What Can the Diet of Gorillas Tell Us

[crashnburn]

http://www.westonaprice.org/traditional_diets/gorilla.html

 

What Can the Diet of Gorillas Tell Us About a Healthy Diet for Humans?

 

I dont know if this was posted before. That 2-3% insect theory I think is true.

 

Thoughts?

[Odidnetne]

Yeah right, humans need animal protein. The fact that people thrive on plants is not enough, or the fact that people who eat meat tend to be fat (or fatter), and are more likely to get many different types of diseases.

 

I don't think it's even the "animal" protein in the small amount of bugs that they eat and get their b12 from, it's just a higher protein source than fruits and leaves. Then again, we have things like silk, so we don't need to eat bugs.

[MontanaVegan]

I think the only thing he got right was gorillas eat a small amount of insects.

The rest is just pure nonsense.

[Guest]

I personally feel we are supposed to eat insects...I wouldn't do it myself due to personnal guilt but I have no problem with people doing it so long as they don't eat other animals and they don't farm insects. To me people eating insects is no less ethical than gorillas eating insects. I just wouldn't do it myself.

[Richard]

Heh... yes it does seem kind of silly. I read some of it but just, pfff...

 

I'd theoretically like to see an experiment where insects etc are removed from a gorilla's diet, and see if it suddenly dies. Some how I really don't think so. The bugs and stuff are incidental, they don't search for them as far as i know, they just happen to be on the plants.

 

Oh the article is such nonsense. It's using the fact that some monkeys and apes eat insects as a reason for humans to eat cows. If anything it should be promoting people to eat insects, that would at least be consistent.

[Bigbwii]

I personal think that the diet of gorrillas don't tell us anything about our diet because we are not gorrillas....plus most of us eat cooked, addictive, hand/machine made foods that are far from natural....

[Guest]

Gorillas methodically hunt down ants...they often lick sticks and put them in ant holes to catch them...then they lick the stick off and do it again. And sure we aren't gorillas but I think we're close relatives and I think that says alot. Maybe we are the link that doesn't eat insects but I think it wouldn't harm us...but if you look at all our primates...it seems the more intelligent they become the less flesh they eat and the more vegetabables they consume but none have removed insects from their diets.

[Richard]

Gorillas methodically hunt down ants...they often lick sticks and put them in ant holes to catch them...then they lick the stick off and do it again. And sure we aren't gorillas but I think we're close relatives and I think that says alot. Maybe we are the link that doesn't eat insects but I think it wouldn't harm us...but if you look at all our primates...it seems the more intelligent they become the less flesh they eat and the more vegetabables they consume but none have removed insects from their diets.

 

I didn't know that, thanks.

 

Well if people are suggesting that the gorilla's diet is closest to a human's natural diet, then one would assume that ants would be part of the suggested menu. But I don't ever hear anyone suggesting that, instead it's just crap to excuse animal slaughter and other cruelty. Plus, these kinds of people rarely suggest our consumption of animal products should be as low as 2-3%. That would be like 6 plates of vegetables a day and a handful of ants or something. Whereas, most people want to eat I dunno, 50-50, a plate with a slab of meat on it, or a pizza, and a side of vegetables, cereal with milk etc.

 

That's another thing. If the diet of the gorilla is to be taken seriously, then people who follow the human equivalent would only drink human milk, not cow's milk or any other type of milk. It'd be the plants we can digest raw, and some insects. But again, nobody ever does that, so this entire way of thinking is so crazy - it never ends up with a consistent logical approach, it's just to make people feel better about killing stuff.

[Guest]

eventually there will be some adults to come out and say the were raised completely raw(probably even without nuts)...I doubt they will have been eating insects though...by the way they love termites too. Hopefully they will also happen to be natural born athletes and prove the diet is not restrictive.

sure that amount seems small but there are probably things bugs have that would be very good for us...just as we eat small amounts of things like spirulina and flax...which don't comprise of 2-3% of our diets(well for most of us atleast)

[Richard]

eventually there will be some adults to come out and say the were raised completely raw(probably even without nuts)...I doubt they will have been eating insects though...by the way they love termites too. Hopefully they will also happen to be natural born athletes and prove the diet is not restrictive.

sure that amount seems small but there are probably things bugs have that would be very good for us...just as we eat small amounts of things like spirulina and flax...which don't comprise of 2-3% of our diets(well for most of us atleast)

 

Yeah it may well be that insects would provide us with some form of nutrition which could benefit us. What I mean is, the people who are saying 'gorillas eat ants and their diet is the closest to a natural human diet' don't eat ants, so their entire argument just falls to pieces. If someone was eating an equivalent diet to that of the gorilla; eating raw plants that humans can digest, along with live insects which they can digest, then it would be consistent. But I haven't heard of anyone really doing that in western society, they just say it to excuse their current diet; they don't even make changes after learning about the gorillas, they just like it as a reason to eat their diet as it already is. If their aim was really to eat a natural diet, then they'd be doing it, but the normal reason for this line of reasoning is just to maintain what they're doing so they don't have to think about changing. But I imagine that an equivalent diet for humans similar to gorilla's, would be very healthy most likely.

