I have been contemplating incorporating humanely raised animals products and foods into my vegetarian diet for some time, I was wondering - is it worth it?
Edit: What I’m particularly curious about is, the negative effects associated with common red meats, low quality Poultry and unsustainable seafood applicable to humanely caught, sourced and pasture raised birds and fish?
This is a reminder to OP and all commenters that
It’s expensive, but nutrionally it’s certainly much easier to get protein, fats, amino acids, etc. Ethically, unless you’ve personally, physically been to the place where your animal products come from, you don’t know how they’re being treated, regardless of what is written on the box.
It really depends on what you do with them, but generally: Yes.
The difference between grass fed organic beef, versus grain fed beef, for example, is minimal at best. And for the amount you’ll likely have to consume to realize a difference either way, your diet would have bigger issues.
I would suggest going with the best quality you can afford financially, and don’t sweat the details.
I mean it’s protein. Of course, it’s good for you. Do not let fear mongering of meat dissaude you. The odds of something bad happening to you from eating a chicken breast or a piece of trout is next to none. Even the strongest epidemiology of red meat shows that let’s say the risk of getting colon cancer is 4 percent in a persons life time the person eating red meat might increase that 4 percent risk to about 4.7 percent and that’s a guesstimate based on survey studies and food questionnaires.
Pasture raised chickens generally have more nutrients because they are raised properly and are much happier than conventionally-raised chickens. Same goes for grass-fed beef and dairy. Unsustainable fish can be higher in mercury and lower in omegas.
I recently stopped being vegetarian due to health reasons and learning more about more humane and sustainable types of meat really helped. I think it’s absolutely worth it for health, environmental, and ethical reasons.
Chicken is A1 for amino acid profile, similar to virtually all animal products. Super lean, low sat fats. Red meat is red meat regardless, limit it but no need to cut it out, fantastic source of B12, iron, protein etc. Go for lean cuts to limit sat fats. Fish is amazing, low fat, omega 3’s (oily cold water fish). Nutritionally, organic/non organic aren’t significantly different. Unsustainable seafood can even often times be ‘healthier’ than farmed, the issue is purely environmental rather than nutritional. Similar with the others.
im ripping this from a standup comedian, i cant remember who.
but wouldn’t you rather eat a chicken that just had a shitty life with nothing to live for. free range/pasture raised chickens have hopes, dreams and goals in life
(i dont believe in this, it was just something i thought was pretty funny)
Fun fact grass-fed beef is significantly worse for the enviroment as oppossed to factory farmed beef. Also, I need to know the more I have come across many sources I am confused does grass-fed red meat not have the heart damaging effects of regular red meat.
chicken and fish are def healthy. tho if youre a vegetarian i think youll find its very hard to find actually ethically raised poultry, depending on your standards. theyre mostly treated very sadly like shite. I know a lot of veg/vegans dont eat seafood for sustainability reasons (i myself don’t for that reason), but I also know a lot of vegans dont look into where their veg is grown. there are definitely good and bad farming practices veg-wise and to just banish fish for one reason and then not apply it to others seems kind of pointless. same shit with chocolate. so much slavery chocolate out there and i rarely hear vegans bring it up.
anyway. you can only do so much, but if youre already veg and eating eggs its hard to imagine you’re not having your nutritional needs filled. why are you considering eating meat?
Consuming omega 3 rich seafood is one of the best things you can do for your health. It’s very hard to maintain a good omega 3 to omega 6 ratio as a vegetarian, unless you are supplementing with a lot of fish oil