The other day I read an article (link here) that talked about how farmers artificially inseminate female cows with bull semen. This, in turn, produces more cows in order to keep up with the milk and dairy demand. Because of past dairy demands, farmers all over thought it'd be a great idea to mass produce some cows in order to produce more milk (for more dairy products) - which would bring in more profit. Now, thanks to the low cost of dairy products, over 230,000 cattle have been slaughtered to control the overwhelming supply of milk that these farmers have.
Now you may think that this is a rant for PETA, or you may think this is a meat-eater-bashing post - but it's not. However, because of this article, I have decided to go on a no-cow "diet." (I use the term "diet" loosely - it's not about losing weight, but rather about how I feel about the situation.) I'm not even sure how long this will last - one day, I may cave. But for now, I'm following through.
The problem with this "diet" is that I have no idea where to go from here. I love hamburgers, meatballs, tacos, nachos... and anything with cheese. Now, I find myself wandering the supermarket trying to figure out what the heck I can eat.
I know that I need to replace two major diet components - calcium (found in dairy) and protein (which comes greatly from red meats). Although I'm still eating other meats (mostly chicken though), I'm not sure exactly where to turn to make sure that I'm not cheating my body of the nutrients that cow-products offer. This is where I need your help, Healthkickers.
How can I incorporate healthy levels of calcium and protein into my diet, while still sticking to this no-cow meal plan? Has your social or ethical views ever caused you to change your diet?
Comments (26)
Any other meat (like fish) will have protein. And for calcium, you could try calcium tablets? I take those sometimes because I hate milk and don't get a lot of calcium.
And I would never give up my cow eating.
my ethical views have never caused me to change my diet.
Tofu, edemame, beans (chickpeas, black and lentils are my favorites), seitan, other soy products are a good way to get protein. Veggie 'meat' products as well, obviously.
Calcium can be obtained from certain vegetables such as bok choi (cabbage), kale, collard greens, okra, calcium fortified soy/rice/almond milk, calcium fortified juices and more.
I take a vitamin supplement every morning as well, which adds to my calcium--however, if you choose to take a vitamin supplement you may want to research carefully for what you need, and take it with food--some vitamins cannot act without food as a catalyst, and as a result cause stomach upset.
As long as you still eat pork, chicken and eggs you should be fine. They can still provide you with a fine amount of B12 (necessary for brain function, only found in animal products or as a synthetic supplement) and you can even buy fake 'cheese' and 'yogurt' at healthfood stores. Some yogurt brands taste like crap, so experiment. Most fake cheeses I find disgusting, unless they have casein, which is an animal byproduct (I have chosen to ignore this fact in most of my purchases).
Good luck, and happy eating!
I've only ever eaten fish, chicken, crab, shrimp and lamb/goat
idk why it's the whole kind of meat we eat really in my culture
Whenever I eat meat I have a huge thing with knowing that they're treated ethically
I don't understand, why do you need to find another calcium source? You're also not consuming dairy products?
Anyways, get calcium from soy milk, rice milk, almonds, broccoli, tofu etc do a google search.And you can get more than enough protein you need from seafood, chicken, peanuts, beans, eggs, chickpeas, seeds, and other animals like pork.
No, I've never changed my diet. I've hear many legitimate reasons to, but steak is my favorite food. I can't part from it!
Btw I'd adopt an asian (any asian country works well from india to japan) diet if I were you
or heck even a medditarian
they concentrate on veggies over meat so you should have luck with yummy recipes
Not really, but there are always other food options to go for if you abandon one. Almonds are a fave of mine.
http://tinyurl.com/protein-shake-recipes
Being vegan myself, my tip is to look up recipes online, possibly see a nutritionist and get a blood test done if you find yourself feeling sick.
Good luck!!!
So you think the treatment of cows is bad but still eat chicken? what about pigs? the truth is factory farmed meat is full of hormones and other nasty chemicals. not to mention these animals literally are abused their WHOLE lives. but hey we are what we eat.
try eating organic humanely raised grassfed beef.I have been veg for 15 years and have had no problems from not eating cow. or chicken or any flesh for that matter. You can replace your protein with beans and load up on leafy greens for calcium.
I love that picture.
truth is you prob get more than enough protein eating as is but if you are concerned, there are lots of protein sources from grains to veggies...and plenty of B-12 too...if you are worried about the vitamins, pop a multi.
uhhh just think. diets dont work.....trying to be healthy does.
can u avoid eating cow forever???....especially since you say you love it so much.
this is a setup fail Im call you out on it right now...
Excellent post !
Please send your opinion/writing to either our Canadian or USA Government Leaders...
God Bless...
Velveeta...?
There's lots of things you can replace your cow products with like veggie burgers, bean balls (instead of meatballs, there's a recipe in the cookbook Veganomicon and they are delicious), TVP (textured vegetable protein that can be put in tacos or chili as a replacement for ground beef), and soy and rice cheeses (that can be found at health food stores).
Protein is quite possibly one of the easiest things to get enough of in your diet for anyone with regular access to food (whole grains, legumes-beans and lentils, nuts, seeds, and leafy green vegetables have a good amount of protein and virtually all food has a little bit of protein). Calcium is in lots of things as well like leafy green vegetables, beans, nuts, and seeds. There is nothing in cow meat or dairy that you can't find in other foods, just research online for the answers.
