How to consume meat?

Frequency and quantity to eat meat

Meat is a food that contributes to our balanced diet. The proteins it contains contain nutrients that are essential for our health, such as lipids, iron, phosphorus, group B vitamins, vitamin A and zinc. The National Health Nutrition Program (PNNS) recommends eating meat once or twice a day and alternately .

The Global Fund for Cancer Research recommends not to consume more than 500 g of meat per week , that is 70 g per day (47 g less than what is currently eaten). The right ration: a steak or cutlet twice a week . Fans of chops and other grilled fillets are now better off raising the range.

Review his habits .
As a good cook we are, we all (or almost) tend to serve a "restoring" dish of meat, and vegetables in accompaniment. But we should do the opposite and get to the "vegetable cuisine" of Parisian chef Alain Passard . The latter, shaken by the crisis of the mad cow, went from "rôtisseur" to master in the art of staging vegetables. Plants, fish, poultry, herbs, spices ... the kitchen remains greedy and in tune with the latest health recommendations. So, on the plate, the meat should not be the star, but the second.

Stalking the hidden meat .
Because we sometimes consume it involuntarily or without taking it into account in our calculations. So be careful with ravioli, sauces, mixed salads or diced ham on pizzas, which weigh down the meat bill.

What does meat replace?

Third new reflex to adopt: the "swapping", the exchange . " A single intake of animal protein per day is more than enough, " says Dr. Jean-Michel Lecerf , Head of Nutrition at the Institut Pasteur in Lille. And meat is not necessarily the best source .

So what are we eating? Eggs and fish . Their proteins are as balanced and better assimilated than those of meat. We can also adopt the vegetable proteins option. "Legumes (lentils, dried beans ...), which are unfortunately too often neglected, are also well provided with proteins," says Dr. Boris Hansel, endocrinologist at the Paris Hospital La Pitié-Salpêtrière and author of the book " The regime counterattacks "(Hachette). Thus, 100 g of legumes provide about 17 g of protein, almost as much as 100 g of meat . To supplement the intake, it is necessary to eat regularly, associated with cereals during the same meal. "

The ideal dish? Vegetable couscous with semolina, chickpeas and vegetables. And the top menu consists for example of a lentil soup, followed by a rice pudding. It's time to rehabilitate pasta, or semolina, with vegetables, tomato sauce or pesto, as well as lentils, split peas, beans ...

Of course, it is not always easy to change one's eating and cooking habits. Especially since our overconsumption of meat often reveals our bad habits. Thus, the carnivorous chronic (which culminate at 200 g per day, 7 days out of 7) do not just rush on the meat: they often sulk also the vegetables, consume many meats and cheeses in addition and practice little physical activities ... "Do not feel guilty, reassures Dr. Boris Hansel , but then remove other sources of saturated fatty acids, including cheese, butter and cakes," he advises.