For many people, the memory of meat from their childhood is tied to it being a luxury, bundled with the small meat coupons of the planned economy era. Back then, you could only eat dumplings with a meat filling during major occasions like the Spring Festival. For more children, the memory is of secretly eating crispy pork scraps, leaving their mouths fragrant. Nowadays, more and more people are starting to eat less meat or even avoid it altogether for health reasons. There's also a joke that rural people don't understand city people: "We followed the city folks in eating meat, and now they're all starting to eat vegetarian."
Eating too much meat harms the "heart" and "brain"
Scientific research has found that early humans only ate fruits and vegetables, not meat. It wasn't until the post-glacial period, when the supply of fruits, nuts, and vegetables was insufficient, that they started eating meat from dead animals to survive. But after the glacial period, when vegetarian foods were abundant again, the habit of eating meat continued. In real life, we all know many "carnivores" around us—hamburgers, roasted meat, roast duck, braised pork—who can't have a meal without meat. According to data from the 2002 National Nutrition Survey, the daily consumption of animal-based foods for urban and rural residents in China was 248 grams and 126 grams, respectively, while the standard set by the Chinese Nutrition Society is only 50-75 grams per day.
In fact, ancient China had much controversy over eating meat. The *Lüshi Chunqiu* pointed out that those skilled in the art of nourishing life "do not savor the many delicacies," because "savoring the many delicacies fills the stomach, and a full stomach leads to great stagnation, and great stagnation prevents the free flow of qi." The "many delicacies" mainly referred to animal foods like fish, birds, and beasts. The ancients believed that eating too much of these would dull the spleen and stomach's digestive function and affect the smooth flow of qi and blood. Now, more and more experiments are proving that excessive meat consumption is very harmful to the human body: The United States has at least 1 million new heart disease patients each year, and nearly 600,000 of them lose their lives as a result. A report from the U.S. Heart Disease Research Committee pointed out that most of these heart disease patients eat too much meat, too few vegetables, and get too little exercise. In addition, high meat consumption is closely linked to metabolic diseases like high blood lipids and obesity. Recently, the British *Daily Mail* even published an article stating that seemingly unrelated diseases like arthritis, gallstones, Alzheimer's disease, and osteoporosis are also inextricably linked to eating too much meat. "When humans become 'carnivores,' it not only damages the body but also causes the brain to secrete excessive dopamine and abnormal acetylcholine activity, leading to irritability, strong desires, and impaired intelligence," Wang Guorong, a senior supervisor at the Suzhou Rongge Psychological Center, told the *Life Times* reporter.
The Meats
"Excessive meat consumption is not good, but from a nutritional perspective, giving up meat is not the way to health; dietary balance is what we advocate," said Yang Li, a professor of health preservation at the China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences. Li Xingmin, an associate professor at the College of Food Science and Nutritional Engineering at China Agricultural University, explained that from an agricultural standpoint, meat is generally divided into three categories: livestock, poultry, and aquatic products. Pigs, cattle, and sheep are livestock; chickens, ducks, and geese are poultry; and fish, shrimp, and shellfish are aquatic products. These three types of meat differ in taste and nutrition, and are suitable for different people.
Beef, the strongest meat. It is most suitable for those who are physically weak and mentally declining. The amino acid composition of beef protein is closer to the body's needs than that of pork, which can improve the body's disease resistance. It is especially suitable for people in growth and development, or for post-operative and convalescent patients in terms of replenishing blood loss and repairing tissue. However, the muscle fibers of beef are relatively coarse and difficult to digest, and it has high cholesterol and fat. Therefore, the elderly, young children, and people with weak digestion should not eat too much.
Mutton, the most nourishing meat. Mutton has the effects of helping the original yang, replenishing essence and blood, and treating lung deficiency. It is quite beneficial for people with asthma, bronchitis, lung diseases, and deficiency-cold. It can also benefit the kidneys, strengthen yang, tonify deficiency, resist cold, and strengthen the body, making it a precious nourishing food for winter. However, it should be noted that mutton is inherently warm and not suitable for everyone. Those with yin deficiency and excessive fire, coughing with much phlegm, indigestion, arthritis, eczema, or fever should avoid it.
Pork, the iron-rich meat. Pork varies greatly in fat content. Fat has high fat content and low protein content, and eating too much can easily lead to diseases like high blood lipids and obesity. Most of the protein is concentrated in lean meat, and lean meat also contains hemoglobin, which can help supplement iron and prevent anemia. The hemoglobin in meat is better absorbed than that in plants, so the effect of replenishing iron with lean meat is better than with vegetables.
