To Meat or Not to Meat: BEEF in a Plant-Based Meal Plan

In an effort not to draw negative press to the recent positive efforts of my friends at Timmerman Feeding Company to enlighten Coloradans about the benefits of BEEF and cattle ranching, I am publishing this post after this past Saturday’s #meatout day in Colorado designated by the state’s governor to push his personal agenda via his professional position.

I was honored to be asked by Andrew Timmerman to play a small part in the successful #meatin event at Civic Center Park in Denver that he organized along with fellow Colorado farmers and ranchers to promote #beef and the farming and ranching industry.  They fed 1250 meals to the city’s homeless, first responders, and the general public.  My part?  I provided research to Andrew on meatless burgers and helped with billboard and t-shirt design.

Thank you Andrew for allowing me to help promote your event and the farming and ranching industry by “LINKing Both Sides of the Plate at the table where agriculture and nutrition meet!”™…or should I say “meat”?

To dig deeper into the discussion, today’s post is going to discuss #BEEF in a plant-based meal plan.

To do this, I’m going to use a few tools.

The first…MyPlate.  Let’s dissect #MyPlate.  The USDA recommends, and MyPlate depicts, eating from 5 food groups.  It recommends filling half of the plate with fruits and vegetables and a quarter of the plate with grains.  So, ¾ of MyPlate is plant based, but it doesn’t neglect the protein and dairy groups.  If one understands the origin of milk and related products, one understands the dairy group is entirely animal based.  There are both plant and animal-based proteins.

This leads me to my second tool…a comparison of BEEF and some plant-based proteins[1].  In order to obtain 25g protein, it takes:

·         3c. quinoa totaling 666 calories

·         6.5T. peanut butter totaling 613 calories

·         1 2/3c. black beans totaling 379 calories

·         1 1/3c. edamame totaling 249 calories

·         3oz. beef totaling 173 calories

When attempting to get the recommended 150g protein per day for someone on a 2000 calorie meal plan, this equates out to 6 times the number of calories listed in the foods above.  When you do the math, these figures then exceed 2000 calories.

And now for my final tool and topic of today’s blog…Beef in an Optimal Lean Diet (BOLD) study[2].  This study compared 4 diet plans:  1) Healthy American Diet (HAD), 2) Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) Diet, 3) BOLD Diet, and 4) BOLD-PLUS Diet.

In brief, the HAD simulated current American dietary habits by including refined grains, full-fat dairy, and a higher level of total and saturated fat percentages compared to the other diets in the study.

In detail, the DASH diet recommends 7-8 servings of grains daily, 4-5 servings each of fruits and vegetables daily, 2-3 daily servings of low-fat or fat-free dairy, 2 or less servings of meat (including poultry and fish) daily, 4-5 weekly servings of legumes (includes nuts and seeds), 2-3 servings of fats and oils daily, and 5 weekly servings of sweets[3].  In the BOLD study, the DASH diet used primarily white meat and plant-based protein sources.

The BOLD diet closely mimicked the DASH diet but substituted 4oz. per day of LEAN BEEF for the white meat and plant-based protein sources used in the DASH diet.

The BOLD-PLUS diet again closely mimicked the DASH diet but incorporated 5.4oz. per day of LEAN BEEF into the diet.

The study conducted in healthy men and women with elevated LDL cholesterol aged 30-65 showed similar results between the DASH, BOLD, and BOLD+ diets.  These results included reductions in total cholesterol and LDL cholesterol compared to the HAD.  The BOLD and BOLD+ diets showed potential other cardiovascular benefits when compared to the HAD diet with more research needed, but overall, the study provided support for including LEAN BEEF in a heart-healthy meal plan.

Based on the information provided in this blog post, evidence supports BEEF in a plant-based meal plan.

Stay tuned for more information on BEEF during the month of May when May is Beef Month!

[1] https://www.beefitswhatsfordinner.com/nutrition/beef-protein

[2] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3238465/

[3] Based on a 2000 calorie meal plan.