To ask why people are so against giving up meat?

[NewCracker]

Just that really, why are people so against giving up meat?
Without a doubt we know it's better for the environment, we know it's better for our health, we know it's better for animal welfare and it's actually quite expensive. But still as soon as you mention to the greater public about cutting their meat consumption, they get defensive and almost offended.
Would you ever consider giving it up, if you do consume it now? If not, why not?
I'm expecting some hate, this is MN after all, but I am genuinely just curious. Not trying to rattle feathers.

It’s not better for the environment though, cattle are a necessity for healthy soil! It’s also really tasty so there’s that too.

Okay clearly this was a mistake. Apologies to everyone that was offended.
Fuck....MN is one wild ride!
Thank you to the people who answered sincerely. There were a few points I found really insightful, SEN, digestive issues, health problems, UPF avoidance etc these were exactly the answers I started the thread for.

I'm autistic with food issues and I wouldn't get enough protein in my diet if I didn't eat meat.

I've worked in a chicken farm so I know what's involved.

Because I really like eating it! The fake meats are crap and not even close to the real thing, they taste fucking weird and the texture is bizarre. I could give up alcohol really easily though.

I must admit that I haven't RTFT OP but, I would disagree with the way you have framed your post.

Meat consumption in UK is dropping, so it seems many people aren't against giving up meat.

https://www.theguardian.com/food/2021/oct/08/cuts-uk-meat-consumption-doubled-health-researchers-food

Because asking the question brings up cognitive dissonance and makes people reflect on their decision to eat meat resulting in animals suffering and death. That is uncomfortable for most people therefore they become defensive/deny that it's better for them/the environment etc etc.

If anyone genuinely wants to hear the arguments against the avocado/omnivore/animals are killed when crops are harvested stuff then I recommend watching Earthling Ed's video -

m.youtube.com/watch?v=byTxzzztRBU

Because it's delicious.
There's nothing finer than getting stuck into a juicy steak.

I mean in terms of what humans eat, we’re omnivores as said in pp

I have no issue with vegans etc but on the claim that it’s healthier I’m not sure about that

I’ve cut down on red meat anyway but eat more fish and eggs which probably isn’t great for other reasons either. More veg too which is ok

It's not as healthy for your body to eat meat vs a vegetarian diet, that's a fact
This is also not a fact. I mean, it was thought a fact twenty years ago, but now we know better.

“Following a vegetarian (including vegan) or pescatarian diet is linked to a lower risk of developing ischaemic heart disease than eating a diet that includes meat, research has found.
But the prospective cohort study,1 carried out by University of Oxford researchers, also found that vegetarians and vegans had a higher risk of haemorrhagic and total stroke than meat eaters, which could be due to low blood levels of total cholesterol or a low intake of certain vitamins.”
https://www.bmj.com/content/366/bmj.l5397

”fish. In other words, a prudent, omnivorous diet with moderate amounts of animal products, in which red meat is partly replaced by white meat and fish (especially fatty fish), together with the consumption of ample amounts of unrefined vegetable products, is thought to be just as protective as a vegetarian diet. On the other hand, the omission of meat and fish from the diet increases the risk of nutritional deficiencies. A vegan diet, in particular, leads to a strongly increased risk of deficiencies of vitamin B12, vitamin B2 and several minerals, such as calcium, iron and zinc. However, even a lacto-vegetarian diet produces an increased risk of deficiencies of vitamin B12 and possibly certain minerals, such as iron. Data from the latest Dutch food consumption survey suggest that 5-10% of all inhabitants of the Netherlands (up to 1 million persons) actually have a vitamin B12 intake below recommended daily levels. In medical practice, the possibility of vitamin B12 deficiency in subjects consuming meat or fish < or = once a week deserves serious consideration.”
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/12868158/

My family eats significantly less meat than I did growing up. We used to have meat and veg every night. Big piece of meat too.

I cooked 6kg of mince the other day I got from Costco and 18 family sized dinners out of it. So about 330g ish per dinner. I use grated veggies, plus extra protein like black beans (in the taco mince) and mushrooms (in the spag bol).

if I cook a chicken dish I will typically use about 3 chicken thighs. Again add lots of vegggies and thinks like chickpeas if it’s a curry.

I think reducing the amount of meat people have is more achievable than cutting it all together. Plus the fake meat substitutes aren’t exactly environmentally friendly either.

True, vast amounts of animals are killed in crop production.

The majority of crop production globally goes towards animal feed for those animals to then be killed too.

So by not eating farmed animals you’d be saving even more as fewer would die in the crop production. Great point!

dont know what happened, part of the second study got truncated

”A recent meta-analysis showed that vegetarians had a lower mortality from ischaemic heart disease than omniovorous subjects; however, cancer mortality and total mortality did not differ. Although a high consumption of red meat, which is rich in haeme iron and saturated fat, may increase the risk of cardiovascular disease and some types of cancer, this does not apply to white meat and fish.”

we know it's better for our health

Do we?

There is no alternative equivalent source of protein of the same quality. Ditto fat.

I eat a high fat high protein diet specific to my training regime, so I won't be giving up animal based products anytime soon.

And have the low life expectancy and poor health you’d expect from being unable to afford the expensive supplements to maintain an adequate nutritional status.

So by not eating farmed animals you’d be saving even more as fewer would die in the crop production. Great point!

Well no because then you'd need to grow the crops for people to eat instead of meat.

Not remotely hypocritical. I do my best to avoid animal cruelty- I wouldn’t kill my dog because I wanted a sandwich so I wouldn’t pay someone to kill a pig for my sandwich either. Fairly simple logic.

I’m not going to argue your straw man arguments which have nothing to do with the OP.

I do find it quite funny when people go on about how they must eat meat for their health like their body is a temple, then shove lots of other unhealthy foods in their gob, binge drink, don’t do much exercise and are fat. But yeah, their health is important to them.

Chuffed I’m not alone in spotting that so glad you posted on it too :)

I only eat lamb

A lot fewer crops are needed to feed people directly, rather than feed billions of animals and then kill them to feed people. It makes much more sense just to grow fewer crops and feed them directly to people as opposed to using them to fatten animals, which takes far more crops in the first place.

90% of the worlds soy production is used for cattle feed for example.

Because I like it and I can’t stand veg/pulses etc. I don’t eat a huge amount or anything but I kinda like being alive!

How would you be saving more animals by not growing food to feed animals? What are the farm animals going to live on? Sunlight and farts?

I have to eat gluten free food due to being coeliac. I'm not willing to restrict my diet any further.

People who are blasé about how giving up meat is "easy" usually have the luxury of being able to eat everything else. I don't.

So your answer is kill 90% of cattle and let the humans eat their feed instead? This is the way to reduce animal suffering and death?

I haven't read the whole thread because...well its a lot of posts!

Objectively, I'm fine with eating meat,what I disagree with is how animals reared for food are kept and slaughtered. I'd love to be able to change this- I'd love to have more choice so that I can choose to buy meat only from the few farms whose rearing practices I like, or rear my own. But unfortunately, I'm not rich and these days it's difficult even to afford free range...

So, I would happily become a vegetarian except I have health issues which mean I couldn't maintain basic nutrition on a vegetarian - or pescatarian - diet.

In addition to all the reasons you've listed above, (and this is not one of my own), fundamentally many people hate bring preached to and telling people they're wrong to eat meat when humans are evolutionary omnivores just isn't going to go down well with many.

In the meantime, I campaign for food and farming reform and eat meat as ethically as I can.