Are We Meant to Eat Meat

[AnimalAvenger]

www.goveg.com/naturalhumandiet_physiology.asp

Many argue that we need meat in our diet, or we'll die. However, is our body actually designed to eat meat?

[veggiejonasluver]

The shape of a creatures body and the length of its chest does not affect what it should be eating. But that fact that the creature we are most like, the primate, is a herbivore simply proves that we should also be herbivores.

[Linn]

I think that if humans weren't meant to eat meat, that we wouldn't be able to digest it at all. Early humans hunted and killed things like woolly mammoths and spent a lot of time developing new weapons to do so. So since the beginningish of human evolution, we've been eating meat. If we weren't meant to, we wouldn't have.

Plus, it's been proven that meat has a lot of things that we need in it. Protein, iron, all that stuff. So if we weren't meant to eat it, we would not only be unable to digest it, but we wouldn't get nutrients from it.

Plus, our teeth aren't build for ripping and tearing, but we're still able to bite it off and chew it down. That's why we developed weapons.

Edit; I'm beginning to wonder why I don't just run spell check BEFORE I post...

[dynastygal]

A cow can still digest meat, but it doesn't do the cow the world of good. The ability to digest something does not mean something is good for us. And a lot of the reason we can bite meat is because it's processed and cooked. We wouldn't have much luck if we attempted to eat a cow raw, now would we?

Anatomically we are more herbivorous than carnivorous, and meat encourages our risk to various diseases like certain types of cancer, etc. Whereas veg, fruit, and so on do the opposite. And meat may contain nutrients, but we don't need to eat meat to get them.

[Linn]

I was watching Wife Swap (everyone needs reality TV sometimes XD) and learned about something called the "raw diet". They slaughtered their own cows and chickens, then ate the meat raw. They got sick and needed to adjust to it for a little while, but they were fine after that. And that family got really sick after eating processed foods because their bodies had been digesting and living off of raw meat for years. None of them died from it, or got really sick from it.

But I didn't know about meat increasing risks for certain diseases. Or I guess I never really thought about it...

[dynastygal]

I wasn't talking about raw as in just cut a slice processed...I was talking about biting right into the cow hide. You wouldn't even get into it with human teeth or nails.

And their bodies may have adapted to it...but it doesn't mean it was good for them (the diseases point). I.e. how farm animals are often fed meat from their own species, but the sickness isn't apparent because it's often something like MCD which isn't going to show symptoms straight away.

[Linn]

I dunno, I've bitten through some pretty tough crap. XD

But humans have a big brain, we're intelligent (No guarentees for my high school though :/). We make tools. We hunted with arrow heads because we learned to flint knap. We started making fires. We used the fire to head water, to cook food. We used smoke to dry it for traveling/storage.

It's like monkeys, who use sticks to get grubs and stuff. We have big brains, we can think and all that stuff, so we evolved to use tools to get through the cow's hide for us.

And the raw meat family went to the doctor. The doctors said they were very healthy, if I remember correctly. Or at least that they weren't unhealthy. ^^

[dynastygal]

Brain size has nothing to do with intelligence. It's the number of folds in the brain. Nor do I see why intelligence has anything to do with it. We make computers, things we clearly do not need. We make videogames, and so on, lots of things we do not need. These houses we live in, glorified huts. There are so many 'technological' advances we have that exist but they do not specifically mean we need them. They are merely to make things convenient, not sensible.

Yes, we may be able to make tools, we also make tools to kill each other with, does that make it right or moral or mean we are supposed to do so?

And as I said before, meat encourages risk to diseases. These things aren't gonna happen overnight.

The fact of the matter is, a human is to be more immune to diseases on a non-animal product diet. It's also good for anti-aging.

[xokellyanneexo]

I think if we were meant to eat meat, that's the only way we would know. If we were meant to just eat vegitarian foods, that would be the only way we know. It's our choice, not anyone else's.

We have a brain, a brain that can make choices. If this was meant to be a certain way, we wouldn't have a choice in it.

[Clyde]

actually the brain needs proteins to develop that mostly come from meat..but yeah plants are just as good XD

[Bhuvana]

A year or so ago I wrote a lengthy essay about vegetarianism and veganism. Below I have my paragraph that I set aside just to shoot down any objections a person could put forth. I hope it helps.

