Carnivores guide to meat in moderation.

I've been learning a lot lately about meat and how much we consume vs. what we need. Its no wonder to me that our nation if not the world is suffering from health problems linked to their diets. I'm not the biggest vegetable fan and I haven't always loved to eat them in large quantities, but, I'm getting to a point where I think its time for a change.

Meat today has become the center of our meals. Most often we think of what meat we want to eat then the sides to go with it. I'm not sure where we got all turned around, but, its not doing us any favors eating this way. I have spoken to people who feel they have some kind of right to eat meat and that because we're the highest on the food chain that we can consume whatever we choose to. Perhaps that's right in the circle of life aspect, but, "doing what we want" is seriously altering our ability to live a long and healthy life, besides the animal cruelty and environmental aspects.

I have been throwing the idea of becoming a vegetarian around and have come quite close to making my mind up about doing it. I had done it when I was a teen and with the right education, vitamin supplements, and practice, I could very well do it again. The one thing stopping me is that my son needs balanced proteins in his diet and I fear "playing" with that kind of diet is not a good idea for a growing child. I had already removed red meat and even chicken from my diet for the most part. Turkey is more lean and it comes in so many cuts now, its filled the need for the chicken and ground beef needs. I still eat pork.... I love pork, not sure if there will ever be a pork alternative. But, its not been a difficult change for me and I've been eating that way for a couple years now and do not miss a daily intake of cow and chicken at all.

In researching for this blog entry, I looked at food pyramids and daily meat and protein intake suggestions. I was sorta surprised to see the result....

(Table above link source)

This came from the USDA website, I've seen this before, but, never like I had this morning. I suppose actually reading it and thinking about what me and my son consume in regard to the daily needs puts things into perspective. I try to feed us a healthy diet is kinda alarming and settling at the same time. Because changing to a diet with a aggressive lean toward organic and free range is expensive! Especially in the meat department, so this helps solidify my desire to offer my son the best and feel like I can also afford to do so since we are currently consuming twice if not three times what we need. 

Okay so now I know that I eat too much meat daily, but, how can I figure out how to portion things easier and still know I'm feeding my son enough food?

 

(Above chart link)

This is helpful right? Just remember this is for a daily intake and here's more food for thought...

- 1 Pound = 16 ounces 

- 1 Quarter pound = 4 ounces  

Note: 1 Quarter pound equals your average hamburger and almost our daily intake of meat

This information may take some time to settle in and I think that's normal because we were not brought up to think about what we consume, where it comes from, and how it can harm us if we're not contentious about our eating habits.

I'm taking all of this information and change one day at a time and I think thats the only way to really allow it to make a difference. I find the information, think it over, and find the best way to apply it to my life style. Somethings I've been able to apply more sometimes less. I think that if I'm making a change in the right direction at all its a good thing and perhaps over time I can apply more. 

I share this information so you can think it over, find your own information, and perhaps make some changes in your life...

 

What is OAMC and why am I doing it?

I have always been contentious about food. The food issues that have stricken our society are scary and its frustrating if not nearly impossible to find healthy alternatives. Today, most of us have dual income or single income/parent households. This makes having dinner ready at 6pm extremely difficult. Most of the time its easiest to grab a pizza or a burger on the way home. Not only is it extremely expensive to eat fast but, its terribly unhealthy. There has to be an alternative.

When my son was born I made his baby food; steam, blend and eat! I bought mostly organic fruits and veggies, when they were available. It was super easy. As my son grew, I kept him on a mostly organic diet. To help with that, father allowed me to send food with him on their visits to keep him on a healthy and balanced menu. This worked well for the first three years, but, now that he's eating more and wants to eat prepared meals, its become difficult to send food because he doesn't like eating the same things twice in a row. So, started brainstorming ways to keep him on a healthy and nutritious diet. 

I decided that preparing food in bulk than freezing it would make the most sense. That way I can cook a few different items and and putting them into freezer containers to freeze for future use. Then when its time to eat, just pop em in the microwave! Sounded like a good idea! I went through my cook books and couldn't find much that I thought would freeze well. So, I went to my trusty amazon.com to see what they could offer. I found a decent array of 'cook now, freeze for later' books. I kept seeing "OAMC"  I discovered it was actually a phrase, Once a month cooking. I made a few extra clicks and to my delight, found a whole community of people who do this OAMC thing! It made me even more confident that freezing food for my son would actually work! I have no idea how easy or hard this will be. But, I found some very informative websites and I'm very excited to get started!

Once-a-month Cooking World
Ellens Kitchen, OAMC
Frugal Mom.net: once_a_month_cooking

Anyone wanna do it with me?!