As if you needed more incentive to cut red meat out of your diet, a new report in the Annals of Internal Medicine reaffirms what you’ve probably been hearing all this time-eating too much red meat is bad for you, to the point that it might actually adversely affect how long you live.

In the largest study of its kind, doctors out of the National Cancer Institute followed over one half-million men and women between the ages of 50 and 71 over the course of ten years. After keeping track of what they ate and carefully monitoring their health, the doctors concluded that older Americans who were the highest consumers of red meat (eating the equivalent of a quarter pound of hamburger a day) actually increased their chances of suffering from heart disease or cancer compared to those who ate the least amount, or less than five ounces per week. The study also found that choosing leaner white meat chicken and fish was shown to reduce these health risks, as well.

It is probably fair to assume that the experts are not calling for the complete elimination of these foods from our diets, but the findings do support the advice of numerous health organizations that recommend we simply eat less red and processed meats, which include steak, hamburgers, bacon, cold cuts, and hot dogs. In other words, whenever possible opt for other sources of protein.

There are a number of good alternatives to choose from, almost all of which are leaner and healthier than red meat, like chicken and turkey, but also provide extra nutritional benefits like the Omega 3 fatty acids in fish and fiber in beans and lentils.

Furthermore, if you have any environmental concerns, you might want to consider this: beef exacts an extremely high toll on the planet because it is heavily dependent on resource consumption in the form of land (for grazing and growing feed crops) water, and feed. Furthermore, cattle are also a significant producers of methane (a greenhouse gas that has potentially greater consequences than carbon dioxide), not to mention copious amounts of nitrogenous waste that can contaminate freshwater supplies.

Then, of course, there is the issue of mad cow disease.

So in the end, maybe it’s time to rethink that cheeseburger that you’re having for lunch everyday and look for a healthier alternative. They’re out there, and a lot of them taste great and will fill you up just as much as beef, you just have to make a little effort in order to find what works for you.

In the end, your heart will thank you for it, and chances are, you might very well look and feel better, and you can’t beat that.