"I know everyone has an objection for everything, especially when it comes to Vegetarianism and Veganism. Some people say you can’t get all the proper nutrients on an animal free diet. That is as far from the truth as you can get. Advertising that the meat and dairy industries put forth cause this belief. If you want to see just how powerful advertising is, ask yourself, what fruit contains the highest levels of vitamin C? Most people, as you know, will say the orange. Is that correct? Actually, it’s not. Kiwi fruit and Mangoes have about 5 to 6 times more vitamin C than Oranges do. Why do we automatically think the orange? Simple, the TV and other forms of advertisement tell us so. In psychological terms it is called ‘conditioning’ and is very powerful, hence why all advertising companies employ psychologists. It is also responsible for us, the West, being unable to think of ‘calcium’ without thinking of milk, as well as the belief that protein only comes from meat. Another argument I hear quite often from family is animals that are raised for food, will eventually die off if we stop having a use for them. Logically this argument makes no sense; it somehow suggests we are doing these animals a favor by over breeding them and eating them! If we stopped eating meat and left part of the earth untouched for wild animals, they’d live in the correct population according to the amount of food available just as all animals have always done. Also, goats, pigs, and cows all make wonderful companions if raised correctly from a young age. Pigs are smarter than dogs and children while goats and cows are playful like dogs. Also, I know not everyone will go vegan, but the ones that just go vegetarian will still want chicken eggs for easy protein. If this doesn’t appeal to your tastes than I have another simple suggestion, let nature take its course. The Earth survived millions of years without man intervening and unnaturally manipulating the population of different species or as it is conveniently labeled today, “managing wildlife”! Mother Nature has never needed human intervention. Arguably, it is our intervention that lead us to the environmental crises we face today. Another common objection I will bring forth is that some people say humans are MADE to be carnivores. After some help from a close friend that has been researching stuff like this for 20 or so years, we have narrowed down to a few arguments to this. First of all, no natural meat eater has manual dexterity, humans do. All meat eaters produce vitamin C within their bodies; humans are unable to do this. They have to obtain vitamin C from their diet, like all NON-MEAT EATERS. Carnivores do not have molars to grind their food; humans do, just like all non-meat eaters. There is no scientific proof indicating that human canine teeth are there because we, as humans, used to eat meat. They could be a distant leftover from our ancestral past, just like the appendix which we no longer use. All meat eaters cool their bodies by panting. I have never seen any human wandering around with their tongue out, panting. We sweat, like all herbivorous creatures. Finally, it can be said that 99.9% of the population would naturally feel ill at the thought of eating raw meat. How can this be? Meat is not cooked in nature. So why is the thought of eating a bloody piece of meat disgusting if it’s supposed to be natural? In fact, animals burnt in forest fires are never eaten by other animals. Yes one may argue we have evolved to cook meat, but this does not explain why raw meat naturally repulses us. We don’t get repulsed by a raw carrot as opposed to a cooked carrot! This evidence simply suggests we were made to be herbivores. Don’t take my word for any of this, conditioning in the West has probably made you categorize me as a teenager going through a phase that I’ll “grow out of” right? Wrong. Science backs up everything I have said. The largest scientific study ever undertaken that is still ongoing today clearly indicates an animal free diet as the best way to live for humans and the environment. It is called, The China Study by Dr. T. Colin Campbell. He has also published a book he calls, The China Study."

[Black Dove]

Hmmmm... I hate to get/ break up a heated argument but my opinion is that no we were NOT meant to eat meat.

A lot of people think that we were because (remember my bio "not really into religion") the bible says/promotes the whole meat-eating thing, and that was part of my grandmas argument when I said I wanted to be vegetarian. So... yet another reason that doesn't make sense. Children have been raised vegetarian/vegan and they are normal helathy human beings. You can get protein and iron from a lot of things, and you won't contract anything ominous from it like you would from meat.

[dynastygal]

There are many parts of the bible that sway towards veganism. The bible is all about interpretation.

[Black Dove]

Not to be offensive, but I don't like to think about stuff much unless its math, lol.

[Bhuvana]

Not to be offensive, but I don't like to think about stuff much unless its math, lol.

lol! Niiice.

There are many parts of the bible that sway towards veganism. The bible is all about interpretation.

So true. My whole church is vegetarian because of wanting to remain healthy and 'treat our body like a temple for Christ'. I know of only three quotes from the bible that promote vegetarianism, but then again, I have not yet completed the bible so I may find more!

Thou shalt not kill.
--Exodus 20:13 (The Bible)


"He that killeth an ox is as if he slew a man..."
--Isaiah 66:3


"And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb-bearing seed which is upon the face of the earth, and every tree in which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed: to you it shall be as meat...."
--Genesis 1:29

EDIT: That "Thou shalt not kill." Commandment has always bugged me. Well, not the law, really, but the way humans read it. Who decided that that law only included the human species? Why not the bison? Or the rabbit? It does not state any particular animal, so why do we interpret it as such? Gah. We are such a selfish, ignorant species.
Also, even if God did intend to eat meat, read Genesis and you'll realize that he did it as punishment for our sin! Before that, we were vegetarians/vegans! Why do we relish in the punishment? Because we're heartless beast who care for nothing but ourselves. I had always swayed from religion for the very reason that I thought God promoted our disgusting ways. But when I met my current Pastor, and the rest of my vegetarian church, I decided to read for myself. I was shocked to learn our diet was due to our sins.