Fast Facts: Meat vs. Plant Protein
Read Time: 1 and ½ minutes.
These two proteins--meat vs. plant and plant-based foods have been the subject of much research. Meat as your main protein source is not healthy versus the kind of protein you get from plants.
Let’s look at the facts:
“Research subjects who ate fruit-and-vegetable-dense diets had a 31 percent lower risk of dying from cardiovascular disease.”
These same plant eaters had a roughly 20 percent lower risk of overall mortality than those eating animal-focused diets.
Nutrients:
With a varied portion of animal meats (light and dark as well as various organs; (and not just beef,) you will take in all the amino acids needed to manufacture body-required proteins plus vitamins like B12, niacin, thiamine, B5, B6, B7, and vitamins A and K.
A diverse diet of plant-based proteins such as nuts, seeds, and beans and other greens foods, however, are also crammed with a similar spectrum of nutrients. A missing factor is vitamin B12, which most plants cannot produce but can be obtained from edible seaweed.
Calories:
“Plant-based proteins are far healthier than their meat counterparts. Pound-for-pound, they pack more nutrients into fewer calories and are loaded with fiber, which animal proteins completely lack.”
Fats:
The marbling in meat is animal fat, and saturated fat that is solid at room temperature and can clog up your arteries with–LDL, low density lipid—and drive-up total cholesterol levels.
Plant-based nuts, avocados, and fish have far less saturated fats than red and other dark meats and are typically known as healthy fats.
The Standings:
You can indulge in a 3-ounce steak or the occasional flame-grilled cheeseburger. Although do not char the meat without a pre-prep marinade as grilled meat is known to have some carcinogenic compounds in it; and enjoy them in moderation. Colorectal cancer in particular, has been associated with eating red meat, and so have pancreatic and prostate cancer.