7 Reasons To Stop Eating Red Meat

Red meat increases your risk of cancer

Cancer is one of the scariest diseases in the world. And at this point, pretty much everyone knows someone whose life has been adversely affected by cancer.

Believe it or not, consuming red meat actually increases your risk of cancer. Specifically, consuming processed red meat can increase your chances of developing colon cancer. The reason is believed to be the high levels of heme iron found in red meat, which may help produce cancer-causing compounds.

Honestly, this would be a good enough reason on its own to quit red meat. But there are plenty of other reasons you should be aware of!

Red meat increases your risk of heart disease

Look, we’re going to cut to the chase here. As tasty as it is to eat, red meat can lead to higher chances of you developing heart disease.

Red meat, especially processed red meat, may cause heart disease. And consuming it also leads to an increased risk of heart failure. This is due to high levels of cholesterol and saturated fat in red meat.

Fortunately, you don’t have to quit red meat completely. By eating about three ounces of red meat three times a week or less, you can seriously reduce these risks to your heart.

Red meat may cause diverticulitis

Not everyone knows what diverticulitis is. But everyone who suffers from it agrees on one thing: you should avoid getting it if at all possible!

Basically, diverticulitis is when the lining of your colon wall is inflamed or infected. The pouches on your intestines get torn or blocked. When that happens, you may experience things like constipation, abdominal pain, diarrhea, fever, and other unpleasant conditions.

Unlike some of the other health risks on this list, your risk of diverticulitis increases particularly when you consume a lot of unprocessed red meat. Unprocessed red meat includes beef, lamb, pork, and hamburger. Processed red meat includes things like bacon, hot dogs, ham, sausages, beef jerky, and salami. Processed red meat has added salt and preservatives that typically increase other health risks.

Red meat can harm your kidneys

When it comes to your health, few people focus on risks to their kidneys. Nonetheless, kidney failure is something that can seriously compromise the overall quality of your life.

And you guessed it: consuming red meat can increase your risk of kidney failure. And this condition may sneak up on you: in many cases, someone may not develop kidney failure for many years.

The more red meat you eat, the greater your risk. But if you stop eating it, or at least reduce your consumption, you will be far safer.

Red meat shortens your lifespan

If you’re reading this article, then you are concerned about your health. And on the most basic level, what do all health-conscious people want? A chance to live longer!

Interestingly, it seems that cutting out red meat may be an easy way to increase your lifespan. This comes from a Harvard study that found eating unprocessed red meat increased your chances of dying prematurely by 13% and eating processed red meat increased your chances of dying prematurely by 20%!

Obviously, nobody is going to live forever. But cutting out red meat right now could potentially add several years to your life!

Red meat is expensive to buy

Some of the reasons to stop eating red meat are simpler than others. For example, one of the most convincing reasons is the simple fact that red meat is expensive to buy!

As far as protein goes, red meat is about as expensive as it gets. And supply chain issues related to COVID-19 have served to make red meat even more expensive in certain places.

That means if you stop eating red meat, you can save quite a bit of money. And you might be surprised how much more quickly you can fill a fridge and pantry when you aren’t shelling out for burgers and steaks!

Red meat may give you E. coli

Generally speaking, Americans take food safety for granted when they go to the grocery store. That is because the Food and Drug Administration generally does a good job of making sure the food we buy is safe to consume.

However, the FDA isn’t perfect. And there have been outbreaks of things like E. coli far more often than you might imagine. Such outbreaks are almost always linked to red meat (and to ground beef in particular).

Of course, you shouldn’t organize your entire life around the risk of something negative happening. But the simple truth is that cutting out red meat will make you healthier while saving you money.

This dietary choice can save time, save money, and may just save your life. If nothing else, try cutting red meat out for a month or so and experience the personal transformation it can ignite!