Personally, I love most foods and don’t like to give any of them up. I don’t believe there is anything you need to quit entirely if it gives you pleasure, even if it’s inherently unhealthy – so long as it’s enjoyed as part of a diverse, gut-friendly diet. Rather, we should focus on quality and frequency. Even the most maligned foods have relatively healthy versions, and if you eat any food, regardless of its nutritional content, just once a month, it is unlikely to have a severe impact on your health.
The way to eat meat
Red meat has a bad reputation, which is at least partly fair. Ethically and environmentally, there are some serious issues. But if you enjoy eating meat, you do not need to cut it out of your life permanently. It doesn’t have to be a black-or-white issue.
After a health scare, I gave up meat for about six years. At the time, it was the easiest way radically to change my diet. Although I didn’t miss it terribly, my body did, and I became vitamin B12 deficient, as I have always had borderline low levels. So I started having meat once or twice a month rather than popping vitamin pills.
My experience showed me that giving up meat is a highly effective way to kick-start a new way of thinking about food. Suddenly, you are forced to put plants at the centre of your meal, and they become the main focus.
I have always said there’s nothing wrong with eating occasional good-quality meat. Scientific evidence shows there are no major health risks if you can stick to that. It provides a healthy dose of B12, which is hard to get if you avoid both meat and dairy.
If you overeat meat, however, there is good evidence that your risk of heart disease and some cancers increases, so keeping it to a minimum makes sense. Similarly, avoiding processed meats of all kinds is important – there is now incontrovertible evidence that processed meats are bad for your health.
When you select your weekly meat, keep the planet in mind, too. Pick the best quality you can get — ideally grass-fed organic without antibiotics or hormones.
The most important thing we can do as individuals is not to abandon our cars, pets or holiday flights, but to eat less red meat. Red meat per gram of protein is 100 times worse for the planet than eating peas, for instance. Limiting red meat to just a few times per month is sensible.
After cutting down on my meat intake, I found that I did not need such large quantities to satiate myself.
Eating other forms of meat, such as chicken, is better for the planet as they take up less room, and they are probably neutral for your health – as long as they are unprocessed. Still, eating chicken is ethically questionable – we kill more than 60 billion each year to fuel our poultry habit and it seems morally wrong to pay more for a pint of beer than a chicken. Personally, I find chicken fairly bland and boring, like pasta without sauce, so I always opt for a plant alternative.
For those trying to cut down on meat, do it progressively if you don’t want to go cold turkey (pardon the pun). I found that substituting meat with plenty of mushrooms and lentils is a good healthy alternative. This provides the protein you get from meat, plus the pleasant umami taste.
Indeed, many people won’t notice if you start blending lentils (or other legumes) and mushrooms into burger patties. And don’t be frightened by marketing campaigns saying we all need more protein. More than 95 per cent of us in Britain have more than enough protein. However, 90 per cent of us are deficient in fibre – we need more plants in our diet, not more meat.