From Fast Food Nation to Food, Inc., books and movies are sending the message loud and clear: a diet that includes a lot of red meat is not good for the body or the earth. High cholesterol and stroke often result from family meal menus heavy in red meat.
Even though a vegetarian diet is healthy, many people do crave meat from time to time and don’t want to give up eating red meat. Even so, ecologically-concerned individuals and family meal planners are cutting back on red meat and finding alternative recipes and menus. The following list includes less-red-meat alternatives to a diet heavy in steak and ground beef.
Meatless Mondays
A website created by a non-profit group associated with the Johns Hopkins’ Bloomberg School of Public Health suggests going meatless on Mondays.
A large number of recipe alternatives for meals and snacks include hearty red bean chili, chunky vegetable soups, Tex-Mex dishes, and dishes that substitute potatoes, nuts, eggplant and pasta as the main ingredient.
Eat More Chicken and Pork
The marketing team from Chick-fil-A got it right with their slogan. However, the factory farming necessary to produce more and meatier chicken is a recipe for environmental overload and disease. Factory farming can cause farmers to do things they’d rather not in order to make a livings, a point offered for consideration of viewers of Food, Inc.
Eat Local, Grow Your Own
Chicken, pigs, and cows are raised by many environmentally-conscious farmers and sold through cooperatives and local farmers markets. At markets and grocery stores, organically-raised meat is a better choice offering assurance of pesticides and hormones.
Hunters also believe that the most eco-friendly meat you can eat is what you take from the wild, such as deer, turkey, and fish. Some locavors are looking into raising chickens in their yards. In cities like Portland, Oregon, the cluck-cluck and cock-a-doodle-do of backyard chickens can be heard in even the best neighborhoods.
Sustainable Seafood
Organizations, including the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) and many aquariums, offer information about making better seafood choices to improve management of declining stocks of seafood from oceans and to limit consumption of mercury-tainted seafood. The EDF’s goal is “to restore and conserve healthy ocean ecosystems, while ensuring that consumers enjoy safe, eco-friendly seafood, and fishing businesses can thrive.”
An EDF fish selector lists fish as eco-best, eco-ok, and eco-worse and provides the information in a pocket-card format for use when eating out. The Monterey Bay Aquarium and Virginia Marine Science Aquarium offer similar cards.
Eat Smaller Portions
Cutting down on meat intake and eating a healthier diet can also be as simple as cutting back on portion size.
Even though a vegetarian diet is healthy, many people do crave meat from time to time and don’t want to give up eating red meat. Even so, ecologically-concerned individuals and family meal planners are cutting back on red meat and finding alternative recipes and menus. The following list includes less-red-meat alternatives to a diet heavy in steak and ground beef.
Meatless Mondays
A website created by a non-profit group associated with the Johns Hopkins’ Bloomberg School of Public Health suggests going meatless on Mondays.
A large number of recipe alternatives for meals and snacks include hearty red bean chili, chunky vegetable soups, Tex-Mex dishes, and dishes that substitute potatoes, nuts, eggplant and pasta as the main ingredient.
Eat More Chicken and Pork
The marketing team from Chick-fil-A got it right with their slogan. However, the factory farming necessary to produce more and meatier chicken is a recipe for environmental overload and disease. Factory farming can cause farmers to do things they’d rather not in order to make a livings, a point offered for consideration of viewers of Food, Inc.
Eat Local, Grow Your Own
Chicken, pigs, and cows are raised by many environmentally-conscious farmers and sold through cooperatives and local farmers markets. At markets and grocery stores, organically-raised meat is a better choice offering assurance of pesticides and hormones.
Hunters also believe that the most eco-friendly meat you can eat is what you take from the wild, such as deer, turkey, and fish. Some locavors are looking into raising chickens in their yards. In cities like Portland, Oregon, the cluck-cluck and cock-a-doodle-do of backyard chickens can be heard in even the best neighborhoods.
Sustainable Seafood
Organizations, including the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) and many aquariums, offer information about making better seafood choices to improve management of declining stocks of seafood from oceans and to limit consumption of mercury-tainted seafood. The EDF’s goal is “to restore and conserve healthy ocean ecosystems, while ensuring that consumers enjoy safe, eco-friendly seafood, and fishing businesses can thrive.”
An EDF fish selector lists fish as eco-best, eco-ok, and eco-worse and provides the information in a pocket-card format for use when eating out. The Monterey Bay Aquarium and Virginia Marine Science Aquarium offer similar cards.
Eat Smaller Portions
Cutting down on meat intake and eating a healthier diet can also be as simple as cutting back on portion size.
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