Don’t want to stop eating meat? Here are 10 Alternatives

Don’t want to stop eating meat?
Here are ten alternatives to going meatless.

Meat and chronic disease are directly linked. Meat is also one of the foods that people are the most emotionally connected to.  If you are like many people, you may enjoy the flavor and consistency of meat. It may feel far outside your comfort zone to imagine meals that are focused around anything else.

So what do you do when you want to prevent or better manage chronic disease but don’t want to stop eating meat?

Quite simply, don’t!  Forcing yourself to change something with such strong emotional ties is very likely to backfire. Instead, consider focusing on some other area of change. There are SO many other changes that you can choose from!

How to start

First and foremost, think about your current health situation. What are your overall eating and lifestyle habits? What are your health goals? Then consider if there are any things that you ARE interesting in changing. Check out the list below, for some ideas.

Here are 10 options to consider, if you don’t want to stop eating meat.

Note: these are just a few ideas, not a “to-do” or “must” do list. Consider your personal health situation, risk factors, and overall eating patterns and lifestyle. Consider if any changes are warranted. Think about your level of interest in making changes and how important it is to make change. Is now the right time? Consider, choosing one idea from the list below to implement in a way that fits into your life, and feels like it could realistically be sustainable.

1. No change – Keep everything the same.  Maybe you are not in a place in your life where change is something you can or want to do. That’s totally fine.  Your healthcare team is there to support you, non judgmentally, whether or not you want to work on making lifestyle changes.

Add in healthy options

2. Fruits and vegetables – Consider the foods that make up your typical daily/weekly intake. Are fruits and vegetables taking up half your plate?  Maybe you want to add in more leafy greens, cruciferous vegetables, or other vegetables or fruit.

3. Grains – Do you eat mostly refined grains such as pizza, bread, pasta, pastries, etc, made from white flour?  Maybe you want to start adding IN some whole grains such as brown rice, quinoa, kamut, farro, millet, rye, oats, or pasta/bread made from whole grains. 

Think about saturated fat, added oil, added sugar

4. Saturated fat – Besides meat, what about other sources of saturated fat do you typically eat, such as cheese, cream, or butter?  Maybe you are interested in cutting back on some of these foods and swapping in healthier options.

5. Oil – when it comes to oil, think about how much, how often, and which you are using. While there is a lot of research out there about the nutritional benefits of extra virgin olive oil EVOO), consider that the bulk of the research is focused on the nutritional benefits of replacing butter or lard with olive oil. Olive oil is still very calorie dense, and could potentially hold you back from meeting your health goals. Consider swapping some or all oil for small amounts of nutrient dense, healthy fats such as nuts, hemp, flax, or chia seed, which are still calorie dense, but less so than oil.

6. Added/refined sugar – take a day or two and add up how much added sugar you are typically consuming.  Don’t forget to count those pumpkin spice lattes, fruit juice with breakfast, and all the added sugar in the packaged foods that you eat.  Look for ways that you can swap out some refined/added sugars for natural versions.  For example, instead of a glass of orange juice, eat an orange.  Instead of a candy bar, eat a date with a smear of nut butter (dates are nature’s candy bar!).

Processed Foods/Processed Meat

7. Processed foods – Processed foods typically have significant amounts of salt, refined sugar and refined grains (designed that way to get you to want/buy more!), all of which are directly linked to chronic disease. (70% of salt intake comes from processed, pre-packaged and restaurant foods.) How processed are the foods you eat?  How much sodium, sugar and refined grains do they contain? What swaps do you see yourself being able to reasonably fit into your life?  Maybe you don’t have a lot of time, so processed foods are a convenience that fit into your life, right now.  Think about what small changes you could start to make.  Try switching to no or low sodium versions of pre-packaged food. Could you skip the cereal and eat overnight oats instead (quick, healthy, and money savings)?  Maybe you could batch prep some meals for the freezer, or even just batch prep snacks to have on hand instead of reaching for packaged snacks.

8. Processed meat – Think about the meats that you do eat.  How much of your meat intake includes processed meat? This could be by smoking, curing, salting, canning or adding preservatives. Processed meat includes ham, bacon, deli meat such as salami or roast beef, hotdogs, sausages, processed white meat such as chicken nuggets and sliced lunch meats.  Processed meat is directly linked to cancer; in particular colon cancer.  Consider cutting back on these foods, or even eliminating them from your typical food intake pattern.

Cut it down / Swap it out

9. Cut down – Love your meat but think it might be okay to cut back?  Ideally, meat should comprise at most about ¼ of your plate.  Think about your typical meal right now… how much of the plate does meat take up? Can you cut it down to ¼ of the plate?  If it is already ¼ of the plate, maybe you are interested in cutting that portion in half and replacing it with plant based sources of protein such as beans (chickpeas, black beans, kidney beans, etc), lentils (black, brown, red) or tofu, edamame or tempeh.

10. Swap it out – Swap out your current sources of meat for the best version that you can afford, such as leaner cuts of meat and/or local, grass fed meat. 

Bonus – focus on something other than food

Not interested in making any foods changes? Consider other areas of your life that you could make changes.  

Again, think about your personal situation, what interests you, and what change you could reasonably fit into your life. Pick one area to get started. Focus on just that one new habit for 6-12 months, as you work to build a sustainable habit.

Movement – Maybe you are sedentary and would like to start moving… find something that makes you excited (dancing, walking, hiking) and go for it!  

Sleep – Are you getting 7-9 hours of sleep?  Lack of sleep can lower your immune system, make it harder to control blood sugar, raise blood pressure and trigger autoimmune flares. Explore ways that you could improve your sleep, including seeing a sleep specialist or looking into cognitive behavioral sleep therapy.

Stress – if stress is an issue for you, focus on stress management techniques such as mindfulness based stress reduction, meditation, or even just getting outside. Find what works for you.

Social connections – cultivate supportive relationships that bring you joy and provide support during stressful times. Sometimes just having these connections can lead to increased movement (walking with a friend), decreased stress and overall increased feelings of satisfaction.

Tobacco and alcohol – reach out for professional support if you struggle with these.  1-800-QUIT NOW is a great starting point for tobacco cessation.