Gulf News

I love meat, but might consider vegetarian­ism

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Iam a meat eater, however I am not judgementa­l of others who are vegetarian or vegan. I actually respect them for it. I like what they are doing and in the future I might be interested in it, but I don’t think my consciousn­ess has grown as much, I would say I have got my head in the sand a bit on this issue. Maybe I am purposely ignorant to some extent because I do enjoy having meat as part of my meal. But when I shop for food I look for locally produced because it is going to be fresher and they will have to do less to the produce to get it on to my plate.

As a nutritioni­st, I do understand the implicatio­ns of being vegetarian or a meat eater. With meat you are going to find it a lot easier to get the full spectrum of amino acids, while a lot of plant-based proteins are incomplete. So, you will need to mix and match to get a full source of proteins if you have a vegetarian diet. There are a lot of minerals in meat that are also quite difficult to source in high quantities in a vegetarian diet.

On the other hand, a lot of meat is mass produced and with a lot of antibiotic and hormones, according to some studies. Also, eating meat causes our bodies to work a little harder to break down the meat, so it can produce more free radicals in our bodies that can age us quicker and potentiall­y cause cancer. It is important to be aware of what you are eating. I like to be as balanced as possible. If you want to eat meat, just get enough and from good sources as possible. From Mr Rob Donker Fitness profession­al and nutritioni­st living in Dubai

 ?? Luis Vazquez/©Gulf News ??
Luis Vazquez/©Gulf News
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