Stop eating Meat! The most healthy Diets! How to be Breaking Free?
Stop eating Meat! The most healthy Diets! How to be Breaking Free | At this point you may want some practical advice about kicking the flesh food habit. People who’ve already stopped eating meat are usually completely puzzled when anyone asks them: ‘How do you go about cutting it out?’ You see, they no longer even think about it for most people, it quickly becomes a normal part of their lifestyle and they just can’t imagine how it could present a problem to anyone.
How to Stop eating Meat?
We used to think this, too. But now I know, from many letters, conversations and phone calls from anxious parents, worried husbands, and lots of other people as well, that cutting out meat from your diet can seem to be an almost impossible achievement. Impossible that is, until you do it.
Don’t Panic!
The first thing to do is to stop worrying! You’re absolutely certain to have many different questions going through your mind, such as. Where do I get my protein from? What do I replace meat with?’ Can I eat fish? and so on Well, you’ll find the answers to most of the commonest questions right here in this book. But at this stage the most important thing is not to panic, and to plan the transition so that it suits you.
Speak to other people who’ve made the break by all means but don’t forget that what suits one person may not be right for you. That’s really the key. Because, maybe for the first time in your entire life you’re going to take full control over the food you eat.
How to Stop eating Meat? The Revolution Starts Here
One of life’s biggest con-tricks is to make us believe that we checae the food we eat for ourselves. Nothing could be further from the truth. You may think that your taste preferences reflect your own likes and dislikes but in all probability they owe more to your parents than they really do to you. As human intants we are more
dependent upon our parents and more vulnerable over a far greater period time than any other species on the face of the Earth.
It takes us years to achieve the same degree of control over even the most basic of our activities that the young of other species manage to achieve in a matter of months or even weeks Year after year, we rely upon adults to take most of our simple everyday decisions for us Now, biologically speaking this works out very well because we have a lot more growing to do than most other species do and while we’re doing all this growing we need
the protection that parents can give us.
Feed back from Family!
But parents give you more than just protection. They pass on to you their own values and beliefs to the extent that by the time you’re old enough to take informed decisions for yourself, you’ve acquired a whole set of inherited likes dislikes and habits that by sheer force of repetition you’ve grown to regard as your own. Habits
such as the way you eat, for example And what you eat and indeed what you think about what you eat. All these habits have been largely pre-determined for you. Other people have taken these decisions, because you weren’t able to at the time. But you are able to now.
How to Stop eating Meat? Meat Hooked?
The difficult thing with meat is that just like tobacco and some other drugs, although you may not enjoy it at the beginning your taste buds get hooked on its fatty, salty flavour quite quickly. Man is not the only animal to respond to meat like this – (whose diets are naturally meat-free) will behave in a similar way. A chimp who has tasted carrion flesh a few times will progress to hunting and killing for himself, sometimes even committing ade
of cannibalism and infanticide against his own species Gerillas are also naturally gentle and non-meat eating.
But when captive ones in zoos have been forcibly fed a meat diet they toe will develop mammoth carnivorous appetites – the more they eat the more they must have These behavioural changes are also accompanied
by physical changes in their digestive system whereby the ciliate protozoa (useful micro-organisms we all need) in their intestines which would normally help to digest the fibre in their natural diet
disappear.
Returning to plant food!
So returning to plant food isn’t very easy for them. It isn’t so strange then, that young humans also become accustomed to the taste of meat and grow up to consider large quantities of it to be an indispensible part of their diet. However, what has really happened is that we have been taught to eat meat taught to regard its taste as palatable and taught to consider it (if, indeed, we think about it at all as a perfectly normal part of our diet.
Many young children instinctively resist eating meat perhaps you did, too. But by the time you were old enough to think objectively about the issue you may already have been hooked. The only chance to break into this circle is to do precisely what you’re doing now – to examine the evidence and to take an informed decision based on your own personal feelingsI seriously believe that this may be the most important decision that you’ve
ever taken.
How to Stop eating Meat? Crucial area
It may be the first time that you’ve ever had the chance to consciously and rationally reclaim control of a crucial area of your daily activity that has until now been pre programmed by a pattern of behaviour that someone else decided upon several decades ago. It’s a great opportunity to get things right!
Making the Break
So what happens? Do you come home at 6 oclock one Friday evening and have a nut cutlet instead of a lamb cutlet? Do you have to sign a pledge that meat will never pass your lips again? Or do you just do it in private with consenting adults? Here are some ideas for making the break that I know have worked very well with
other people But do remember that fundamentally it’s your decision you’re trying to find what genuinely suits you. So you should take everything that follows as suggestions, not as firm rules.
How to Stop eating Meat? Method One: The Cut-Back
This may be useful if you want to kick the meat habit, but are worried that you wouldn’t know where to start. Basically, you should aim to reduce your meat intake by about fifty per cent per week. For example, if you regularly eat meat at two meals a day, cut back during the first week to just one meal a day. Then, for the second
week. cut it back again to one meal every other day. The third week you probably won’t eat more than a couple of meat meals in total.
And the fourth week you’ll be free. This gradual process of cutting back gives you the chance to spread the transition over several weeks, and so allows you to experiment with lots of new recipes, while being able to fall back on meat if you get desperate! It sometimes helps to deliberately switch the type of meat you’d normally eat to something you dislike. So if you dislike mutton, for example make sure that any meat you eat is mutton. This will help your body to reinforce the decision you’ve made.
