For the gluten part, most of the major plant-based meats are gluten free: beyond is, impossible is, etc. They are also not the only option of course either as dishes don't need to use any plant-based meats and can say be bean based or lentil based

For the individual part, the problem is that as long as people expect to consume meat, dairy, etc. in mass, factory farming is the invariable outcome. There really isn't much way away around requiring changes to consumption levels. For instance, something like grass-fed production couldn't even supply a third of beef production, and would even raise emissions as well

We model a nationwide transition [in the US] from grain- to grass-finishing systems using demographics of present-day beef cattle. In order to produce the same quantity of beef as the present-day system, we find that a nationwide shift to exclusively grass-fed beef would require increasing the national cattle herd from 77 to 100 million cattle, an increase of 30%. We also find that the current pastureland grass resource can support only 27% of the current beef supply (27 million cattle), an amount 30% smaller than prior estimates

[…]

If beef consumption is not reduced and is instead satisfied by greater imports of grass-fed beef, a switch to purely grass-fed systems would likely result in higher environmental costs, including higher overall methane emissions. Thus, only reductions in beef consumption can guarantee reductions in the environmental impact of US food systems.

https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/aad401

[–] Instigate@aussie.zone 14 points 5 months ago

Advice regarding product availability doesn’t always translate well on a universally accessible platform - for instance where I’m located in Australia I’d have to drive over 50km to my nearest Beyond Meat stockist and both Beyond and Impossible are around 3-4 times the cost of their true meat alternatives. Sadly my economic situation doesn’t allow me to pay $40-$50/kg for plant-based meat alternatives, and any ones that are near affordable are stuffed full of wheat or flavoured with barley. Another important note to remember is that the definition of ‘gluten-free’ varies from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, so not all products that are labelled gluten-free in one market can be said to be the same in other markets.

There are definitely ways to balance a vegetarian or vegan diet well enough to manage your nutrient intake, however this requires a lot of fresh foods that are also very expensive where I am. I’m also trying to follow my dietician’s advice who recommended that I eat red meat, white meat and fish once each per week as my body struggles with nutrient intake.

I get where you’re coming from - if everyone tomorrow halved their meat intake the entire industry would collapse as it is by definition a demand-driven industry, but I’m afraid all I can do for my part is reduce my meat intake to where I have. I also don’t think it’s fair for me to place responsibility on myself to fix an issue that requires regulatory and governmental intervention to affect real change.