Big Meat Eater - Want To Substitute With Beans

[Eliza13]

Hi everyone:

I'm a big meat eater, especially since going gluten free. I eat meat and chicken at lunch and dinner every single day, and am thinking about changing this at one of the meals. For dinner I often have red meat with half a can of beans (red kidney, chick peas, favas etc), but now I am thinking of eliminating the meat and having the entire can of beans instead.

My question is....from a digestive standpoint, which is better for a celiac....the full can of beans, or half a can with red meat? My goal is to improve my gut here, but I am not sure which is the better option. I love meat, but am willing to substitute it at one meal if it is the best option for my gut. I'm less worried about arteries here than I am about the gut....I just want healthy intestines!!! Oh....part of my difficulty is that I do not eat any dairy, making it difficult to get protein....no milk, no cheese, no yoghurt, no icecream, no butter, no eggs.....zero, zip!

Please help!

[tarnalberry]

if you're not having particular problems from meat, then I wouldn't get rid of it (though you don't necessarily need two meats at each meal).

I'm curious why you eliminated eggs though... They are not dairy. (They don't come from mammary glands, after all. ) Separate intolerance?

[Mango04]

Are you still having digestive problems and do you think the cause is too much meat? I would think the best thing for your gut would be to rotate your protein sources, and to make sure you're properly balancing your proteins with the correct amounts of fats and carbs. Maybe you can look at all of your protein sources: chicken, beef, pork, fish (can you do fish?), beans, lentils, nuts etc. and find a way to avoid overdoing one thing, if possible. I don't know if too many beans is necessarily going to be better or worse than too much meat. That being said, for dinner last night, I ate a big salad with an entire can of garbanzo beans. An entire can of beans does not bother me, but I couldn't do it everyday. Everyone's different though.

[Eliza13]

if you're not having particular problems from meat, then I wouldn't get rid of it (though you don't necessarily need two meats at each meal).

I'm curious why you eliminated eggs though... They are not dairy. (They don't come from mammary glands, after all. ) Separate intolerance?

I've always hated eggs. As a child, I would only eat the yellows!!! The whites make me wanna hurl! Not sure why the yellows don't make me sick, while the whites do.

[RiceGuy]

Well, I know everyone is different, and there are some strong opinions on this issue, but I for one don't feel well when I eat meat. So I just don't anymore. Legumes are a great source of nutrients including proteins. From what I've read, the proteins in meat require more on the part of the digestive system, depleting calcium much faster than with plant-based proteins. It therefore seems to me that legumes would be better for the gut than animal meats.

One thing I'd suggest though is to obtain more variety than just one kind of bean. There are numerous legumes to choose from, and that includes lentils too. I like lentils because they cook fast, especially the red ones. Some high-protein grains can help too, such as millet, t'eff, buckwheat, amaranth, and others. Incidentally, ordinary green peas are quite a good protein source too. What about brown rice? If you don't have any problems with soy, tofu makes a good meat replacer/extender. A little poultry seasoning works pretty well, but I like freezing the tofu for at least four days before using it, as this changes the texture, making it much more meatier.

[gfp]

Overall I think most Westerners eat too much meat... and once a day is more than adequate, what you need to be careful of is switching too quickly since you'll suddenly be increasing your fibre intake ... and probably have a bit more gas until your body adjustes. Like riceman says ... try and vary your legumes intake because you are not getting whole proteins (in terms of amino acid balance) so the more variety the better. The latter issue is unlikely to be a big issue since your still eating meat anyway and mostly we eat far more protein than we actually need.

Also how about fish? Its not a fav of mine but I try and eat some just to add variety to my diet..

[key]

I don't think that celiac's usually have a problem with beans. Maybe in the beginning. It does sound like you are eating quite a bit of meat. It isn't good to eat too much and it doesn't have any fiber. I think you are probably eating more then would be recommended. Of course everyone is different and what one person can tolerate, maybe you can't. Nuts and peanut butter also have protein and soy yogurt, etc.

Monica