Life without meat: what to consider

Those whose ethical or religious beliefs do not allow them to eat animal meat have every chance of getting the necessary list of nutrients from other animal and plant products.

But in this case, special attention will need to be paid to the contents of the plate, emphasizes Lesia Sak, nutritionist, medical psychologist. In particular, you need to consider the following.

Garnish is not a substitute for steak. Consciously avoiding meat dishes often entails consuming more carbohydrates, which in turn leads to excess weight. Especially when carbohydrates come to the table in a "simple" form – with pasta, polished rice, or starchy potatoes.

Not all protein is good for everyone. Soybeans have traditionally been positioned as one of the best substitutes for meat, and there are good reasons for this. Although soy-based products are inferior to meat in terms of the variety of amino acid composition, they are still one of the most complete sources of vegetable proteins. But there is a catch. In our latitudes, soybeans do not belong to the so-called "genetic products," i.e. those that have been consumed since grandparents and to which the digestive system has already hereditarily adapted. This increases the risk of individual negative reactions to the product. Another concern is the high content of phytoestrogens (plant compounds that resemble female sex hormones) in soybeans. Although there is no definite answer to whether they can "interfere" with the functioning of the hormonal system, soy dishes should not be the basis of the diet. At least because when you give up meat, a regular alternation of different foods becomes especially important.

You can't cook for a week. To get all the necessary amino acids contained in a piece of meat (or fish, if, for example, we are talking about a period of fasting), it is not enough to eat one of the foods rich in vegetable proteins. Grains, nuts, and legumes should be replaced with other foods at each meal.

Fats are not always the enemy. A common reason for avoiding meat, especially fatty meats, is the high content of saturated fat in the product. This is partly rational, given that such fats, which are provocateurs of high levels of "bad" cholesterol, usually appear in excessive amounts on everyday menus. But saturated fats are not so simple: studies have shown that a chronic lack of them leads to a decrease in the production of steroid hormones and other health problems. There's another possibility: the brain, a big fan of fats, instructs the body to produce the building block cholesterol at a rapid pace, and its level increases - both the "good" and "bad" kind. In addition, it should be borne in mind that a radical rejection of fats reduces the amount of substances needed to digest them. In this case, not only saturated fats but also unsaturated fats, which are usually positioned as healthy, are not beneficial. So, those who consistently adhere to strict vegetarianism, up to and including avoiding fish, should pay attention to coconut and palm oils, which are rich in saturated fatty acids.