Red meat in the minor

I am definitely a believer that improving health and lifestyle is a gradual process. Sure, some things you just got to go cold turkey with such as eating cake every day (for me, anyway!!).

So, over the years I have gradually changed our household's food. For example, we eat a lot of organics - fruit, vegies, grains, and milk. We also have changed from white rice to brown and I just can't bring myself to buy products that have numbers listed as ingredients.

One of the more recent changes is cutting down on the number of times we eat red meat in a week. This is kind-of a big deal in our household because my husband is a red meat lover. Give that man a steak, make sure it is rare, and he is one happy guy. So, we would end up having red meat for dinner probably five times a week. I knew this was too much, but not ready to make any changes. Earlier this year, after reviewing my food diary, I was prompted by Ginny, my nutritionist, to consider having meat just three times a week. But Steve loves red meat, I told her. She reminded me about saturated fat and how meat can sit in the colon for some time before being 'expelled'. A diet high in red meat is linked to colon cancer. Ok, ok, I said.

There were a few grumbles when I served up our first meal of Mexican beans and rice ... like, "Hmmm, looks like it's vegetarian night." But we have made the changes.

Now on non-red-meat nights we'll have a crustless egg & vegie quiche, Mexican beans & rice, or fish. On the 4th night, I make sure it is on a 'free' weekend evening we have a treat such as pizza or fish and chips. Even though this was a big change for us, it has been very easy to cope with. And we enjoy our bits of barbecued steak even more now!