Real Food Summer 2019

healthy
habits
Meatless Meals
Dialing back on meat doesn’t have to mean
a drastic dietary change you might dread
BY ERIK TORMOEN
How much red meat is OK to eat? One hamburger a week,
according to 37 scientists in a report released early this
year with advocacy group EAT Forum. It’s not a new idea:
Studies have shown that eating more plants and less meat
can reduce risks of obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular disease,
inflammation, premature death and lifestyle-related cancers.
Think about red and processed meats, says Kristen Frie, a
registered dietitian nutritionist with the Mayo Clinic Healthy
Living Program in Rochester, Minnesota. Beef and pork are
loaded with saturated fat. Cutting down on saturated fat
can lessen your chances of developing cardiovascular and
inflammatory diseases and, because it packs a ton of calories,
can help with weight management, too.
Meanwhile, plant-based foods boast antioxidants that aid
in cancer prevention. That’s part of why vegetables, nuts,
beans and whole grains play such an active role in highly rated
healthy-eating guides like the Mediterranean diet, the DASH
diet and the Mayo Clinic Diet.
“I would recommend not to think of it as an all-or-nothing,
black-and-white commitment,” Frie says. “It doesn’t have to
be ‘I eat meat all the time’ or ‘I don’t eat meat at all.’” For selfproclaimed
carnivores, there are simple guidelines for noshing
on more plants, plus tricks for dressing up mock meats.
1. KEEP WHAT YOU LIKE.
You may already have meatless eating habits. Consider
what those are, and draw them out. “Maybe you already eat
spaghetti with marinara sauce, and you never even thought
of that as a meatless option, but you like it,” Frie says. “Maybe
you have that more frequently than you otherwise would.”
2. EMBRACE NEW PROTEINS.
A common sticking point when limiting meat is the loss of an
easy, concentrated protein. But protein comes in many forms—
like beans, legumes, lentils, nuts, seeds, quinoa, tofu and eggs.
“Could you use more beans and legumes [to substitute for] half
of the ground beef you use in chili?” Frie poses. “Or could you
use tofu to replace the meat you were going to use in a stirfry?”
These proteins, along with their higher fiber content
in some cases, satisfy hunger the same way meats do. (If you
still want an animal protein, better options than red meat
include chicken and turkey breast and any type of fish, Frie
says—bearing in mind how they’re prepared.)
3. BE OPEN TO DIFFERENT FLAVORS.
Of course, taste is another barrier. Chef Robin Asbell has
written 10 cookbooks geared toward vegetarians, vegans and
the health-conscious. Her latest, “Plant-Based Meats: Hearty,
High-Protein Recipes for Vegans, Flexitarians and Curious
Carnivores,” looks specifically at ways to prepare mock meats.
Asbell knows the common response when anyone bites
into a “real” burger alongside a mock burger: “I can taste
the difference.”
“Well, that’s obvious,” she says. A patty made of beets,
walnuts and potato (see the recipe for Beefy Beet Burgers on
the opposite page) will probably never taste exactly like beef.
“It’s very lighthearted when I’m out with the vegans and
people are making a mock chicken wing, as is in my book,”
she says. “Plant-Based Meats” features wings—buffalo, crispy,
pomegranate-glazed—made of tofu or cauliflower. “It’s a fun
way to eat something that’s familiar and tasty, but I don’t think
anyone is really thinking that that’s a chicken wing.” Rather,
it’s a way her “curious carnivores” can warm up to meat
substitutes. And, Asbell says, the faux-meat industry is
booming. “They’re making leaps and bounds in making things
tastier and more interesting,” she says, noting in her book,
“If you shop carefully, there are some clean meatless meats
at the store, and the options grow every day.”
4. FOCUS ON UMAMI, NOT MEAT.
Asbell covers the keys to a good faux: For the Beefy Beet Burger,
walnuts and potatoes imitate the chew of ground beef, and the
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18 real food summer 2019