When Danielle Smith and her father eat out, they order one meal between them. Her father takes the meat. And Smith, who has been a vegetarian for 15 years, eats the sides. And they both eat this way for health. Smith’s father is on the Atkins diet. Smith eats no meat in the hope of warding off cancer and heart disease. “I don’t agree with what he’s doing; he doesn’t agree with what I’m doing,” says Smith, 38. But there are plenty of people, including many medical experts, who do agree with Smith’s eating habits. Research suggests that avoiding meat altogether — or at least decreasing the amount you consume — can benefit your health.
A recent study of more than 500,000 men and women published in the Archives of Internal Medicine found that eating red meat and processed meat increased a person’s chance of dying from cancer or heart disease over the next 10 years. Health concerns moved Smith to give up meat. She had many allergies, then her mother had a heart attack in her early 50s, followed by breast cancer and a stroke. First, the Camby resident gave up red meat and pork. Then she stopped eating chicken. Soon after, her allergies cleared up and her once-frequent headaches stopped bothering her. In the beginning, Smith ate a lot of applesauce and green beans, but then she found good cookbooks.
Now she eats lots of salad, and a few times a month, she mixes up a big pot of vegetarian chili. “It’s all about health,” she says. “It’s not just a food thing.” Dietitians agree. In the past, there was a lot of buzz about complementary proteins — the need to eat certain foods with others to ensure one consumed “complete proteins” — but the mystique of mixing and matching has worn off, says Deb Vine, a dietitian with Clarian Health Network. Nutrition scientists now believe that as long as a person eats enough healthy foods with protein, even if meat is not on the menu, he or she should be fine. Protein-rich foods include legumes, nuts and soy products.
A vegetarian diet is low in saturated fat and high in fiber, while containing plenty of
phytochemicals — noncaloric nutrients that help prevent cancer. Moving toward a plant-only diet can have several effects, says Kathy Freston, Los Angeles-based author of “The Quantum Wellness Cleanse: The 21-Day Essential Guide to Healing Your Body, Mind and Spirit.” Some research suggests that a protein found in milk, for instance, may aggravate arthritis. Hormones found in meat and dairy can lead to skin problems. Plant proteins, on the other hand, come with plenty of antioxidants, which will help prevent cancer.
All animal protein contains arachidonic acid, which promotes a type of inflammation associated with degenerative processes, Freston says. So Freston advocates the vegan diet that does not include any animal products. Still, it’s not necessary to go all the way vegan to see a health benefit. Just forgoing meat one day a week or before 6 p.m. can have an impact, experts say.
