No Red Meat or Chicken for Weight Loss

Almost everything is "mass-produced" nowadays.

That doesn't mean you have to buy it.

As a consumer I have a choice to save my pennies and get a factory chicken, or pay a bit more for a free range one. The choice is yours simple.

I use our local farm shops and can see how the chooks are kept. It just depends what level of effort you're willing to make for your choices.

Alternatively, stop eating meat.

Out of curiosity, what book were you reading?

If you find the free range meat too expensive, I second the idea of preparing vegetarian/vegan meals on non-meat days. In most cases vegetarian/vegan versions of meals can be a lot cheaper sans the cuts of meat.

If you're struggling with coming up with veg meals this cookbook was great when I was getting started:
http://www.amazon.com/The-Happy-Herbivore-Cookbook-Delicious/dp/1935618121

Has a lot of alternatives to some of the meaty classics. The cookbook is vegan, but I'm a vegetarian so occasionally I substitute the ingredients and it usually doesn't end too badly.

Best of luck!

Paleo is something like eating (living) like our early ancestors, the hunter gatherers would have and no they didn't eat bio industry meat, which is bad for the animals and bad for our health, check google

Oh, is that what Paleo means!

It is a dietary preference...works for some but the science behind it is debatable as are all dietary preferences...Too restrictive for my taste, and personally don't agree with the methodology or premise, but each to their own!

Basic cut and paste from-http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paleolithic_diet...hate using Wikipedia as a reference but feeling lazy.

The paleolithic diet (abbreviated paleo diet or paleodiet), also popularly referred to as the caveman diet, Stone Age diet and hunter-gatherer diet, is a modern nutritional plan based on the presumed ancient diet of wild plants and animals that various hominid species habitually consumed during the Paleolithic era—a period of about 2.5 million years which ended around 10,000 years ago with the development of agriculture and grain-based diets. In common usage, the term "paleolithic diet" can also refer to actual ancestral human diets, insofar as these can be reconstructed.

Centered on commonly available modern foods, the contemporary "Paleolithic diet" consists mainly of fish, grass-fed pasture raised meats, eggs, vegetables, fruit, fungi, roots, and nuts, and excludes grains, legumes, dairy products, potatoes, refined salt, refined sugar, and processed oils.

Paleolithic nutrition is based on the premise that human genetics have scarcely changed since the dawn of agriculture, and modern humans are genetically adapted to the diet of their Paleolithic ancestors. Therefore an ideal diet for human health and well-being is one that resembles this ancestral diet.

Proponents of this diet argue that modern human populations subsisting on traditional diets, allegedly similar to those of Paleolithic hunter-gatherers, are largely free of diseases of affluence.They assert that multiple studies of the effect of Paleolithic diet in humans have shown improved health outcomes relative to other widely recommended diets. Supporters also point to several potentially therapeutic nutritional characteristics of preagricultural diets.

ETA: Highly debatable...like everything.

The conditions that much our meat sources are raised in are deplorable.
Many farmers markets have meat, eggs and dairy products that were raised by farmers that allow their cattle, pigs, chickens and turkeys to roam and graze for their food. It can be more expensive, but I have found that staying within true recommended serving sizes adjusts the expense to compensate a bit for the added cost. Same with fruits and vegetables. Organically grown is better for you, but more expensive. I cook almost exclusively from scratch now.

One thing for sure, in order to be healthy and nourish yourself you need to get protein. If you cut out meat and eggs, you have to pay close attention to getting enough protein from other sources.

There's an MFP group of vegans, vegetarians, and other people interested in that lifestyle called Happy Herbivores. You can find it in the forum search feature. I agree with you about the cruelty and gross-out issues. I quit eating eggs this year even though I love omelets when I found out what the egg industry does with baby roosters, which they have no use for - they throw millions of them, alive, into a grinding machine every year (true - Google it). That was it for me and eggs. I refuse to support that with my money.

Weight loss is due to calories, though. You could eat donuts all day and as long as you stayed within your calories you would lose weight.

Wait till you discover what they do with male calves once they are born. Also the fact they keep females pregnant just to produce milk all the time, then if it's a male baby they kill it at 6 days old (no use for it) and keep the females in order to keep the cycle going......... all for dairy products.

Actually male calves tend to be kept for veal. So from 6 days to a year or so. It's not any better though.

In the UK male calves are shot as veal cages are banned in the UK

I eat a lot of lentils for protein. One cup of lentils has the protein of 3 eggs (18 g lentils versus 6 g for one egg). A package of lentils costs between 99 cents and $1.19 where I live and provides food for 5 meals.

There are many, many other delicious sources of plant protein. I love the recipes on the award-winning website www.ohsheglows.com
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Lentils are great, and a wonderful source of protein. All legumes and bean are too. Thanks for posting the website with the great recipes.

In the UK male calves are shot as veal cages are banned in the UK

They have been banned since 1990, but please google rose veal which is raised in accordance with the RSPCA rules.

True but due to this ban, veal became unpopular in the UK and hardly anybody knows about rose veal, so demand is poor and they are still getting shot!

I gave up meat on New Years day. I also gave up 18 kilos since. That's due to sensible diet and exercise, not just giving up meat. I am weight lifting, so I need a lot of protein, which I get by eating dairy (17g in a low fat greek chobani yogurt) eggs and fish, also a little tofu. I have had to go on iron supplements as my iron levels dropped really low, despite me eating green leafy stuff till I felt like it was coming out of my ears. You don't need meat and I applaud you for giving it up, but I don't think it is directly linked to weight loss, unless your beef was mostly maccas and your chicken was mostly KFC