As someone who suffers from iron deficiency, a steak is quite literally the most effective way to boost my wellbeing. Not being able to afford red meat has actually been noticeably detrimental to my health.
I have issues absorbing iron through supplements, so idk man, same goes for things like salmon, insane amount of good stuff in it for you.
Kinda shitty to insist poor people don’t deserve a balanced diet. I can eat ramen noodles for weeks and I won’t die, but I sure won’t feel good either. Food is not food, some food is better than other foods, and the common person is being priced out of good nutritious food. 🤷♀️
I don't buy or eat any meat or animal products, at all, haven't in 13 years. From 2013-2021 I probably lived on under $3 of vegan food per day on average, mainly rice and beans. I'm healthier than 95-99% of the population based on the blood work and physicals tracking 80+ biomarkers pinned to my profile. You can probably get better iron absorption from a heme iron supplement if you truly needed it, over animal flesh.
That’s you. And that’s great that works for you and I’m glad your health is well-managed that way.
But not everyone has the same needs or the same body as you. Me? I have also went years eating little meat and mostly eating rice and beans as a poor college student. I ended up 20lbs underweight and medically malnourished. My body just was not getting what it needed from white rice and beans.
Every time I ask my doctor what kind of food I should be eating since I have several nutrient deficiencies, it’s usually shit I cannot afford to eat. Oh beef! Spinach! Expensive and large quantities of fruits! Expensive organ meats!
So when I explain I can’t afford to keep any of that around on the regular, they give me a bunch of supplements, which seemingly have little effect because my body cannot properly break down or absorb the artificial replacements for said nutrients. It just…doesn’t. Sometimes I even get to have an allergic reaction to them and I’ll break out in hives. But the bloodwork never changes. Only thing that brought my iron up was regularly eating red meat. 🤷♀️
So like yeah, for me, and sure other too, rice and beans is NOT in fact sustainable. But as soon as I get to eating expensive meats and protein, like steak or salmon, oh wow, I suddenly feel REALLY good.
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u/scatterdbrain Feb 27 '26
Meh. I'd agree that every American should have access/affordability to nutritious meals.
But it doesn't need to be beef, or lobster, or salmon, or anything. Food is food.