Heart disease is not caused just by eating meat, but rather by the fat that it contributes to our diet. Dietary fat, saturated fat in particular, is the main cause for our heart disease. Dietary cholesterol is not as great a concern, except for a few, genetically predisposed individuals.

Becoming a vegetarian and taking in milk &milk products and eggs and avoiding meat is known as lacto-ovo vegetarian. Dairy products and eggs contain a great deal of cholesterol and saturated fat. It is possible for a lacto-ovo vegetarian to be at a greater risk for heart disease than a meat eater, if that vegetarian eats lots of full fat cheese, eggs, and whole milk and the meat eater sticks to only the leanest cuts of meat and poultry while including plenty of fish that is high in omega 3 fatty acids. In other words, merely becoming a lacto-ovo vegetarian will not cut the risk of heart disease.

If we educate ourselves as to the leanest cuts of meat, remove all fat before cooking, eat only white meat, skinless poultry, and include a fish meal or two each week, and reduce dairy products and eggs, then meat will make a very positive contribution to our diet.

However, if we wish to stick to a vegetarian diet, it is important for us to eat only low-fat or fat-free dairy products and limit the number of egg yolks in our diet. We have to increase the amount of whole grains, legumes, and fruits and vegetables in our menu.We must be sure to consume not more than 30 percent of our calories from fat, and only 10 percent of that as saturated fat.

If we take in fat we must eat monounsaturated fat, which will lower LDL / bad cholesterol when it replaces saturated fats in the diet, and they do it without lowering theHDL/ good cholesterol. Monounsaturated fat is found in peanut and olive oil. Peanut butter and other nut butters can also be included in our diet to a limited extent because their fat is mostly monounsaturated.

If we do not want to, we do not have to completely eliminate meat from our diet.