How cutting out meat affects your mind

Helping the planet, Other consequences, "Meat disgust", Defining the term, Old concept, The study, The findings, Also ongoing..., Breaking the mold, Holding true, Statistics, The importance of methane, Little appetite

Ever felt a creeping aversion towards animal products after giving them up for a few weeks? If so, you are probably not alone. Indeed, for some time now experts have suspected that abstaining from meat consumption can cause people to develop "meat disgust."

According to the results of recent studies, there may be something to it; the consequences of meat abstinence do appear to be psychological as well as environmental.

Curious? Check out this gallery to find out more.

Helping the planet

Helping the planet, Other consequences, "Meat disgust", Defining the term, Old concept, The study, The findings, Also ongoing..., Breaking the mold, Holding true, Statistics, The importance of methane, Little appetite

Giving up meat, therefore, is one of the most impactful steps you can take if you are looking to reduce the carbon footprint of your diet.

Other consequences

Helping the planet, Other consequences, "Meat disgust", Defining the term, Old concept, The study, The findings, Also ongoing..., Breaking the mold, Holding true, Statistics, The importance of methane, Little appetite

According to new research, however, refraining from eating meat could also have consequences that go far beyond helping the planet.

"Meat disgust"

Helping the planet, Other consequences, "Meat disgust", Defining the term, Old concept, The study, The findings, Also ongoing..., Breaking the mold, Holding true, Statistics, The importance of methane, Little appetite

Indeed, there are recent studies that suggest abstinence from meat can increase feelings of what experts are referring to as "meat disgust."

Defining the term

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The term is exactly what it says on the tin: that feeling of disgust some people experience when they think about eating, or are made to eat, meat.

Old concept

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The idea that abstaining from animal products increases this aversion is nothing new. In fact, it has been reported anecdotally ever since the dawn of vegetarianism.

The study

Helping the planet, Other consequences, "Meat disgust", Defining the term, Old concept, The study, The findings, Also ongoing..., Breaking the mold, Holding true, Statistics, The importance of methane, Little appetite

The study looked at 40 participants who normally ate meat and who reduced their consumption over the month of January.

The findings

Helping the planet, Other consequences, "Meat disgust", Defining the term, Old concept, The study, The findings, Also ongoing..., Breaking the mold, Holding true, Statistics, The importance of methane, Little appetite

It found that the more meat the participants managed to cut out over the course of the month, the more their meat disgust grew.

Numbers

Helping the planet, Other consequences, "Meat disgust", Defining the term, Old concept, The study, The findings, Also ongoing..., Breaking the mold, Holding true, Statistics, The importance of methane, Little appetite

Indeed, by the end of the month, 28 out of the 40 participants had reported an increase in their feelings of meat disgust.

Caveat

Helping the planet, Other consequences, "Meat disgust", Defining the term, Old concept, The study, The findings, Also ongoing..., Breaking the mold, Holding true, Statistics, The importance of methane, Little appetite

It is important to note that participants were not asked why they chose to give up meat. Therefore, it is possible they had an existing aversion.

Also ongoing...

Helping the planet, Other consequences, "Meat disgust", Defining the term, Old concept, The study, The findings, Also ongoing..., Breaking the mold, Holding true, Statistics, The importance of methane, Little appetite

Research into the environmental impact of various diets is also ongoing, and in 2023 a research team at the University of Oxford published a landmark study.

Breaking the mold

Helping the planet, Other consequences, "Meat disgust", Defining the term, Old concept, The study, The findings, Also ongoing..., Breaking the mold, Holding true, Statistics, The importance of methane, Little appetite

The study was the first of its kind, in the sense that it looked at the relationship between diet and a range of environmental measures, rather than just carbon emissions.

Holding true

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This held true, even when the air miles and the (not inconsiderable) resources used to produce plant-based ingredients were taken into account.

Options

Helping the planet, Other consequences, "Meat disgust", Defining the term, Old concept, The study, The findings, Also ongoing..., Breaking the mold, Holding true, Statistics, The importance of methane, Little appetite

Reducing your daily meat intake could either mean eating smaller portions, or incorporating fewer meat meals into your daily diet.

Statistics

Helping the planet, Other consequences, "Meat disgust", Defining the term, Old concept, The study, The findings, Also ongoing..., Breaking the mold, Holding true, Statistics, The importance of methane, Little appetite

According to one BBC article, if big meat-eaters in the UK were to cut at least some of the meat out of their diet, it would be akin to taking eight million cars off the road!

The importance of methane

Helping the planet, Other consequences, "Meat disgust", Defining the term, Old concept, The study, The findings, Also ongoing..., Breaking the mold, Holding true, Statistics, The importance of methane, Little appetite

Beef and lamb, for example, have a much higher carbon footprint than chicken and turkey, because they naturally produce the potent greenhouse gas methane.

Little appetite

Helping the planet, Other consequences, "Meat disgust", Defining the term, Old concept, The study, The findings, Also ongoing..., Breaking the mold, Holding true, Statistics, The importance of methane, Little appetite

At the moment, however, like in so many other countries across the world, there is very little political appetite to introduce a robust meat-reduction policy.

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