High volume of red meat can cause acute metabolic overload and trigger a heart attack
“The choice of how meat is cooked matters,” said Vinolia. “Usually, it is advisable for people to select to eat meat that is well marinated, for over six, seven hours and slowly cooked like a in a stew for good digestion. However, this does not happen and results in a toxic overload, resulting in stomach cramps, GI discomfort, acid reflux, stomach upset, nausea and vomiting and even more serious health episodes.” People eat the next meal even before digesting the first one properly. Vinolia pointed out that people failed to note that the time it took to digest meat was much longer than the rest of the food. “Normal food takes about six hours to be digested while meat rich food takes about 10-12 hours to be digested and assimilated.
The body is under stress, and we tend to stress it further with such patterns of eating overloaded the gastrointestinal track as the meat eaten during breakfast was still in the process of being digested, assimilated, and absorbed. Red meat takes at least 8-12 hours of digestion time. It takes more than six hours for the meat to pass from the stomach to the intestines and then metabolised. However, during such binge eating, people tend to move to the next meal even before the current has been properly digested.
Ingesting more than 100 gm of meat for two consecutive meals is likely to increase the purine levels in the blood, causing a spike in uric acid, resulting in gout and kidney stones.” So, while you usher in a beautiful festival that teaches us the significance of sacrifice, it is important to remember to give away as much of the sacrifice in charity to the poor and needy and be modest about infesting smaller portion of meat to keep good health.
How can you counter the impact of meat eating?
- Limit the portions of meat intake,
- Make sure to add a lot of fresh salads, and fruits in your meal and soup. Have these first as appetisers. The high fibre in these foods will fill you up naturally. It also keeps you well hydrated leaving less space for meat dishes.
- Make sure you are well- hydrated and ingest at least three litres of water. Mayo Clinic points out that water helps break down the food ingested, allowing its nutrients to be absorbed by the body. Both the large and small intestines absorb water, and this aids digestion and absorption allowing the nutrients to be broken down well and assimilated into the body.
- Ensure the meat is marinated well (at least 7-8 hours) as the marination and cooking over slow fire (like in case of stews) helps in digestion of meat. Meat of freshly slaughtered lamb tends to be harder and more rigid, slowing down digestion.
- If you have CVD or any cholesterol issues, avoid having meat. If you do take, be mindful to limit your consumption to small portion.
- Balance your intake of fat, protein, and carbohydrates. Unprocessed, dense, and complex carbohydrates must be over 50 per cent of your meal size, proteins 30 per cent and fats 20 per cent. If one can keep to this proportion, to promote healthy eating.
- Cut out sodas, sugary drinks and desserts as all excess sugars will be stored as fat in the body. With meat, one is already ingesting more fat through the method of cooking where more oil is required. So one must try to minimise other fats.
- Inculcate a habit of physical exercise for at least 45 minutes (a combination of cardio and weights) every day during the festive season to burn off the excess calories and make optimal use of the nutrition in muscle and stamina building exercises.
Source: Challenge | Health –Gulfnews
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