[Guest]

Health is also different from what is natural. Gorillas living in zoos in the US likely live longer than in the wild due to predators, and sickness...however they are also eating a lot of non-native foods which is obviously not natural. Our true natural diet probably would have us being defficient in many things and dying in earlier parts of our lives. Especially people from places with drastic climate change since you should be going extended periods of time with little food.

[Richard]

Yeah that's true. I do think that this particular diet would happen to be pretty good though. Obviously, you can't really eat anything which is growing wild these days, you'd have to buy something or other from a shop, and you wouldn't 'naturally' be able to get certain types of plant depending on where you live. But theoretically, a similar diet to a gorilla's, comprised of such a high percentage of raw plants, I think it'd make a lot of people more healthy than they are right now at least. There are probably healthier diets still

[Guest]

As Robert and Davidtarrfoster know...no diet even comes close to the breatharian diet so long your air is clean

[Kathryn]

Gorillas methodically hunt down ants...they often lick sticks and put them in ant holes to catch them...then they lick the stick off and do it again.

 

I don't think it's gorillas that do that, but chimpanzees.

Gorilla have been observed removing insects from plants before consuming them.

[Guest]

Chimpanzees do this but so do Gorillas and sometimes orangutans

[Odidnetne]

I personal think that the diet of gorrillas don't tell us anything about our diet because we are not gorrillas....plus most of us eat cooked, addictive, hand/machine made foods that are far from natural....

 

I think though, as pointed out, (if you believe in) evolution, we are for the most part plant eaters, and we keep moving closer and closer to all plants (primates in general).

[andgbr]

ok, just because gorillas eat bugs doesn't mean we have to, i mean, we have agriculture, we don't need to run after the food, we can just buy them, there's no need to run all day for lack of technology.. we also have many other ways to get B12..

Our past and our brothers might have several things in common with us, but now that we're the future, i guess we should start acting like the future, instead of looking back to the past.

[Kon]

I heard somewhere that the body is designed to know what it needs or doesnt need.

do you think if a person or animal was allowed to naturally discover the foods in which their body needs, would they eat the correct types of food?

I would expect that animals would eat to their fancy much like we do, only they are more limited on their choices due to their location. We on the other hand are open to a whole bunch of food varieties, much of which is totally outside what it was meant to be, and therefor we have somehow fallen into a trap of commercialism where companies are trying to make the biggest buck by provideing abnormal foods which trick our senses into believeing it is good. If you want to know what is good for a human, look at instances where humans eat what is available naturally, and see how they survive off it.

 

edit: remember, animals have no clue what a candybar or whatever else tastes like, they eat what tastes best to them and what makes their body feel best. if there were candybars falling around gorillas constantly, they'd eventually pick them up and taste them, they'd have a new reference to base their food choices off of, and they'd probably choose to eat the candybars untill it made them sick.

 

edit2: also, if you look at babies and small children, they like to put things in their mouth. I figure this type of action is a method for testing the palettability of things, and an excesize at training the body to understand what it wants to eat. A person doesnt know if it should eat something until it is in their mouth and they can taste it. They may feel hungry and in effect look for something to put in their mouth. Some children pick up bugs and eat them without knowing exactly that it was a bug, all they knew was that it looks like something interesting to put in their mouth. if it tastes good, they chew it and eat it. have you ever seen a kid eat a bug? it is not that uncommon.

[Richard]

I heard somewhere that the body is designed to know what it needs or doesnt need.

do you think if a person or animal was allowed to naturally discover the foods in which their body needs, would they eat the correct types of food?

I would expect that animals would eat to their fancy much like we do, only they are more limited on their choices due to their location. We on the other hand are open to a whole bunch of food varieties, much of which is totally outside what it was meant to be, and therefor we have somehow fallen into a trap of commercialism where companies are trying to make the biggest buck by provideing abnormal foods which trick our senses into believeing it is good. If you want to know what is good for a human, look at instances where humans eat what is available naturally, and see how they survive off it.

 

edit: remember, animals have no clue what a candybar or whatever else tastes like, they eat what tastes best to them and what makes their body feel best. if there were candybars falling around gorillas constantly, they'd eventually pick them up and taste them, they'd have a new reference to base their food choices off of, and they'd probably choose to eat the candybars untill it made them sick.

