The benefits of reducing the amount of meat you eat.

“Giving up red meat for a week could give your health a real boost. According to NHS guidelines, we should be eating “no more than 70g of red and processed meat a day”. A slice of ham or rasher of bacon weighs about 20g, while a thick slice of roast beef or lamb chop is about 50g, so it’s quite easy to reach your limit — and even that might be too much.”

Reduce the risk of bowel cancer: Bowel cancer risk begins to increase if someone eats more than 25g of red meat a day according to a study at the University of Oxford’s (2019) cancer epidemiology unit published in the International Journal of Epidemiology. In addition, according to the British Heart Foundation, “meat is a major source of saturated fat, and too much saturated fat is linked to increased bad cholesterol, which is a risk factor for heart and circulatory disease”.

Lower blood pressure: if you usually eat a lot of meat and meat products, your intake of saturated fat, preservatives such as potassium nitrate, which are linked to bowel cancer, and salt, linked to raised blood pressure, could plummet after a week of avoiding them, “provided you don’t replace them with equally salty and high-fat foods”, says Dr Frankie Phillips, a dietician and spokeswoman for the British Dietetics Association.

How to cut back healthily: If you replace meat with more vegetables and pulses you will find that, even seven days in, your digestion improves and your bowel movements are healthy and more regular as a result of an increased fibre intake. “Try for 30g of fibre daily to boost your gut health and the diversity of your microbiome, which brings more health benefits” says Phillips. Increase your intake of dark, leafy green vegetables, kidney beans and chickpeas to ensure you get your essential iron intake. Eating fish, dairy, soya, quinoa or quorn will replace the protein you would normally get from meat. For more information take a look at ‘What to eat and why’.