Disadvantage
The disadvantage with this method is that it can take a lot of will power to get to the no-meat stage. So you could try combining the first week or two of this method with one of the others.
How to Stop eating Meat? Method Two: The Green-Out
This is a fairly dramatic technique that will appeal to those people who want to create a clear, precise point in their lives that may represent a kind of personal watershed for them. It also has quite a profound effect on your body, so you should check with your doctor if your health may raise problems.
What you do is to eat a completely raw diet for seven to ten days.
Nothing – absolutely nothing – that has been cooked, processed or preserved is allowed down! Meat, of course, is right out. So is cheese, although you could eat a raw egg if you could stomach it (too frequent use of raw eggs could lead to a biotin deficiency, so don’t overdose!). Similarly, bread, biscuits, jams, butter, tea, coffee, alcohol, and tinned food are all absolutely out.
Free fresh fruit and vegetables!
However, the diet, must contain lots of fresh fruit and vegetables – there is no limit to the quantity, eat as much as you can take. Aim to buy organic vegetables, if at all possible. Don’t overlook nuts and seeds, and try making salad dressings using only cold-pressed oils and lemon juice for a delicious dressing. In practice, you’ll find it very difficult to over-eat on raw food. Although you’ll be taking in lots of vitamins from all this fresh food, it might be a good idea to supplement your diet with a good multi-vitamin pill that includes calcium and zinc (generally. I’m firmly against them because you should get your nourishment from a well-balanced diet.
but they’ll help at least psychologically on this occasion). During this period all sorts of things may start to happen. You may feel wonderfully elated or (very rarely) rather depressed. Your body may start to feel lighter and younger. On the other hand, you may very well have some kind of ‘deferred reaction – you may get spots and pimples, a bad headache, or diarrhoea (don’t be surprised if you do, because your intestinal micro-flora is changing!).
Detoxification
Stick with it, because it won’t last very long, and you’ll feel much better when you’ve been through it. After seven to ten days, you can start to add some cocked food, which you’ve been reading about in the meantime. You’ll also find that your tastes have started to change. You will almost certainly have developed an appreciation
for fresh food, and a healthy desire to eat something fresh at least once a day.
And then you won’t look back! You will have made the break, given your body a thorough detoxification, and started to set the pattern for a better, healthier life.
How to Stop eating Meat? Method Three: The Switcheroo
I can’t wholeheartedly recommend this method, but I know that many people have, almost by default, used it. Basically, all that’s involved is substituting a non-meat product for meat on every occasion a recipe calls for meat.
The range of meat replacement products is getting better all the time, and finding an acceptable substitute shouldn’t be a problem.
You should be able to purchase textured vegetable protein (tvp) from any health food shop, in a wide variety of flavourings and textures. There are also many commercial mixtures, such as sausages, burger mixes, pâtes, etc., that are all 100 per cent nonmeat, and advertised as such. Most health food stores are full of them, although some may be rather expensive.
Other Proteins
The cheapest substitute is probably to purchase loose tvp granules (unflavoured). and experiment with flavourings that please you. Some to try are yeast extract tamari (a kind of soya sauce), or even an ordinary
commercial gravy mixture (surprisingly, not all of them actually contain meat!). You may also consider substituting meat with seafood cheese, eggs and other dairy produce, but try to avoid high fat products.
I think this method can be useful in situations where the cook is totally unfamiliar with anything other than meat cookery, such as an older mother having to cater for a son or daughter who’s given up meat. The reason I don’t like it too much is because it doesn’t encourage you to think about your diet, which is one ofthe great opportunities that cutting out meat gives you.
The tendency is just to go on eating in the same old way – which may not be very healthy. It seems a shame to waste such a great chance.
Breaking the News
This, too, can create a lot of problems for people, although there’s no reason why it should. There seem to be two sorts of problems. One is the ‘Oh-My-God-How-Are You-Going-To-Survive’ reaction that typically comes from over-worried friends and relatives. The other is the ‘Oh-My-God-What-Am-l-Going-To-Cook’ reaction from the
cook. Both can verge on the hysterical, so try to disarm them early on.
If we take the first reaction, which mainly comes from family or friends, as basically being a sign of well-
meaning concern, then it shouldn’t upset you too much. Maybe they can’t imagine what you’re going to exist on when you quit meat, and they’re obviously expecting you to shrivel up and die at any moment. In a word, they’re
ignorant.
Convince Them!
So enlighten them! Lend them this book, talk to them about it ad nauseam, try to get them involved. Tell them about famous people such as Leonardo Da Vinci, Voltaire, George Bernard Shaw, and all the many others who existed without eating flesh. If there’s a good wholefood restaurant nearby, suggest that you all go out
and have a meal together. Don’t try to sell them the idea if they’re not ready for it, but do try to reassure them, which is all that’s really needed.
The second reaction is usually found among mothers who find they’ve suddenly got to cope with a meat-free menu. Not surprisingly, they feel as if they’ve been dropped in the deep end. The best advice here is to discuss the situation with them as early as you can. Tell them that more and more people are finding a better, healthier way of eating, and for a variety of reasons you’dlike to try it too.
You’ll probably have to lead the way by obtaining a few simple recipe books, and also by doing your fair share of kitchen work. Providing you take it slowly and don’t panic them you’ll probably find that they are extremely interested in what you’re doing, and may try it as well.