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Are humans "NATURAL" meat eaters?


compassionategirl
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A very talented cartoonist who only recently turned vegan a few years ago has summarizes, in one very short and concise paragraph, the compelling anthropological evidence on this very question. Click and read, and then make up your own mind.

 

 

http://bizarro.com/vegan/vegan_carnivores.htm

 

And the whole point about his "baby in the playpen with the rabbit and apple" test is to show this very simple, yet resisted, truth:

 

The human "need" and desire for meat is socially constructed, not innate or primordial.

 

That is the whole point of his "try this at home " test. I remember one meat eating friend reading it and saying "Well that is just stupid. Put ME in a playpen with a chicken and an apple and see which one I would eat."

 

HEEEELLLLLOOOOOOO!!!!! What does that prove? It certainly doesnt DISPROVE that meat eating is SOCIALLY CONSTRUCTED. A meat eating ADULT would eat the chicken because he has, over the course of his childhood and adult life, been conditioned and brainwashed into thinking that it is natural, even necessary, for him to do so. ANd what keeps him perpetuating this erroneous thought in his head is the fact that he has grown addicted to the taste of it, so he will fiercely assert that it is natural for him to eat meat.

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I've heard various arguments from both sides on this topic. Often people mention our teeth and say that they are omnivorous in their function. Others say that our teeth are carnivorous. And then vegans generally say our teeth are pretty much herbivorous. I find it hard to accept that our teeth are carnivorous, given that a carnivore has (proportionately) huge sharp teeth used for biting through (uncooked, unprepared and living) muscle. Also a carnivore's jaw can only move vertically, whilst a herbivore's or an omnivore can move side to side also, to grind plants (unless I am mistaken).

 

Another thing people say is the posish (positioning) of our eyes. As they are on the front of our heads, rather than the sides, this means we are a predator apparently, and designed to hunt rather than be hunted.

 

My major argument against the notion that we are natural omnivores is that our distant ancestors must have primarily been vegan. Before we learnt how to use make / use tools, and before we had language, and before we discovered the wheel and fire etc, we wouldn't have been able to catch animals such as cows etc, and it would have been far more productive for us to pick berries / fruits and eat them rather than chase a chicken or a rabbit around for half an hour. Why would a caveman choose to do the latter when there is other food just sitting there waiting to be eaten? After a time, we developed the ability to kill animals easily and then we started eating them. But before this, I don't see how it could be possible? I am not an expert, as my attire suggests.

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Wow Hero what an amazing resource!!!

 

Damn, THANKS A MILLION for posting that. IT pretty much makes the case slam dunk doesnt it!!!!!

 

 

P.S. Richard, I cannot tell from what you and hero posted whether or not you actually clinked on the link and read that short short article, but everything you mention in your post is also mentioned by bizarro. I encourage everybody to read it, and I am anxious as to your thoughts on it. Here is that link again:

 

http://bizarro.com/vegan/vegan_carnivores.htm

 

and here is a page with quotes and info from both medical professional and professors, AS WELL AS former American meat inspectors turned vegan after the shocking things they have witnessed in the course of their "meat inspections". I love reading quotes

http://bizarro.com/vegan/vegan_quotes.htm

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Ah. Well if what is written there is true, along with the TABLE OF INEVITABILITY, I don't really see how it could be argued that we are anything but herbivorous. The only thing I can consider at the moment is that we would probably have eaten bugs which happened to be on the stuff we were eating. But that wouldn't have been a high percentage (or fundamental / necessary part) of our diet, and similarly, other herbivores would be doing the same.

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Is it "natural" for humans to eat meat? Well, the question is ambiguous, really.

 

1. Humans are a part of nature, so if they eat meat, then meat eating is natural in that respect.

 

2. Culturally, humans have been hunting and eating meat for at least 40,000 years. This is a huge amount of time for a cultural tradition to exist, so it must fulfill some human need (or some past need).

 

3. It is likely that humans have been eating meat that they did not kill (using tools to cut the meat from the bones and using fire to cook it) for perhaps 400,000 years.

 

4. Humans share 99% of their genetic makeup with mammals that first evolved 150 million years ago.

 

40,000 years, even 400,000 years, is not much on an evolutionary time scale. So the question really is: "If we have been eating meat for 400,000 years, and this is not natural then why aren't we all dead?" (There is evidence that the modern diseases associated with a meat-based diet are really related to the modern production of meat as a commodity, and are not related to meat consumption per se).

