avatarRobert Roy Britt

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One Stinking Reason I’m Kinda Done With Beef

Americans are eating less red meat. We all have our reasons. Mine is not what you think.

Unsplash/Etienne Girardet

Driving along I-5 in Central California on a scorching hot day this summer, I saw a thick cloud of dust ahead. I hit the recirculate button on the AC and made sure the windows were rolled up. Still, as I plowed through the brown haze, the stench was stomach-turning, an indescribably awful mix of what I can only imagine was dirt, piss and animal shit.

Turned out I was passing a feedlot — acres and acres with hundreds upon thousands of penned-in cattle jostling for space in 100-degree heat on barren, dry dirt. These cattle — living a latter stage of life common for those destined to fill the majority of red-meat desires nationwide — were presumably being fattened with corn and soy prior to slaughter.

I’m not aiming to start a beef with anyone who enjoys their meat. And while I’ve enjoyed my share of beef in the past and am a staunch fan of many things in moderation, the scene and the smell of that feedlot was so disgusting I couldn’t stomach any beef again for weeks. Until one day recently, at a restaurant known for sourcing quality, responsibly produced food. I’ll tell you below what I thought of their $18, organic, grass-fed beef burger. But first, I learned something surprising when I started researching feed lots and US beef consumption:

I’m not the only person cutting back on beef, for whatever reasons.

Where’s the beef consumption?

While Americans eat more beef than people in most countries, many here are turning away from it. Total US beef consumption has been pretty flat for two decades. But in that time the US population has grown by around 17%. And so: According to some of the latest statistics, published earlier this year: Between 2001 an 2018, per-person consumption of beef in the United States declined overall. Other data indicates the same pattern.

Meanwhile, global meat consumption — generally counting beef, chicken and pork — has quadrupled over the past six decades, driven largely by population increases but also by rising incomes in many countries. Whether people choose to eat beef or any meat is a decision notably affected by cost and income levels. Americans are eating more chicken these days, while beef consumption continues to decline. Beef consumption has fallen among children and adults up through age 59, but remained constant among older adults, who typically eat less beef to start with.

What’s gone virtually unnoticed, however, is that a mere 12% of US adults consume half the beef that’s eaten in the country on any given day, a recent study concluded. This select group of heavy beef eaters skews male and its devotees are likely to be ages 50 to 65.

“We focused on beef because of its impact on the environment, and because it’s high in saturated fat, which is not good for your health,” said the study’s senior author, Diego Rose, PhD, professor and nutrition program director at Tulane University’s School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine.

The findings were detailed in the journal Nutrients. If you haven’t done the math yet, the research implies that some 88% of Americans take a relatively moderate approach to beef intake or eat none at all.

All this got me thinking about …

Beef’s environmental hoofprint

Beef consumption has big ripple effects beyond personal health. Production of beef generates far more heat-trapping greenhouse gases than the production of dairy products, chicken or other protein sources like beans, peas and nuts.

Beef production also requires a lot of water — more than three times that of chicken and vastly more than most fruits and vegetables, by common accounts. (The beef industry argues that these comparisons don’t factor in the water’s origin, such as direct rainwater vs. pumped-in irrigation water vs. re-used gray water for facility cleaning.)

Credit: Denver Water

If every American swapped out one serving of beef per day in favor of chicken or turkey, diet-related greenhouse gas emissions would fall 48% per year and water use would decline 30%, an earlier study by Rose and colleagues estimated.

Is beef really that bad for health?

Moderate consumption of lean beef and other lean meats, which provide important vitamins and nutrients ranging from protein to niacin and iron, can be part of a healthy diet, according to dietary guidance provided by the USDA.

But excess consumption of beef, and especially fatty cuts and high-fat ground beef, can quickly add up to numerous health risks — including high cholesterol and high blood pressure — and shorter expected lifespan. The worst type of beef to consume is that which is highly processed and loaded with unhealthy ingredients, as are jerky or cold cuts and most packaged meat products. One study estimated that every hot dog a person eats takes about 48 minutes off their expected lifespan.

Strong evidence supports the contention that limiting red meat consumption in favor of a balanced diet rich in plant-based foods is ideal for a strong immune system, good overall physical health and mental well-being, and long life. The so-called Mediterranean style of eating— heavy in fruits, vegetables, nuts, legumes, and fish or other seafood, with moderate consumption of lean meat—is touted by all major health advisory organizations, including the WHO, the CDC, and the American Heart Association.

[UPDATE 10/19/23: Three days after I published this story, a large new study concluded that consumption of just two servings of red meat weekly is linked to a higher risk of developing type 2 diabetes.]

If you wish to trim your beef consumption — for whatever reason — consider that while a third of the cow meat we Americans eat involves steak or other basic cuts of meat, a good chunk of the rest is ingested via burgers, burritos, tacos, meatloaf, and other beef-based conglomerations.

“If you’re getting a burrito, you could just as easily ask for chicken instead of beef,” suggests Rose’s colleague, Amelia Willits-Smith, PhD, a post-doctoral fellow at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Or you could skip the meat and go for beans in your burrito, or give veggie burgers a chance. I make a mean no-recipe veggie burger, starting with 1-minute oats and/or smashed up chickpeas and/or ground sunflower seeds, then tossing in what’s handy — thinly sliced onions, shredded carrots or zucchini, plus an egg or two to hold it all together, finishing it off with whatever spice scheme strikes my fancy. Cheaper, healthier and, frankly, tastier than a beef burger.

During these many weeks without beef, my health has been good, my energy level high. That doesn’t mean a damn thing — my observations are anecdotal, a “study of one,” and anyway, the effects of dietary changes, though they can come quickly, also play out over months and years. But avoiding beef hasn’t killed me yet. And I feel pretty good about lightening my footprint on the planet.

Oh, and that expensive, organic, grass-fed restaurant burger the other day? It was perfectly cooked, well seasoned and juicy. A fine $18 burger.

But my palate was nonplussed.

And memories of that stinky feedlot flooded back, the stench as strong in my brain now as it was in my nose on that hot summer day.

So it seems I’ve kinda gotten over beef, rather unintentionally. I’m consuming a bit more turkey, yogurt and eggs, and more seeds, fruits and veggies. I feel good, and I know I’m serving my long-term health better. I don’t plan to shout from the rooftops or climb up on any soapbox to try and get you or anyone else to change your beef-eating ways, but right now I don’t really care if I ever have another bite of stinky, dead cow.

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Health
Environment
Sustainability
Diet
Nutrition
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