Because the fiber structure of pork is relatively soft and contains a large amount of intramuscular fat, it is easier to digest and absorb than beef. In traditional Chinese medicine, eating more lean pork is believed to have the effect of nourishing yin and moistening dryness, and it has a certain therapeutic effect on diseases such as injury to body fluids from febrile diseases, dry cough, and constipation.
Chicken, the leanest meat. The chicken referred to here is skinless chicken, because almost all of the chicken's fat is in the skin. Every 100 grams of skinless chicken contains 24 grams of protein but only 0.7 grams of fat. Chicken has a good therapeutic effect on malnutrition, aversion to cold, fatigue, irregular menstruation, anemia, and weakness.
Fish and shrimp, the meat richest in trace elements. Fish and shrimp are extremely rich in trace elements, containing calcium, aluminum, iron, manganese, copper, cobalt, nickel, zinc, iodine, chlorine, sulfur, and others, all of which are essential for the human body. Although aquatic products are rich in nutrients, they should not be eaten in excess. Affected by marine pollution, aquatic products often contain toxins and harmful substances, and excessive consumption can easily damage the spleen and stomach, causing gastrointestinal diseases.
75 grams of meat a day, the size of a deck of cards
Yu Kang, deputy director of the Department of Clinical Nutrition at Peking Union Medical College Hospital, and Song Xin, deputy director of the Department of Nutrition at Beijing Chaoyang Hospital, both stated that the protein in meat can be obtained from milk and beans, but B vitamins, essential fatty acids, and minerals like zinc and iron cannot be replaced by vegetables and fruits. "Therefore, it's not that we don't need meat, but that we don't need excessive meat," Yu said.
Zhai Fengying, secretary-general of the Chinese Nutrition Society, stated that the "Dietary Balance Pagoda" clearly indicates that a person should consume 75 grams of lean meat per day, which is about the size of a deck of cards. As for vegetables, it's best to consume about 500 grams per day. "Unfortunately, many people now eat these two in reverse."
Yang Li explained that there is a distinction between red meat and white meat. Red meat refers to meat that appears red before cooking, including all meat from mammals such as pork, beef, and lamb. White meat refers to meat with fine muscle fibers, low fat content, and a high proportion of unsaturated fatty acids in its fat, including poultry (chicken, duck, goose, turkey, etc.), fish, reptiles, amphibians, crustaceans (shrimp, crab, etc.), and bivalves (oysters, clams, etc.).
Physical laborers are suitable for eating red meat, while mental laborers should eat more white meat. Men have a greater demand for red meat, while women have a smaller demand and can eat more white meat. The elderly have declining physical functions, and eating too much red meat can easily lead to cardiovascular diseases and dementia, so it's better for them to eat white meat. Children need to eat both types of meat to meet their developmental needs. Yu reminded that if you suffer from chronic diseases such as obesity, heart disease, or high blood pressure, it's best to eat less meat and more bean-based foods like soy milk and tofu. If you really want to eat meat, you should only eat lean meat to ensure nutritional supply without aggravating the chronic disease. The cooking method for meat should follow the "low-fat" principle. Hot pot, steaming, and grilling (at a not-too-high temperature) are the healthiest methods as they do not add extra fat and can remove some of the fat naturally present in the meat.
Protect the environment, go vegetarian one day a week
Eating less meat is not only for your own health. Nowadays, the concept of low-carbon environmental protection is deeply rooted in people's hearts, and excessive meat consumption is an expression of being unfriendly to the environment.
A large number of studies tell us this "cruel" fact: producing one kilogram of beef is equivalent to the carbon emissions of a car driving 250 kilometers; eating one hamburger is equivalent to eating a kitchen-sized tropical rainforest; 74% of the world's soybeans and 33% of grains are used to feed animals instead of humans, and there are still 1 billion people in the world who are hungry. The grain used to feed livestock could feed 2 billion people; a vegetarian driving a Jeep is more environmentally friendly than a meat-eater riding a bicycle.
The Worldwatch Institute has pointed out that greenhouse gas emissions from livestock and their by-products account for at least 51% of global total emissions. In the environmental documentary *An Inconvenient Truth*, produced by former U.S. Vice President Al Gore, it was revealed that if all Americans skipped meat one day a week, it would be equivalent to saving 90 million plane tickets from New York to Los Angeles per year. At the beginning of this year, a video called "Meatless Mondays" quickly spread online, gaining support from many netizens. In the short film, celebrities such as林志炫 (Lin Zhixuan), Gao Yuanyuan, and Zheng Jun, as well as Rajendra Pachauri, chairman of the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, called on everyone to eat vegetarian one day a week.