And cheaper cow production, focused on grain-feeding, uses even more water than grass feeding; after spending a month in Switzerland, it's wild to see how addicted we Americans are to cheap beef.
Ha ha, but seriously unlike other nutrients the human body can't really store protein reserves for any length of time. So you do need to keep taking in quite a bit every day or the body will break down muscle in order to sustain other tissues.
The protein doesn't necessarily have to come from beef, although that is one of the highest quality sources in terms of digestibility (for most people) and essential amino acid balance.
You need protein for sure. But unless you want to win Mr Universe you will probably get enough through regular nutrition. And there are a lot of other things besides protein you need in your food. The current “Protein in everything” trend is just a fad created by industry
How much is "enough" exactly? Can you quantify that for us? There's a huge difference between enough to avoid acute malnutrition in a young person versus enough to optimize healthspan in an older person. Did you even listen to the podcast I linked above?
It is totally possible to get enough protein (by whatever metric you choose) through regular food. And yet the reality is that many people don't.
The upper limit seems to be 1g per lb (454g) of body weight. This is for people who lift heavy regularly to build and grow muscle. The lower bound is about 1/3 of that.
A 165 lb person needs about 55g of protein daily for maintenance. This is about one cup of black beans and 3 eggs. Huevos rancheros for breakfast will cover most or all of an average person's daily protein needs and that's before even counting the protein in the cheese or tomatoes.
While vegetables don't have much protein it still adds up. A single medium tomato has 1g, a potato has 3g, 1g in an onion, 0.5g in a carrot, and so on. Eat your daily portion of veggies and you can get maybe 10g of protein. That's nearly 20% of what you need!
Carb-heavy foods such as breads and rice also have some protein. More than veggies, less than lentils, eggs, dairy, and meat. A standard serving of pasta has 7g of protein. A cup of cooked brown rice has 5g.
All of this is to say even vegans who eat a healthy, varied diet are not deficient in protein. If they are ovo-lacto vegetarians it's a layup. They may need to supplement with whey and creatine or eat some chicken a few times a week if they want to squat 3 plates.
Insufficient protein is mostly not a problem in the first-world. The problem is eating crap. Eating grass-fed steaks every meal doesn't compensate for a crap diet.
Lots of sources of complete protein on there besides beef. Don't limit yourself. A combination of quinoa, buckwheat, eggs, soy, pea, milk, whey, beans, and nuts will provide all the amino acids you need. Even beef, despite being a complete protein, is deficient in tryptophan.
I like meat. I'm not a militant vegetarian or vegan or anything like that. I dislike the laundering of people's love of eating meat as "essential for health", when it's anything but (special dietary needs aside). Eating meat is a mostly a choice.
I'll repeat again: varied diets are essential. A single protein source won't cut it. And most people get enough protein going just by raw numbers.
I don't know why you felt the need to post that little rant. No one here claimed that people should only eat beef as their sole source of protein. You're arguing against a strawman.
I'm very pro-protein - we just tend to see better metabolic health outcomes when we eat more of it. Diets with higher proportions of protein result in better body composition, less fat, less chance of diabetes, etc. I think the vast majority of people in America at least would be better off with higher protein diets.
But "Did you even listen to the podcast I linked above" is an insane thing to say in a random online conversation. No, you cannot expect people to listen to a whole podcast to make whatever random unsubstantiated point you have. Explain the important things you took away from the podcast and link it as a reference for if people disbelieve you for whatever reason.
The difference in life expectancy between the USA (where beef is heavily consumed) and India (where you may get lynched on suspicion of eating it) is 78.39 - 72 = 6.39 years at birth.
Most people attribute this difference to the GDP/capita ($89,600 vs. $12,132 PPP) or the number of doctors per capita (36.082 vs. 7.265 per 10k), not the diet.
At the risk of stating the obvious, meat is not the only difference in diet.
But agreed that diet is also not the only link to longevity. Although a Mediterranean diet is higher on plant based foods, considered healthier, and those countries do have better life expectancy than USA.
This stands against the evidence. Beef is causally linked with the largest killers of Americans, including heart diabetes, diabetes, and obesity in general. "a mostly plant-based diet could prevent approximately 11 million deaths per year globally, and could sustainably produce enough food for the planet’s growing population without further damage to the environment."
A "Mediterranean diet" is more healthy than the average American diet because it is more plant-based.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S01406...https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/with-a-little-planning-v...
I guess it depends. I have a friend who has dairy cows, grass-fed, very well cared for. He names each one and hates to slaughter them, but when they are done producing, he does take them to the slaughter house. I bought a quarter of a cow from him a few years back, and it was excellent. It did have a hint of gaminess redolent of venison or lamb, but it was delicious.
You are misinformed. I regularly eat our retired dairy cows. They taste absolutely excellent, but they were raised on pasture and ate top quality feed.
Dairy cows from commercial confinement dairies are a different matter. They eat almost exclusively grain and develop horrible health problems.
Yet the same can be said of any meat produced in a CAFO, when compared to that produced on most small farms. Garbage in, garbage out.
My guess is that they have specialized breeds and how they're raised and fed and such, so that dairy cattle wouldn't make for good beef and vice versa. They probably do use them somehow, but maybe for dog food or some similar use.
It’s one of the things I noticed in France and Italy. Like after a few days you notice the mens’ silhouettes are alien. Not in a bad way, but noticeable.
But due to lack of protein, vs less fat and sugar? I'm sure minus the fat, many American men would also lack muscle.
That said, Italy and France are known for smoking a lot, which supresses the appetite. Your original observation was swiss though (land of milk, chocolate and cheese)?
