I was 15 before I had my first hamburger.
No, I’m not kidding, but I have never been a big fan of red meat.
As a child, it was always McNuggets on the Big Mac, and even now, I almost always choose chicken or fish as protein.
Part of this is personal preference, but nowadays, a large part is because of my experience as a health journalist covering the constant series of derogatory red meat (and highly transformed meats such as bacon, sausage and hot dogs).
Over the years, studies have linked the diets rich in red meats and / or strongly transformed to heart attacks, cerebral vascular accidents, colon cancer and even dementia.
In the short term, it has been shown that the high levels of saturated fats and sodium in many of these foods increase cholesterol and bite arteries.
But recently, there have been contradictory research suggesting that red meat has obtained a bad blow and that the risks could be exaggerated.
I decided to put science to the test and to see if the incorporation of red meats and more strongly transformed into my daily diet would have an impact on a person who normally avoids.
I have spent the last seven years writing on healthy and highly transformed healthy healthy meats. I decided to put science to the test for a month
For the whole month of February, I exchanged at least one portion per day of my essential proteins with a portion of red meat or more strongly transformed.
This included steak, bacon, lamb, sausage and chopped beef, among others.
Because some sciences tell us that the diets made up of animal products such as red meat and dairy products are an infallible way to raise cholesterol, I wanted to make a point to mix each portion that I had with whole grains, fruits and vegetables to avoid going to the extreme.
Before embarking on this trip, I did a basic blood blood test. The test showed that my LDL cholesterol (bad) and the fats called triglycerides were about to be too high.
This is not the first time that I have results like these because they have tended to fluctuate.
But left untreated, these levels could ensure that fats accumulate in my arteries and increase my blood sugar, leading to diabetes and heart disease.
I also had a weak vitamin D, which comes from sunlight and foods such as egg yolks and oily fish, but I blamed it on dreary winter time which kept me in collaboration inside.
In addition, before changing my chicken and fish diet, I found myself lethargic and generally not motivated, which I also blamed in the winter blues.
Once I started my experience, I recognized a difference that appeared outside my body and inside my wallet.
While I was going near the poultry aisle in the grocery store and full of chopped beef, Italian sausage, bacon, steak and ground lamb, I immediately noticed the price.
A chopped beef book in my local New York grocery store costs around $ 9, compared to $ 7 for the same quantity of ground chicken or turkey.
While I was trying to eat most of my meals at home, I had easy time to find red meats and more transformed by eating. These included a “wall” of bacon (left) and one of the many cold meats (right)
In the photo on the left, the pasta I made with Italian sausages. Right is the Mongolian beef with rice
Throughout the experience, I tried to find a balance between strongly and unprocessed meats. If I made Greek lamb meat or a burger one night, for example, I would add a portion of bacon or sausage to my breakfast the next day.
Indeed, recent research has started to draw a line between the levels of processed meat.
Foods like bacon tend to have higher sodium levels and potentially carcinogenic chemicals as opposed to animal proteins that go through fewer handling steps to reach our plates.
A report published last year in NPJ Precision Oncology, for example, suggested that highly transformed meats produce metabolites, that researchers have declared that cancer cells “nourish” and normal cells “divert” in the colon, making them mutate and develop in an uncontrollable way.
During the trial period, I also tried to eat most of my meals at home so that I can better control the portions. When I chose to eat outside, I found that most restaurants had a fairly wide variety of red meat to choose.
I expected to feel dilapidated and slow after exchanging poultry for burgers, steak, sausages and hot dogs, but I was surprised when I barely noticed that nothing changes.
There have been light effects such as indigestion and a little bloating if I had particularly oily meat, but apart from the preference generally of poultry or fish, nothing seemed radically different.
There have been subtle advantages and disadvantages.
On the one hand, it seemed that the fog of the brain of the winter blues with which I was struggling had dissipated slightly after my month of meat. This goes directly against recent studies that have linked red meats and strongly transformed to a cognitive decline.
The birthday party of a friend took me to a local barbecue articulation, where I was able to mix sausages with turkey
Although I don’t normally put meat in my breakfast, I got out of my comfort zone with bacon (left) and steak and eggs
A Harvard study, for example, revealed to eat a largely transformed portion of meat – about two slices of bacon or a single sausage – daily for four decades was linked to an increased risk of dementia.
Although I seemed to clarify mentally, it is unlikely that one month to add more red meat to my diet is the only remedy for my seasonal depression. This could also be due, in part, to green vegetables with their entire leafy and grains that I added to most meals during the trial period – it has been shown that they reduce inflammation in the brain and improve mental clarity.
I also found myself not staying as full as I had done by eating chicken, which could be due to the quantity – rather than the type – protein that I consumed.
The USDA estimates that all three ounces of chicken have about 31 grams of protein, while the same portion of chopped beef contains 26 grams.
The experience also led me to try certain foods of my comfort zone such as a “wall” of bacon aperitif in a local bar and a flank steak stir. However, in the end, I had a little sick of red meat.
At the end of the month, I underwent a second blood test for team IVDRIPS.
I expected that my high cholesterol already limits soaring and my triglycerides increase even more.
However, my LDL cholesterol actually decreased by 8%, and my triglycerides dropped by a third. My HDL cholesterol (good) remained the same in the two tests – I was both impressed and surprised.
The only metric that worsened after a month’s test was my alkaline phosphatase, an enzyme in the liver and bile ducts. When found in excess, it was linked to a fatty liver disease, but in default, it could be a sign of deficiency in zinc or vitamin B12.
Zinc and vitamin B12 are often in poultry and salmon, the foods that I served largely last month.
Although I am probably not completely revised my diet and to eliminate my favorite proteins, it is possible that red and transformed meats are not the boogeymen that I write on all these years.
However, I will stop adding more steak and sausages to my diet instead of completely abandoning my chicken and my beloved fish.
