What Happens When You Stop Eating Meat (2024)

FAQs

What Happens When You Stop Eating Meat? ›

You may feel tired and weak if you cut meat out of your diet. That's because you're missing an important source of protein and iron, both of which give you energy. The body absorbs more iron from meat than other foods, but it's not your only choice.

And people who don't eat meat, called vegetarians, generally eat fewer calories and less fat. They also tend to weigh less. And they have a lower risk of heart disease than nonvegetarians do. Research shows that people who eat red meat are at a higher risk of death from heart disease, stroke or diabetes.

It's worth mentioning that some individuals who regularly eat meat can actually experience acne breakouts if they suddenly stop consuming meat. The body is complex, and there's no way to know for sure how eating meat or cutting it out will affect one's skin until enough time has gone by.

You may feel tired and weak if you cut meat out of your diet. That's because you're missing an important source of protein and iron, both of which give you energy. The body absorbs more iron from meat than other foods, but it's not your only choice.

Diets that limit or exclude meat have been linked to weight loss and a reduced risk of heart disease, cancer, and diabetes. Yet, this risk reduction depends on overall diet quality. Also, plant-based diets can lack important nutrients if you don't plan them well.

Tofu. "Half a cup of extra-firm tofu provides 22 grams of protein, making it an excellent source of filling protein!" says Amy Gorin MS, RDN, owner of Amy Gorin Nutrition. Her favorite ways to prepare tofu are grilled, in stir-fries and tossed into a homemade vegetable soup.

Eggs are indeed a superfood and in many instances are an easy and sustainable meat substitute. They are high in protein – with just one serving of eggs (2 eggs) containing 12.7 grams of protein, representing 20% of the recommended dietary intake (RDI) for men, 27% of the RDI for women and 33% of the RDI for children.

Seafood also falls into the meat category. This includes fish, crustaceans, and shellfish. A lot of seafood options have great nutritional value and protein, especially for a healthy diet.

While meat can be a part of a healthy diet, not all sources are created equal. The leanest and healthiest meats to eat include poultry, pork, fish, and seafood.

Eggs, though from chickens, are not the flesh of an animal. They are still an animal source of protein and thus a complete protein, but aren't actually meat.

What happens if everyone stops eating meat? ›

Gradually replacing meat with plants could have immense benefits for the planet. “It would be a huge net win for the environment,” Dutkiewicz said. By one estimate, a complete phaseout of meat over 15 years would cut as much as one-third of all methane emissions and two-thirds of all nitrous oxide emissions.

You may gain some healthy bacteria in your gut—and some bloat, at least at first. "Your body has digestive enzymes that handle the proteins in both meat and plants, and that doesn't change when you stop eating meat," explains Liz Applegate, PhD, director of sports nutrition at the University of California, Davis.

Eat beans, pulses, eggs and other sources of protein

Pulses are particularly important for people who don't get protein by eating meat, fish or dairy products. Other non-dairy sources of protein include eggs and meat alternatives, such as tofu, mycoprotein (such as Quorn), textured vegetable protein and tempeh.

Vitamin C, lysine, and antioxidant compounds are all found in abundance in a plant-based diet and help encourage collagen production at a cellular level. This means that when answering the question do vegans age well? The answer is usually yes, thanks to the collagen-boosting properties in a vegan diet.

"If meat is simply removed and not substituted, the consumer is at risk of iron or B12 deficiency, anemia, and muscle wasting," Levy-Wollins explains.

Side effects of eating bad beef

Symptoms include fever, vomiting, stomach cramps, and diarrhea — which may be bloody. Disease-causing microorganisms grow rapidly in food that's been left at room temperature and are more likely to occur in spoiled food.

You may drop pounds

“Studies show that people who stick with a vegetarian diet consume less fatty food,” says Dr. Kalra. A literature review published in Nutrients in 2022 showed that vegetarians following a well-balanced diet tended to have a lower body mass index (BMI) than those who ate meat.

For several decades now, research has consistently found that a vegetarian diet, that is mainly made up of fruits and vegetables, nuts, legumes and wholegrains, can reduce your risk of major diseases and help you live longer^1–5.