Taking off the meat dress

I've been reading a shitload of books, articles, and blogs about cancer over the past four months and one thing they all have in common is the recommendation that meat not play a part of the c-blasting diet. Here's the gist of the arguments against:

• meat eaters (especially red meat) have a higher probability of getting colon or prostate cancer, but there may be other aspects of a heavy-meat eater's diet, like mucho fat or lack of fibre, that's to blame
• meat uses up the two critical enzymes trypsin and chymotrypsin, which allow the immune system to kill cancer cells (vegetable proteins do not use up those enzymes)
• meat causes the accumulation of fecal matter in the colon, which hinders your body's ability to absorb as many nutrients as possible
• and if you're eating regular old supermarket meat, it contains hormones or nitrates/nitrites, which have been linked to every imaginable type of cancer

So the story isn't great, especially when you look at regions of the world that consume little or no meat. The cancer rates drop dramatically. There's some argument that grass-fed beef is acceptable, and hormone-free meat in general is okay occasionally, but most of those in the know don't seem to need a lot of prodding to suggest that all nutrients could and often should be gained from a meat-free diet.

So slowly but steadily, I have been eliminating the fleshy goodness from my daily bread. Really, why be the one to prove anyone right?

It's been both difficult and easy. Easy to stop buying it, but difficult to erase it from my cooking vocab. My secret Santa husband still sneaks a pork hock or two into the freezer when I'm not looking, but mostly, we've gone through the stuff around the house and are transitioning to meat-reduced or meat-free meals.

Does this mean I'll never have a piece of bacon or veal chop again. Hells no. But four out of five dentists can't be wrong.