How much meat do you need per day?

Few foods are in the news as often as meat. On the one hand, the Netherlands loves it: every year we eat more than 35 kilos of meat per person. On the other hand, health organizations warn that it is better to cut back on it. How about that now? How much meat per day is a healthy amount?
Few foods are in the news as often as meat. On the one hand, the Netherlands loves it: every year we eat more than 35 kilos of meat per person. On the other hand, health organizations warn that it is better to cut back. How about that now? How much meat per day is a healthy amount?

In this blog we discuss which types of meat there are and what the pros and cons are. And of course we look at exactly how much you can eat the best of it per day!

Different kinds of meat

To begin with, it is too easy to just talk about 'meat'. Meat comes in all shapes and sizes, and how much meat is healthy per day also depends on which type is exactly on your plate!
To begin with, it is too easy to just talk about â € meatâ € ™. Meat comes in all shapes and sizes, and how much meat is healthy per day also depends on which type is exactly on your plate!

While these terms suggest that you can identify the type of meat by its color, that is not always the case. Meat is classified on the basis of the animal of origin, not on the basis of color. Red meat is meat from cattle, pigs, sheep and goats. Even if it has a lighter color, we call it red. White meat comes from chicken, turkey and other poultry.

Not all meat contains the same amount of fats. As a rule, red meat is fattier than white meat. Fatty meats include bacon, minced meat, chops and chops. Lean meats include chicken fillet, drumsticks, steak and lean cuts of beef.

Meat that has not undergone additional processing and additions is called unprocessed meat. In contrast, processed meat. Have any flavorings or preservatives been added to meat? Or is it smoked, dried, salted, or otherwise processed? In all such cases it counts as processed meat.

Meat â € “in all these variants â €“ is of course a popular product for a reason. What are the big advantages now?
Meat â € “in all these variants â €“ is of course a popular product. What are the big advantages now?

For starters, meat is one of the highest protein foods we have. It contains about 25 grams of protein per 100 grams! This makes it a very efficient protein supplier.

How much protein you need in a day depends on your lifestyle. Most people need about 0.8 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight. For moderate athletes 1 gram per kilo is enough, for endurance athletes 1.2 to 1.4 grams. Only strength athletes really need significantly more: 1.6 to 1.8 grams per day.

Of course, you don't have to get all of that out of meat: as we'll discuss below, there are plenty of other high-protein products out there. In fact, strength athletes would have to eat an insane amount of meat to meet their needs. But it is clear that meat can make a significant contribution.

In addition, meat is rich in a number of vitamins and minerals that are mainly found in animal products:

Getting these nutrients from other products is not impossible, but that often requires a little more careful planning. Because meat is so rich in it, it is the easiest option for many people.

That doesn't mean that more meat is always better! There are also a few disadvantages to the consumption of (too) much meat. In addition to useful nutrients, it also contains the necessary substances that make your body less happy â € “with nasty health risks as a result.

The fats in meat are almost all saturated. Now saturated fat is not bad in itself, but if you eat too much of it it quickly becomes unhealthy! And unfortunately a lot of people are getting too much of it these days.

The Nutrition Center maintains 10% of the daily calorie intake as a safe upper limit for the intake of saturated fat. With a calorie requirement of 2000 kcal, this equates to 22 grams of saturated fat per day (1 gram provides 9 kcal). In comparison: 100 grams of bacon already contains 14 grams of saturated fat.

The best-known consequence of high meat consumption is therefore an increased risk of cardiovascular disease. If you eat 100 grams of red meat per day, you are 10% more likely to have a brain haemorrhage or a cerebral infarction than someone who eats little or no meat. The risk of other cardiovascular problems is also increased by the high consumption of saturated fat.

In addition, there is evidence that eating meat increases the risk of various types of cancer, including colon cancer. 100 grams of red meat per day increases the risk of cancer by about 17%. With processed meat, the effect is even stronger: every 50 grams extra per day increases the risk of cancer by 17%.

One final disadvantage of meat does not affect your personal health, but especially the environment. Meat production takes a lot of raw materials. After all, animals must first be kept alive for a long time before they are slaughtered. As a result, it takes a lot of agricultural land and water to produce a steak.

The environmental impact does depend very much on the type of meat you eat. Poultry is a lot less stressful than meat from larger animals, such as cows and pigs. Still, eating meat contributes a lot to your personal CO2 emissions.

In short: meat can certainly contribute to a healthy diet, but you should not overdo it! But how much meat per day is a healthy amount?

There is actually no minimum amount. Even without meat you can build a healthy diet: you can read more about that in this blog, for example.

The maximum amount that the Nutrition Center currently recommends is 500 grams of meat per week. Of that, a maximum of 300 grams should be red meat. 500 grams per week equals about 4 meal portions, or of course a few more portions if you eat smaller amounts.

If you go over that, try to choose unprocessed white meat as much as possible. It contains the least saturated fats and has the least impact on your health. Yet it is also healthy not to eat too much with white meat.

If you are used to eating meat every day (or every meal) then this may sound a bit ridiculous. 500 grams of meat per week? How should you get your protein?

Still, cutting back on meat is fine, and an important step if you care about your health! There are enough alternatives to meat that you can alternate with. For example, think of:

Are you not used to cooking with these ingredients? Take a look at the recipe list of our FitChef platform! There you will find simple and healthy recipes, both with and without meat. That way, variety hardly needs to be effort!