I'm a pretty healthy vegan. It's not too difficult to get all the nutrients you need as long as you aren't eating junk food all day. Plant sources seem to be better places to find protein and calcium anyway, so a "no-cow" diet will only benefit you health-wise as long as you fill all of your caloric needs with healthy food.
don't fool yourself into thinking chicken are treated any better! Egg chickens and dairy cattle are said to see the worst conditions and have the least strict animal welfare regulations. You can easily replace any cows milk with something like almond milk or rice milk (don't go for soy milk or fake meats made with soy... bad, bad, bad!). As for cheese, you're probably out of luck for substitutes. There are a lot of milkless dairy-like products. You just have to look in the right place. Find a natural market that carries lots of organic and vegetarian options. Join a vegetarian forum to find more ideas.
Also were you aware that cows bred for milk do not get to raise their babies? The baby is sometimes allowed to nurse once following birth but only to stimulate milk production, then they are taken away and typically formula fed. Most babies born to dairy cattle go on to be slaughtered for meat or incorporated back into the dairy industry. The milk cows are usually bred every cycle that they aren't already pregnant. Basically they are forced into a life of pregnancy of babies they won't be allowed to spend more than 24 hours (at the absolute most) with. If you visit dairy farms you'll hear that familiar noise of mothers bellowing desperatly for theri babies that have been snatched away and babies calling for their mothers in distress. It's kind of terrible really.
If you think meat and dairy are essential to you and you are ok with more humane forms of animal consumption you can always find a local free-range, organic, cattle farm that gives more quality life, doesn't overbreed, and allows babies to stay with their mothers and nurse even while they are still using them for milking. Most such farms will also have meat and eggs from free range, hormone free, chickens. You can probably find farms like this in every county. You can buy meat buy the quarter or half and store it. It may give you some peace of mind to be able to actually go to the farms and see for yourself how they are housed and cared for.
Taking something like a pre-natal vitamin would be good for you (or anyone) too. I suggested prenatals because they are made to help sustain the health of a fetus or lactating mother, the time you're supposed to maintain the best health. Beans, lentils, and plenty of other natural sources provide the extra protein (FYI: females shouldn't have a heaping ton of protein anyway). Lots of calcium in milk substitutes btw.
I gave up eating beef when I was about 17 years old. It was pretty hard because I love Charbroiled burgers and steak. What I did was this. . . Turkey burgers, prepared right are pretty delicious. If you are planning a tonning and firming exercise program, it is recommended that you will need protein. If you are just giving up beef and not all red meat, there is Goat milk that will offer some calcium. Now, personally I have never had Goat milk so you can blog about how great it is or how horrible it is.
I noticed that other people are trying to get you to become vegetarian or a vegan. Do what works best for you. I am a partial veggie (no red meat, no pork) and I have normal levels on my nutrients. Just watch that you do not replace beef with breads and rice. The more on the lips, the more on the hips. LOL!! Good luck!
goat cheese, almond milk, rice milk, lentils, chickpeas, it's easy as long as you make a little bit of an effort.
It's even worse when you factor in that mass-produced beef is all corn-fed. Corn isn't very nutritional, or naturally part of a cow's diet, so it slowly kills them. They'd die anyway if they weren't slaughtered first. (source: King Corn - documentary)
I hear goat milk/cheese is delicious. Also- I don't know how you feel about bison (or buffalo, in some parts of the US as it's called) because I don't know about the production of it personally. But the meat itself is tender, leaner and generally healthier than beef. Plus, it's delicious. :)
Just out of curiousity, is your reason for doing this in actual protest of the many cows slaughtered due to not enough demand for dairy products? Because if that's the case, then logically by not buying cow meat/dairy products the demand for those products will go down even further and more cows will have to be slaughtered. Besides that, cows are already slaughtered for meat anyway. Did it say somewhere that the cows slaughtered due to this cause were not packaged up as meat to sell?
I don't eat beef or pork. I just can't condone the way the animals are treated. I eat chicken on occasion, but I normally just stick to meat substitutes and such if I want a sandwich.
If you want protein, there's lots of frozen veggie patties on the market that have protein and such in them. (IMO, the best ones are Grill flavored Boca Burgers. You can hardly tell they're not real meat due to the awesome grill flavor. =D)
But most Americans actually get TOO much protein. So if you just cut out beef, I'm SURE you're getting enough. Peanut butter & nuts have lots of protein as well.
Maybe look into calcium and protein supplements? You'd probably have to do research on them to make sure the ones you are interested in trying/have access to are not something with ingredients from cow's milk, though. :p
I've never been in this position, so I don't know for sure. However, I do know that not everything is labeled correctly, which is done to intentionally deceive consumers. Some things that are labeled for vegetarians or vegans are actually not something that they should be eating. But, you have to really look into it to find out.
Since this is an ethical issue on how cows are treated, you probably would not want to buy something made by a company that also deals in cow meat or dairy products, even if that particular product you want to buy from them is supposed to have nothing to do with cows. Boycotting doesn't work if you don't do it properly. And if you buy a product from them that you know actually doesn't have cow meat or dairy products in it, they are still generating a profit from you. So, it doesn't really send a message most of the time.
The Internet is your friend! :) Just make sure that where you get the information from is reliable, as well.
Good luck!
I am a vegetarian.