some of you smart alecks would benefit if you just sat back and watched gpdtx and xtrpickels discuss this, maybe posting if you know something accretive to the discussion or, failing that, asking a question that one or both of these two smart people might answer.
speaking for myself, reading study after study telling me that red meat is killing me slowly but inexorably, i would love to know how to successfully be vegetarian and a high-output performer. failing that, what would substitute for red meat. as a 56 year old man, even if you train steadily, consistently, weight remains a challenge (bearing in mind that some of us harbor the view that we - at any age - can still look like runway models if we just eat and train properly).
so, for all kinds of ethical reasons (raising animals only to kill them, killing ourselves and the planet via huge plumes of cow farts), i’d be a happier man if i could make a full transition off of red meat entirely. i’m working on that. i’d love to get at least to the point where it’s just veggie + fish. except that we’re probably going to kill ourselves through depleting the ocean fisheries before we kill ourselves through global warming. but that’s another subject.
Dan
Excellent suggestion and I would like to offer one diet alternative that is rarely discussed, but you elude to it above…Pescetarianism: *A pescetarian diet typically shares many of its components with a lacto-ovo vegetarian diet and includes vegetables, fruit, nuts, grains, beans, eggs, dairy, and insect byproducts (such as honey), but unlike a vegetarian diet also includes fish and *shellfish.
I have been a pescetarian for 35 years. It is a very easy diet to follow, even while traveling and eating out. Personally, I limit shell fish but eat fish 4-5 times a week. If one wishes, they can also limit dairy and still get essential amino acids, vitamins and protein from fish. IMO, it is an excellent diet for endurance athletes.
ETA: A 1999 meta-analysis of five studies comparing vegetarian and non-vegetarian mortality rates in Western countries found that in comparison with regular meat-eaters, mortality from ischemic heart disease was 34% lower in pescetarians, 34% lower in ovo-lacto vegetarians, 26% lower in vegans and 20% lower in occasional meat-eaters.