.
im not going to eat things i know are particularly bad for the body and then try and 'offset' it with something else. when i know i could just not eat the bad thing in the first place because there is a safer and healthier option to obtaining whatever nutrients the thing might have had along with the bad stuff.
Well written! I might add that meat also is more contaminated than ever before in history due to the fact that it is at the top of the food chain and every pesticide and poison and sewage tainted water supply that grew the food that was fed to the meat processed in this country is stored in it's flesh and will be circulating in your body. That is true of everything we eat, and drink and breathe, and rub on ourselves. As the East becomes Westernized, cancer rates and other popular American diseases are taking a leap.
"I firmly believe that I can eat lean meats (lean steak, chicken, tuna, turkey) and drink some 1% milk once in a while, and I will fine."
Well, that's different from your question about cultures that eat "lots of meat".
I'm sure that occasional meat will not be harmful, but it's still environmentally and ethically unacceptable.
That would depend upon what your basis of healthy is. Some people claim Eskimos are healthy when in fact they have some of the highest cholesterol in the world, don't live as long, and suffer from for frequent episodes of cardiac arrest. Others say the Japanese who eat minimal meat but have a higher lead count than any other country. It depends on what you classify as healthy.
The Innuits lived off a meat based diet,but there average lifespan was only 45.Like you said,they also had a very high rate of osteoperosis,they consumed much more calcium(from fish bones) than we do today,but they also consumed about 245 grams of protein a day,which caused them to suffer from high rates of osteoperosis.
Sorry, too busy to read all your stuff riht now
but, in answer to your headline question.
No.
Those cultures where meat forms a major part of thier diet, even supposedly healthy meats like fish, have poor health and short life expectance.
I'm not saynig its the meat thats done it, but its probably the lack of a varied diet.
As for the USA, too much meat is killing your population. Its as simple as that, the rest of the world is looking on in amazement,