 

edit2: also, if you look at babies and small children, they like to put things in their mouth. I figure this type of action is a method for testing the palettability of things, and an excesize at training the body to understand what it wants to eat. A person doesnt know if it should eat something until it is in their mouth and they can taste it. They may feel hungry and in effect look for something to put in their mouth. Some children pick up bugs and eat them without knowing exactly that it was a bug, all they knew was that it looks like something interesting to put in their mouth. if it tastes good, they chew it and eat it. have you ever seen a kid eat a bug? it is not that uncommon.

 

I'd agree with all that, except I don't know if gorillas would like candy, maybe they would. but animals tend to put anything in their mouths, or at least have a good sniff of them as if they are hoping it's food-worthy. Also wild animals are in survival mode, and so at times they will be desperate for food, and will try anything. Humans are rarely in that situation, so they aim for a mix of what they personally like, and they think is healthy.

[Guest]

I don't think this is true unless you are really lacking things...I honestly think I would be happy eating peanut butter alone but it would eventually mean the death of me...and I doubt I'd ever crave anything more while I was on that diet since I'd be so happy eating like that.

[Richard]

I might abduct 50 people from the street and conduct an experiment on them to find out the answers!

[Kon]

the body requires balance, if all you ate was peanut butter your body would begin to reject it eventually through various means, and id be sure your liking of peanut butter would deminish quickly.

[Bigbwii]

My view on it is that at the end of the day it's all about fluids!

 

You can eat what ever you want but if your not getting your natural fluids from natural sources you won't be eating very long...

[9nines]

I find many problems in that paper:

 

1) On primates eating some insects.

 

The author writes, "All monkeys, lemurs and apes are classified as vegetarians and/or fruitivors, but they consume a small amount of animal protein by unconsciously eating the small insects, their eggs and larvae on the plant foods they select to eat."

 

Because they eat stray insects on vegetation (does he propose they thoroughly wash their food first) he wants to not label them vegetarians? What about herbivores, does he think they do not routinely eat insects in the grass and other plants they eat?

 

Even for primates that purposely eat insects, it is not material amount of calories (maybe 2% to 3% of total calories) and all primate researchers I have read indicate chimps kill meat ritualistic (to show off, which is why they offer it to other chimps) versus for diet.

 

This argument seems to just be an agenda versus true implications.

 

 

 

2) "The protein and minerals in the meat cannot be utilized without the nutrients in the fat."

 

There are some fat soluble vitamins than need fat in order to digest them (I think they are fat, anyway) but protein does not require fat and I am fairly certain no minerals do. Also, fat is in plants (5% to 30%, of calories, depending on source), so why specifically search it out.

 

 

3) The article states many times that "ancient" human diet was primarily meat.

 

I often hear this but I question it. One can look at the human body and tell it would be a poor hunter, without tools (weapons.) So, before frequent tool making, ancient man or hominids would not eat much meat, if any, so he sesm to just be picking a convenient stage of man and I question that stage too: Even after human starting frequently using weapons, I doubt their primary diet was meat because it would not be easy to get. First, a community could not spend much of its time hunting. Defense from other humans or animals of prey, protection from weather problems, etc. would take up a lot of time. Second the animals were not conveniently in a pasture or slaughter house, it would likely take a whole day to multiple days to get any large quantities of meat. Then what was obtain would not last long, since they had little ways to preserve it, so it had to be eaten then. My question is did they starve during the next few days before successfully hunting again or instead did they likely eat plant based meals since that was likely genetic ancestor's diet before tools and easy to obtain. So, to me, I would think meat consumption was infrequent, because of these time problems and by definition "infrequent" is not "primary", as the author states meat was to their diet.

 

 

 

4) When the author writes, " Unlike humans, the digestive tract of gorillas is equipped to manufacture the essential amino acids", he shows that he does not understand this subject and I would therefore question his credibility.

 

Amino acids from protein are broken down, in the digestive system, abosrobed into blood and then at the cellular level, not digestive tract as the article states, the body reassembles them into chains of different amino acids to be utilize. Some specific amino acids can not be synthesized by a particular animal (different species can and can not synthesize different amino acids - it is not same for all creatures) and for that animal species, those amino acids are considered "essential" because it is essential that they are obtained from the diet. So, gorillas, or any animal, can not produce essential amino acids because if they can produced those specific amino acids, as the article states they can, then they are not "essential", in the first place. So by the wuthor writing what he did, I think chances are high that he does not understand what he is writing.

[Guest]

the body requires balance, if all you ate was peanut butter your body would begin to reject it eventually through various means, and id be sure your liking of peanut butter would deminish quickly.

 

I met a man(at a peace/veggie thing in Philly) that has lived his life as a monk in as minimal of a lifestyle as possible...he hasn't eaten anything but brown rice for over 40yrs...he also looked extremely strong for being in his late 60s-early 70s. I think if I got bored with peanut butter I would get bored with volume and just wind up eating more of it.