 

The authors of The Paleolithic Prescription point out that the first mammals were most likely insectivores. The authors analyze the nutritional content of a wide variety of insects and compare them to 22 species of wild game. In terms of %protein, %fat, calcium, potassium, sodium, and energy content, the results are remarkably similar. This suggests that the nutritional balance of vitamins and minerals that humans need is based on a genetic makeup which is very old and predates our hunter traditions by over 100 million years.

 

Now no one is suggesting that we should all go back to eating grubs. We can, however, use these results to predict the diet compostition that most fits our biological needs. By comparing modern "factory" meat to the insect model, the authors show that (modern) meat eating is not healthy, and that a plant-based diet is the only way we can fulfill our daily need for vitamins, minerals, carbohydrates, proteins, fats, and water with a minimum of toxic chemicals; this is healthy... and is therefore natural.

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When I used the term "natural" I meant are we physiologically designed to eat meat.

 

The evidence, as neatly and matter-of-factly presented to us in the chart hero posted, strongly, indeed, absolutely, suggests we are not. Our physiolgical design doest even support the idea of humans as omnivores.

 

This is further bolstered, in my view, my good ol' common sense, as Bizarro at the link I posted bluntly describes.

 

 

peace

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I am not proposing that this test should take place, but it would be interesting to know the theoretical results:

 

If you take a human baby and put it on a vegan diet from birth, and do the same with a definitely omnivorous baby animal, would they both survive? And if they both did survive, what would happen years later when you try to put them onto a diet with meat in it?

 

I dunno what anyone else thinks. I personally think that depending on which omnivorous animal was chosen for the the experiment, some of them could surivive on a vegan diet if it was properly managed to suit their needs with nutrients etc. I believe the human baby would survive healthily also. However, I think that after a few years, if you introduced meat to the human, it wouldn't be able to deal with it right away and would make it sick. But the omnivorous animal would be able to deal with it, because it has the correct digestive organs to deal with meat, as it was born with it.

 

Many people in asia are lactose-intolerant because they haven't had milk throughout their lives, if I am not mistaken. And I personally get sick if I accidentally consume animal products (not sure about eggs or milk as I haven't done that, but if I accidentally have animal fat, then I get stomach problems).

 

Although thoroughly unscientific, my reaction to this kind of thing sort of tells me that meat and animal products are something that our bodies get used to because we force them to. If you took out say fruit from your diet and didn't eat it for a few years, then returned to it, I feel almost certain that your body would not reject it.

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when i lived in manchester and worked at the vegan social centre, on wednesdays there was a mothers and babies group (sometimes fathers too!) who were all vegan, there were maybe 12 kids, including one set of twins.

the ages ranged from 6weeks to about 8 and they were all very healthy and energetic. infact many of them were developmentally advanced for their age.

 

jonathan

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  • 1 month later...

Jonathan did you notice if the vegan babies got constipated or crap a lot? Ive read many of the troubles like that with babies are due to eating meat which babies cannot digest. The only people i know with babies feed em meat and they crap frequently, sometimes several times in a 30 minute period. Is this normal for babies? Would a plant based diet be a remedy?

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the parents reported no such problems. to be honest they all seemed abnormal in that they were so normal. its really refreshing to see a room full of young kids who are calm, balanced and not constantly craving attention. i hope we eventually have kids like that.

 

jonathan

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It kind of funny that we call parts of our own bodies hamstrings or calves. I also get a kick out of that bumper sticker that says “if we’re not supposed to eat animals then why are they made out of meat?”… I mean if meat is just muscle then people are also made out of meat. Where is the bumper sticker that says “ if we’re not supposed the eat PEOPLE then why are they made out of meat?”? Which reminds me, Richard your locations says you’re behind me…. But I keep turning around and your not there!!! Gosh darn it I’m getting hungry!

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I also get a kick out of that bumper sticker that says “if we’re not supposed to eat animals then why are they made out of meat?”… I mean if meat is just muscle then people are also made out of meat. Where is the bumper sticker that says “ if we’re not supposed the eat PEOPLE then why are they made out of meat?”?

 

What an excellent idea!

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