Someone once told me "Anytime you feel defensive when you're not being attacked, that's a feeling you should examine."

There's an awful lot of defensive comments in here! Nobody's forcing you to stop eating red meat. If you feel ambivalent or defensive about that choice, it's fine and healthy to say "I know eating this red meat is riskier than eating white meat or a vegetarian meal, but I'm going to choose to eat it anyway because that's my preference."

What I'd urge you NOT to do is to try to deny or belittle the source that's providing the information that makes you uncomfortable. That leads to all kinds of bad mental patterns!